First Morning in My New Home

Good morning, everyone!  Today was the first morning I woke up in my new apartment. As it works out (and this was part of my reason for moving the day I did), it's exam week at school, and I'm not scheduled to proctor any exams today, so I have the day to settle in and unpack. Here's a few pictures from my day:

(Above) The view of my driveway (not that I have a car to park in it) and my gate, from just outside my kitchen door.

My front porch.  I'm still not sure why the wall is a different color on the porch.  

Looking back towards my kitchen door from the gate.

The view from just outside my gate (above and below).  The main roads in Monduli are paved, but the neighborhood roads are all dirt roads.  I have to walk around the cornfield (currently freshly plowed) to get out to the main road.

The view the other way from my gate.

My building from the outside.  The open door to the left is mine. There are several connected apartment and an (unused) shop.  

 An unfinished house across the road.  I like the structure of it, though.  You don't see too many two-story houses around here, and you can see the structure of a spiral staircase inside.  Half-finished houses are a common sight around here.  People don't tend to take a loan to build a house here, or if they do, can't get a big enough loan to do it all at once.  They save up money and build a foundation, or possibly even all of the concrete block part of the house, and then it sits for a year or two while they save up more money to build the roof, run electricity, etc.

The electric pole on my street is a bit concerning.

 We have quite a few of these huge black and white birds in my neighborhood.  They're rather noisy.  My doorbell is a very loud and insistent version of this bird's call, which is maybe not the best because I have to figure out if it's the doorbell or just one of the actual birds on my roof.

Deborah rode her bike over to help out a bit.  She washed the rest of my dishes and helped me unpack a few things. She also hid under a curtain. :) 

I stepped back outside of my gate at sunset, as I can't see much from inside my high walls.

My New Apartment

On March 17th, I finally moved into my own apartment!  I've been living in the Shorts' guesthouse since moving here in August, but they have many visitors coming over the next few months, and a good opportunity came up to rent this apartment with a friend as my landlord.  I've somehow managed to acquire quite a bit to move just in the few months I've been here.  It only took one vehicle, but it was crammed quite full!  The house came furnished with the big things--a fridge, stove, couches, two arm chairs, two beds, some linens and a couple of fans, but I'd been shopping for some pans, cooking utensils, some small plastic carts for the bathrooms, etc.  The Shorts are letting me borrow a folding table and chair until I can get a table (there might be one in another apartment that can be moved in, but we'll see).  They had also saved some items from when another mission team in Mbulu had left more items that they could use when they left Tanzania a couple of years ago, so I inherited a set of dishes, a set of glasses (if you ever visit, DO NOT stack the glasses!  They stick together!), a mixer and a few other kitchen and organizational items. 

The Shorts as well as three young guys that were hanging about (Sheki, Amadeus and Camara) that Tammy roped into helping came to help unpack everything and do things like wipe out dusty cabinets.  (I gave the boys enough money for the three of them to go get dinner from one of our local restaurants as a thank you--about five dollars).  Deborah, who is ten, washed nearly all of my dishes, and then came back the next day and washed all the rest.  That might have been a bad move on her part, because now we all know she is capable of washing dishes well.  But it was much appreciated!

Sheki and Amadeus were very helpful.  Rebecca had hidden Camara's phone, and apparently, he is paralyzed without it.

As you can see, the walls throughout the house are a light sage green color; I'm glad it's not white, and the color is neutral enough that nothing clashes too badly with it.  I really love the floors--they are tile in a three-toned wood pattern.  I know the couch probably seems a bit loud in pattern, but trust me, this is surprisingly neutral and tasteful compared to many examples I've seen locally. There are two bedrooms, so if anyone comes to visit, I have space for you!  

The outside of the house is a pale seafoam green color, except for on the porch, where it is tan. (?)  Not sure why. We had these doors propped wide open while moving in, but in general, I'll use the side door through the kitchen.  These doors off the porch have a wide gap underneath, so there is a towel stuffed under for now, so it'll be easier to just use the other door on a daily basis.  The house has a high wall around it (seven feet or so? No one can see over) and its own gate as well as outdoor lights all around, so it is quite safe. 

So far, I'm really enjoying having my own place again.  It'll be nice to be able to entertain, as well; I enjoy having dinner parties.  I also hope that I'll be able to feel more like part of the community, as I'll be stopping for bread at a different duka (small neighborhood store) and have new neighbors who won't see me as just an extension of the Short family.  It's only a five to ten-minute walk back the Shorts' house, though, so I'm not too far away.  

Sunday Morning Singing

Welcome to another Sunday morning at the school!  As usual, I attended the Sunday morning service in the dining hall that the students all attend.  Enjoy the video of the singing!  Wilson, one of the form four students, is the best student song leader.  

Oscar speaking before the Lord's Supper

Wilson leading singing enthusiastically

Saturday in the Library

It's Saturday afternoon in the Library (yes, for some reason, I'm working on a Saturday), and a heated Uno game is in progress.

Don't I look excited to be here?  Hans wanted a selfie with me.   

Just Another Day in Paradise

Another beautiful day here in Tanzania!  The clouds lifted over Mt. Meru, giving us a beautiful view from the grocery store parking lot.  Driving home at sunset was beautiful; I don't have a particularly good view of the sunset from anywhere I normally am at that time in Monduli, so I appreciate it all the more when driving across the wide-open areas on the way back from Arusha on shopping days. 

I always love the view of the road going straight to the mountain as we turn off the highway onto the road to Monduli. 

Form 4 Projects

Trying to be cool...Clement, Moureen, Pamela, Vivian, Rukia and Daniel

The form four students all had to do a big project that included a report with pictures in it.  Pamela, the top student in form four, came to me and asked if they could use my phone to take some photos of their group to use in their project, and I agreed.  As our school focuses on the sciences, most of the groups chose something scientific, mostly in the medical field from what I saw, as their topic.  This group's report was about blood donation in Tanzania.  So, they borrowed some of the white coats from the lab for the right look. They took several shots of the six of them; I'm not sure which they finally decided to go with.  But here's six the kids from our form four (senior) class! Please pray that they will have wisdom in the paths they follow after they graduate this November! 

This is not GQ, Clement. Look at the camera. 

I don't think this one's going in the report...

Student Work

Another day in the life of an English teacher...

Tanzanian Paintings

To celebrate moving into my new apartment, I finally bought some paintings from Mafia Alley, a big handicraft market in Arusha.  It's the kind of place in which bargaining is expected, and the prices aren't too high.  These will add a lot of color to my new place!  My favorite is a large painting of a rhino, my favorite animal.  The yellow tones in the background match a lot of other things I plan to put in the living room.  

The other smaller paintings I bought are in the Tinga Tinga style.  Tinga Tinga is a painting style that is very popular here in Tanzania.  The style started in the Oyster Bay area in Dar es Salaam in the mid-1900s and spread from there.  The founder of the style was Edward Said Tingatinga, and the style was named for him.  

Tinga Tinga started out being painted on masonite, using bicycle paint, which made for very bright colors.  They are usually very stylized, with caricatures of animals arranged into patterns on bright backgrounds.  While they don't have to be of animals, most are because tourists spend the most money on paintings, and visitors like African animals.  

They aren't for everyone, but I love them! 

Ngarash Juu

Some days I'm really struck by the fact that I live in a beautiful place.  Today was one of those days.  I went with Tammy and the girls up to Ngarash Juu, a neighborhood of farms up on the slopes of the mountain up over the school, to visit some people who live up there.  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, and the view down over the fields and to the valley below was stunning.