And So, 2013 Begins!
So, here’s the thing, I hate New Years…especially when I have
an exceptionally good year like I did this year: I fell in love, grew closer to
the friends from college that I hope to have for life, graduated from college, went
to Guyana with Scranton’s International Service Program (which included one of
my amazingly awesome friends, Katie), spent the summer traveling with and to see
some of my favorite people in so many different places including New York City,
Philly, Scranton, Atlantic City, Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee, celebrated my
Pop’s 90th birthday, and began my greatest adventure yet here in
Tanzania. There sure is plenty to be thankful for; I have been blessed with all
of the good things in life. It is crazy, yet cool, to think that (God willing)
my entire 2013 year will be spent in this country that I’m am slowly but surely
falling in love with.
To celebrate New Year’s we invited over some of the Jesuits
and a few friends from our neighborhood. We spent most of the night playing
games and talking about things like the similarities and differences between
American and East African norms, culture, and daily life. The really cool thing
is that none of the Jesuits are from Tanzania; they are from places like Kenya,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan (the newest
country in the world…so cool!), and there’s even one American, Michael. This
seemingly random group of people allowed for so many cross-cultural lessons,
stories, and experiences. It is incredibly beautiful to be in a roomful of
people from such differing backgrounds that can laugh and talk with such ease. (Luckily,
there was the advantage of them all knowing English pretty well…and they helped
me a bit with my slowly growing knowledge of Kiswahili.) We rang in the New
Year by greeting our neighbors at midnight and listening to popular Tanzanian
music.
Living a Life of
Simplicity
Welcome to the rainy season! Well, last night it poured much
harder than I have experienced so far in this country. I had to clear my desk
of all papers, pictures, my journal, etc because the rain was coming so far
into the room. I had a nice little puddle under my bed…but no worries, it was
dry no more than an hour after the rain stopped. Minus the small, unavoidable
puddles, the rain was such nice, cooling relief after the incredibly hot days
we’ve had since the New Year.
Today, Katie, Beth, and I took the dala dala (public bus) to
Mlimani City, which is home to the westernized mall. It was so strange to be in
a big, air conditioned building full of stores with innumerable amounts of
clothing, electronic gadgets, a movie theater, and a large grocery store. I was
absolutely overwhelmed by the choice in the grocery store, which wasn’t even
that great compared to what we have in the US…but it seemed like a lot because
there is little variety in the food options in our neighborhood. The fruits,
vegetables, and beans/rice/chapatti that we buy each day to make our meals are
more or less always the same but they are also so good; not to mention that
there are countless different ways to prepare everything, making cooking a lot
of fun. It was hard to believe some of the things that were available in this
mall, just a short distance from our home.
Anyway, the real point here is that the mall in Mlimani City
is an experience I am glad to have had; it makes me appreciate the way we live
as volunteers, and more specifically, as Jesuit Volunteers, which focuses one
of its four main pillars on the idea of ‘simple living.’ I have quickly learned
that I don’t need the expensive, brand name things that I am used to in the
United States in order to survive. Of course those things are always a nice
treat (so Mom, don’t think twice about sending that package J)
BUT to know that I will do just fine (AND be happy!) without all of my old
luxuries is a great feeling. I prefer
the way we live in Mabibo, which is still very comfortable despite the stark
differences between here and home in America.
As I reflect on this idea of simply living more, I realize
that we live simply in comparison to our lives back in the States…but here is
Tanzania, I don’t know that we would be classified as ‘living simply.’ Our
house is huge for only four people, in which we each have our own room, we
always have food to put on the table, we each have more than one or two pairs
of shoes to put on our feet, and we have free, easy access to the internet at
the Jesuit Residence. This is very comfortable living compared to at least some
of our friends and neighbors. One of my goals this year is to be aware of the
ways I can intentionally make me life simpler.
Other random and
wonderful things that have happened recently:
-I am now known
as “Leena” to Tanzanians because having a Cait, Katie, and Kathleen in our
community is confusing. They are all considered the same name to Tanzanians so
being “Leena” makes things easier for everyone.
-Katie (the other 1st year) and I made dinner all
on our own last night without the help of our 2nd years…including successfully
buying flour and eggs by myself from the duka (store) across the way from our
house
-One of our neighbors, Mama Amos, taught us to cook
wonderful foods like coconut peas, mchicha (it’s like spinach), ugali (a
tasteless, starch filler made basically from flour cooked in boiling water),
and ndizi (it’s a banana that isn’t sweet, it tastes more like a potato than
anything)
-Amos and Donny (Mama Amos’ children, roughly ages 9 and 4)
both called me “Auntie Leena” when I was walking by their house the other day.
It was a great feeling…one, that they remembered my name, and two, that they
called me, “auntie,” indicating some kind of comfort with me.
-I have successfully done my laundry on my own by hand, if
“successful” is not determined by the number of hours it sat out in the rain
after I hung it up…but that’s okay! That just means my clothes got an extra
rinse, making them ever softer than they would have been.
-We went to the National Museum in the city and had a picnic
along the water.
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