Tuesday, June 01, 2004
First day of the In-Service Training: All these good people who went through ten weeks of training together, back together again. Lots of catching up on friendships, finding out what people are doing, comparing difficulties and accomplishments. Mostly we have been sharing war stories of dealing with our school bureaucracies, the Peace Corps bureaucracy, teaching techniques (some successful), and current and future plans. But a few have found snakes in their homes, some have witnessed brutal vigilante treatment of thieves, some were victims of armed robberies - fortunately no injuries or serious damages, and the Peace Corps seems to have been generous in providing counselling where appropriate.
Our program is pretty much what was expected: Group sharing of experiences, use of flip charts, and lists of topics for comment. Also the manditory attempt to add to our use of Kiswahili - I considered cutting out of that altogether, but there would have been no place to hide anyway. So I suffered through it, and it could have been worse.
Last night a number of us sat on the roof of the Training Center here in Morogoro, talking and joking until 3:30am. There was a full moon providing the lighting for us, setting the mood.
The trip getting here was a bit gruesome. My plane was late leaving Mwanza and was not the expected jet, so it took longer than expected. So, after arriving at Dar es Salaam airport and dashing by taxi to the Ubungo Bus Station, I found I had just missed the last express bus to Morogoro. The only options were to stay overnight in Dar, or suffer with a Daladala. I took the Dala option, in spite of its many stops and overcrowding. It took a 30 minute wait to get started, and along the line there was some sort of confrontation - I have a vague idea that our driver may have been a scab driver and the regular drivers were highly upset. Anyway, we finally got to Morogoro about 10:30 and I was glad to find that they had saved some food for me in a hot pot.
Now that Myrna's tickets have been purchased and there is a solid date for her arrival, I have really been thinking about her a great deal. She is due here on the 18th so I will try to hang out in the Dar region until then, setting up meetings with organizations that might be helpful to our Life Opportunity Club. When not in meetings, I expect to hang out at the American Club, the Peace Corps Headquarters, and Kipepeo Beach. What a tough life!
Our program is pretty much what was expected: Group sharing of experiences, use of flip charts, and lists of topics for comment. Also the manditory attempt to add to our use of Kiswahili - I considered cutting out of that altogether, but there would have been no place to hide anyway. So I suffered through it, and it could have been worse.
Last night a number of us sat on the roof of the Training Center here in Morogoro, talking and joking until 3:30am. There was a full moon providing the lighting for us, setting the mood.
The trip getting here was a bit gruesome. My plane was late leaving Mwanza and was not the expected jet, so it took longer than expected. So, after arriving at Dar es Salaam airport and dashing by taxi to the Ubungo Bus Station, I found I had just missed the last express bus to Morogoro. The only options were to stay overnight in Dar, or suffer with a Daladala. I took the Dala option, in spite of its many stops and overcrowding. It took a 30 minute wait to get started, and along the line there was some sort of confrontation - I have a vague idea that our driver may have been a scab driver and the regular drivers were highly upset. Anyway, we finally got to Morogoro about 10:30 and I was glad to find that they had saved some food for me in a hot pot.
Now that Myrna's tickets have been purchased and there is a solid date for her arrival, I have really been thinking about her a great deal. She is due here on the 18th so I will try to hang out in the Dar region until then, setting up meetings with organizations that might be helpful to our Life Opportunity Club. When not in meetings, I expect to hang out at the American Club, the Peace Corps Headquarters, and Kipepeo Beach. What a tough life!
