Daily and Weekly Routine

October 24, 2011


Habari za asubuhi! (Good morning!)
Our day begins before the sun is up because we on on the edge of Iringa Town in a "suburb" called Kihesa. It is in the same area that Tumaini University is located on the NE side of Iringa.
(The university can be Googled or found on a map page. Look for a group of buildings one of which is a circle with four arms. It is the chapel on Sundays and a class room during the week.)

The reason that morning can start early is because the dogs may bark or definitely the roosters crow or the goat bells may be ringing as they are driven to find pasture. Also, as the sun comes up people begin to move and talk as they walk by our open window. Since we are not too far below the equator, the sun comes up about 6am and sets about 6pm-all year long.  It may be a little longer or shorter, but not more than 30 minutes. We are usually up by 6 or 7am--why waste the sunshine?

This is the time we all four check our emails because you were busy sending them while we slept! (And vice versa), a good photo or laugh or comment starts the day right. Usually someone starts our breakfast and to heat the water for the dishes after eating. Water is heated for showers each time, also, since the heater is small and located in each bathroom. By 8am or a little later we are doing more computer work or now to class.

Rich now has class 12-2 on Monday, 8-10 and 12-1 onTuesday and 11-12 on Wednesday. The rest of the week can be student contact time.  He is teaching first, Probability and Statistics and second, Functions and Trigonometry.  He feels that the students can understand him and they will ask questions. So far so good.

So that is Richard's schedule. Joan's is not so detailed.  There is not a place at the university yet, although  we should hear something this week about helping students with their English before they go out for internship. We have been checking with a few secondary teachers to help them with tutoring and nothing is set yet. Perhaps Sue and Joan need to be looking harder?!?

The rest of the morning is making the bed and putting up the bed net, reading, answering emails, sending this blog, maybe doing a little hand washing, some needle work, and trying to get out for a walk before it is too hot. We have a lady that comes in to clean two days a week and she does most of our laundry by hand. This was prearranged by our landlord. Then it is time to think about making lunch and heating the water for dishes again. Many of our meals have been vegetarian and involve much slicing and dicing.

Afternoons depend on what is needed in"town". It seems that there is always some food that is needed since the refrigerator is not big. We are still finding things that we could use to make life easier, a basket, tools, nails, etc., although our life is quite easy compared to most of the people living around us and in Iringa. The drive to the market takes about 10-15 minutes depending on the traffic which includes cars, trucks, dala dalas (small buses), loaded bicycles, and many, many walkers. And we have to go polepole, (slowly) over all the speedbumps by the dukas, (stores).  It is always an adventure which is becoming less scarey each time we go.  Both Richard and Dan are good drivers on the left side of the road since they have had experience driving there before.

Wednesday afternoon we drive in to pick up a box of vegetables that was ordered on Sunday. It is always a surprise to see what was ordered. The market is buzzing with business as we find the vendors we have purchased goods from before. It is a great place to practice our Swahili numbers and to haggle a little over the price of fruit--papayas, mangoes, pineapples. Dan and Sue McIntrye (our housemates from Church of Peace in Maplewood) are waiting for the grapefruit to arrive! If we are looking for something specific we may have to stop at many dukas to find it. Usually we get a few laughs, but they help us go to another place. I wonder how many owners are related or they really help one another for a sale.

Back home we again chop and slice vegetables after unloading the car. preparing our evening meal. All four of us seem to work together well and take turns cooking the meals. Much banter goes on about the classes and university, other meetings that Dan is involved with or our shared emails. Also, we have begun trying to decide what to do for our Christmas break! Wherever we go, it will be a long trek and various transports to get there.

After washing the dishes and putting away any food, we hope that the power won't go off so we can continue to read, plan for class, email, or occasionally watch a movie. We sometimes walk around the house with our headlamps when the power is off line. It probably looks funny from outside. We are glad that we have a gas powered stove. So far the mosquitoes have not been fierce and we could sit outside a little before eating.  It is very dry and no rain since we came one month ago. Perhaps the rain will come in November for the crops that are ready to be planted. We pray they will have good rains so there is not a famine here in Tanzania.

Well, as unexciting as this is, it is our schedule so far. Time seems to pass quickly. Soon it is necessary to pull down the bed net before crawling under it to sleep. Harbari za jioni!  (Good night!)