Just one of them days...

Today was one of those days when I just knew better- I knew that getting out of bed was going to be more trouble than it was worth. It's overcast here, with blankets of dark blue clouds in the west that anywhere else would promise rain (it doesn't rain here during the dry season-May through November- and by no rain, I mean nothing- no mist, no sprinkles, not a drop of precipitation in any form whatsoever.) The walk to school was like living a gothic novel- an eerie lack of people, a black scorpian the size of my fist crossing the dirt path in front of me, flocks of crows screetching their way through the sky. It cummulated in my dog chasing and (I like to think, inadvertently) killing a chicken at school, where chickens roam around freely and provide too much temptation for Mwasha to handle. There were no marks upon the chicken (maybe it had a heart attack?) but there's no doubt that Mwasha was the cause; this chicken chasing is a new habit and one that seems to occur more and more frequently these days. It was exceedingly regretful as I had to bargain with the owner (the nightwatchman for our school) over the price of the chicken, (he charged me a very fair 2000tsh or about $1.80) and then walk Mwasha home and tie him up in my small compound. Given that all dogs (and chickens) run free here, I feel horrible having him on a leash 24/7 but I don't know what else to do; this time it's a chicken, next time it's a small child and my head's on a pole. So it goes, but am really down about it.
Other things that I'm down about- demonstrations by the muslim community are starting here over the conflict between Israel and Lebanon; a large one occurs today in Dar es Salaam after afternoon prayers, and while no specific embassies are targeted, there's a lot of Anti-American sentiment given the U.S.'s current stance on the situation. It's a concern as Tanzania tends to be a very peaceful, relatively non-political country, but all it would take is for one of these protests to get out of hand and the U.S. embassy/VSO would start evacuation proceedings. Despite such concerns, there are good things going on here; I'm starting to conduct review sessions at Bihawanna village on Saturdays, which is super-exciting and self-affirming. I'll try to write more about that tomorrow. In any case, take care...

kt

P.S. VSO's laying the smack down on blogging. As I have previously within this blog identified myself as a VSO volunteer, I also now must include the following statement: "the views expressed in this weblog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of VSO" just in case y'all thought my views on things like chicken-chasing dogs were those of VSO as well (VSO does not, as far as I know, take a stand on chicken chasing.) While I think I've only said good and/or neutral things about VSO on here, if anyone finds an instance where I have not done so, please let me know as such comments could be grounds for review of my placement. Similarly, if anyone feels moved to post negative views about VSO on my website, please don't, as I'll have to remove said comments or potentially be subject to a review of placement. Tempted to make a sardonic comment here about the joys of free speech, but I think I'll keep it to myself- more soon, kt