Through the Seasons

A couple of weeks ago we went to church with our friends in Mbeya. What an experience!

The first 2 hours were spent in singing and an occasional, brief word from someone. Then there was a 30 minute sermon followed by more talking and singing. Oh and dancing! Lots of vibrant dancing. Since we were visitors we also had to stand up and introduce ourselves. (Horrible!)

The offering during the service was interesting too. They stand up front and everyone gets up and puts their offering in the basket. Then a man takes it out, counts it, and a little later comes back in to announce the total. The day we were there we didn’t catch the amount but the last time our friends went to that church the total offering was 11,000 shillings which is $10 and our friends gave 2,000 shillings of that total.

After church service everyone goes out front and shakes every single person’s hand. Then they form a circle where they auction off tangible goods that people have brought as their offering. When we were there a lady brought an egg. It was quite sweet and humbling.

The whole experience though was exhausting honestly. That’s just a lot of singing when you don’t come from a background where that’s normal. The fact that everything was in Swahili made it so much worse because you’re exerting so much energy to try to follow (which we hardly did at all).

It became extremely clear that to get the spiritual nourishment we crave, we’re on our own. It also reminded me of the 10 minority languages around Mbeya who don’t know Swahili and their only option for church and Bible is Swahili. It’s exciting to be a part of work that will take the Scripture and make it come alive for them in the language that they understand. And I’m even more grateful now for the fact that I grew up with English preaching, teaching, and Bible. We are so fortunate to have these things! Thanks Mr. William Tyndale. And thank You God for sending him to give us Your Word and for sending us to give Your Word to others.

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During Friday’s language class, instead of Swahili, we learned some about Tanzanian culture. Thankfully, they taught the session in English so we’d be sure to understand.

The main part of the session was question and answer time. We were allowed to ask anything we wanted and were assured we’d get honest answers. There were soooo many questions! We could have sat there for hours discussing these things.

They explained to us that we have to remember there are 3 parts to every culture. There is the general culture of that area. There is a personal culture so not everyone we meet will fall in line with the general. Then there’s the human culture – things we’d pretty much all do no matter where we’re from. Just try generalizing the people from your country. You’ll always find exceptions to the rule. But what we did learn will help a lot when we come across it. Just remember when I say “Tanzanians” are or do something, that it’s a generalization and may not hold true for everyone here.

I’ll share things we learned occasionally on the blog instead of trying to fit it all here. I took pages of notes. For now, here are a couple interesting facts:

(Note: People in towns are a bit different than people in villages so there will be distinctions from time to time.)

1. In the villages, a man wearing a necklace is thought to be homosexual.
2. In the villages, a woman wearing an anklet is considered to be a prostitute.

Very good to know!

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Today our class assignment is that we go to town to take care of some sort of “business”… in Swahili of course.  So we took the opportunity to go to the doctor for a prenatal checkup.  It’s been 5 weeks since my last one.

I had a great report!  My last 2 checkups I’ve “gotten in trouble” for not drinking enough water so I have been vigilant about upping that and today I was in the clear.  My iron was low at my last appointment so I’ve been taking iron pills.  Today my iron levels were great.  My blood pressure is still normal and I still don’t have any swelling.  The only “bad” thing was my weight gain.  I’ve gained 4 kilos (almost 9 pounds) in 5 weeks.  That sweet nurse said, “Haiwezikani!”  That means, “It’s impossible!”  AH!  What?!  Well.  Not impossible apparently.  I joked with her that I needed to stop eating.  She got very serious on me then and told me that if I stop eating, the baby will stop growing.  Right.  It’s hard to joke in Swahili…  The baby’s heartbeat was good too.  I wasn’t much worried about that though as much as he moves around now!  So, overall I’m doing well.  I did email the doctor in Dar to see if she had any concern about my weight gain.  My body looks absolutely no different except my tummy.  Jonathan and I may fit another walk into our days.  It would be a nice time together anyway.  Otherwise, I’m just not going to overly worry about it.

This trip to the doctor was different than any of our others though because Jonathan didn’t handle anything for me.  I wouldn’t have let him because I need to practice my Swahili in real life situations… and he had the same idea so that’s good!  I handled the appointment with the receptionist and prepaid (of course).  I spoke to a nurse who was cleaning the waiting room.  I handled the lab time and then did the talking with the nurse during the checkup itself.  She had to ask me a million questions so that was really good practice.  I understood everyone pretty well and they understood me.  The last nurse said that I speak Swahili well.  Heehee…  (I really don’t but for an American I guess I’m doing okay.)  Now there were words here and there that I didn’t know and she would say them in English.  One time she said a word a couple times and I didn’t understand.  Then she said, “Pain.”  Yikes!  What!?  I’m glad she said it in English!  She put this metal funnel thing on my tummy using a little pressure then put her ear on it.  She was listening to the baby’s heartbeat.  Crazy!  Then she got out a little machine to listen to the heartbeat again.  I don’t know why she did it twice unless the little metal thing wasn’t working or something.  Anyway, it was a great time of practice and it really helped my confidence that I was able to communicate there because I can directly compare it to the last time we were there and could hardly say anything and could understand absolutely nothing.  Progress!!

Now we’re at the internet cafe because Jonathan wants to do something online.  I’m sure this is not exactly what the teachers had in mind as we’re just sitting here on our computers…and typing in English but hopefully we won’t be here too long.  We have a little shopping we’d like to get done before we head back for lunch.

Oh and maybe you’ve noticed…  Jonathan figured out how to connect to the internet via his cell phone so we’re able to get online at the campsite now.  That’s why I’ve been able to respond to email more quickly and blog more frequently.  We still have to come to town some though for the big projects because those sort of things are cheaper here.  I do hope to continue keeping you better updated now that I can.  Jonathan has posted a ton of pictures in the photo gallery on our main web page too so check it out!

Nitawaona sasa hivi.  (I will see you soon.)

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And I must remember that!

Outside of our banda is a river. Many days women from the village come to wash clothes, dishes, and their kids. The kids spend most of their time playing and swimming in the water.

One day Jonathan decided to give the kids candy. He did this a few times after with long delays between but at some point it became a little more regular. The kids have discovered the best time to catch him, which is around dusk each evening, so now each and every evening we hear little voices from the river saying, “Jonathan. Jonathan. Jonathan.”

He, of course, doesn’t want to just give them candy every time they ask so he keeps telling them he doesn’t have any candy. A few days he’s also given the families down there beans. They’re very grateful and happy when that happens…but they have yet to ask for beans. It’s always candy. Kids are kids wherever they are I guess.

Of course, Jonathan just answered them and gave them candy so…we can’t really wonder why they call for him every night.  LOL!

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When I was in the States my blog posts were daily and had a bit more variety and, if I remember correctly, a bit more heart and transparency.  I feel like now I merely report news each time I get the chance.  I hope to one day get back to how I used to write.  I really enjoyed it being that way.  So instead of giving you another play-by-play update I’m going to tell you how we like it here.  Hmmm…  or at least how I like it here.  I’ll let Jonathan speak for himself. 

I do really like it here so far.  The problem has been that practically the whole time we’ve lived at a campsite run by a British couple.  There are Tanzanian workers but we’re not submersed in the culture all day every day.  We also get served whatever they want to serve us and have moved 7 times since arriving.  The months of morning sickness didn’t help either because I spent a lot of time simply lying in bed.  Because of all this I’ve felt more like I’m transitioning constantly than settling into life here.  Being in the banda instead has helped tremendously (and so has the morning sickness ending).  We can make some of our own food now and then (just breakfast and snacks) and we have more space and windows.  The view is nicer too.  I’m really looking forward to moving to Mbeya and really taking care of my own house and family again.  Sometimes I daydream about what colors I want to “decorate” with at home.  The baby’s room will of course be blue (so cliche, I know).  I would love to have a purple and green accented bedroom.  (We’ll need a mosquito net and you can choose purple as one of the colors for the top.)  In the living room I envision yellow and orange.  But who knows.  We won’t be able to decorate a whole lot but a little touch here and there would be nice.  Like, if we need curtains anyway, those are the colors I’d want…  Uh…but where was I?  Oh yeah.  How I like it here.

The Tanzanian people we’ve been around the most have been gracious, friendly, and a lot of fun.  I’ve heard the best thing about Africa is the people and I can see how that would be true.  I do have times of disorientation or at least a feeling of being overwhelmed:  at the market, in town, and at church.  First of all, I’m extremely aware of being different and standing out in these places.  The language is exhausting to listen to because you’re working so hard at communication.  And sometimes just the mere busyness of it all wears me out.  (Going to the mall in America did the same thing to me.  I’d get tired, overwhelmed, and overstimulated.)  But the more I go to these places the more comfortable I feel.

There are definitely things from the U.S. I miss – mainly familiar foods – but there are some things I like here better – well, those are foods too.  Haha…  The beans are so good here.  I don’t know how they cook them but yum!  The pineapple here is the best I’ve ever had (and I have eaten fresh pineapple in Hawaii).  I love that the fruits and vegetables are so cheap.  That really helps to be able to eat a lot of those and they’re always fresh.  The things in the market put to shame most American grocery store produce sections.

I guess overall I just feel like we haven’t really begun “doing” enough yet.  Yes, we’ve been working hard at learning the language and culture.  But as a “do-er” and “worker” and “goal/progress-oriented” type person, I am looking forward to getting involved in the work in Mbeya.  It depends on the baby how much time I can put into the actual accounting work but to even be there where Jonathan and the rest of the team is making a difference will be rewarding I think.  We sat in on a meeting when we were in Mbeya recently and it was nice to see both “Western” missionaries and Tanzanians working together.  Hearing about all the work going on was encouraging and uplifting.

One of the prayer requests of the team in Mbeya is to have young people come long-term who will learn the language and spend time building relationships.  That’s what they need the most.  They need the work to be done too, of course, but the more we can understand the Tanzanians in that area the better we’ll be able to serve them and, more importantly, to equip them to take over our roles and continue the work themselves.

So I guess that’s how I like it personally and regarding the work itself.  I don’t ever just feel frustrated and upset (which can happen when you’re transitioning to a new culture).  Sometimes bugs get on my nerves especially if I’m trying to eat – but we eat outside here so that problem will be remedied eventually.  I really don’t like biting into rocks in the rice.  (I hope my dentist isn’t reading this…)  I get scared that I’m going to break a tooth and it really just doesn’t feel good.  I don’t mind people yelling at me in the market or asking me for money.  They aren’t real aggressive so I just either respond or ignore based on the situation.  Hmmm…and I guess outside of that, everything is fine right now.  When we move to Mbeya and I’m doing all our shopping, cooking, housecleaning, etc that may change but for now I’m comfortable and happy and content.

(I think the care packages from people have helped tremendously too.  I’ve had both brownies and candy corn today.  Thank you all again and again and again for sending us familiar food!!!)

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…rainy season started in December…  But it has been raining!!  It rained Friday (for a few minutes) and Saturday (for a few minutes) and now it’s dark, cloudy, and smells like rain.  I love it!  Before now, during the almost 3 months we’ve been here, we’ve seen it mist briefly one time in Iringa.  It has been the dry season so lots of dust and everything away from the river is brown.  In just these few days of light rain flowers are blooming, trees are budding, and things are turning green.  Of course we’re also seeing a bug here and there.  We’ve heard there are certain bugs that come with the rainy season.  I just hope they stay out of the banda.  With the rain too come the mosquitoes so we may have to start sleeping under a mosquito net, covering up from dusk to dawn, and using bug spray (the worst part to me because of my intensified sense of smell).  The fires will likely stop now too so that will be good.  Every once in a while a wild fire springs up.  So far none have been close to the campsite so we’ve been safe.  I think it’s supposed to be hot now but the clouds and rain make it feel very cool.  I like that pretty well too.  It’s a great temperature – not too hot, not too cold.  Well, enough of my weather report.  I think I’ll go sit on the front porch and enjoy it instead.

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We have witnessed Tanzanian people dancing a few times now. They are very flexible and when they move they really move. I think I figured out today where they get their skills from: their mamas’ backs. Tanzanian women carry their children on their backs (wrapped in a big piece of fabric). At the wedding today the ladies would dance and dance. You should have seen those kids bouncing around! (Actually, Jonathan took photos and video so hopefully that’ll be online sometime in the future.) They were getting really good, and early, practice.

So we found out more about the wedding. What actually happened is that they got married 3 weeks ago and then he began negotiating the bride price with the girl’s father. She wasn’t allowed to come home with him to live until he paid it (or an agreed upon percentage of it anyway). Sunday was her big homecoming when she officially became his wife and was able to move in with him.

Because his house was an hour and a half walk away we asked a guy here to take us. When he dropped us off he decided to say congratulations to the couple. That’s when we found out she wasn’t there. We asked where she was and the groom/husband said she was on her way – walking – and it would take a very long time for her to arrive. So the guy who took us left to go get the bride/wife. When she arrived it was a huge celebration. One person held a big piece of fabric over the bride’s head. Others shook branches of some kind over the couple. Everyone else danced and sang. The bride and groom were completely stone faced. They have somber faces to show respect to their families. Almost the whole time we were there they didn’t crack a smile (although there were a few here and there).

When we arrived at the house they ushered us inside, got us all chairs, and asked us to sit down. The groom/husband and a couple of workers from the campsite were in there with us but everyone else was outside. We don’t know why. At one point they served us food – rice (watch out for the rocks in it), spinach, tomatoes, and chicken – but the few of us inside the house were the only ones who were served. We don’t know why. A co-worker of ours asked if their families wanted to come in and eat. The groom said they’d eat later. We don’t know why. It’s always nice to have someone who knows the culture and is honest with you about it. We don’t have anyone like that so we had a lot of unanswered questions.

Finally we got up to leave, offered congratulations, and thanked them. We walked out of the house and all the sudden the big group of people outside started dancing and singing. We were like…um…does this have something to do with us? We still don’t know for sure. But they danced and sang for a while. The bride and groom walked us out where we again offered congratulations and thanked them. As we began our journey to the campsite one of their vehicles showed up to give us a ride. (Praise God!) The driver went into the crowd and did whatever is good for him to do. After a bit he walked back out with the bride and groom. At the car we again offered congratulations and thanked them. All these times they thanked us and asked us to come again. Some of the campsite workers took advantage of a vehicle being there so they loaded into the back where they sang us back to where we’re now calling home.

Our wedding gift to them, the goat, was indeed eaten on Sunday…just not by us…and that’s fine by me.

I hope pictures and/or video go online soon.

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So this whole wedding thing with our new friend here has been interesting.  We asked when the wedding was going to be held and he said hopefully this month and that he was still negotiating the price with the girl’s father.  Oh.  Price.  The father asked for 320,000 shillings (equivalent to a little less than $320).  That’s a huge sum for him but he already had 100,000 shillings and he said if he had the goat now he could add that to the money and have enough to go ahead and get married.  That doesn’t mean the goat costs (or is worth) 220,000 shillings.  The culture here is that the groom-to-be struggles to get the dowry amount but never gets the whole thing.  Usually if he pays around half of it he’ll be allowed to go ahead and get married to the man’s daughter and will just “owe” the remaining.  The way it was told to us, he will pay it when Jesus returns.  It is a sign of disrespect if he pays the whole thing up front.  He’s basically saying he could pay more and what you’re asking for your daughter is nothing.  They like to see the man struggle to pay because it signifies that he is serious about their daughter.  (Maybe we should have this dowry thing in the States?  …smile…)  So, we went ahead and bought him a goat.  Therefore, they were free to set the wedding date.  We think it’s this Saturday but haven’t heard that confirmed yet.  We don’t know what we’re supposed to wear either.  Or where to go.  Or how to get there.  But.  All those details will come…  We’re really excited.  He is a very nice guy and we’re so honored to have been invited to his wedding and to be able to help him get enough to buy his bride.  We hope to be able to take pictures and share them.

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Well, I finally had my first bus ride here in Tanzania.  Thankfully, I didn’t get sick on the bus.  That happened during the taxi ride on the way to the bus station.  In fact, the taxi driver wanted to take us to the hospital.  But we made it to the bus station and on the bus with no problems. 

The bus looked well-maintained and the driver looked sane… as far as I could tell… so I was thankful for that.  We sat on the second row and there wasn’t a seat in front of Jonathan so he had plenty of leg room.  The ride is 7 hours long with 2 stops where you get off the bus so that’s really too long to sit at one time but it didn’t end up really bothering us much at all.  The ride really wasn’t as bumpy as it was in the car on the way down.  (The roads aren’t always great.)  The curves still got me (curvy roads have always turned my stomach) and I had to change seats with Jonathan but that was only the last hour and a half of the trip.  Now by then our bodies were really tired of sitting on that bus and I found myself changing sitting positions about every 5 minutes.  I noticed at our last stop of the trip that my feet had swollen a bit too so I loosened my shoes and moved my legs and feet as much as I could.  The swelling went right back down and I ended up being fine. 

The bathrooms here are a bit different but I’m more used to them now so they didn’t bother me.  There are stalls like usual but in each is a hole with porcelein around it that you stand on…hence why they’re called squat toilets.  Then they either flush or there is water you pour into the hole.  There is never, ever toilet paper.  Ever.  So I always travel with a roll.  Always.    The bathrooms sound so different that you may cringe at it (I know I did at first) but they use a similar concept in Europe too apparently and the good thing is that you don’t touch anything.  I really like that part.  Sometimes the bathrooms are very clean and then others are kind of smelly (so you just make it quick).  I have seen bathrooms that were just disgustingly dirty and that really does gross me out (many public bathrooms in America have grossed me out as well) but I used the bathroom at the bus station and at our two stops and all three were clean. 

On the way down we only stopped once and that was on the side of the road.  This was one of my biggest aprehensions when moving here.  And when I did go I kept saying, “This is horrible.”  But I have to say it really wasn’t.  I had a big skirt on that became my bathroom stall walls (and I was far from the road with Jonathan looking out for me).  Also, we were outside so it wasn’t smelly at all and I had my trusty toilet paper with me so really I was all set.  As far as washing my hands…whether at a public bathroom or outside I had to use hand sanitizer until I could get somewhere to wash my hands with soap.  (The public restrooms have sinks but not many have soap.  I have no idea what the point is of simply running water over your hands.) 

One funny thing about culture here is if you’re visiting people at their homes and ask to use the bathroom they’ll ask if you have a big or small intention (like asking if it’s number 1 or number 2).  If it’s small they give you a small cup of water and if it’s big they’ll give you a big bowl/bucket of water.  I’ve never done this but have only heard about it.  I have no idea what these bathrooms are like but the water is apparently to wash things down when finished.  Outside of that I haven’t had that experience yet. 

And now that I’m thinking of culture I have so many things to mention.  But I’ll save it for the future.  Where was I on this bus story?

On the way to Dar we saw impala, baboons, zebra, and giraffe – and got some great photos.  On the bus trip back we were going much faster and the windows are horrible to look out of with the openings being kind of small and blocked by seats but we did see impala, baboons, zebra, giraffe, elephants, and warthogs.  The pictures of those though are few.  It’s crazy to just see these animals doing their thing in the wild.  It makes me think I’m at the zoo.  I want to see hippos but they generally stay in the water and we didn’t pass many water holes close up.  Some have seen lions and cheetahs on the drive from Dar to Iringa but that’s extremely rare – and harder to spot.  Baboons are the easiest as they’re everywhere along the sides of the road – and sometimes in the road.

So that was the extent of our excitement.  The journey was overall very good and we even made it back to the campsite for dinner.  My first bus ride was pretty uneventful…and that’s just fine with me!!

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Jonathan and I have had a wonderful time in Dar es Salaam.  I always tend to give you the down side of things as well as the positive so I’ll go ahead and get those out of the way.  It is HOT and STICKY in Dar and the mosquitoes are BRUTAL.  (Oh and the traffic is horrendous too.)  Otherwise…

Jonathan and I went on a DATE while we were here.  We went to a Western style movie theater where we saw No Reservations.  We ate popcorn and Jonathan had a slurpee.  We had a great time.  (I even wore make-up for the first time since leaving the States.  Oh la la.)  While in Dar we’ve shopped at the Western style stores to pick up a few small things that you can only get in Dar.  I even treated myself to pink nail polish so I can keep my feet pretty. 

The night we arrived in Dar we went to an Indian restaurant with some friends.  The restaurant made us forget we were in Africa, the prices more than reasonable, and the food was delicious!  Yum, yum!

We planned originally to stay in the SIL guest house but friends of ours (fellow SIL members) invited us to stay with them and it’s just been wonderful.  It’s a lot different than being in a banda on a campsite so we’ve enjoyed the break.  And although our hostess says she doesn’t like to cook she does a fabulous job at it so we’ve enjoyed that aspect as well.  (And we’ve actually sat on a couch and accessed internet anytime we want it – except when the service is down – so that’s been a huge treat!)

We’ve also used a lot of our Swahili which has been greatly encouraging.  We really haven’t had any trouble doing the basic communication around town.  We can really see our progress better now that we’ve gotten away from the classroom and just used what we know.  It’s been great…

…and overall a great trip.  (And I’ll never complain about a dry 80 degrees in Iringa again…) 

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