Yet again there have been many ups and downs since my last update. First, there have been security concerns. On several occasions someone has attempted to reach through the bars on my windows and take anything close enough for them to grab. On one occasion a bag containing my camera and passport was taken, so I lost all my pictures, which is why none have appeared on the blog. Even more serious, though, was last Friday night when I returned to my house with a couple of Tanzanian friends. We caught someone with a crow bar trying to pry open my front door. I'm glad there were three of us, since he had the crow bar, and he just ran away. He did not succeed in getting in, but he did do enough damage to the lock that it would no longer open and I had to used the back door until we could replace the lock this week. Now people stealing stuff is one thing, but the fact that someone was almost in my house is a little more disturbing. Fortunately, my neighbors and the people at the school have been great. My headmaster has agreed to put metal gates on my doors (a fairly common security precaution here) that would probably prevent someone from breaking in. My neighbor, who is also in charge of maintenance at the school, brought someone to fix the lock, is hiring a welder for the gate, and brought students over to my house to clear out all of the large bushes surrounding my house, taking away a potential thief's hiding place. Once those gates are finished I feel like my house will be pretty secure.
On other fronts, things are going well. Classes are starting to feel fairly normal and I think that it will be a job I can handle just fine. I'm also starting to spend more time with the several Tanzanian friends I've made. I think that is helping me feel more part of the community. At first it was extremely hard to feel like I belong there, and in some ways it still is, but I don't feel so out of place anymore.
I've taken some more time to explore some of the areas around the school. As you go away from town from my house, you quickly come to sparsely populated farmland close to the lake. The area is quiet and beautiful and there are always some amazing birds down there. There's even an out of the way place to have a drink, and a really nice hotel/bar they are building that will be spectacular when it's finished. Of course with the speed things get done here, it may not be open until after I'm gone.
An update on my Nganza fan club: they convinced Ryan to invite me to their Form VI graduation on Wednesday. It's going to be quite a party.
3 comments:
Andrew,
If security concerns persist, we'll send Murphy.
Love,
Dad
need an ACFGK update.
--Leroi
I'll work on it Leroi. Amber, good to hear from you. Actually I would have had no idea the Winter Olympics were going on if I didn't happen to hear it mentioned on BBC radio. So I did not see one second of coverage and could not name one gold medal winner. People aren't just unaware that the Winter Olympics just happened, they're unaware they exist at all. Kind of like the Superbowl, actually. It's a different world.
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