One year has finished. One year as a foreign teacher, in a country where my language is foreign but supposed to be the language of education. One year of travel, one year of new friends. After all of it, I say bring on one more. One more year and it will be enough. Just let me change 10 of my young pupil's future and it will be enough. And one year in and I realize I have made a difference, just not in the ways I always thought it would be. So, let's look at that one year.

Coming to Tanzania I thought I would be the perfect volunteer. Teaching as much as I could handle and then more, running a health club, finding computers for the school, teaching students to use computers and playing sports with the students after school. I also thought I would be out in the village talking to the locals and enjoying the local culture becoming a part of the community. Yes, I have done all of these things. Some of them were a great success and made me fall in love with people and places in this country, and some of them have brought out some of the bitterness I hold for Tanzania.

When it comes down to it, teaching is my job, and should be the activity I'm most successful at. Not true. Teaching is hard. Really hard. In the beginning 68 periods of hard work, that really didn't lead to much. If there is something that I have learned about teaching, it is don't over extend yourself. Take on a smaller load, and really put some work into it. 68 periods was too much, and the 34 after that was still too much. It wasn't until I came to my new school that I finally found that right amount. Teaching 20 periods of math and physics per week is perfect. Not only do I get to learn my students names, but I have time to find out where they are from and what their goals are in life (note: they really need to work on goal setting). After classes I can run labs and homework sessions. I have time to grade a test every week, not just midterms and finals. Giving homework is no longer a chore for me. Yet, I would still not say I'm a great teacher. I'm good, but not great. Sometimes I think I have that little spark missing that all my favorite teachers had. So I have had to find ways to make up for that.

What have I done? Well, first of all, showing up every day with a smile on my face. This little act has made a bigger difference in most of the students lives than any teaching I have done. Why? Because it shows them that someone cares for them in a country where the adults are usually short sighted and don't care as much as they should about the well being of there children. Many teachers don't come to class, and when they do they are busy giving out punishments and yelling at the students for being stupid. So just that one smile, that one good job and that one I'm proud of you makes a huge difference in these young adults lives. I also have started to find kids after school and give them a little prodding. Asking them why they weren't in my class and how they plan to make up for it. Talking to the students about their lives and how their breaks were and always smiling. Even when I am mad it is best to smile because how are people supposed to learn when they aren't comfortable.

I spend so much time on education anymore that I have stopped doing many of my outside activities. The health club started out great, but then I left my old school and along with it my fellow health teacher and best friend. What I realized was that I wasn't the great health teacher, it was him. He was that teacher with the spark who drew kids to him and knew how to talk about even the most uncomfortable issues without any controversy. Me, I was always just along to answer the questions that my counterpart couldn't answer. Now that he has gone, that part of my work is gone. I will still answer any questions that my students have, but there is no club and its not likely to start one in the future. However, my friend has gone on to another school where he started a new club with great success, and he makes it a point to teach health every week. As for computers, I am still working there. I am looking for different options to bring in computers to the school and have my headmasters support in setting up a room and running classes. It is a goal of mine and hopefully I will reach it before I leave. Sports with students was very short lived. I realized that there is something to be said about maintaining that distance between teacher and student.

As for going out into the community and meeting people, that has been one of my greatest frustrations in Tanzania. I live in the Kilimanjaro region where lots of white tourists and "volunteers" come for short periods of time without knowing the culture or how their actions will affect the long term development of this country. Most come and hand money out to whom ever tells them they are in need. This and American music videos and tv shows has created an association that all white people are good for is money. In the beginning I would spend months getting to know a person, only to have to them ask me to build them a house or pay for their bus fairs. Often times it is my first time meeting them and all they ask for is money or a beer. Even with the more educated individuals this happens, causing me to have a severe lack of trust in members of society. Integrating into society has become less of a goal of mine. Instead I try to focus on those people who are important to me. I spend my time with my students, my headmaster and my friends at school.

Looking forward to my last year of service I have a few goals in mind: 1. Focus on my young ladies. They are the ones who get the worst parts of this society. If I can influence just half of them to finish their education, to be responsible sexually and to demand respect as a member of society, then I have made a difference in hundreds of lives. 2. To enjoy the people who I know and care about. Instead of going out in the community, and becoming frustrated, I'm going to enjoy the time at school with the people who are changing my life for the better. 3. To build a basketball court for the school. 4. To get computers, even if they don't arrive until after I have left. And most important 5. To never stop smiling for my students.

I have always wondered what it must feel like to have power and fame, and on Wednesday I came the closest to that power and fame that I will probably ever get. The president of Tanzania came to my village to do a campaign speech, and because the president travels by helicopter, he had to land at the only available landing area in the area. MY SCHOOL. Imagine sitting in a classroom in Tanzania, where most students have never even seen a helicopter before and watching three of them land outside on the football pitch. Kinda hard to teach huh? Needless to say school was canceled for the "short time" of the president coming. How short? Well the first helicopter flew in with his press team, so the students had to leave the rooms at that time. After this we waited for 2 hours for president and the rest of his entourage to come in two more helicopters. At the same time more and more cars and people kept showing up at school. It was a crazy site. There were bomb sniffing dogs, undercover police, the military, the police and more. But when the president landed it became crazier. Students screaming and people rushing the president to touch his hand and have him wave at them. The president finally gets to his car and looks like he is going to leave, but then he changes his mind and heads into the school grounds. Why, you might ask? To relieve himself after a long flight. Imagine the president of a country using a cement squat toilet and having to have a student bring him water to wash his hands. Hmm, needless to say my headmaster was pretty worried after that unexpected part of the visit. Onto the good part though. As he is walking towards his car he sees me in the crowd and motions for me to come forward. So I go over to greet him and introduce myself and he has me walk with him for about 50 meters to his waiting car. As we are walking he tells me how much he appreciates Peace Corps and uses me in the same sentence as Bush and Obama. Pretty cool, pretty cool. Not only that but he is holding hands with me the whole time (a very common thing for any friends to do in this country). The man was incredibly nice and it was an amazing experience. Oh, did I mention that I hadn't shaved in 4 days, was wearing sandals and did not feel at all appropriate to meet a head of state. But afterward I went and heard his campaign speech and he mention the "Peace Corps" volunteer at the local school. So I didn't make to bad of an impression on him.

I apologize again for taking so long to update this blog. The last 2 months have flown bye in a blur. When I last left off I was headed off on a safari with my Peace Corps friends. Needless to say the safari was a total success. We started off with a day visit to Lake Manyara, which I had already been too, but it was still unique. Our lunch was interrupted by a marauding baboon that figured out it could jump up on the lunch table and scare away all the white people, while at the same time getting a free meal before the guards came to chase it away. They really are pretty intelligent animals. The second day we headed into the Serengeti for a 2 day trip. This was where the fun really began. About 100 meters into the park we saw a cheetah who was beginning to stalk his prey, of course the more enjoyable part of this was watching the 30 safari cars and millions of dollars in expensive camera equipment charging around to get the best viewing area (this is what happens when animals are right next to the main gate. Our next animal to be seen was a large male lion in the brush with a pride of females sunning themselves on a rock near by. A little on from this we ran into a leopard in a tree. At that point it was a check on all the major carnivores. But the next morning we got to see a cheetah with 3 cubs playing for an hour in the brush. We were the only ones there so we were even able to drive off the road a little to get a better view. It was amazing to see the way the games all involved the act of stalking. Following the cheetahs, we then ran into three lions lounging on rocks playing games. Following the Serengeti, we then headed to the Ngorongoro Crater. It was incredible dropping over the edge of a giant crater with mist pouring over the sides at 6 in the morning. While there we were even rewarded with a mama and baby rhino pair in front of our car, and another rhino running across the road in front of us (both, very rare).

I followed my safari with a trip down south to visit my good friend Claire. By down south I mean 14 km from the boarder to Mozambique. The trip down was horrible (two days straight on a bus is just terrible in this country). But once I got there life really picked up. I got to visit one of my best friends here, and managed to get some of that sleep and relaxation I desperately needed from too much teaching. We finished off my visit with a 2 day visit to the beach in Mtwara, where we rented out a local fishing sail boat and cruised around for the afternoon, the water was perfect.

After my stellar vacation I then returned home to my village where the fun really started. While I was gone about half my village moved out because they can't make any money from the fish anymore. This meant that the water truck was no longer coming to my area. My only source of water now became a boy riding his bicycle 28 km each way to bring me water. This idea didn't sit well with me, or Peace Corps, considering the fact that drinking water is a pretty important thing in life and the quality of the lake water that the villagers drink is really not that high. So I have spent my last few weeks at another volunteers site teaching computers and fixing there computers. But all of that is going to change TOMORROW. I am headed to a new home then. My new village is on the north side of Kilimanjaro. I will be teaching advanced level math and physics there and hopefully fixing all the computers in order to start having computer class.

From what I hear and have seen the weather is going to be much different there. Instead of 75 degree nights and 90 degree days now in the cold season, I'm gonna have 45 degree nights and 75 degree days. Needless to say I am going to have buy some blankets to take with me. Along with the change in weather, there will also be a big change in diet. Kilimanjaro is known for its fresh fruits and vegetables, along with coffee. I think life in Africa is making a jump.

It has been a long time since my last entry here, but I hope to get myself back on the blogging track starting today. I have made it to the internet for the first time in 2 months thanks to a series of internet outages in Moshi when I happened to be in town. Funny how that works. I finished my first term of teaching school here, and I am exhausted from it. It is a lot of work to teach 34 periods of math and physics per week. I just really feel bad for my kids who had to deal with me. I have taken in a few bits of wisdom from my students and fellow staff members:

1. Don't be a pushover. They can sense it from a mile away. Before you know it all your homework is handed in a week late, or not done at all; you are typing tests for every subject in the school without even knowing; and all you are doing ten jobs on top of your 34 periods.

2. Students love to cheat. If you put 60 students in a small classroom of course they are going to cheat. What else would they do? The question is how to stop it. Which leads me to think 3 versions of each test are needed.

3. Staff meetings are terrible. I remember in the states they were bad, but when they are all in a language that you don't understand and they last for 5 hours during the school day when you could be teaching. My life would be better without them.

4. If you give people a chance to try something, many of them will. I have been extremely happy with my form 3 students. Many of them came into the year barely speaking a word of English in an English medium school (of course I am the only teacher at school who uses the language). Now many of them practice there English on me and I am able to teach in almost pure English. It is wonderful to see them try and great when they succeed.

5. Students here have very low expectations of their teachers. By just coming to class and trying to teach, I am automatically the best teacher in the school. This is not a good thing. The fact that many teachers find it okay to just write notes in English and send it with the students to write on the board is horrible. How can you learn by reading information in a language you barely understand?

6. Students love to talk about sex. I started a health club at the school and they have so many questions. It has become a great form to work with the students on protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS and other STIs.

7. The more hands on your class lesson is, the more the students like you. If you want to see a bunch of students fall asleep, teach them about quadratic functions using just a chalk board.

8. Vacation is essential. When your life revolves only around school for many months at a time and you have a break from that school, sieze it! Go to the beach, go to eat good food, just do anything. Only problem with this is that it involves leaving the village and getting hassled by all the people who think you are just another dumb tourist who is going to hand them money for nothing.

9. You have to reward the students. Comments like good job, very good, excellent, keep up the good work, and you're doing great go a long way. Giving away candy, pins from the us, or other prizes really gets kids going.

10. The most important of all is just to be yourself. The best thing I have found is that the more normal I am, the better I feel about myself. A little wierdness goes alongway.

So what am I going to do with this information? Well, I am going to try and enjoy myself and school more for the next semester. I am going to make my students turn in their homework and keep them to a strict schedule for tests and labs. I am going to learn how to say no. And mostly I am going to take more vacations. This begins with two safaris this month to keep me sane. Stay tuned...

I have come to realize that it takes a little to hit your flow, at my school that was one and a half months. But I think I might finally be getting the hang of teaching. The students aren't even all sleeping in class, which I think is a major feat. Only a few of them doze off every now and then. I think that might have more to do with staying up all night trying to find their future wife than having an extremely boring class (or at least I hope that is the case).

Every day at school can be a bit exhausting. I usually teach seven 40 minute periods per day, then give a few computer lessons to my fellow teachers at the school. This is all incased in a hot building in the desert. So when I am through with the afternoon I usually can barily move my body. With that being the case I have now started waking up early to prepare for my classes (usually 4:30 in the morning). That way I still have some energy to make a good lesson.

With this in mind I mind I decided to calculate my hourly wage here in Tanzania. I usually work about 12 hours a day, every day of the week. My pay is about $6 per day, so my hourly wage is about 50cents. God I make so much money. But the government has also decided that I need to pay taxes on my walking around allowance during the training period of service. This walking around allowance comes out to less than $4 per day. Don't you just love the idea of taxing $4 per day, makes perfect sense huh?

The other thing I have come to realize is that I am a big push over when it comes to the kids at my school. The last week I was the teacher on duty (incharge of discipline and making sure the school is running well) and I totally failed to enforce any source of order at the school. Usually the kids are supossed to report at 7 in the morning for cleaning of the school, then again at 7:30 for assembly. On top of that one grade is supossed to bring water from the lake to keep the trees alive and toilets clean. At the end of the day they must again report for an afternoon assembly. If the students don't report they are usually beat with a stick or forced to kneel in the hot sun for a long time. Needless to say these weren't my first ideas for punishment for my week of TOD. So with this in mind about 100 kids decided it would be good to come for the cleaning report time, 250 for the 7:30 and by the end of the day 200 for the final assembly. This is out of a large total of 700 students. However, I came to realize that I couldn't punish the kids who came to the second assembly but not the first because at least they were coming to some of the assemblies. The same goes for the end of the day kids. Also the ones who were missing the assemblies were obviously not going to be around at the end of the day for my detention time, so needless to say I didn't manage to fix one of the problems. Any ideas out there on what to do?

In America there is always that time in the summer when the weather man walks onto the television screen and says, "it is gonna be a hot one today. Better stay inside with that ac, it's not safe for the body outside. I think we will be seeing a heat wave this week." That is how my new home has been this past month. Except it is not a heat wave, it is just normal for the desert. Each day I wake up to a cool 85 degrees F. Usually we hit a minimum of 95 during the afternoon, up to 110, and it is usually back down to 90 by the time I go to bed. And the really sick part about it is that last night I was shivering outside at 85 with a breeze. Something is really wrong here; that me, of all people, is shivering at 85. Needless to say there is no ac to use at my house. Most conversations at school start "it is hot today."

But speaking of school, karibu Lang'ata Bora. I have officially started teaching at my school. Now I see why my high school teachers were always stressed out. Teaching is tough. The kids don't always pay attention, and on those really bad days you feel like you are having a conversation with yourself. Right now there are 7 teachers at my school for our 600 students. I am the only science teacher right now, but we are expecting to have two more show up within the next month. Since I am the only science teacher, it means I should be responsible for math, physics, chemistry, and biology for forms 1-4. Sorry, can't do all that. Right now I am teaching form 1 math, physics, and english; form 3 math and physics; and occasionally form 4 physics and math. Or about 30 periods of 40 minutes per week. I also try to write notes for form 2 and 4 math and physics when I can't go to their classes. Class sizes range from 25 in my form 3 physics to 130 in my form 3 math. Basically my life is consumed with school, which is the reason I have been so bad about updating this blog (today is my first day outside my village in a month). School is fun at the same time. I have some wonderful students, who I think will go on to do great things in life. And often after school a few of them will stop by my house to work on their English with me. I have taken over the previous volunteers position as teacher's chair of the school newspaper, and I am now running the debate club. I know I have already over extended myself, so it is probably about time I reel myself back in to a normal work load (can't change the world by myself). Hope everyone reading this is doing well, and hopefully I will be back on here before another month passes by. All the best from Africa.

Happy New Year! Sorry it has been so long since my last post, a lot has happened since then. I am now living and working on my own here in Tanzania. I live in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania about 3 to 4 hours away from Moshi depending on the transportation situation at the time. My only available internet is in Moshi, so I will only be able to get on the computer a few times per month. I am beginning to adjust to the life of a rural Tanzanian too. I live out in the desert, where the temperatures range from a cool 80 degrees to a sweltering 110. Each morning I wake up and walk out my front door to a perfect view of the snow capped mount Kilimanjaro, the heart of Africa. I often wake up at about 6 in the morning to start my run with the sunrise in order to beat the heat of the desert. School hasn't started yet, so I don't have to much work to do now. I usually just run, walk around and meet the locals and play cards with the boy who lives with me. Sometimes I ride my bike across the desert for fun (it really is fun). I have a form 3 student who lives with me, Daudi. He does the cooking and cleaning for me and has become like a son or younger brother. His father is dead, and his mother doesn't have work, so I, and the volunteer before me, support him. He is a hard worker, and I have high hopes for him to succeed in school over the next few years.

For my birthday here I bought a goat from the local Masai who roam my village. I had some volunteer and Tanzanian friends over to celebrate and the mama's cooked the goat with some bananas in a coconut curry sauce. It was probably one of the best meals I have ever eaten. The only thing missing from the whole experience was the cake. Next year I will have to make a large one in my make shift coal oven. Christmas I spent in my village with the locals. No ham, turkey, or prime rib here, just a good coconut chicken and banana curry with some spiced rice to go with it. New years will also be spent in my village where I will be tasting my first batch of wine I made with my neighbors. We made a pineapple wine, and I have high expectations for it. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hello all, this last week I had my first real experience of travel on the Tanzanian highway system. All I can say is "scary." The bus we took from Morogorro to Lushoto happened to be the fastest bus on the road, which is not a good thing. We passed every moving and non-moving vehicle on the road. It didn't matter what part of the road either, going around corners, up steep hills without a view of the top. All this was experienced from the front seat of the bus and often while grabbing my friend Amy's arm and praying we weren't going to get crushed by the on coming speeding bus. To make matters worse, there we saw like 6 overturned buses and trucks on the side of the road during the trip. Needless to say, I was happy to have my feet on solid ground after that action.

Following that we headed up into the mountains of the Lushoto area, at about one mile high. It was incredible up there. I even stopped sweating for a whole 3 days on top of the mountain. We were up there to shadow a current peace corps volunteer and kind of learn what we will experience these next 2 years. Life in the mountains was isolated, but had the most wonderful views and hikes I have taken in a long time. Also, the current peace corps volunteers all seem to be pretty cool people that are fun to be around. We got fresh wine and cheese (which I couldn't eat) along with some fresh berries and other great items that grow in the area. If any of you get a chance to go there, you all should. We only got to stay for 5 days, but in that time we put in several hikes and ate lots of delicious food. It was sad to leave the place to go back to Dar. Especially when we had to get back on a bus. This time at least they went the speed limit and stopped for the bathroom. Only problem was there were four screaming kids and one vomiting one sitting on all sides of us. Ah the joys of buses. If you get a chance check out the blog links on my page. Two of them are from my friends here in country and can probably give you some more insight, pictures and videos of this place.

Hello all, it has been a little longer than 2 weeks since I last posted. Life here has really started to pick up pace. Last week I began my internship teaching at one of the local schools here. So for last week, this week, and next week I am taking over a Tanzanian teachers class and making it my own. Actually I took over 3 classes last week, the a, b and c string of form 1 physics (first year physics). My first day of class was horrible. I thought I had a great lesson plan all thought out, along with perfect "special english." Was I ever wrong. My drawings on the board were terrible, my english a little to fast for form one students (who don't have school in english until form 1), and my notes not quite enough for a whole class period. So that night I went home, reworked my notes and thought about how I needed to slow down to the pace of the students. I went back the next day, and things couldn't have gone better. The students seemed to get the ideas, they answered questions and hopefully learned something. I learned that I just need to slow things down a bit and make sure the kids are keeping with me the whole time.

I did miss the Lewis and Clark Alumni swim meet this year, and I hope it went well for all my ex-swimming friends who read this blog. Instead of swimming this weekend, I got to go to Mikumi National Park on my first safari. It was incredible. We saw elephants, girrafes, impalas, hippos, crocodiles, zebras, wildebeasts, water buffalo, wart hogs, and many other animals. One other thing we did manage to see were mating lions. Pretty incredible and funny to see in the wild. Hopefully I will get a chance to upload some pictures from the trip.

The rainy season has begun here, a little late this year, but it has definetly arrived. Today has kinda been like a Portland one. Rain, pause, rain, pause, rain, rain, rain. The only difference is that it is warm and the sun shines between rain sessions making the landscape incredible.

I hope this post finds everyone alive and well. Tanzania is incredible.

Cheers,

Owen

Karibuni Blogi! Habari za leo? Last Saturday, shortly after my last blog post, I got to experience my first Tanzanian graduation party. After coming home from the mjini (town), I was met by my mama and she informed me that I would be attending a graduation that night with her. The graduation was for two boys who finished their O-Level schooling, a very big deal here. The boys were the gradchildren of our neighbor.

Well, we got to the graduation and we took are seats in the lower section with the rest of the guests, while the family sat on the stage. So the graduation party begins, all in kiswahili of course, and I am sitting there just trying to listen in and observe. There are a series of speeches that occur, all which i don't understand, and each time the person giving the speech dances up to some music that the dj chooses for the occasion. The first person to speak are the graduation boys, then the parents, the grandparents, and then the brother. Then, all of a sudden, I hear the words Marekani, then Marekani again from the announcer. And now the spotlight is on me, along with a video camera, and my mama motions for me to dance up to the stage and say something. So I awkwardly dance up to the stage with lots of laughter, then proceed to say every single word of kiswahili I knew, which were very few still. Much more laughter followed, along with another dance off the stage. Yet, that wasn't the end of the night. Later, during the gift giving, people danced up to the stage in groups to give there presents to the parents and kids. But again, since I was a special guest, I heard Marekani and I got to dance up with just my mama and give our gift on video. So this time the video consisted of my awkward dancing with my mama's much more fluid movements. Now two boys are blessed with the horrible dancing of a random American in their graduation video.

Hamjambo. It has been 2 weeks since my last update, about what I expect will happen for my time here in Tanzania. Life with the Peace Corps has been sleepless, busy, tiring, fun, amazing, etc... Basically every feeling I could have had since getting here has happened. Our group began our stay in isolation at a hostel while in Dar es Salaam. Our time in Dar consisted of a quick debriefing of how the Peace Corps works, followed by a few small Swahili lessons. Basically, it was a time to bond with our fellow PC volunteers and learn the many, many, many acronyms that serve the purposes of the PC. My group is all filled with science teachers and IT personnel, all extremely bright individuals. It has been great getting to know them all.

Now we have traveled outside of Dar to begin our homestays for the next 8 weeks. I moved in with my family on Wednesday the 3rd, and have had several entertaining (and awkward) nights of trying to communicate with them. My Kiswahili is very poor, and I am not able to convey all I am thinking to them. My momma speaks English, and the same goes for my host brothers, but I have tried to stay in Kiswahili as much as possible. Hopefully I will grow with the language now that I am fully immersed in it. I did tell one of my fellow teachers (at my internship school) that I wanted to marry her. Luckily she was the Kiswahili instructor, and corrected me quickly. I will begin my internship teaching in the next couple of weeks at my school, and hopefully will not make to many egregious mistakes when it comes to the physics world.

There have been no stomach problems, parasites or diseases to report yet. I am sure they will come at some point in time. The food has been wonderful (beans, rice, chicken, goat, beef, fruit). It is very similar to what I would eat in the states, except there are never fresh vegetables to eat. I hope you are all doing well. I will be more settled in next time I write, and hopefully I will have more to say. Write me about your lives.

Welcome friends to, what will hopefully be, my life the next two years and three months. I will try and update this blog every two weeks over that time, that way those of you who want to keep up with my adventures are able to. However, I am not sure what the internet service will be like in my host country, so I might fall off that schedule. To add to the enjoyment your readings, I will also try to keep a steady stream of pictures posted for you.

I am currently in the lovely city of Philadelphia a day before training begins, and I plan to take a little time to see Constitution Hall, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Maybe I will even eat a cheese steak during that time (just to test out my allergy to dairy). On Monday the training begins for real, and then we fly to Tanzania on Tuesday. From the sounds of it, the training is just going to be a whirl wind of action. So here is to the calm before the storm.