Election time!

Yesterday was Election Day! In a few days Tanzania will have a new president.  Here is a bit of background if you find political stuff interesting:

There are two main contending parties – Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and Chadema.  Each have their own colours, hand gesture, flags and theme songs (which they blast from speakers on the back of trucks whenever the mood strikes them).  Pretty much every tree and flat surface on the main roads is plastered with posters!

These seem to be the CCM trees.....

...whilst our neighbour appears to be in favour of Chadema

CCM's presidential candidate is John Magufuli.  Their colours are green and yellow, and their hand gesture is thumbs up.  

Chadema's candidate for president is Edward Lowassa.  Their colours are blue, red and white and their hand gesture is the peace sign.  

 

For the last 54 years since the formation of Tanzania as a republic, CCM has been the ruling party, with opposition parties never really having a chance of winning.  This election however is said to be the closest ever, and it seriously could go either way!

There is more though……Chadema’s presidential candidate Lowassa was a member of CCM (and even Prime Minister for a few years).  He failed to get the nomination for president with CCM so changed his allegiance to Chadema…who then nominated him as their presidential candidate…as you do! 

I love it that elections here are such a huge event.  People are really proud of their right to vote.  Yesterday at church a few of the people were showing the ink on their fingers with such pride (after voting ink is put on their fingernail so they can’t vote twice). 

If there is any violence it will be when the president is announced, sometime in the next couple of days.  Moshi is very heavily in favour of one candidate, so there could be a lot of very happy or very disappointed people depending on the outcome!  Mainly our prayer is that not only will the voting system be free of corruption, but that it will be seen to be fair and people will feel satisfied with the outcome.  In a country that has not always been free of corruption, this is a big ask!  As a precaution, the school is closed for the next three days….woohoo!  

Local representative positions are up for contention at the same time.  I took pics of a few rather cool election posters.  It's hard to take many because I don't want to be seen to be supporting one party over another!

That shirt guy

Jazz hands guy

Smiley guy

Election poster fail

Exciting times!  

One week of normal life.....

Greetings!  Having been here for two months now, I'm already forgetting what parts of school life are different from when I was in Aus.  

Writing on the blackboard (which is just a wall painted black) is normal.
Keeping the light in the 'on' position so I can see when the power comes back on and rush to photocopy is normal.
Double siding every photocopy (manually, but taking it out, turning upside down and putting back in) and keeping count of the sheets used is normal.
Turning on the ceiling fan only to have it shower the students in gecko poo is normal.
Wooden chairs making screeching sounds on the concrete floor is normal.
Having to squeeze sideways between desks in a too small room is normal.
Wiping a film of dirt off everything everyday is normal.
Looking up the next lesson to be taught in a textbook is normal.
Finishing lunch break at 1:00pm and still having 2.5 hours of school to teach is normal.

I can't say I like all the 'normal' things (especially not the last two!) but most are no real problem.  I thought this week I would take photos of a typical week at school - my new version of normal :)

Monday blackboard: Exponential notation

Snack time!  Uji (millet/cornflour porridge) + hard boiled egg

The class have been writing procedures on a topic of their choice. Today they presented to the class, demonstrating at least one step of their instructions.  I learnt so much about each student and loved the diversity of topics!

This gal is such a talented artist!

Demonstrating how to make Chapati - Ethiopian style

Rylee demonstrated how to make Kombucha. 

This student has only been speaking English for 1.5 years....and did an amazing job!

Lunch time is a whole hour to eat yummy food that the cooks prepare for all staff and students.  No playground duty either! 

Today's lunch: Yellow lentils and rice

Monday afternoon is Science followed by a planning period, then home time!  I have a tradition of getting an ice cream at Woodlands (our little local supermarket) each day.  Even if I don't walk home from school (it's about a 45 min walk) I usually walk back to get my after school treat!  Woodlands doesn't have a generator and with power off 50% of the time I'm always super happy to get a sort of frozen version of ice cream :)

Monday after school ice cream - pretty good!

Tuesday blackboard: power off = no photocopying = whole worksheets copied onto the board

Snack time! Uji with oranges (that are rarely the colour orange)

The 6th Grade students learnt about fossils today!  The year 7+8 students are learning about experimental variables and did an experiment looking at how soap affects the surface tension of water.  It's so strange to have two entirely different Science lessons going at once in a class of only 10 students....but must do what the textbook says!

Lunch: Ugali and Machicha + Mac and cheese
 (Tanzania meets 'merica!)

I teach drama 2 afternoons a week to all students K-8.
 I love getting to know these little sweeties.

Today's ice cream: the melted and not quite refrozen version

Wednesday was a public holiday to commemorate the death of Tanzania's first president.  We had some team building stuff at the director's house, but no school!

Thursday's blackboard: each month we have a memory verse to learn and present to the school.
A bit easy for this class, so we are learning ours in Italian  instead
 (our History topic has lots about Italy at the moment!)

Snack time! Uji and hard boiled egg

In History we have been studying the Renaissance and are making a timeline to go around the classroom showing the major people and events.  It's the only subject I can fully teach as a whole class and the kids are learning so much.  It's my favourite subject to teach because I'm learning heaps as well!

Today's lunch: beans and rice with banana

After school ice cream - nicely refrozen

Friday blackboard: more Science....no slacking off in my class...

Snack time! Uji (with lots of sugar - it was a bit burnt today)
and toast

Each Friday we have Book Buddies (carrying on the tradition from LCS!). The students in my class are each paired with one or two "buddies" from the Kindergarten class and spend 20 mins reading aloud to them.  It's great for the Kinder kids but also for my students as half the class are ESL students are are lacking confidence in reading in English.  In this setting if they don't know a word, no problem!  

Today's lunch: beef stew with rice and watermelon

Hanging out in the staffroom/library over lunch :)

So excited for Friday afternoon ice cream..alas, no power all day
 so ice cream would be really mushy.  Still needed a treat though!

And now for a lovely relaxed weekend!  We have parent teacher interviews next Friday (and get a whole day off for them!) so I need to write reports this weekend.  Here's one last photo, showing what a 'report card' looks like on this side of the world.

HALF A PAGE per student for ten students....
teacher friends be very jealous!

God's blessings xxx

Loooong weekend!

This last weekend was not just one day longer but two glorious days....meaning 4 days in total off!  It made the fact that my teacher buddies in Aus are on a two week holiday just a bit easier...haha

I am realising more and more how much of an introvert I am.  Four days was perfect since I could do my own thing on Friday before heading to Arusha as a group on Saturday.  Before I get onto that, I am so happy that I've been able to gain a whole new level of independence.  No more shopping with the group....I know most of the places I want to go in town now, and love the freedom of catching a boda boda (motorbike taxi) and doing Saturday shopping solo.  It has seriously become my happy place!  I love my housemates/workmates, but 7 days of being around people is too much.  Rather than being frustrated by this, I'm learning to accept the way that God has made me and enjoy every moment of solitude and silence that I can get!

That said, Saturday was group outing day and was great fun!  The school directors organise fun trips for the teachers every now and then, with everything paid for.  This time was Arusha, a bigger city about 1.5 hours from here.  It's a bit higher than Moshi, so also cooler and heaps greener.  We could see Mt Meru on the way too.

On the road to Arusha...can kind of see the outline of Mt Meru.....

"Slum Dunk" haha.  And handy signs so we know left from right.

First stop was a super posh coffee lodge for lunch.  The fish and chips were amazing!  Totally touristy but soooo good.

Person trying to stab me: That would be my boss!

Next was the cultural heritage centre and museum.  We got to see Tanzanite (really pretty blue gem) and the guy who owns the whole place was super passionate when talking about it.  He had one gem worth $11 000 000 but I think I'll wait til he's got some bigger items in stock before making a purchase.

Hand-carved out of a tree....wow

I got munched.

Last stop before returning home: icecream!  Just a bit better than the frozen-melted-frozen-melted-frozen again variety I usually get at Woodlands (little local supermarket)

All up it was a great time and returning to Moshi made me realise just how much here feels like home now.  God's blessings on your week xxx