Contact Information
I have an address! I'm not 100% positive this will work, so I'll post confirmation on here when I recieve my first letter. You can write me at:
Kathleen Mulloy
Nkuhungu Secondary School
P.O. Box 1523
Dodoma
Tanzania
I also have a cell phone (yes, I realize how ridiculous it sounds) that I was forced into buying by the friendly folks at VSO. Texting is surprisingly cheap and works in theory, although I haven't received any replies to the texts I've sent to the states so I have my doubts.
My number is 255787198418 - I think that includes the country code.
I'm in Africa! Wow! I wonder if that statement will ever sound natural- I've been here a month and still wake up disoriented. For those of you that I have yet to write/e-mail, I was in Dar es Salaam for 3 weeks for language training, and then moved to Dodoma a little over a week ago. Rather than summarize everything, I'll just tell you what I did today (I'm sure the rest will come out eventually.) I went to a country fair! Really! My boss picked me up on his pikipiki (dirt bike) at around noon from the guesthouse where I've been staying while my house "gets ready" (long story- will detail next post.) My Kiswahili is barely conversational and his English is little better, so I wasn't so sure where we were going. I've gotten better about not worrying about such details. Besides there were more important things to worry about (like my skirt flying over my head, like the gravel road flying beneath us at a frenetic pace.) Happily, only 10 minutes later we arrived at a huge expanse of red sand and wooden fences, chock full of cattle and goats. It was sort of what I've always imagined Texas to look like (if Africans lived in Texas.) We got off the pikipiki and approached the corrall area. My boss asked me if I'd like to buy a goat; I declined. He then explained that we were here for lunch so I had to choose. Being the obtuse American I am, I still didn't follow. After much gesturing, he finally managed to convey that at the market you can go over to the corral area, pick your goat, and have it slaughtered and grilled up right then and there. You can even enjoy a cold beer in the shade while you wait (Dodoma's "Red Lobster" tank.) When I again demured (yeah, I'm a wuss like that) he took me over to the grill area and said I could pick any piece of meat I wanted - an honor that was nevertheless a bit unnerving. Imagine it- picking out raw hunks of flesh quivering in the desert sun, flecked with flies, while the glassy eyes of goat heads gaze blankly up at you from under the table. The worst is when they're leading a goat away to sell or slaughter- their cry is arrestingly human, enough so to make one reconsider this whole vegetarian thing. That said, to be fair, the meat was pretty darn good. So it went- my boss and I sitting under a tent around a picnic table, chewing on salted goat, drinking Tusker baridi (cold beer), then sitting back with toothpicks to gaze broodingly out over the desert plains. Repeat this scene 3 times and you have a good idea of how the afternoon progressed...suffice to say, it was one of the more testostorone-ladden afternoons of my life (can almost feel the facial hair growing.) I'll leave you with that image...more soon. kt
Kathleen Mulloy
Nkuhungu Secondary School
P.O. Box 1523
Dodoma
Tanzania
I also have a cell phone (yes, I realize how ridiculous it sounds) that I was forced into buying by the friendly folks at VSO. Texting is surprisingly cheap and works in theory, although I haven't received any replies to the texts I've sent to the states so I have my doubts.
My number is 255787198418 - I think that includes the country code.
I'm in Africa! Wow! I wonder if that statement will ever sound natural- I've been here a month and still wake up disoriented. For those of you that I have yet to write/e-mail, I was in Dar es Salaam for 3 weeks for language training, and then moved to Dodoma a little over a week ago. Rather than summarize everything, I'll just tell you what I did today (I'm sure the rest will come out eventually.) I went to a country fair! Really! My boss picked me up on his pikipiki (dirt bike) at around noon from the guesthouse where I've been staying while my house "gets ready" (long story- will detail next post.) My Kiswahili is barely conversational and his English is little better, so I wasn't so sure where we were going. I've gotten better about not worrying about such details. Besides there were more important things to worry about (like my skirt flying over my head, like the gravel road flying beneath us at a frenetic pace.) Happily, only 10 minutes later we arrived at a huge expanse of red sand and wooden fences, chock full of cattle and goats. It was sort of what I've always imagined Texas to look like (if Africans lived in Texas.) We got off the pikipiki and approached the corrall area. My boss asked me if I'd like to buy a goat; I declined. He then explained that we were here for lunch so I had to choose. Being the obtuse American I am, I still didn't follow. After much gesturing, he finally managed to convey that at the market you can go over to the corral area, pick your goat, and have it slaughtered and grilled up right then and there. You can even enjoy a cold beer in the shade while you wait (Dodoma's "Red Lobster" tank.) When I again demured (yeah, I'm a wuss like that) he took me over to the grill area and said I could pick any piece of meat I wanted - an honor that was nevertheless a bit unnerving. Imagine it- picking out raw hunks of flesh quivering in the desert sun, flecked with flies, while the glassy eyes of goat heads gaze blankly up at you from under the table. The worst is when they're leading a goat away to sell or slaughter- their cry is arrestingly human, enough so to make one reconsider this whole vegetarian thing. That said, to be fair, the meat was pretty darn good. So it went- my boss and I sitting under a tent around a picnic table, chewing on salted goat, drinking Tusker baridi (cold beer), then sitting back with toothpicks to gaze broodingly out over the desert plains. Repeat this scene 3 times and you have a good idea of how the afternoon progressed...suffice to say, it was one of the more testostorone-ladden afternoons of my life (can almost feel the facial hair growing.) I'll leave you with that image...more soon. kt
posted by Katie at 7:24 PM
5 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
That sounds like it'd be right up my alley.
The place comes alive in my mind the way you describe it. Sounds amazing. So you did drop off the face of the earth (a face of the earth anyway). Nice to hear from you.
mac! forgive my not knowing the answer to this already, but how did your home/family come through the hurricane season?
yeah mark...i left earlier than expected and didn't tie up all of my loose ends first. the upside is that i'm doing it now...there's a letter in my bag next to me for you (all it needs is an address- you are where now?)
Post a Comment
<< Home