Seven the Hard Way

Welp, there you have it ladies and gentlemen. Before my very eyes our seven month Tanziversary came and went. That means two big things: the blog title has been unveiled (thus meaning the contest is now to name the reference) and….I’M GOING HOME! (*Update: I’m going home to prep to be a member of the ACE crew in Mobile, AL where I’ll spend two years teaching middle school math and science at Most Pure Heart of Mary!) There’s such a flood of emotions that I should apologize right away if this blog post is incoherent. In a few hours I’ll be waking up and catching a ride with good old Br. Patrick to Mlilayoyo (halfway to Songea) to catch a bus to Iringa (halfway to Dar). There I’ll stay the day and night with a student who graduated from the seminary in October. On Wednesday I will catch a bus the rest of the way to Dar es Salaam. I will spend Thursday “resting” in Dar, meaning I will attempt to go to bookstores and get the textbooks from Phoenix Rising 2 ordered and paid for. In super exciting news, we’ve officially broken the $1500 mark, and, based on verbal commitments should be breaking the $2000 mark soon! How beautiful! Yet another huge thanks to all who have been supporting financially and/or spiritually! If textbook stuff goes well, I may treat myself to some time at Kipepeo (Butterfly) Beach in order to go out the way I came in. On Friday at approximately 4:55PM EAT I will be partaking in the miracle of human flight! No foolin’! Hizzah! Thanks to thriftiness, I will be reversing the exact path I came by, meaning stops in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Frankfurt, Germany; and Chicago before getting home. My scheduled arrival time is Saturday at 2:09PM CST! Unreal. Family, friends, and Final Four, here I come! I suppose anyone who’s been paying attention to this blog deserves one final update on how classes ended, so here goes: Trade School- Naturally, the last classes started absurdly late (the trade school is the one that I “taught” at last term without actually ever having a class meet in over a month’s time). We ended with some very spirited “Matches” (arithmetic races) on the chalkboard, and it was great to see a bunch of smiles and energy. St. B Boys’ Physics- We finished the unit we were on (Motion in a Straight Line) and even had enough time to make a short video in honor of SJU Ultimate Frisbee! St. B Girls’ Physics- I had one more class with the girls than I did with the boys, and we needed it in order to just finish that last unit. There was one small but hilarious (in my opinion) moment that really brightened the period. You see, the girls’ class has had the (un?)fortunate tendency to occur during rainstorms. With tin roofs, the sound of the rain is amplified about a billion times. (Data is not exact. What do I look like, a science teacher?). Anyway, the girls love that, because it means I have to scream just to convey information, and apparently physics is more exciting the louder it is. Anyway, today I noticed a girl giving the Tanzanian hand symbol for come her out the window, and I thought maybe we had a late student. I looked and, to my surprise, I saw no one. Then I realized she was beckoning the rain to try to get it to pick up so I’d have to yell…AND IT WORKED! This was extra surprising because every time I make the gesture to implore “Cut it out!” to the rain, it never obeys! Aye, Aye, Aye. Seminary- Well, it finally happened. We caught the elusive Ndizi Mwizi!!!! I was definitely wondering if we would! You see, I had intended for it to be the Rector of the school, but I learned on Thursday that he’d be out of town. The morning of the class, I was looking for a certain monk that the students would have loved to catch, but I couldn’t find him (ironic?). Anyway, ten minutes before class I got the Academic Head (a really goofy dude who also teaches them Civics) to agree to do it. Granted, he had no idea what I was talking about, but luckily Mike came to the rescue by meeting him with a basket of bananas and reminding him to come to my class. We used our newfound knowledge of percents and some information from an imaginary watchman to determine that the cafeteria and adjacent kitchen were the most likely places to find the thief, so all 70 of us trounced through those two rooms. Unfortunately, a ton of students were taking a test in the cafeteria, so we had to search silently. Then I noticed the thief was taking a while to sneak into our classroom (who would have thought we’d find him in our very own classroom?!), so I tried to stall and tell the students to check every window twice. After apologizing that I’d be leaving without us finding the thief, we entered the classroom and lo and behold, there was Mike and Mr. Luana with a basket of bananas! We got ‘em! Everyone got a banana, and, as they enjoyed, I tried to do a little role play with Luana (would have been easier if he spoke more English and/or understood what he was doing). Anyway, Mike asked him why he stole the bananas and he said, “I was using them for counting and realized it was better to put one in my pocket.”…Not the line I wrote for him, but it works I suppose. We ended class with a little tribute to Breakthrough Saint Paul for my sake and then one more class cheer for everyone’s sake. It was pretty good. We then learned that I had a golden opportunity to leave Hanga as I entered it: in sheer embarrassment on the soccer ground. Yep, just like our first weekend here, my last weekend here included a St. B students vs. staff soccer match! Luckily, the teachers wanted to win (we tied 2-2), so they only joked about putting me at goalie. Instead I got to be the only sub and never had to play! I just joked with students on the sidelines the whole time! There are eleven players on the field at a time, and they call the positions by numbers. Students kept asking what number I like, and I’d tell them I’m number 12 (sideline). It was in broken Swahili, but they seemed to appreciate it. On Saturday I also got to go over to my favorite teacher (fittingly named Dietrich- the name of a dear, late friend and one of the greatest people I’ve ever met). It was great to eat an egg and look at pictures of his family! On Sunday I did my last load of bucket laundry, and it was refreshing! Then we had our last day of basketball with the seminary, and they let Mike and I play on the same team. Let’s just say there was some definitely domination and some vicious dunks (one hoops is really short). Today after teaching I kind of tried to wander and say bye to as many people as possible (difficult between the village, the monastery, the trade school, the primary school, the secondary school, the seminary, and the other volunteers). After taking a break from packing to do some somersaults with village kids, I finished packing and ended up leaving a bunch of stuff here. Dinner was wonderful as a couple trade school students were there, as well as Br. Patrick, Br. Theodory (the money man), Fr. Gregory (the first Tanzanian monk here), the Abbot (the Abbot), Br. Jerome (head of guests), and Br. Augustine (our guestmaster and server of meals), as well as all the volunteers! There was all sorts of special food including cake, I got to make a speech, the Abbot made a speech, and I received a Masai blanket and a tailored feast shirt. It was just great to be surrounded by the wonderful people that helped make it such a wonderful 7 months (especially my fellow volunteers Mike, Catherine, Resa, Chiara, and Christa). Speaking of 7 months…gosh that’s a long time. Aside from being a reference to something near and dear to my heart, the title has a bit of meaning. First of all, it was hard to say goodbye to everyone and everything I’ve gotten to know here. Even more so, this was by far the most difficult seven month stretch of my life, but doing these seven months the hard way has been so fruitful for me and hopefully some others I’ve been working with here! In honor of this fruitfulness, here’s a little reflection on just a few of the many things I’ve learned here: Stuff I’ve Learned/Re-learned *You CAN re-gift chickens. *I love HOME. *There’s no place like home. *Also, there’s no place like Hanga (as far as I know). *The challenge of life is to be comfortable being uncomfortable. *Jim Valvano was very correct. “If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day.” *Starting each day with a handstand when you get out of bed is great for many reasons. Sure it’s good practice and stretching, but it also gives you nice clarity and perspective on your new day. *After every night there’s a day. *Language plays a big role in communication. Smiles may play just as big a role. *A little Swahili slang goes a long way with students. *My favorite Swahili word is “kuota” because it means all of the following: “to dream, to grow, and to bask”. Beautiful. *If you mix all of the food on your plate, even if you don’t like any of the separate foods, you can eat it. *Ultimate Frisbee is a beautiful thing. *Prayer is wonderful! *It’s never a bad idea to get to know nuns. *Bill from the Peace Corps taught me early on that the following rule works: “In Tanzania, you can do anything until you’re told not to…twice.” *I really like playing sports the right way. *It is possible to read for fun! *Things that are supposed to happen are happening when they’re supposed to happen. *God is good!