Sweating the Small Stuff

I know they say, “Don’t sweat the small stuff”, but they say a lot of stuff, and I’m not even sure who ‘they’ are. Anyway, over the last few days I have been given great reason to sweat the small stuff, because there’s been some pretty safi sana small stuff to sweat (“safi sana” means very good/very clean, and I learned on Facebook earlier this week that it is okay to mix languages for the sake of alliteration).
First, in general, I have been blessed with a handful of opportunities recently to communicate with wonderful family and friends via chance or planned internet connections, and that’s a hugely appreciated bit of small stuff!
Also, this weekend was the VTC (trade school) graduation. There was plenty of great dancing and singing. I know what you’re the thinking. The answer is yes, I did, in fact, help train said dancers! Okay, so really I went to the trade school to use the internet and saw it was busy so I decided to sneak in the back of a classroom and watch student practice their graduation performance. The next thing you know, I’m kicking it (literally, the dancing involved a lot of kicking) with a bunch of the trade schoolers. Also, one of the dances was mildly reminiscent of the A-Town stomp for those familiar.
Anyway, the celebration was great, and it was topped off by a wish of Br. Patrick’s coming true. All week he talked about how he heard people take entire goats, put rice and veggies inside them, and roast them. He didn’t know how to do it or who did it (maybe ‘they’ do it), but he wanted to make it happen. At the end of the night, what comes waltzing in to singing and dancing? Students carrying a wooden contraption with a roasted goat (I refrained from taking pictures because I figured some of my readers wouldn’t really want to see that). Well, it was the most delicious bite of food I have had in this country. Way to go, Br. Patrick! And, on another animal-lovers-should-look-away note, the next morning at the trade school’s “thank you monastery” Mass, they brought in all sorts of gifts- bananas, a rabbit, a baby pig (kitimoto, which literally translated means “hot chair” and made for an interesting misunderstanding earlier in the week), and manure!
Another simple joy we experienced recently- a pleasant chant. Mike and I wandered through the village yesterday, and, as usual, little kids shouted excitedly, calling us mzungu and asking for candy or pictures. Then, something extra cool happened: a couple really literally girls started running after us as they CHANTED WA-ZUN-GU,! WA-ZUN-GU! (wazungu is plural). It was magical.
Also, there were definitely baby monkeys in trees by the trade school the other day! I asked little kids if the monkeys were friends, and they replied affirmatively, "Rafiki yangu". Yep, I got them to call the monkey "rafiki". You're welcome Lion King fans.
The most recently simple pleasure was another big one for me. I just got done with my first hot shower in 2 and a half months! Don’t get me wrong, cold showers have been great most of the time due to the heat here. However, I’m not going to turn down a nice hot shower every couple of months.
Also, yesterday I happened to meet three of the coolest people I’ve met since Fr. Francis! I was just trying to return the library key to the Seminary staff room, and I ended up having an hour long lunch with three nuns from Songea. One is from Ethiopia (one of my favorite countries ever since 4th grade) and two are from India. They run the ‘”de Paul” schools near Songea and offered to be a rest stop and curry supplier every time we bike into Songea, and I fully intend to take them up on that offer. We had a really great talk about education, about Ethiopia, about Tanzania, about India, and about food! Plus, they brought apples and “mango pickle” (really good, spicy mango/chili sauce)!
Also, if I have not informed you, the school year here doesn’t really line up with our school year in America. In other words, now that I’ve taught for a little over a month, it’s time for summer vacation (no class for the next two months). Don’t worry, I actually have other work to do (and some travelling to be detailed soon). However, this does mean I recently had my last class of the year. We spent most of it reviewing for their big exam, and they really brought a lot of energy and responded to questions enthusiastically (not a norm for them). Thus, I had to fulfill my promise. I had to show them how to stand on one finger.
Naturally, I had to ham it up a little extra, so I offered to do it on the teacher desk so all 69 could see. Please note, this desk was not necessarily new and may not have had all legs screwed in fully…Don’t worry, I didn’t break the desk and have to spend my travelling money to replace it (a thought that did cross my mind- they deserved the risk though). I told the students in front they’d have to catch me if I fell, and they backed up…we’re still working on trust. So, I put my finger on the desk and stepped on it. I wish there was a way to make that less anti-climatic via typing, but honestly, that’s all I did. I was worried that this play on English words wouldn’t quite click, but a large portion of them laughed almost instantly, and the rest did when I quickly explained! Some educators may say this is just “Vegas for Vegas’ sake” (see Teach Like a Champion) or that it’s taking away their intrinsic motivation to learn and work hard, but I say it’s my way of showing them how serious I am about wanting them to get into their education and to realize that it can something different than they’ve ever known. Either way, as I left for the final time, the class clapped. Yeah, they clapped! I know it was for the stupid human trick, but part of me wants to think it was also something to the effect of “Hey, we can tell you really tried this term. Hopefully we all meet again next term so we can try even harder together.” Then again, maybe they were just excited that they could go trick the other classes into thinking they could stand on one finger.