Settling In

I've skipped writing in my journal for a few days but am trying to return. Yesterday (Tuesday) was wonderful. I went to the School of St. Jude's with Ed (Australia), Roam (Isreali) and Jonathon (Isreali/American) in Mishono, just outside Arusha. It was my first time taking a dalala and boy what an experience. I think I counted 17 people in the dalala, including the boys hanging out the side. Once we arrived, we had a bit to walk. We had several offers to ride on the motorcycle but I'm glad we decided to walk it.

I'm sorry I didn't bring my camera because the campus, the atmosphere - everything was so amazing. The School of St. Jude's gives over 100 poverty-stricken children the opportunity to get high quality education FREE. They provide two meals a day to regular students and four meals a day to boarders, who live about a 20 minute walk away from campus. They teach computers, Kiswahili, physics, chemistry, mathematics, art, music, dance. The teachers and staff are mostly native Tanzanians, though there are some who are from Australia (the founder, Jemma, is from Australia).

Felix, our tour guide, started out as a bus driver. He asked for an office job but they told him he needed to learn to speak English and to use the computers before he could get a job. He took English and computer lessons at the school (free of charge to staff). After a year and a half, they asked him if he still wanted an office job so now he works as the visitor coordinator. I think it was a smart move - both for him and for the company (marketing, etc wise) to have him be the coordinator with such a great story like that. Plus, he's just a really nice guy so it was a pleasure spending the day with him.

We got to tour the original campus (for 3 students!), the library (where the librarian in training screamed to me "I love you! You are so cute!"), the art room (where we met Kwaka, Ed's friend from dinner and dancing at his house the night before), and admin (where we met Mim, Ed's friend's sister-in-law). The Isreali boys left but Ed and I got to eat lunch (some cabbage stuff, rice, and lentils), which was actually really good. They cook their own food (and grow a lot of it) on campus so I was really quite impressed. They also have purified water everywhere so the children get clean water. If the staff or children speak Swahili, they lose points. There's a competition with prizes for the class with the most points at the end of the year and a cash prize for the person who never speaks Swahili from the staff.

After lunch, we visited the headmaster, the secondary school and the boarding school. To get to the boarding school, you have to walk along this muddy road and pass several little houses with many animals (goats, cows, tons of chickens/roosters). You also pass a whole field of coffee plants, banana trees and maize. It seems like it goes on for miles. You finally come to this huge gate, guarded with more Maasai men (apparently because they are known as the soldier tribe - and because they generally lack any education - the Maasai men wind up being guards for many places). The school is in the process of building more houses for the boarders (using locals to build everything). The buildings themselves are beautiful. Beautiful floors, beautiful layout. In the girls rooms, they have six bunk beds and each room decides to fold their beds differently than any other room. They also try to decorate it (door only) with sayings like "I love my room! I kiss my room!" It's really quite cute. They are all so clean too. I imagine it is to teach them discipline and responsibility, as well as for when sponsors and visitors tour the campus. On each floor, there is a common area for the children and each dorm has a classroom so another teacher can follow up on that day's lesson, help with homework, answer questions and maybe give them a preview of the next day's lesson. Finally, as you're walking out, you see this gorgeous, lush, green mountain and behind it, Mt. Meru. How. Breathtaking. I can't even explain to you how gorgeous this area is. You simply must see it for yourselves. In the meantime, I'll (hopefully) be able to go back out and take pictures to post on here for your pleasure.

After the boarding school, we watched the kids play volleyball and soccer for awhile. Afterwards, Ed and I took the colorful school bus to the Clocktower. We walked around, found a cute bakery, where we tried a samosa (not bad) and had soda in the tall glass bottle. After, Ed showed me the market, the Shop Rite (South African supermarket) and cute little restaurants, etc around old town. Finally, we met up with Ed's friend Alpha and Alpha's friend Abdullah for a beer (I've started collecting beer labels for my handwritten journal :)). We had to leave shortly thereafter to meet up with the Isrealis and then go to dinner at a Syrian place for Bin (BM)'s departure. It was really beautiful, with a huge sheet-like thing covering the entire ceiling. The food was decently priced (wraps - 6500 Tsh) - AND they had shisha! :) The hummus was not great (not enough lemon!) but overall, I was happy. It was also nice to meet several more interns and talk to some of the people in the house before they leave as well.

This morning (5/26) I woke up at 7 (after going to bed at 3am) to walk down to the ICTR to see if I could start early. Unfortunately, once I got there the guard started asking me where my employment letter was, who I was working for, what the internship coordinator's extension was. I had nothing on me. I had no idea I needed anything. He called FM, but she didn't answer. He left two messages. I waited half an hour. Then I decided, if she is so scatterbrained that she can't respond to emails in three months and can't arrange for transportation from the airport as promised, she probably wasn't going to be into work until much later. I wound up leaving and finding Hinji before he took his shuttle to the airport to fly to Zanzibar. I thought I might to with him since I wasn't confident I could get a hold of FM, but on my way home, I ran into Ed and the Isrealis. Ed suggested I wait until the other interns get here because they'll want to do Zanzi, and knowing myself, I will enjoy it a lot more if I'm not alone (Hinji's phone may not work so I may not be able to get a hold of him and would wind up spending the week in Zanzibar by myself... mmm no thanks).

Once I got home, my feet were bleeding (rain + friction w/ my heels) and I had no key. Mama (Veronica) let me in thankfully. I took a nap for 3 hrs (whoops!), read some, ate some, and texted Ed to see what he was up to. He invited me out to dinner with a friend, Yemi. She was an intern in chambers with Ed last year but she decided to do another year-long stint. She's originally from Nairobi but now calls Cali home. She seems quite nice and really funny so I hope we become friends.

I left Africafe with Ed, Yemi and Evans (Ed's really good friend) to go with PG, AK and EB (all ICTR interns) to watch a movie about the "Third Gender" in India. Apparently there are a lot of hijras in India: men who dress up as women and have sex with men. It definitely is a bit misleading because even the hijras distinguish themselves from hetero/homo males and hetero/homo females. Seems like "third" gender isn't quite accurate. Also, the director of the documentary seemed so judgmental. It was really quite strange.

Now I'm back and talking to MW. It's strange to be able to talk to him for so long here. It really makes me feel like I'm not that far away, not really in Africa. Guess I'll see how I feel once I start work. One thing I can say: MW and I seem (strangely) to be doing so much better. Everything seems perfect, no fights, just pure love. It's amazing. Can I blame it on law school? Haha.