Friends, college trips and Exam questions...
on Kev in Tanzania (Tanzania), 29/Mar/2010 05:40, 34 days ago
The week before our trip to Tanga and Mombasa - had some nice friends visit and a fun trip with the students!Friday 12th MarchAt the college Liz and I decided to do a 'pub quiz' for the extra curricular session (obviously without the alcohol!) I was great and the students really enjoyed getting into groups and answering trivia questions. We watched a extra curricular session a few weeks ago and it was like facing a judges panel and people were so nervous as they had to answer questions alone in front of everyone (some of the girls would even cry!). But by putting them into groups it turned extra curricular into fun!In the evening we met Peter and Juanito at Times restaurant. Peter also invited a Dr friend called Dr Moody, we ate tuna and chips and then went down to the mess for a few beers (it ended up being 6 and a late walk home!) Peter was telling us about what happened after we parted last weekend, he and Ben invited Anita over for dinner but the guy whose house she is staying in did not want her to go (even though he really should have no say) he got upset with Peter and Ben and told Anita she could not go. She told him she wanted to go and he started shouting at them all and tried to hit Peter, Peter held him back and a crowd of young men gathered with machetes. In the end they left Anita with the guy and she promised to ring them to make sure she was ok. It was a clash of cultures and Peter was shocked at how things can suddenly turn volatile - it was lucky they were not attacked by the mob of people!Saturday 13th MarchWe went to Juanitos for dinner and the Cubans and Pepe were there, it was great catching up and was probably the last time we would see Marieles as she is going back to Cuba for a months leave.Sunday 14th MarchWe had a lazy day and did a little tidying, Anita would be visiting on Monday so wanted the place to look nice.Monday 15th MarchAnita came over from Chake and was going to stay over (did wonder if the guy would turn up with a mob and want her back!) She came and met us at the college. Liz and I played a gender game we made with the students and we had rice and beans for lunch before walking home.In the afternoon Liz and Anita went for a walk down to the port and I made some banoffee pie (also a mango pie or manoffee?) and cook pasta for 8!In the evening the Norwegians, Peter, Alain, Juanito all came over and we had a feast! Liz cooked some garlic bread to go with the pasta.Peter had some more bad news as the ministry do not want him to work at the college anymore - it is crazy as he is a genuine volunteer and they are not paying him anything. There is more to this story which is crazy but I will write it when I have left Pemba as it is very controversial!!Tuesday 16th MarchLiz was going to Zanzibar today as she was taking 2 piki pikis (motorbikes) over for some other volunteers. Anita went back to Chake and would be finishing her research on traditional medicine and returning to Holland in the next week or 2.I had a college trip which was good fun, we went to Chake to look in the fort and then went down to Ras Mkumbuu where there are ruins of an old mosque. We had lunch on the beach and it was nice to see the men line up and pray on the beach before eating. The weather was very hot and I got a little sun burned but it was nice to compare Pemban educational visits to UK ones!Wednesday 17th MarchSo I was alone today as Liz was now travelling from Zanzibar to Dar for the gender reps meeting. House felt a little empty without her but I soon got stuck into my work, at college I found the only copy of the previous ICT exam, I went through the questions with the students and gave them model answers. Well model answers to the best of my ability, some the questions were so badly written it was very frustrating. NECTA the exams council should really check the questions as these are national exams and are very unprofessionally written!In the evening Peter and the Norwegians (Eivind and Sigrun) invited me over for dinner, I was glad to be out of the house as there was no power! We had some food and then went up to their rooftop to have some gin and watch the stars - a nice way to spend the evening!Thursday 18th MarchAt college I continued my lessons with the outsiders, we are managing spreadsheets ok, one of the girls is very good and she helps to explain in Kiswahili to the others.In the evening I had a lazy dinner of chipsi mayai and then watched Bourne Identity as there was power.Friday 19th MarchToday was the end of term (if you can call it that, I never know when the holidays are! So we were kicked out of the college at 10am. There was no mail at the post office which was annoying and I went to Chake to get some money from the bank as I we going to travel to Tanga on sunday.Peter had invited me to their house again and I baked a brownie just before there was a powercut (lucky me!) I went down to Juanitos and saw his new pets (pigeons this time...)At Peters we had a feast and Peter gave me some wheatabix (have not had cereal for almost a year!) we had some gin on the roof again and swapped stories. Peter was being sent home and it was sad. Eivind and Sigrun were also moving down to the south of the island where they will continue to watch the election process and be haressed (when Sigrun first arrived someone tried to run her over!)Saturday 20th MarchI packed up my bag for the up coming holiday and went and bought my boat ticket for Tanga. It would be nice to be leaving from Wete rather than having to ride on dalas for 3 hours before jumping on the boat!In the afternoon I watch Serenity and the big sleep (with Bogart) in the evening there was no power so I got an early night. I moved the fridge to stop the evil rat from chewing its wires while we were away and stashed all the good food in containers. I was a little worried about leaving the house as our Askari (guard) Hafid has been sick and not coming to work. I stashed my laptop and went to get dinner, when I returned Hafid came over and I told him I was going to be away for a week.Thats the pre holiday update - coming soon Tanga and Mombasa!Take care