It's Saba Saba!
It's Saba-Saba Day! Schools and Banks are closed, my favorite internet cafe is all locked up, and it seems highly unlikely that all that much will be going on in town tonight. What is Saba-Saba Day you ask? Well, in English Saba-Saba means "seven-seven" or the seventh day of the seventh month. Seems like a good reason to have a holiday right? I asked some local school children the reasons behind the holiday and whether there were any special traditions associated with it (a saba saba bunny bringing saba eggs?) and they told me that it meant they get extra rice at school. hmmmm...maybe Tanzanian's were just anxious for a holiday and couldn't wait until Union Day in December. There's also a Nane-Nane Day (or the eighth day of the eighth month) so the joys of celebrating arbitrary holidays continue (to be fair, I think these holiday's have other associations, but it's of yet unclear to me what they are...farmer's day maybe?)
Other than that, not a whole lot's been happening. World Cup continues to enthrall, and I'm a bit concerned about facing life after it ends. School starts up again next week after a long, long holiday, and I'm downright thrilled about getting back into the classroom, even if it is only to teach a few classes a week. I was particularly depressed to read that the New York State courts ruled against gay marriage yesterday. Tempting as it is to use this blog as a platform to espouse my current political beliefs, I'll just say that I expected better from New York and leave it at that. What else?....hmmmm.... I discovered that the largest bill in Tanzania is the 10,000 shilling bill which currently trades at the equivalent of roughly $8.50 USD. Imagine running your whole economy (bearing in mind that you don't have the option of credit cards here) with nothing larger than a $10 bill. Now I know why I get paid in thick stacks of bills at the start of every month (a slightly shady operation with overtones of The Soprano's- a cluttered backroom, the Secretary counts out a huge wad of 10,000's while looking hurriedly over her shoulder before thrusting them into a brown paper envelope that I try to nonchalently tuck into my skirts.) It was even better in Mozambique where the exchange rate between meticals and USD traded at 24,000 meticals per dollar. You emerged a millionaire from every trip to the bank/cash machine ("I'll have 3 million meticals please.")
The highlight of the week was undoubtedly a great visit to my friend Dan's site in Bihawanna, a tiny bush village about an hour west from Dodoma. Dan was an amazing host; his site is incredibly basic, but he trotted out all the extras for my visit- mints on the pillows, icy-cold sprites (kept cold thanks to a bucket filled with incredibly valuable ice) and fresh pommegrantes from the tree in front of his house. We took a tour of his village (and it's 4 houses) before heading up to the seminary on the top of a the rocky hill that overlooks the town. One of the priests, Father Sebastian, undoubtedly falls on my top 10 list of favorite Tanzanians. He's incredibly friendly, and matches insightful comments with an industriousness rarely seen. He's the one responsible for the fields of grapes behind the seminary, (the Seminary has it's own label- "Altar Wine," and is semi-famous in this region for it's red) the advanced irrigation systems for the gardens, the incredible test scores of the 120 pupils at the Seminary High School. I'd give my left arm to be able to work with him (and, as luck would have it, they need a math teacher) but alas, I'm stuck (I mean employed) at Nkuhungu. I think Bihawanna's destined to be my new happy place, my retreat from work when I get frustrated and cranky. It's incredibly beautiful (and, I'm afraid I'm easily swayed by such things) and peaceful in a way that Nkuhungu isn't. I've lived here for almost a year now and still shouldn't walk around by myself at night; Bihawanna's the type of place that hasn't seen a violent crime in years. There's also some amazing hiking in the hills that I'm more than a little keen to take advantange of. I'm lucky that Dan's willing to deal with the backlash of my visits; being a small town, having a (gasp!) female who isn't his wife/sister/girlfriend stay with him is a source of never ending gossip, speculation, and even some loss of status. So it goes. It was a great visit in any case.
Okay, more soon!
Katie
Other than that, not a whole lot's been happening. World Cup continues to enthrall, and I'm a bit concerned about facing life after it ends. School starts up again next week after a long, long holiday, and I'm downright thrilled about getting back into the classroom, even if it is only to teach a few classes a week. I was particularly depressed to read that the New York State courts ruled against gay marriage yesterday. Tempting as it is to use this blog as a platform to espouse my current political beliefs, I'll just say that I expected better from New York and leave it at that. What else?....hmmmm.... I discovered that the largest bill in Tanzania is the 10,000 shilling bill which currently trades at the equivalent of roughly $8.50 USD. Imagine running your whole economy (bearing in mind that you don't have the option of credit cards here) with nothing larger than a $10 bill. Now I know why I get paid in thick stacks of bills at the start of every month (a slightly shady operation with overtones of The Soprano's- a cluttered backroom, the Secretary counts out a huge wad of 10,000's while looking hurriedly over her shoulder before thrusting them into a brown paper envelope that I try to nonchalently tuck into my skirts.) It was even better in Mozambique where the exchange rate between meticals and USD traded at 24,000 meticals per dollar. You emerged a millionaire from every trip to the bank/cash machine ("I'll have 3 million meticals please.")
The highlight of the week was undoubtedly a great visit to my friend Dan's site in Bihawanna, a tiny bush village about an hour west from Dodoma. Dan was an amazing host; his site is incredibly basic, but he trotted out all the extras for my visit- mints on the pillows, icy-cold sprites (kept cold thanks to a bucket filled with incredibly valuable ice) and fresh pommegrantes from the tree in front of his house. We took a tour of his village (and it's 4 houses) before heading up to the seminary on the top of a the rocky hill that overlooks the town. One of the priests, Father Sebastian, undoubtedly falls on my top 10 list of favorite Tanzanians. He's incredibly friendly, and matches insightful comments with an industriousness rarely seen. He's the one responsible for the fields of grapes behind the seminary, (the Seminary has it's own label- "Altar Wine," and is semi-famous in this region for it's red) the advanced irrigation systems for the gardens, the incredible test scores of the 120 pupils at the Seminary High School. I'd give my left arm to be able to work with him (and, as luck would have it, they need a math teacher) but alas, I'm stuck (I mean employed) at Nkuhungu. I think Bihawanna's destined to be my new happy place, my retreat from work when I get frustrated and cranky. It's incredibly beautiful (and, I'm afraid I'm easily swayed by such things) and peaceful in a way that Nkuhungu isn't. I've lived here for almost a year now and still shouldn't walk around by myself at night; Bihawanna's the type of place that hasn't seen a violent crime in years. There's also some amazing hiking in the hills that I'm more than a little keen to take advantange of. I'm lucky that Dan's willing to deal with the backlash of my visits; being a small town, having a (gasp!) female who isn't his wife/sister/girlfriend stay with him is a source of never ending gossip, speculation, and even some loss of status. So it goes. It was a great visit in any case.
Okay, more soon!
Katie
posted by Katie at 10:02 AM
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