So much to write, but that will have to wait. I'm about to board my
plane back to the US. I'll give a full report later this week, but I
promise that my last days here were plenty eventful. It's been quite a
ride over here, but I'm looking forward to two and a half months in
the states before coming back here. Don't worry, the adventures will
continue. Stay tuned!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Just another Thursday
The morning did not start off well.
I was a bit slow getting out of bed. Then when I got outside, there was a dead dog lying next to my house. Poor guy, I'm not really sure what happened to him. The trail of blood out of his eye hinted that it probably wasn't a peaceful death either.
Then, when we were driving into work, the car stalled out and wouldn't restart. After several attempts, I decided to look under the hood. I was pretty sure I knew the problem. There was fuel in the something-or-another (I don't know my way around under the hood of a car very well, but this is a recurring problem, so I'm pretty familiar with it) which was preventing the car from starting. The remedy is to remove one of the hoses and use it as a straw to draw out the gas. The Tanzanians seem to have no problem with this at all. I managed to spit every drop out (I think), but I still felt nauseous for the rest of the morning.
Later on, I went to a store in town where I met an incredibly rude manager who seemed more interested in exerting his authority than running a business.
Oh well, after that the day definitely picked up. I got to ride the bike all over town. And I had some productive meetings. And some of the neighborhood kids came over to play with me (which is much nicer than play on me). It's going to be a long night, but that's a good thing, I am tying up some loose ends at work (that'll take a weight off my mind) and I have a 1:30 AM meeting, but this should be my last one of those for a looooong time.
I was a bit slow getting out of bed. Then when I got outside, there was a dead dog lying next to my house. Poor guy, I'm not really sure what happened to him. The trail of blood out of his eye hinted that it probably wasn't a peaceful death either.
Then, when we were driving into work, the car stalled out and wouldn't restart. After several attempts, I decided to look under the hood. I was pretty sure I knew the problem. There was fuel in the something-or-another (I don't know my way around under the hood of a car very well, but this is a recurring problem, so I'm pretty familiar with it) which was preventing the car from starting. The remedy is to remove one of the hoses and use it as a straw to draw out the gas. The Tanzanians seem to have no problem with this at all. I managed to spit every drop out (I think), but I still felt nauseous for the rest of the morning.
Later on, I went to a store in town where I met an incredibly rude manager who seemed more interested in exerting his authority than running a business.
Oh well, after that the day definitely picked up. I got to ride the bike all over town. And I had some productive meetings. And some of the neighborhood kids came over to play with me (which is much nicer than play on me). It's going to be a long night, but that's a good thing, I am tying up some loose ends at work (that'll take a weight off my mind) and I have a 1:30 AM meeting, but this should be my last one of those for a looooong time.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
1 week + song lyrics
My flight is in a week. I've got a lot to take care of before then. Also, I'm sure you'll be excited to know that in base 14, this is my 100th post!
Anyway, just for fun I decided to put some of my favorite song lyrics into kiswahili. I put the literal translations at the bottom.
1. Huwezi kupata daima unachotaka, lakini ukijaribu pengine, labda utaona, wapata unachohitaji
2. Jenny nina namba yako. Jenny uwe wangu. Jenny usibadilishe namba yako, nane-sita-saba-tano-tatu-sifuri-tisa.
3. Ukitaka kuharibu sweta yangu, vuta waya huu ninapotembea kwingine.
4. Nyumba yetu, katikati ya barabara. Nyumba yetu, katikati ya barabara
5. Bang, bang Maxwell nyundo ya fedha akaja chini kupiga kichwa cha kike
6. Alikuwa msichana ya mji mdogo tu, kuishi katika dunia upeke, akasafiri na gari la moshi la saa sita usiku kwenda po pote.
7. Billie Jean siye mpenzi wangu, yeye ni msichana asemaye mimi ni yule mtu, lakini mtoto siye wangu.
8. Na rafiki hawawezi kupatikana, kama daraja juu ya maji ya matatizo, nitajipumzisha
9. Kama ungeweza kuona ndimi ninayekufahamu, nimekuwa hapa wakati mzima kwa hivyo kwa nini huoni uwe nami?
10. Nina hisia, usiku huu utakuwa usiku mzuri, usiku huu utakuwa usiku mzuri, usiku huu utakuwa mzurimzuri.
11. Kwa sebabu nguruwe zangu wanapokufa napata zaida ya laki tatu
12. Kule wanakotembea, kule wanakokimbia, kule wanakoishi siku nzima chini ya jua, kutembeatembea wahuru, nataka kuwa sehemu ya ile dunia.
13. Upendo ni nini? Bebi usiniumishe, usiniumishe, usiniumishe tena.
14. Ni kama mvua yanyesha kwa siku ya harusi ama lifti ya bure baada ya umeshalipa ama mshauri mzuri hukusikia
15. Nimepanda kuta hizi za jiji kuwa pamoja nawe tu, lakini bado sijapata ninachotafuta.
16. Nina roho lakini mimi si askari. Nina roho lakini mimi si askari.
17. Lakini tangu umekuwa ulienda, naweza kuvuta pumzi kwa mara ya kwanza.
18. Sijali uliye, ulikotoka, sijali ulivyofanya ukinipenda.
19. Nataka unitake. Nahitaji unihitaji. Napenda unipende. Nakuomba kuniomba.
20. Lolly, Lolly, Lolly pata vielezi hapa; baba, mwana na Lolly wanauza vielezi hapa.
-----
1. You cannot receive always what you want, but if you try sometimes, maybe you will see, you receive what you need
2. Jenny I have your number. Jenny be mine. Jenny don't change your number, eight-six-seven-five-three-zero-nine.
3. If you want to destroy my sweater, pull this thread as I walk to another place.
4. Our house, in the middle of the road. Our house, in the middle of the road.
5. Bang, bang, Maxwell Hammer of Silver came down to hit her head.
6. She was just a girl of a small town, living in a world of loneliness, she traveled with the 12:00 AM train going anyplace.
7. Billie Jean is not my lover, she's just a girl who says that I am that person but the child is not mine.
8. And friends cannot be found, like a bridge over water of troubles, I will lay myself down.
9. If you could see I am the person who understands you, I've been here the whole time so why do you not see you should be with me? [I have nothing to be ashamed of; she's a talented artist and the video won that prize or something]
10. I have a feeling, this night will be a good night, this night will be a good night, this night will be a good good night.
11. Because when my pigs die I receive over three hundred thousand. [This one is actually almost literal out of Yeah by Usher]
12. There where they walk, there where they run, there where they stay the whole day under the sun, wandering free, I want to be part of that world. [Nope, nothing to be ashamed of at all]
13. What is love? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, don't hurt me again.
14. It is like rain on the day of the wedding or the free ride after you have already paid or the good advice you didn't hear.
15. I have climbed these walls of the city only to be with you, but I still have not gotten what I am looking for.
16. I have a soul, but I am not a soldier. I have a soul, but I am not a soldier.
17. But since you have been gone, I can breathe for the first time. [Okay, maybe I should be a little ashamed]
18. I don't care who you are, where you come from, what you did, if you love me [Or maybe more than a little ashamed...]
19. I want that you want me. I need that you need me. I love that you love me. I request that you request me.
20. Lolly, Lolly, Lolly get your adverbs here; father, son and Lolly are selling adverbs here. [I had to end with a classic song]
Anyway, just for fun I decided to put some of my favorite song lyrics into kiswahili. I put the literal translations at the bottom.
1. Huwezi kupata daima unachotaka, lakini ukijaribu pengine, labda utaona, wapata unachohitaji
2. Jenny nina namba yako. Jenny uwe wangu. Jenny usibadilishe namba yako, nane-sita-saba-tano-tatu-sifuri-tisa.
3. Ukitaka kuharibu sweta yangu, vuta waya huu ninapotembea kwingine.
4. Nyumba yetu, katikati ya barabara. Nyumba yetu, katikati ya barabara
5. Bang, bang Maxwell nyundo ya fedha akaja chini kupiga kichwa cha kike
6. Alikuwa msichana ya mji mdogo tu, kuishi katika dunia upeke, akasafiri na gari la moshi la saa sita usiku kwenda po pote.
7. Billie Jean siye mpenzi wangu, yeye ni msichana asemaye mimi ni yule mtu, lakini mtoto siye wangu.
8. Na rafiki hawawezi kupatikana, kama daraja juu ya maji ya matatizo, nitajipumzisha
9. Kama ungeweza kuona ndimi ninayekufahamu, nimekuwa hapa wakati mzima kwa hivyo kwa nini huoni uwe nami?
10. Nina hisia, usiku huu utakuwa usiku mzuri, usiku huu utakuwa usiku mzuri, usiku huu utakuwa mzurimzuri.
11. Kwa sebabu nguruwe zangu wanapokufa napata zaida ya laki tatu
12. Kule wanakotembea, kule wanakokimbia, kule wanakoishi siku nzima chini ya jua, kutembeatembea wahuru, nataka kuwa sehemu ya ile dunia.
13. Upendo ni nini? Bebi usiniumishe, usiniumishe, usiniumishe tena.
14. Ni kama mvua yanyesha kwa siku ya harusi ama lifti ya bure baada ya umeshalipa ama mshauri mzuri hukusikia
15. Nimepanda kuta hizi za jiji kuwa pamoja nawe tu, lakini bado sijapata ninachotafuta.
16. Nina roho lakini mimi si askari. Nina roho lakini mimi si askari.
17. Lakini tangu umekuwa ulienda, naweza kuvuta pumzi kwa mara ya kwanza.
18. Sijali uliye, ulikotoka, sijali ulivyofanya ukinipenda.
19. Nataka unitake. Nahitaji unihitaji. Napenda unipende. Nakuomba kuniomba.
20. Lolly, Lolly, Lolly pata vielezi hapa; baba, mwana na Lolly wanauza vielezi hapa.
-----
1. You cannot receive always what you want, but if you try sometimes, maybe you will see, you receive what you need
2. Jenny I have your number. Jenny be mine. Jenny don't change your number, eight-six-seven-five-three-zero-nine.
3. If you want to destroy my sweater, pull this thread as I walk to another place.
4. Our house, in the middle of the road. Our house, in the middle of the road.
5. Bang, bang, Maxwell Hammer of Silver came down to hit her head.
6. She was just a girl of a small town, living in a world of loneliness, she traveled with the 12:00 AM train going anyplace.
7. Billie Jean is not my lover, she's just a girl who says that I am that person but the child is not mine.
8. And friends cannot be found, like a bridge over water of troubles, I will lay myself down.
9. If you could see I am the person who understands you, I've been here the whole time so why do you not see you should be with me? [I have nothing to be ashamed of; she's a talented artist and the video won that prize or something]
10. I have a feeling, this night will be a good night, this night will be a good night, this night will be a good good night.
11. Because when my pigs die I receive over three hundred thousand. [This one is actually almost literal out of Yeah by Usher]
12. There where they walk, there where they run, there where they stay the whole day under the sun, wandering free, I want to be part of that world. [Nope, nothing to be ashamed of at all]
13. What is love? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, don't hurt me again.
14. It is like rain on the day of the wedding or the free ride after you have already paid or the good advice you didn't hear.
15. I have climbed these walls of the city only to be with you, but I still have not gotten what I am looking for.
16. I have a soul, but I am not a soldier. I have a soul, but I am not a soldier.
17. But since you have been gone, I can breathe for the first time. [Okay, maybe I should be a little ashamed]
18. I don't care who you are, where you come from, what you did, if you love me [Or maybe more than a little ashamed...]
19. I want that you want me. I need that you need me. I love that you love me. I request that you request me.
20. Lolly, Lolly, Lolly get your adverbs here; father, son and Lolly are selling adverbs here. [I had to end with a classic song]
Monday, May 17, 2010
So much for unwinding...
Last night was supposed to be a good chance to unwind a bit. I tried staying at the office past 5, since I figured that I could get some alone time there to collect my thoughts since my head is swimming. Then all the kids in the houses surrounding the office decided today would be a good day to find out if I'm scary or not. Apparently I'm not. Which meant that there were 6 kids (under age 7) in the office trying to figure out how the stapler worked and games to play with the phone and how to use a computer (basically, they're strategy consisted of banging on the keyboard and seeing what would happen on the screen; I hid my laptop really fast). I finally managed to push them out the door so that I could lock up and head home.
When I got home, I went to the kitchen to make myself a PB&J. Immediately, one of the neighbors' kids saw me and ran over to knock on the door. I let him in. 2 1/2 hours later, I finally got my alone time. It started by making a peanut butter sandwich for him and his friend (4 and 5 years old). Then, I decided to go play with Juju (my puppy) in the hopes that that would get them outside. Instead, it resulted in several dollops of peanut butter on the floor and some peanut butter footprints. I especially like the game they've invented where they spray bug spray on one another (and often me) or when they seek out the knives in the house and start playing with them.
So I came inside to do some clean-up. One of the neighboring teenagers came over to play with his kid brother (the first kid who came in), which basically negated my efforts to clean up. They wrapped a rubber band around a piece of thin rubber and had a soccer ball the size of a ping-pong ball and started kicking it around the living room (which is actually a workshop with 4 plastic chairs). Then three other teenagers came over and somehow, I was playing host to everyone. The teenagers just sat in the living room talking while I sat there making occasional comments. Part of the reason I wasn't making many comments was that my head was swimming even more than it had been earlier. The other part of the reason is that the two kids decided to play king of the mountain using my neck as the mountain.
So yeah, my planned restful evening wound up being anything but restful. My batteries could really use a good recharging. It seems like I'll have to wait a bit longer before they get it.
When I got home, I went to the kitchen to make myself a PB&J. Immediately, one of the neighbors' kids saw me and ran over to knock on the door. I let him in. 2 1/2 hours later, I finally got my alone time. It started by making a peanut butter sandwich for him and his friend (4 and 5 years old). Then, I decided to go play with Juju (my puppy) in the hopes that that would get them outside. Instead, it resulted in several dollops of peanut butter on the floor and some peanut butter footprints. I especially like the game they've invented where they spray bug spray on one another (and often me) or when they seek out the knives in the house and start playing with them.
So I came inside to do some clean-up. One of the neighboring teenagers came over to play with his kid brother (the first kid who came in), which basically negated my efforts to clean up. They wrapped a rubber band around a piece of thin rubber and had a soccer ball the size of a ping-pong ball and started kicking it around the living room (which is actually a workshop with 4 plastic chairs). Then three other teenagers came over and somehow, I was playing host to everyone. The teenagers just sat in the living room talking while I sat there making occasional comments. Part of the reason I wasn't making many comments was that my head was swimming even more than it had been earlier. The other part of the reason is that the two kids decided to play king of the mountain using my neck as the mountain.
So yeah, my planned restful evening wound up being anything but restful. My batteries could really use a good recharging. It seems like I'll have to wait a bit longer before they get it.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The long journey home last week
Well, I had a nice Sunday to just relax and get set for everything the next week (and to recover from some sunburn during those demos). I had planned to wake up early and get organized a bit, but I decided that the sleep was more important.
On Monday, we were supposed to go for some more village demos, but those kinda fell through so we decided to re-evaluate strategy a bit. We also decided to go to the National Microfinance Bank. The Mbeya branch is the zonal office for the bulk of Tanzania's bread-basket (maize-basket?) so we were excited to meet with the director. It turns out that she's a farmer and when she saw a video of the sheller in action, she was definitely impressed. She wants to help us get our machines out to farmers and is a big believer in supporting entrepreneurs (which is a good trait in her position). She gave us lots of advice and information and she said that she will be talking to farmers about our machine. We went to talk to one more agro-dealer, but it was more of a dead end.
On Tuesday, I went to Mbozi, which is a medium sized town an hour and a half outside of Mbeya. The scenery on the bus ride was absolutely gorgeous. My contact there wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as I had hoped, but I was still happy to touch base there. When I made it back to Mbeya, I tried to do another quick trip to a town in the other direction, but the bus wasn't leaving, so I just headed back to the hotel to pack things up.
Reuben and I decided to go to the restaurant across the street. It was a tad more exotic, but not much pricier than most of the other places in Mbeya. On Sunday, we went and I had a cheeseburger, which wasn't great, but Monday and Tuesday, Reuben and I did pizza. By splitting it, it was actually a pretty good deal. Monday's pizza was supposed to have bananas, but they forgot them. Tuesday also had Brazilian soap operas on the TV behind us. It was really bad, but Reuben and I couldn't stop watching it. We had to go back to our hotel since the restaurant was closing, so we turned on the TV in our room (the first time we'd used it; the room only had one outlet and we were mostly spending our time charging our laptops and my phone). So, we watched the end and were very sad for Mariacruz. I'm sure she'll come out on top. And then The Princess Bride came on. Reuben hadn't seen it, so we put away our computers (we both needed to charge) and watched the movie. Good times.
On Wednesday, we just needed to drop the bike off in town before we could leave Mbeya. Our ride was supposed to come at 9 A.M. After several phone calls ("oh, we'll be there soon...no more than half an hour...just a little longer"), we found out at 1:30 that we wouldn't be able to get a ride. I was not so happy about that. In any case, I hauled the bike to town and ran to the bus stand. The bus was wayyyyy too crowded (I spent the first stretch getting my knee crushed before deciding to stand and jostle back and forth since it was at the back where there's no suspension) and we had to wait a while at the halfway point. A ride that should be well under 2 hours wound up taking just under 4 hours. At least we were able to grab some roasted bananas (really good) which was the only food we had during all of our waiting.
Then, we arrived in Kyela and met up with our contact there. He had been particularly vehement about us visiting the town. My first trip there, I remembered thinking it was a nothing town and I was super-skeptical. Pretty sure I was just incredibly tired that time. As Iddy (our contact) explained to us, the area is incredibly flat and there are no cars or public transport serving the surrounding villages, so everyone rides bikes. It was a really great sight to see the road filled with bikes going in all directions. Reuben and I did a quick village visit and looked at all the farms in the area (lots of rice fields and fruit trees, but no maize since it's the hot, humid lakeside climate), but then we decided that it was kinda late and we needed a meal before crashing.
On Thursday (also marked 18 months that I've been over here, congrats to the remainder of the training group who's also celebrating this milestone), I took the early morning bus to Iringa (the latest bus leaves at 5:30 AM). I was a bit exhausted on arrival, so I ran and found a salad, which boosted my spirits. I met with a dealer in Iringa (who was really excited and we really enjoyed talking) before hopping on another bus to visit a town an hour and a half down the road. As I waited for the bus to depart, I bought some tangerines at the bus stop, (like the limes, lemons, oranges and grapefruits, these tangerines were green) and ate all 8 tangerines on the ride. I arrived at 4:50 PM and the dealer didn't seem like he gets many visitors from afar. Anyway, I made the pitch and he really enjoyed it. After every point, he looked with disbelief and said "Sure?!?" It was a really nice meeting. Then, I ran back to the bus and made it back for a quick bite.
That evening, I had a 1:30 AM meeting. Sadly, I was kinda out of it the whole time. One of my friends told me that she worried the meetings might be unhealthy for me. Well, it's not the meetings, it's just my reluctance to stop when I reach my limits. In this case, I was up to meet at 1:30 on Monday night. On Tuesday I was checking the email constantly because I was supposed to have a meeting during the night (which didn't end up happening). Wednesday there were no meetings, but since I had the early morning morning bus, I wound up not sleeping until I got on the bus (apparently it's not at all a challenge to stay up until 5:30). So it's not the meetings that are unhealthy. It's more of a problem with my circadian rhythm. I should work on that. Eventually...
Anyway, Friday I couldn't get out of bed in time for the buses back to Arusha, so I decided to see if I could get a lift part way. Unfortunately, there were no lifts to be had. I headed back to the bus station and got a stack of pears and found a bus to take me 5 hours up the road to Morogoro. I had a somewhat unpleasant bus ride since I was also fighting a headache, and I was thrilled to get in to Morogoro. I met with a store owner, but he was more interested in figuring out how to put credit on his phone than in talking about products. It was my own fault for breaking my rule of not making cold calls on Friday afternoons (but I didn't have a whole lot of options with my schedule on this trip). Fortunately, I went and talked to the salespeople and they were a lot more interested, so that was positive.
After that, I walked around town a bit, and took in the sights which was nice. I'd love to go back there again and spend more time. I found some baby mangoes (not a very good snack) and I went to a bar with really stale fries and flavorless meat. I found a hotel for 6000 shillings (less than $5), which was pretty nice, and not much less comfortable than the places I stayed for 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000 shillings. I actually had a good night's sleep, which was very much needed.
Then, yesterday morning I had a 9 AM bus. That was a big relief over recent travel days. Unfortunately, I had some emails to send that morning which took much longer than I wanted. I wound up sprinting for a daladala to get to the bus and I got there with 10 minutes to spare. I asked the driver to put my bag under the bus, but he refused and told me to store it overhead (there was no good reason for this except for him to refuse except for laziness). Unfortunately, the bag was too big to fit in the space, so I tried to wedge it as best as I could. It stayed in place for 5 hours, then all of a sudden, the bag fell onto the woman sitting next to me. The heavy metal part of the bag (I'm carrying the cast-iron machine in there) fell about one inch from her baby's head. The woman was very understanding, but my heart was racing and I was furious with that bus driver who had refused to listen to me.
Anyway, the bus ride was otherwise uneventful. I didn't have the chance to grab breakfast, and so I had to find food at a rest stop at 1:30 PM. I grabbed a little of the greasy food so I would have some substance and then I bought a huge stack of passion fruits. That definitely brightened the rest of the ride.
When I got home it was really nice to be greeted by my puppy. I hadn't seen Juju (short for Ijumaa) in over two weeks. He gave me a really warm greeting and it made me feel better about the whole long journey home.
On Monday, we were supposed to go for some more village demos, but those kinda fell through so we decided to re-evaluate strategy a bit. We also decided to go to the National Microfinance Bank. The Mbeya branch is the zonal office for the bulk of Tanzania's bread-basket (maize-basket?) so we were excited to meet with the director. It turns out that she's a farmer and when she saw a video of the sheller in action, she was definitely impressed. She wants to help us get our machines out to farmers and is a big believer in supporting entrepreneurs (which is a good trait in her position). She gave us lots of advice and information and she said that she will be talking to farmers about our machine. We went to talk to one more agro-dealer, but it was more of a dead end.
On Tuesday, I went to Mbozi, which is a medium sized town an hour and a half outside of Mbeya. The scenery on the bus ride was absolutely gorgeous. My contact there wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as I had hoped, but I was still happy to touch base there. When I made it back to Mbeya, I tried to do another quick trip to a town in the other direction, but the bus wasn't leaving, so I just headed back to the hotel to pack things up.
Reuben and I decided to go to the restaurant across the street. It was a tad more exotic, but not much pricier than most of the other places in Mbeya. On Sunday, we went and I had a cheeseburger, which wasn't great, but Monday and Tuesday, Reuben and I did pizza. By splitting it, it was actually a pretty good deal. Monday's pizza was supposed to have bananas, but they forgot them. Tuesday also had Brazilian soap operas on the TV behind us. It was really bad, but Reuben and I couldn't stop watching it. We had to go back to our hotel since the restaurant was closing, so we turned on the TV in our room (the first time we'd used it; the room only had one outlet and we were mostly spending our time charging our laptops and my phone). So, we watched the end and were very sad for Mariacruz. I'm sure she'll come out on top. And then The Princess Bride came on. Reuben hadn't seen it, so we put away our computers (we both needed to charge) and watched the movie. Good times.
On Wednesday, we just needed to drop the bike off in town before we could leave Mbeya. Our ride was supposed to come at 9 A.M. After several phone calls ("oh, we'll be there soon...no more than half an hour...just a little longer"), we found out at 1:30 that we wouldn't be able to get a ride. I was not so happy about that. In any case, I hauled the bike to town and ran to the bus stand. The bus was wayyyyy too crowded (I spent the first stretch getting my knee crushed before deciding to stand and jostle back and forth since it was at the back where there's no suspension) and we had to wait a while at the halfway point. A ride that should be well under 2 hours wound up taking just under 4 hours. At least we were able to grab some roasted bananas (really good) which was the only food we had during all of our waiting.
Then, we arrived in Kyela and met up with our contact there. He had been particularly vehement about us visiting the town. My first trip there, I remembered thinking it was a nothing town and I was super-skeptical. Pretty sure I was just incredibly tired that time. As Iddy (our contact) explained to us, the area is incredibly flat and there are no cars or public transport serving the surrounding villages, so everyone rides bikes. It was a really great sight to see the road filled with bikes going in all directions. Reuben and I did a quick village visit and looked at all the farms in the area (lots of rice fields and fruit trees, but no maize since it's the hot, humid lakeside climate), but then we decided that it was kinda late and we needed a meal before crashing.
On Thursday (also marked 18 months that I've been over here, congrats to the remainder of the training group who's also celebrating this milestone), I took the early morning bus to Iringa (the latest bus leaves at 5:30 AM). I was a bit exhausted on arrival, so I ran and found a salad, which boosted my spirits. I met with a dealer in Iringa (who was really excited and we really enjoyed talking) before hopping on another bus to visit a town an hour and a half down the road. As I waited for the bus to depart, I bought some tangerines at the bus stop, (like the limes, lemons, oranges and grapefruits, these tangerines were green) and ate all 8 tangerines on the ride. I arrived at 4:50 PM and the dealer didn't seem like he gets many visitors from afar. Anyway, I made the pitch and he really enjoyed it. After every point, he looked with disbelief and said "Sure?!?" It was a really nice meeting. Then, I ran back to the bus and made it back for a quick bite.
That evening, I had a 1:30 AM meeting. Sadly, I was kinda out of it the whole time. One of my friends told me that she worried the meetings might be unhealthy for me. Well, it's not the meetings, it's just my reluctance to stop when I reach my limits. In this case, I was up to meet at 1:30 on Monday night. On Tuesday I was checking the email constantly because I was supposed to have a meeting during the night (which didn't end up happening). Wednesday there were no meetings, but since I had the early morning morning bus, I wound up not sleeping until I got on the bus (apparently it's not at all a challenge to stay up until 5:30). So it's not the meetings that are unhealthy. It's more of a problem with my circadian rhythm. I should work on that. Eventually...
Anyway, Friday I couldn't get out of bed in time for the buses back to Arusha, so I decided to see if I could get a lift part way. Unfortunately, there were no lifts to be had. I headed back to the bus station and got a stack of pears and found a bus to take me 5 hours up the road to Morogoro. I had a somewhat unpleasant bus ride since I was also fighting a headache, and I was thrilled to get in to Morogoro. I met with a store owner, but he was more interested in figuring out how to put credit on his phone than in talking about products. It was my own fault for breaking my rule of not making cold calls on Friday afternoons (but I didn't have a whole lot of options with my schedule on this trip). Fortunately, I went and talked to the salespeople and they were a lot more interested, so that was positive.
After that, I walked around town a bit, and took in the sights which was nice. I'd love to go back there again and spend more time. I found some baby mangoes (not a very good snack) and I went to a bar with really stale fries and flavorless meat. I found a hotel for 6000 shillings (less than $5), which was pretty nice, and not much less comfortable than the places I stayed for 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000 shillings. I actually had a good night's sleep, which was very much needed.
Then, yesterday morning I had a 9 AM bus. That was a big relief over recent travel days. Unfortunately, I had some emails to send that morning which took much longer than I wanted. I wound up sprinting for a daladala to get to the bus and I got there with 10 minutes to spare. I asked the driver to put my bag under the bus, but he refused and told me to store it overhead (there was no good reason for this except for him to refuse except for laziness). Unfortunately, the bag was too big to fit in the space, so I tried to wedge it as best as I could. It stayed in place for 5 hours, then all of a sudden, the bag fell onto the woman sitting next to me. The heavy metal part of the bag (I'm carrying the cast-iron machine in there) fell about one inch from her baby's head. The woman was very understanding, but my heart was racing and I was furious with that bus driver who had refused to listen to me.
Anyway, the bus ride was otherwise uneventful. I didn't have the chance to grab breakfast, and so I had to find food at a rest stop at 1:30 PM. I grabbed a little of the greasy food so I would have some substance and then I bought a huge stack of passion fruits. That definitely brightened the rest of the ride.
When I got home it was really nice to be greeted by my puppy. I hadn't seen Juju (short for Ijumaa) in over two weeks. He gave me a really warm greeting and it made me feel better about the whole long journey home.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
2 weeks + Never leave home without it
It is two more weeks until my flight. Actually, slightly less, but this time I'm a few minutes late, rather than a few days late. Anyway, I've always believed that the Boy Scouts were right when they said "Be prepared", so in that vein, I've prepared a list of supplies that I usually have on me when I leave the house. They nearly always prove invaluable:
1. My phone: not many people call me, but I think I prefer it that way. Instead, my phone is important because it is a constant way to check email or update the company's twitter feed, or to read the news online or pull up some quick information from the web (assuming that I'm within range of a phone tower with data capabilities, which isn't always a safe assumption while on a bus). Also, I can use it to send money or withdraw cash. Yeah, it's hard for me to be apart from my phone for any length of time.
2. A book: in the course of a day, I often spend a healthy amount of time waiting for vehicles or in a waiting room or just with my head swimming over the course of the day. Books are a great way to pass the time and they attract a lot less attention than pulling out my phone. Also, when I finish a book, I can usually trade it with someone for another book. Sometimes, the trick is to have a book that's long enough. Next big road trip, I'm bringing my 900-page biography of Nikita Khrushchev.
3. USB stick: many times, I don't meet anyone who has a computer, but when I do, it's good to be ready. Sometimes I'm transferring instructions on how to make charcoal out of corn cobs or a video of our maize sheller in action. Other times, I'm grabbing pictures from people who have documented our work (I still don't have a working camera). It's really handy (though incredibly virus-prone) and a good way to carry around lots of information.
4. Pictures of family: a lot of people like to ask questions about my family and life in the states. They are always excited when I can produce pictures of my family from my wallet. When I show the pictures of my sisters, I've gotten lots of offers to marry them. I would accept the proposals, but I feel like I would be ripping off these suitors with the number of goats they offer. Just kidding, sisters.
5. Pen and paper: it seems like common-sense, but you never know when you'll come across someone who makes a really remarkable suggestion. Since complete strangers will strike up a conversation about just about anything wherever you are, it just might be handy to take some notes.
6. Adinkra: most people have some personal memento that they can keep with them at all times that helps them when they face challenges. Mine is a small peace of metal cut into a west african symbol that means "help me and let me help you." It helps to keep me focused on many of the things that I'm trying to do here. Also, the symbol is part of the logo for IDDS and carries a lot of sentimental value for me (especially the bite taken out of the side, where a good friend was still learning how to sandblast these keychain ornaments).
7. Awareness: yep, I had to go abstract on one of these. There are a lot of things to be aware of. I try to look for who is scoping me out to decide if it's worthwhile to rob me. I look for people who might give me unwanted attention. But I also look for people who might be interesting to talk to and who could become my new friend. And, you have to make sure that you're aware of the scenery, because most of the time it's absolutely gorgeous.
8. Comfortable shoes: I never know for sure if my five minute trip to the shop will actually be only five minutes. Sometimes, it turns into an all-out quest/adventure. And when that happens, the most important thing is to be able to walk for a while without getting sore.
9. Toilet paper: it's just one of the realities of being here. At any given moment, your stomach may revolt and you might need to sprint for the toilet, and you do want to be prepared when that happens.
10. Flashlight: you never know when you'll find yourself walking down an unlit path on a moonless night or when the power will cut out while you're visiting a friend or when I will drop my keys into a sea of feet as I ride on the buses. Fortunately, one of the most common phone models comes equipped with a flashlight. Nokia is pretty genius that way.
Obviously, there's the boring stuff too, like wallet, money, keys (keychain is crucial to transport my adinkra and USB stick). Some people will tell you that a leatherman or some other multi-tool is essential, but I've found that a lot of the time, I can find some sort of implement to take its place (e.g. a carpenter's nail can be just as useful as a knife for some tasks and can always be found lying on the ground; besides, I've always wondered what tetanus is like).
1. My phone: not many people call me, but I think I prefer it that way. Instead, my phone is important because it is a constant way to check email or update the company's twitter feed, or to read the news online or pull up some quick information from the web (assuming that I'm within range of a phone tower with data capabilities, which isn't always a safe assumption while on a bus). Also, I can use it to send money or withdraw cash. Yeah, it's hard for me to be apart from my phone for any length of time.
2. A book: in the course of a day, I often spend a healthy amount of time waiting for vehicles or in a waiting room or just with my head swimming over the course of the day. Books are a great way to pass the time and they attract a lot less attention than pulling out my phone. Also, when I finish a book, I can usually trade it with someone for another book. Sometimes, the trick is to have a book that's long enough. Next big road trip, I'm bringing my 900-page biography of Nikita Khrushchev.
3. USB stick: many times, I don't meet anyone who has a computer, but when I do, it's good to be ready. Sometimes I'm transferring instructions on how to make charcoal out of corn cobs or a video of our maize sheller in action. Other times, I'm grabbing pictures from people who have documented our work (I still don't have a working camera). It's really handy (though incredibly virus-prone) and a good way to carry around lots of information.
4. Pictures of family: a lot of people like to ask questions about my family and life in the states. They are always excited when I can produce pictures of my family from my wallet. When I show the pictures of my sisters, I've gotten lots of offers to marry them. I would accept the proposals, but I feel like I would be ripping off these suitors with the number of goats they offer. Just kidding, sisters.
5. Pen and paper: it seems like common-sense, but you never know when you'll come across someone who makes a really remarkable suggestion. Since complete strangers will strike up a conversation about just about anything wherever you are, it just might be handy to take some notes.
6. Adinkra: most people have some personal memento that they can keep with them at all times that helps them when they face challenges. Mine is a small peace of metal cut into a west african symbol that means "help me and let me help you." It helps to keep me focused on many of the things that I'm trying to do here. Also, the symbol is part of the logo for IDDS and carries a lot of sentimental value for me (especially the bite taken out of the side, where a good friend was still learning how to sandblast these keychain ornaments).
7. Awareness: yep, I had to go abstract on one of these. There are a lot of things to be aware of. I try to look for who is scoping me out to decide if it's worthwhile to rob me. I look for people who might give me unwanted attention. But I also look for people who might be interesting to talk to and who could become my new friend. And, you have to make sure that you're aware of the scenery, because most of the time it's absolutely gorgeous.
8. Comfortable shoes: I never know for sure if my five minute trip to the shop will actually be only five minutes. Sometimes, it turns into an all-out quest/adventure. And when that happens, the most important thing is to be able to walk for a while without getting sore.
9. Toilet paper: it's just one of the realities of being here. At any given moment, your stomach may revolt and you might need to sprint for the toilet, and you do want to be prepared when that happens.
10. Flashlight: you never know when you'll find yourself walking down an unlit path on a moonless night or when the power will cut out while you're visiting a friend or when I will drop my keys into a sea of feet as I ride on the buses. Fortunately, one of the most common phone models comes equipped with a flashlight. Nokia is pretty genius that way.
Obviously, there's the boring stuff too, like wallet, money, keys (keychain is crucial to transport my adinkra and USB stick). Some people will tell you that a leatherman or some other multi-tool is essential, but I've found that a lot of the time, I can find some sort of implement to take its place (e.g. a carpenter's nail can be just as useful as a knife for some tasks and can always be found lying on the ground; besides, I've always wondered what tetanus is like).
Saturday, May 8, 2010
The other blog
Sorry, being on the road means that I'm spending less time on my blog. Fortunately, I am still doing upkeep on the company's blog (it's right there on the sidebar). Here is what I did this week:
Iringa in 36 hours
Magnificent Mbeya
Feel free to comment on these posts on the GCS blog. Hint, hint.
Iringa in 36 hours
Magnificent Mbeya
Feel free to comment on these posts on the GCS blog. Hint, hint.
Friday, May 7, 2010
3 weeks + Sanity
Once again, I'm absurdly late on getting this post written. So much for punctuality. If I get my other posts and emails written this weekend, I'll write the one for next week so that it arrives on time. I'm not holding my breath on that one yet.
Anyway, I certainly face my share of challenges over here, and I've developed a lot of different coping mechanisms for them. It really helps to have several different strategies for different situations.
1. Reading. I do this a lot. I'm going to try to do a final count, but I think I made it through 40 books in the last 18 months. And I also read The Economist and some Google News on my phone (I can't get the mobile version of The Onion to work any longer, but that was a favorite for a while). It's just a good way to calm myself or pass the time.
2. Cooking and baking. Actually, I haven't cooked in over two weeks, and I feel like it has taken its toll a bit. Not only can I control what goes into my food (on the road, many of the selections are deep fried), but there's a certain satisfaction out of cooking a delicious meal. Still, I will be excited to use a proper oven when I get back to the states.
3. Email. Yep, I figured I'd cut back on email when I came over here. I've discovered, however, that I can accomplish so much more when I have it. It really helps in bringing people together and getting stuff done. it has definitely sold me on the benefits on Rural Internet Kiosk projects. One of the greatest benefits of emails over mobile phones is that usage fees tend to be much lower.
4. Hills and mountains. It's odd, since I've lived in fairly flat areas all my life, but I find so much comfort these days having hills and mountains surrounding me. I don't even hike all that often, but I can spend ages lost staring into their contours and shadows. And on a more technical note, I also lament the environmental degradation of them in many cases (deforestation is especially easy to observe on hillsides).
5. Host country nationals. What a ridiculous term, but I can't think of a better way to say it (I feel like "Locals" doesn't have the connotation I'm looking for). Anyway, I've met a lot of really incredible people over here, and they have certainly made this whole experience worthwhile. I've met so many incredible people here who I already miss and yearn to visit again.
6. Blogging. I usually couldn't be troubled to write down what was going on in my life back in the states. I even struggled in classes where we had to keep some kind of log or journal (such as lab classes) because I just never kept it up. I would say that this blog is evidence that that has changed. Big time.
7. Biking. So I've been nearly run over a few times pretty much every instance that I've ridden my bike to town, but that's part of the fun, right? Either way, there's a feeling of freedom as the wind rushes past my face and I weave in and out of traffic.
8. Rain. Sure the mud is a hassle sometimes, but I will always love the rain. There have been so many wonderful storms, and now that I have an appreciation for living life waiting for the rains, I have developed a profound respect for the clouds. Also, extra points when the rain comes with thunder and lightning.
9. Expatriates. There are so many people over here who have such interesting lives and stories to tell. I've met people from dozens of countries over here and heard all kinds of remarkable tales. Also, it's nice to meet people who have some sense of the kind of life that I'm living. (NB: I consider medium to long-term residents expats; short-term people are tourists in my book, and as the last post probably indicates, they do not typically help with coping.)
10. Throwing the frisbee. This was one of my favorite things to do in the states and it remains one of my favorite things to do here. I don't have as many friends to play catch with over here, but every time I pick up that disk, I feel just about all of my problems melt away.
Anyway, I certainly face my share of challenges over here, and I've developed a lot of different coping mechanisms for them. It really helps to have several different strategies for different situations.
1. Reading. I do this a lot. I'm going to try to do a final count, but I think I made it through 40 books in the last 18 months. And I also read The Economist and some Google News on my phone (I can't get the mobile version of The Onion to work any longer, but that was a favorite for a while). It's just a good way to calm myself or pass the time.
2. Cooking and baking. Actually, I haven't cooked in over two weeks, and I feel like it has taken its toll a bit. Not only can I control what goes into my food (on the road, many of the selections are deep fried), but there's a certain satisfaction out of cooking a delicious meal. Still, I will be excited to use a proper oven when I get back to the states.
3. Email. Yep, I figured I'd cut back on email when I came over here. I've discovered, however, that I can accomplish so much more when I have it. It really helps in bringing people together and getting stuff done. it has definitely sold me on the benefits on Rural Internet Kiosk projects. One of the greatest benefits of emails over mobile phones is that usage fees tend to be much lower.
4. Hills and mountains. It's odd, since I've lived in fairly flat areas all my life, but I find so much comfort these days having hills and mountains surrounding me. I don't even hike all that often, but I can spend ages lost staring into their contours and shadows. And on a more technical note, I also lament the environmental degradation of them in many cases (deforestation is especially easy to observe on hillsides).
5. Host country nationals. What a ridiculous term, but I can't think of a better way to say it (I feel like "Locals" doesn't have the connotation I'm looking for). Anyway, I've met a lot of really incredible people over here, and they have certainly made this whole experience worthwhile. I've met so many incredible people here who I already miss and yearn to visit again.
6. Blogging. I usually couldn't be troubled to write down what was going on in my life back in the states. I even struggled in classes where we had to keep some kind of log or journal (such as lab classes) because I just never kept it up. I would say that this blog is evidence that that has changed. Big time.
7. Biking. So I've been nearly run over a few times pretty much every instance that I've ridden my bike to town, but that's part of the fun, right? Either way, there's a feeling of freedom as the wind rushes past my face and I weave in and out of traffic.
8. Rain. Sure the mud is a hassle sometimes, but I will always love the rain. There have been so many wonderful storms, and now that I have an appreciation for living life waiting for the rains, I have developed a profound respect for the clouds. Also, extra points when the rain comes with thunder and lightning.
9. Expatriates. There are so many people over here who have such interesting lives and stories to tell. I've met people from dozens of countries over here and heard all kinds of remarkable tales. Also, it's nice to meet people who have some sense of the kind of life that I'm living. (NB: I consider medium to long-term residents expats; short-term people are tourists in my book, and as the last post probably indicates, they do not typically help with coping.)
10. Throwing the frisbee. This was one of my favorite things to do in the states and it remains one of my favorite things to do here. I don't have as many friends to play catch with over here, but every time I pick up that disk, I feel just about all of my problems melt away.
Monday, May 3, 2010
The difficulty of tourists...
Yesterday morning was supposed to be my first halfway decent night of sleep in about a week. So I was a bit groggy when the clerk at the hotel knocked on my door at 7 AM. He told me that someone was here for me. Seeing as only one person here knows that I'm in town, the clerk ruled him out as my visitor when the clerk told me that it was a girl. I was too groggy to explain that it must be a mistake.
I made my way toward the desk and saw a white girl in the parking lot. I was pretty sure I knew where this was going. I'm the only white person at the hotel, so when they couldn't understand what she was saying, they just assumed that she was looking for me.
The girl was explaining to the clerk that he had found the wrong person. But the clerk didn't actually speak English. So she tried to help him by speaking more slowly, raising her voice and waving her arms like a crazy person. You might find this hard to believe, but it didn't help the clerk to understand them.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and started translating. Apparently, the girl and her husband had asked the clerk on duty the previous night about buses to a place called Chitemba and he told them that his brother was a driver and now this morning, they couldn't find their bus. They were trying to find the night clerk, but he was already gone. Not much any of us could do to help them.
I knew that I couldn't do much about their rudeness, but the simple fact of the matter is that most of the time when I meet Tanzanians, they associate me with people like those tourists. I just wish tourists didn't cultivate such a negative impression foreigners.
I made my way toward the desk and saw a white girl in the parking lot. I was pretty sure I knew where this was going. I'm the only white person at the hotel, so when they couldn't understand what she was saying, they just assumed that she was looking for me.
The girl was explaining to the clerk that he had found the wrong person. But the clerk didn't actually speak English. So she tried to help him by speaking more slowly, raising her voice and waving her arms like a crazy person. You might find this hard to believe, but it didn't help the clerk to understand them.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and started translating. Apparently, the girl and her husband had asked the clerk on duty the previous night about buses to a place called Chitemba and he told them that his brother was a driver and now this morning, they couldn't find their bus. They were trying to find the night clerk, but he was already gone. Not much any of us could do to help them.
I knew that I couldn't do much about their rudeness, but the simple fact of the matter is that most of the time when I meet Tanzanians, they associate me with people like those tourists. I just wish tourists didn't cultivate such a negative impression foreigners.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Hectic doesn't begin to describe my week
Jodie set off for Nairobi on Monday morning. Fortunately, in case anyone worries about my productivity going down when the boss is gone, I think I can assuage those fears.
Monday was a Tanzanian holiday. I had planned to open the office and get some work done (I had been in there for a couple of hours on Sunday too), but when I woke up, I was feeling pretty lightheaded. I actually took it easy so that I would be up for everything on my to-do list this week. I still wasn't feeling up to doing much, but unfortunately, work beckoned. My colleagues Reuben and Philemon were hitting the road the following day and they needed me to help them with putting together some materials for their trip. Reuben and I drove to the office to grab some things and do a bunch of printing. Moving around was doing some good for me, but I still was going pretty slowly. I was on my way back to the house, but as we were driving the truck up the hill, there was a wide safari vehicle driving down the hill. The road is pretty narrow, so I had to slow down. Unfortunately, that causes the truck to stall out when it's on the hill. I had to let it roll back down to the bottom to start on a flat surface. Right at that moment, Philemon called me to say that he needed to get his wife to the hospital. I tried to start the car again, but no luck. Philemon called me two more times and I kept trying to get the car working. Finally, he ran down the hill to get it running and then he went off to the hospital. I made it home and just watched a movie at the neighbor's house. I felt a lot better, so I went over to Philemon's to make sure that his wife was all right. He told me "amepata bebi." She had a baby. I congratulated him on being a father. He seemed pretty thrilled about his new daughter. He already has a 4 year old son.
On Tuesday, Reuben and Philemon delayed their trip so that Philemon could make sure everything was all right with his wife and daughter. Still, he told me that he would be on the road the next day. I knew how excited he was about the trip. I started figuring out the schedule and logistics for the trip and made some phone calls to iron out the details. Then in the afternoon, I had to fight with Skype a bit to talk to some of the GCS team in the States, and then a micro-finance guy in Vancouver who is doing research on appropriate technology. Before long, I realized that it was almost 7, and I was staying behind at the office that night for an IDDS meeting (regular time is 6:30 PM EDT, but that's 1:30 AM in Tanzania).
I didn't have any food or any money, so I had to run to the affluent part of town to find a store that takes credit cards. Fortunately, I had the bike, but I couldn't find a helmet. I never realized that the path towards that supermarket is on a long, very subtle slope. All of a sudden, I was going much too fast (the brakes aren't great on the bike) and there was a speed bump in front of me that I couldn't see until I was right on top of it (they have street lights along the road, but for some mysterious reason, they seem to be there as decorations, rather than to turn on the lights and illuminate the road). I dragged my feet on the ground a bit to slow down and keep balance. I managed to stay on the bike, but my heart was definitely racing after that. I vowed to find a helmet whatever it took (my current one was borrowed by Philemon's son, and I'm not sure I'm pretty sure he has hidden his "new hat"). I found food and made my way back to the office. I had my skype meeting at 1:30, but I mustered less than 2 hours of sleep before the meeting (Reuben called me at 10:45 because he thought he might have left something at the office before the trip), so I was pretty tired and not very vocal, so at 3:30 I decided to get some sleep. Unfortunately, sleep took a little while to come that night.
The next morning (Wednesday), I was woken up at 7 as Philemon grabbed some more things from the office for their trip. I couldn't really get back to sleep after that, so I was worried that I would be working slowly during the day. In fact, I found myself really focused as I was developing our sales strategy for the south (we only found out the schedule on Friday of last week, and I had to delay a bit as I wrapped up some loose ends with some work in Arusha). Also, since I was the only other person in the office, I was putting extra effort into making sure that Glady (our secretary) had enough work to keep her busy during the day. Philemon called me from the road to say that his meetings were going well, and asked me to buy some springs in town and take them to our manufacturer. He didn't actually tell me what kind of springs, and it took me a while to find out where and what type I needed to find. By that time, we were trying to have a skype meeting about sales, but with attempts to coordinate people in Boston, Belgium, Kenya and Tanzania, we spent a lot of time only to learn that we couldn't get the connection to work. I decided to leave the springs for the next day, since it was already the end of the day. I hurried home and started packing up the house.
Our lease ends in mid May, and since Jodie and I are both on the road until then, we decided that it made sense to shift our things into Reuben's house since we probably wouldn't be extending the lease. I had planned to get a chunk of this done on Monday, but I needed to rest that day, which meant I was facing quite an uphill task. The pickup truck had broken down in town (not my doing), so all the moving had to be done on foot, and since the only neighbor around was Philemon's wife who had just given birth, I was pretty much on my own. Fortunately, the houses are only about a quarter mile apart and it's a gentle downhill slope towards Reuben's. Unfortunately, it was starting to rain, and I didn't want to get our wood furniture soaked as I carried it. I love the rain, but this was not great timing. I managed two runs and settled in to write some work emails while waiting for the rain to let up. It never did, so I finally crashed at midnight with an alarm set for 5 AM.
When I woke up, it was only drizzling, but the mud was definitely a force to be reckoned with. I managed 4 trips before 7:00, but the rain was picking up, so I decided I'd earned a 30 minute nap. It was really hard to get back up, but I still had a bunch more to do. I had to make another 4 trips before I had enough of the stuff out of the house to call it done. I left the neighbor with a list of what needed to be packed up and driven over once the truck was working again (fridge, gas cylinder, etc). By that time, it was 11, so in spite of feeling pretty sore, I hurried to work. I made sure that Glady had enough work to keep her busy, and grabbed the bike (with a helmet) and headed into town. I didn't know where every place that I needed to visit was, but I was having pretty good luck finding things as I went through town, and managed to avoid lines in general. Unfortunately, I got to the manufacturing facilities just after they'd gone to lunch. I waited for an hour for them to reopen so I could deliver the springs and pick up one of our frames that they had just finished a slight redesign of (the springs were for our first bulk order of those frames). The technician told me to come back at 4 to pick up the frame. I biked back to the office and grabbed a quick lunch and checked in with Glady and got a quick lunch in before biking back to the manufacturer again (it's probably about 3 or 4 miles each way). When I got there, the manufacturer showed me that the paint was still wet and suggested that I come back at 6. I didn't really have a whole lot of choice, since I needed to bring it on my trip and my bus was leaving at 6 AM the next morning. I biked back to the office and took care of salaries for all the workers. That also required a trip further out of town to take care of two of our day laborers. Then I had enough time to catch my breath before heading back to the manufacturer and picking up the frame. The paint was still a little wet (and my hands turned a nice rich blue), but I headed back to the office with my prize.
I was feeling pretty exhausted, but I knew that I still had some tasks to take care of before I could leave. I did some printing, fixed up some documents and then, I settled in to square up the books. I managed to get all of the accounting squared away, right in time for another IDDS meeting (we're really ramping up at this point). Fortunately, I had transcended exhaustion at this point, and I was feeling pretty active in the meeting. My mic wasn't working, but mercifully, the committee was patient with me, and I gave my input through typing instead. I was definitely happy with the amount that got done at the meeting, and my hearts went out to the sub-committee that stayed atter to meet until past midnight (their time). When 4:30 rolled around, I packed up and headed to the bus station. There was no public transport at that hour, so I knew I would need to walk, just in case. Mercifully, some security guards picked me up in their truck just as I approached the most dangerous part of town (still before sunrise) and brought me to the station. The bus showed up after about 20 minutes, and I threw my bag underneath and climbed on board. I was asleep before it took off (I hadn't slept since my 30 minute nap nearly 23 hours before).
After a bit over 3 hours, I woke up. The bus ride was fairly uneventful. I alternated between reading The Economist on my phone and taking naps. Unfortunately, my battery is pretty weak, so the battery died before the ride finished, and I felt a bit disconnected. I tried to stay hydrated on the ride, but managed to spill 2 of the 3 (extortionately priced) drinks that I bought on the trip. The middle third of the ride was near the coast, and the humidity was pretty miserable. Fortunately, after a mere 19 1/2 hours, the bus rolled in to its final destination in Mbeya. Unfortunately, the comfortable hotel near the bus stop was full, so I had to go to its neighbor, which is both less pleasant and more expensive. I crashed, but found myself with a migraine midway through the night, so that wasn't my most restful night. (Hey, when you're on a roll, you're on a roll.)
Yesterday was a fairly easy day. I had to take care of a bunch of small errands, but I did move to the cheaper more comfortable hotel and I made sure to get plenty of protein and a good night's sleep. Well, mostly a good night's sleep. I'll let you tune in tomorrow for that story.
Monday was a Tanzanian holiday. I had planned to open the office and get some work done (I had been in there for a couple of hours on Sunday too), but when I woke up, I was feeling pretty lightheaded. I actually took it easy so that I would be up for everything on my to-do list this week. I still wasn't feeling up to doing much, but unfortunately, work beckoned. My colleagues Reuben and Philemon were hitting the road the following day and they needed me to help them with putting together some materials for their trip. Reuben and I drove to the office to grab some things and do a bunch of printing. Moving around was doing some good for me, but I still was going pretty slowly. I was on my way back to the house, but as we were driving the truck up the hill, there was a wide safari vehicle driving down the hill. The road is pretty narrow, so I had to slow down. Unfortunately, that causes the truck to stall out when it's on the hill. I had to let it roll back down to the bottom to start on a flat surface. Right at that moment, Philemon called me to say that he needed to get his wife to the hospital. I tried to start the car again, but no luck. Philemon called me two more times and I kept trying to get the car working. Finally, he ran down the hill to get it running and then he went off to the hospital. I made it home and just watched a movie at the neighbor's house. I felt a lot better, so I went over to Philemon's to make sure that his wife was all right. He told me "amepata bebi." She had a baby. I congratulated him on being a father. He seemed pretty thrilled about his new daughter. He already has a 4 year old son.
On Tuesday, Reuben and Philemon delayed their trip so that Philemon could make sure everything was all right with his wife and daughter. Still, he told me that he would be on the road the next day. I knew how excited he was about the trip. I started figuring out the schedule and logistics for the trip and made some phone calls to iron out the details. Then in the afternoon, I had to fight with Skype a bit to talk to some of the GCS team in the States, and then a micro-finance guy in Vancouver who is doing research on appropriate technology. Before long, I realized that it was almost 7, and I was staying behind at the office that night for an IDDS meeting (regular time is 6:30 PM EDT, but that's 1:30 AM in Tanzania).
I didn't have any food or any money, so I had to run to the affluent part of town to find a store that takes credit cards. Fortunately, I had the bike, but I couldn't find a helmet. I never realized that the path towards that supermarket is on a long, very subtle slope. All of a sudden, I was going much too fast (the brakes aren't great on the bike) and there was a speed bump in front of me that I couldn't see until I was right on top of it (they have street lights along the road, but for some mysterious reason, they seem to be there as decorations, rather than to turn on the lights and illuminate the road). I dragged my feet on the ground a bit to slow down and keep balance. I managed to stay on the bike, but my heart was definitely racing after that. I vowed to find a helmet whatever it took (my current one was borrowed by Philemon's son, and I'm not sure I'm pretty sure he has hidden his "new hat"). I found food and made my way back to the office. I had my skype meeting at 1:30, but I mustered less than 2 hours of sleep before the meeting (Reuben called me at 10:45 because he thought he might have left something at the office before the trip), so I was pretty tired and not very vocal, so at 3:30 I decided to get some sleep. Unfortunately, sleep took a little while to come that night.
The next morning (Wednesday), I was woken up at 7 as Philemon grabbed some more things from the office for their trip. I couldn't really get back to sleep after that, so I was worried that I would be working slowly during the day. In fact, I found myself really focused as I was developing our sales strategy for the south (we only found out the schedule on Friday of last week, and I had to delay a bit as I wrapped up some loose ends with some work in Arusha). Also, since I was the only other person in the office, I was putting extra effort into making sure that Glady (our secretary) had enough work to keep her busy during the day. Philemon called me from the road to say that his meetings were going well, and asked me to buy some springs in town and take them to our manufacturer. He didn't actually tell me what kind of springs, and it took me a while to find out where and what type I needed to find. By that time, we were trying to have a skype meeting about sales, but with attempts to coordinate people in Boston, Belgium, Kenya and Tanzania, we spent a lot of time only to learn that we couldn't get the connection to work. I decided to leave the springs for the next day, since it was already the end of the day. I hurried home and started packing up the house.
Our lease ends in mid May, and since Jodie and I are both on the road until then, we decided that it made sense to shift our things into Reuben's house since we probably wouldn't be extending the lease. I had planned to get a chunk of this done on Monday, but I needed to rest that day, which meant I was facing quite an uphill task. The pickup truck had broken down in town (not my doing), so all the moving had to be done on foot, and since the only neighbor around was Philemon's wife who had just given birth, I was pretty much on my own. Fortunately, the houses are only about a quarter mile apart and it's a gentle downhill slope towards Reuben's. Unfortunately, it was starting to rain, and I didn't want to get our wood furniture soaked as I carried it. I love the rain, but this was not great timing. I managed two runs and settled in to write some work emails while waiting for the rain to let up. It never did, so I finally crashed at midnight with an alarm set for 5 AM.
When I woke up, it was only drizzling, but the mud was definitely a force to be reckoned with. I managed 4 trips before 7:00, but the rain was picking up, so I decided I'd earned a 30 minute nap. It was really hard to get back up, but I still had a bunch more to do. I had to make another 4 trips before I had enough of the stuff out of the house to call it done. I left the neighbor with a list of what needed to be packed up and driven over once the truck was working again (fridge, gas cylinder, etc). By that time, it was 11, so in spite of feeling pretty sore, I hurried to work. I made sure that Glady had enough work to keep her busy, and grabbed the bike (with a helmet) and headed into town. I didn't know where every place that I needed to visit was, but I was having pretty good luck finding things as I went through town, and managed to avoid lines in general. Unfortunately, I got to the manufacturing facilities just after they'd gone to lunch. I waited for an hour for them to reopen so I could deliver the springs and pick up one of our frames that they had just finished a slight redesign of (the springs were for our first bulk order of those frames). The technician told me to come back at 4 to pick up the frame. I biked back to the office and grabbed a quick lunch and checked in with Glady and got a quick lunch in before biking back to the manufacturer again (it's probably about 3 or 4 miles each way). When I got there, the manufacturer showed me that the paint was still wet and suggested that I come back at 6. I didn't really have a whole lot of choice, since I needed to bring it on my trip and my bus was leaving at 6 AM the next morning. I biked back to the office and took care of salaries for all the workers. That also required a trip further out of town to take care of two of our day laborers. Then I had enough time to catch my breath before heading back to the manufacturer and picking up the frame. The paint was still a little wet (and my hands turned a nice rich blue), but I headed back to the office with my prize.
I was feeling pretty exhausted, but I knew that I still had some tasks to take care of before I could leave. I did some printing, fixed up some documents and then, I settled in to square up the books. I managed to get all of the accounting squared away, right in time for another IDDS meeting (we're really ramping up at this point). Fortunately, I had transcended exhaustion at this point, and I was feeling pretty active in the meeting. My mic wasn't working, but mercifully, the committee was patient with me, and I gave my input through typing instead. I was definitely happy with the amount that got done at the meeting, and my hearts went out to the sub-committee that stayed atter to meet until past midnight (their time). When 4:30 rolled around, I packed up and headed to the bus station. There was no public transport at that hour, so I knew I would need to walk, just in case. Mercifully, some security guards picked me up in their truck just as I approached the most dangerous part of town (still before sunrise) and brought me to the station. The bus showed up after about 20 minutes, and I threw my bag underneath and climbed on board. I was asleep before it took off (I hadn't slept since my 30 minute nap nearly 23 hours before).
After a bit over 3 hours, I woke up. The bus ride was fairly uneventful. I alternated between reading The Economist on my phone and taking naps. Unfortunately, my battery is pretty weak, so the battery died before the ride finished, and I felt a bit disconnected. I tried to stay hydrated on the ride, but managed to spill 2 of the 3 (extortionately priced) drinks that I bought on the trip. The middle third of the ride was near the coast, and the humidity was pretty miserable. Fortunately, after a mere 19 1/2 hours, the bus rolled in to its final destination in Mbeya. Unfortunately, the comfortable hotel near the bus stop was full, so I had to go to its neighbor, which is both less pleasant and more expensive. I crashed, but found myself with a migraine midway through the night, so that wasn't my most restful night. (Hey, when you're on a roll, you're on a roll.)
Yesterday was a fairly easy day. I had to take care of a bunch of small errands, but I did move to the cheaper more comfortable hotel and I made sure to get plenty of protein and a good night's sleep. Well, mostly a good night's sleep. I'll let you tune in tomorrow for that story.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
4 weeks + Lessons
Sorry for the delay, let's just pretend that I managed to get this posted on Tuesday. Should be a post up here shortly explaining the craziness that was this week.
This week's list is things that I'm proud to have learned on this journey. As this is my third time living in dollar-a-day communities, I can't list things like doing laundry by hand, coping with intestinal parasites or having to skip two or even three meals a day. I'm also leaving off things that I learned from books (though I am very proud to know so much about Dean Acheson these days), and focusing on some of the practicals:
1. New languages. I'm not fluent in kiswahili yet, but people have stopped talking to me like a foreigner and they speak kiswahili to me the way they speak to other native speakers. I also learned a bit of Kenyan Sign Language (which is moderately different from American sign language) and tidbits of some local languages.
2. Driving on a manual transmission. Well, I had some lessons with my dad before coming here, but I never completely got the hang of it. Now I can get around in a pickup truck that doesn't have 1st or 2nd gear most of the time.
3. Making bread. I learned a lot in the kitchen, but successfully proofing yeast and getting bread that rises was probably my biggest accomplishment.
4. Using a slide rule. I got this as a graduation present and decided to bring it here and try to figure it out in my spare time. Then I discovered that the math curriculum in Kenya required me to teach students to make calculations using log and antilog tables. All of a sudden, the slide rule made sense.
5. Computer software. Yep, I went to a school that is particularly well known for it's computer science department, and I probably learned nearly as much in a year and a half here. I picked up database and accounting software as well as Ubuntu (I still have a lot to learn there) and now I'm starting on twitter.
6. Running a chemistry lab. Okay, so I never actually learned the lesson about not spilling nitric acid, not breathing hydrochloride fumes, and not setting my hair on fire, but I still managed some pretty nifty tricks. I produced ethene and laughing gas, but the best moment was definitely watching kids using test tubes for their first time.
7. Trees. Yeah, I learned a lot about them in books, but I learned just as much in the field and if you don't watch out, I'll probably talk your ear off about planting trees. When you finish reading this post, you should go outside and plant one.
8. Treatment for sea urchins. Rub papaya on the spines. I cannot underscore the importance of this lesson. (For those of you thinking of urine, that's for jellyfish stings)
9. Agriculture. My knowledge in this field probably increased one hundredfold since coming here. Of course, it was a pretty small base to grow from, so maybe one hundredfold is an underestimate.
10. Hitchhiking. This is definitely something that you don't want to do wrong. And sometimes doing it wrong means just plain having bad luck. Still, there are plenty of situations where I found it to be the safest means of transport. I would still say that I am far from being an expert.
Now, for a really long list, I would write the things that I wish I had learned. Good thing I'm coming back here soon.
This week's list is things that I'm proud to have learned on this journey. As this is my third time living in dollar-a-day communities, I can't list things like doing laundry by hand, coping with intestinal parasites or having to skip two or even three meals a day. I'm also leaving off things that I learned from books (though I am very proud to know so much about Dean Acheson these days), and focusing on some of the practicals:
1. New languages. I'm not fluent in kiswahili yet, but people have stopped talking to me like a foreigner and they speak kiswahili to me the way they speak to other native speakers. I also learned a bit of Kenyan Sign Language (which is moderately different from American sign language) and tidbits of some local languages.
2. Driving on a manual transmission. Well, I had some lessons with my dad before coming here, but I never completely got the hang of it. Now I can get around in a pickup truck that doesn't have 1st or 2nd gear most of the time.
3. Making bread. I learned a lot in the kitchen, but successfully proofing yeast and getting bread that rises was probably my biggest accomplishment.
4. Using a slide rule. I got this as a graduation present and decided to bring it here and try to figure it out in my spare time. Then I discovered that the math curriculum in Kenya required me to teach students to make calculations using log and antilog tables. All of a sudden, the slide rule made sense.
5. Computer software. Yep, I went to a school that is particularly well known for it's computer science department, and I probably learned nearly as much in a year and a half here. I picked up database and accounting software as well as Ubuntu (I still have a lot to learn there) and now I'm starting on twitter.
6. Running a chemistry lab. Okay, so I never actually learned the lesson about not spilling nitric acid, not breathing hydrochloride fumes, and not setting my hair on fire, but I still managed some pretty nifty tricks. I produced ethene and laughing gas, but the best moment was definitely watching kids using test tubes for their first time.
7. Trees. Yeah, I learned a lot about them in books, but I learned just as much in the field and if you don't watch out, I'll probably talk your ear off about planting trees. When you finish reading this post, you should go outside and plant one.
8. Treatment for sea urchins. Rub papaya on the spines. I cannot underscore the importance of this lesson. (For those of you thinking of urine, that's for jellyfish stings)
9. Agriculture. My knowledge in this field probably increased one hundredfold since coming here. Of course, it was a pretty small base to grow from, so maybe one hundredfold is an underestimate.
10. Hitchhiking. This is definitely something that you don't want to do wrong. And sometimes doing it wrong means just plain having bad luck. Still, there are plenty of situations where I found it to be the safest means of transport. I would still say that I am far from being an expert.
Now, for a really long list, I would write the things that I wish I had learned. Good thing I'm coming back here soon.
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