Kipilefti

Classes are over for the foreseeable future: midterms, then break. Later this week Bret and I are going to retry the hike that almost killed me a few months ago. I have hope, though: no mud this time (although there are dust and sun); I think I’m in better shape; and I’ll be carrying less.

It’s the season of clear blue skies. In the mornings there are often clouds in the valleys, sometimes clouds in the sky, but they former are gone by a few hours after sunrise, the latter by noon. In the afternoons the sun shines cold and bright and clear. It’s the season of no rain. The […]

Tingatinga (who I now think is a boy cat like Pol) stands on my blanketed legs, mews a tiny disconsolate mew. I put down my book and pet him for a moment, talk to him, and he moves up to sit on my stomach and looks at me, then curls up in front of my […]

This week has actually been pretty great. Moderately monotonous work requiring small amounts of thinking, just like I like it, setting up the lab; minimal teaching (handed back last term’s exams, gave out candy to those who did well, went over answers). The only real teaching I’ve done is of my fellow teachers, who requested […]

Quick question for those of you [non-family] who want to see me while I’m home this winter: would New Year’s in Philly or its environs work well? I was thinking I’d be here in Tanzania for New Year’s but it turns out my training doesn’t start until the 11th, and going back to site and […]

I get home to frantic cats, desperate for food and attention, in that order. I attend to the food right away and they’re occupied for a good two minutes before they start following me around as I settle into the house, rubbing up against my legs and mewing plaintively. Unpacking toiletries, I notice that they’ve […]

Annie has been on nine types of transportation in this country (plane, taxi, boat, Land Rover/Landcruiser, lumber lorry, pick-up, bus, coaster, dala-dala), the last six of them modes of transportation locals used. “You travel a lot,” she told me, clarifying that she meant that we travel for a long time rather than frequently. And it’s […]

We woke at 4.15 so we could get good seats on the 5 A.M. bus. We were out the door by 4.30, but unfortunately so was Ting, slipping out while we were distracted, so we spent the next half hour chasing her around the outside of the house with flashlights, thankful that it wasn’t the […]

Right now I’m back in Morogoro for the first time since training, in the shadow of the Uluguru Mountains. It’s strange–but good–to see my homestay family again (I’m staying with them), to walk the same streets I walked when I was learning Swahili, talking to the same people. It’s good to be back, and my […]

Snippets: Hanging out at the market on Sunday afternoon, a few friends there are in hysterics over my description of what I imagine my cats are saying to me at various points in the day. Half of the humor is my bizarre personification of these animals that most Tanzanians are afraid of, half is probably […]