Friday, December 11, 2009

Settling in

Did you know that lizards chirp?

I had no idea until this week, when I was at first convinced that there were mice living in my ceiling, and I was wondering, How on Earth do they get into and out of my ceiling?! Then I thought it was birds, but birds do not leave tons of little pellet-like turds in my bed and on my mosquito net and next to my door and in various other corners of the house. (Their poop tends to SPLAT! a bit more. That would be worse.)

Which is how I discovered that the squeaking/chirping racket that blares from my ceiling is actually lizards. And yes, they poop on my bed while I sleep (and during the day, too). And chirp a lot. What's even worse is that sometimes the bugs get so bad that I wish there were more lizards, because lizards eat bugs. Those are not such good nights.

But things are getting easier. I never expected that the first few weeks would be easy, and I really am so, so thrilled to have gotten to site (that scare where I thought I'd be sent home really put things in perspective!). I don't have anywhere to put my stuff-- while there are a couple of very welcome padded chairs in my house, so that for once I actually hang out in the living room and not in my bed all the time, there is not so much as a single drawer or shelf. So I just have to live out of my suitcases, for the time being. I think furniture, so that I can finally unpack, will have to be my Christmas present for my parents. (And man, was I excited when my mom reminded me that I have that coming. I'd thought that I would have to just live out of suitcases in a mostly-empty house for two years!)

They can send me the money easily, because there is a Western Union a mere 10-minute walk from my house. Yes, really. I don't have any running water and I use a pit latrine that is outside of my house, but there is a Western Union right next to my house. And internet on my phone. Africa is weird sometimes, y'all.

I won't start teaching until sometime in January, so right now all I really have to do is settle in and try not to make too bad an impression. It's been a bit of a rocky start, but I'm determined to be a great, dedicated teacher. Once I get more used to Tanzanian social customs and expectations, I'll do my best to start making friends and fitting in. The other math teacher at my school is a woman just one year older than me, so I'm hoping that a friendship will come of that.

One disheartening thing about getting here, though, is that I've realized how crappy my Swahili really is. I can form sentences sort of decently, as long as I go super slowly, and read and write OK, but I can't catch like a single thing other people say to me. And for some reason, even when I do understand, people think I didn't and translate into English. (This mostly applies to the other teachers at my school, of course.)

Anyway... this has been my first week. Does anyone know how to chase lizards out of one's ceiling?