Cooking Day!

One of the nice things about the language course is that the teachers understand how full our brains are by Friday, so we tend to do fun activities like excursions or games that use our Swahili but without necessarily loading us with new information. The most enjoyable for me so far has been the cooking day.

First order of the day was to get the meat sorted. This is not the simple matter of popping to Tesco to pick up some meat, or even opening the freezer for it. No, the teachers had brought a box of live chickens for us to kill, pluck and cook. Now, normally I'm not too squeamish about these things but at the time I was still feeling the early pregnancy nausea quite badly so I didn't watch while the others killed, plucked and disembowelled our dinner. Fortunately, when Olly did language school here, he was one of the brave ones who did the killing so, actually, there's no need for me to learn. Plus, more often than not you can ask someone else to kill the chickens for you anyway.

While the non-squeamish were on chicken duty, some of us starting work on the coconuts that were needed for the cakes and the rice. First, we had to halve them, for which we were taught a nifty trick with a chunk of metal. Then we had to scrape out the inside using a 'kibao cha mbuzi' - a special stool with a serrated metal blade sticking out of one end. It was great fun, even if we did feel like small children compared to how quickly and neatly our teacher did it.

We also got to pound the herbs for chai (tea) and the ginger for the sauce (which we accidentally put in the chai as well - oops! It still tasted fine, just rather more gingery than it was supposed to...) - it was most of the students' first time using a mortar and pestle for real, so we got to take some fun 'I'm angry with these herbs' pictures!

All of this took place outside, where many Tanzanians will do the majority of their cooking. After that was finished we went inside to make coconut mandazi - small coconut dough balls, made into shell shapes, and deep fried. They went down very well at chai break!

After tea break we went back to the kitchen to sort through the rice - we had to sort through with our fingers, looking for small stones or anything we might break our teeth on, then we tossed it in a shallow wicker basket to get rid of any chaff that was in it. That's harder than it looks and it's quite easy for some (or a lot) of the rice to end up on the floor! While I was doing this, other students were working hard peeling and chopping vegetables - a job we were already familiar with.

The last thing to get ready was the chapatti - our teacher mixed the dough (we were running rather behind schedule and this was our own lunch we were making), then showed us how to make it into chapatti - it involves rolling the dough, oiling it, folding it, stretching it, and rolling it back up before rolling it out (again) into the right shape to be fried. These steps mean it's light and flaky and super delicious!

Finally our work was done, and we received our reward of lunch cooked by our own hands (although it has to be confessed that there were a number of students who couldn't bring themselves to eat an animal they'd seen being killed!). It was a fun day, and also brought home to us just how long cooking from scratch really takes -we started work at 8:30 and ate at 1:45. We were slow because so much of it was new to us, but even with expert Tanzanian hands, meals here take a very long time to prepare!

Ninajifunza Kiswahili!

I (Cat) am now eight weeks into the 16 week Swahili course and so far it's a learning experience unlike any other!

Firstly, it's the only thing I'm studying. I've always wanted to learn a language solidly without distractions from other courses or long 'to do' lists, so in that way it's a dream come true. That being said, it being the only thing you're doing can become somewhat intense! We spend about 5 hours a day in class, then the rest of the day is 'free' but we usually have at least an hour's worth (often more) of homework to do for the next day that will consolidate what we've learned in class. This usually consists of written exercises, either translating sentences from English to Swahili, or the other way around. Sometimes we have to write stories that use grammatical rules we've just learned, for example, when we learned how to use the relative marker 'which'/'who', we had to write a description of where we're from, using the aforementioned maker as much as we could (that may sound simple, but the marker changes according to which noun class you're using so there are actually 15 different endings that need to agree with the appropriate noun!).

Secondly, the class size is different - I have been in small classes before, but with language learning it makes such a difference! In school French lessons, there were 25-30 students so we rarely spoke French at all. Here, there are four of us in the class (and that's a 'big class') so there's no way to escape speaking. This is a challenge for me because I really hate to be called on and I hate to make mistakes and get things wrong but it's also very good for my language learning - there's no way to avoid trying to speak Swahili, and the more we learn, the more we're made to speak. For example, this week we were given a list of ten questions to think about overnight: things like 'a person you'll never forget', 'a place you'd like to visit' etc... And then in class we were 'interviewed' by the teacher and the other students about our answers. Of course, there's still a lot we don't know so it tends to be very halting Swahili, with a few 'unasemaje....?' (how do you say...?) questions directed at the teacher.

Thirdly, we move so quickly and learn so much! For example, one week we had four days of classes and during that time I wrote down 202 new words and we learned a new noun class, how to use colours (fairly straightforward, but not as easy as you might think - Olly, as the official linguist of the two of us, might write a blog about agreements sometime, and then you'll see what I mean!), a new relative infix (how to say 'how' - this is not a separate word but is in the middle of the verb, along with subject agreement, tense, object prefix and, of course, the actual verb) and a new tense (hypothetical conditional - past and present, for those of you who are interested!). That's a lot to take in!

Despite the crazy speed and sheer volume of new things every day, I love the classes! It's so amazing to start to make sense of what you can hear around you, and to start to be able to form coherent sentences in Swahili. Even I can tell it's pretty clumsy Swahili most of the time but the feeling is starting to come that I can actually make myself understood if I need to, even if it's not perfect Swahili yet. And I'm only halfway through, so I'm starting to believe that by December, I will be able to say that I speak Swahili which, after all, is the whole point of the course!

Oliver Rundell: Dragon Slayer!

Well, not quite. But due to Olly's previous experience in Tanzania, he has been called upon a couple of times to come to the assistance of some of our friends here at language school.

On the first such occasion, we'd just got to our banda in the evening when we heard a shriek from a neighbour crying "Olly and Cat, Olly and Cat, there's a baby scorpion outside my tent!" She had actually killed it herself with a large proportion of her can of 'Doom' spray but, understandably, wanted reassurance that a) it was dead, and b) had no little friends in the vicinity that were still in the land of the living. Having reassured her on both counts, Olly disposed of the remains and all was well. (Sadly we didn't think to take a picture. Maybe next time)

The Second occasion was exceedingly exciting. We were walking past the banda of another couple studying here, and they called us up to look at something they'd just found. It was hideous! They live in a stone banda, similar to ours, and had never looked too closely at the walls, until one of them brushed past a 'stone' and realised it was covered in HAIR. It was about 2-3 inches long and really quite odd looking. After some discussion we reached the conclusion that it was some kind of cocoon. Olly, very bravely, scraped it off the wall (I retreated at this point in case it exploded with nastiness all over the room - it didn't) and we took it outside to have a good look. We studied it for a while, decided it wasn't coming out to get us, but we still couldn't see what it was, or whether it was alive. So Olly did what anyone with a curious mind would do - he poked it with a stick. That was the most disgusting part - some white goo came out. But at least that established that it was now dead. Yuck. We're all looking a bit more closely at the stone walls of our bandas now...

On the most recent occasion, a few of the students were sat in the TV room, some studying, some relaxing, and someone suddenly noticed a giant insect on someone else's shoulder. She jumped up screaming immediately running to different people in turn to get it off. Everyone else recoiled in shock at how large it was, but Olly, hero that he is, calmly reached up and flicked it onto his own trouser leg, where he happily let it sit until I took it out of the room (with a book, not my hands - I'm not that brave). (Side note: when I did take it out, I flicked it off my book and it bounced off a piece of wood with a very satisfying hollow 'clunk', which amused me greatly).

However, Olly is now away for a week so we have no Superhero to come to our rescue! Last night I did manage to channel his 'heroicity' and disposed of a, pretty large, spider that had landed on a friend. My bravery does not, however, stretch to rodents. We, unfortunately, have mice in our banda. Olly usually gets up in the night if we hear them and chases them off but if I hear them, the last thing I'm going to do is put my feet on the floor, so I've been sleeping with earplugs in - ignorance is bliss, right? Alas, this morning when I got up, I realised that they had been in my bedside cabinet, which is perilously close to my face! (I'm very thankful for the extra protection of a mosquito net right now) One of the staff has stepped into the breach in Olly's absence and set a trap for the mice, but I'll definitely be glad to have my 'dragon slayer' back to protect me from those pesky rodents.

PS - I wish I could post pictures of these bugs, but with the connection I'm using it would take about an hour per picture - maybe another time I can add some...

Where we live...

This is our banda! We're very happy to be in a stone banda - unlike 'tented bandas', which comprise most of the accommodation, stone bandas have the luxury of inside bathrooms as well as a bit more space to unpack and feel at home.

I'll try and put some more pictures up soon, but I'm using internet via my phone at the moment, which means that the connection is far from fast. Maybe next time we go to town and use an internet cafe, we'll manage to put more pictures up.

365...

... days since we got married (and a few, but I'm not going to bother calculating that). We've had a great first year of marriage and are looking forward to many more... I'm going to try to upload a sort of year in pictures thing, but I'm not sure how well the internet will go for that...

July 31st 2010 - we got married!

August 2010 - wonderful honeymoon in Corfu

September 2010 - started at All Nations Christian College

October 2010 - Fun Day Out for Cat's birthday, including crazy golf (birthday girl won, obviously), Nandos, shopping, Starbucks and beach.

November 2010 was mostly spent hanging out with college friends/studying, but this seems to have gone largely undocumented photographically - this is actually the only picture we have from November!

December 2010 - trip to Paris for Cat's sister's birthday (thanks again, Allyd!)

Still December - I couldn't not put a 'first Christmas together' picture up!

January 2011 included some fairly cold, although beautiful, walks...

February 2011 - snowdrops! It always makes me happy when the flowers start coming up.

March 2011 - Rundell fun in the unexpected sun...

April 2011 - Bethany came to visit and took this work of art while on a (semi successful) trip trying to find the seaside

May 2011 - Rundell siblings visited us for a weekend of fun

June 2011 - volleyball tournament at college - Cat and our two good friends were cheerleaders (and yes, those are mop heads we're using for pompoms)

July 2011 - we finished at college and started on our many goodbyes...

July 2011 (still) - flew to Tanzania...

... and spent our anniversary weekend on the tropical island of Zanzibar (with much gratitude to the Rundell parentals for their anniversary gift!)

As I said, it's been a great first year of marriage with many blessings - here's to many more!

We're here!

I know, we really should have updated this last week when we actually arrived, but the orientation started right away so we've been catching our breath somewhat... Also, we only have internet at the orientation location, not in the house we're staying at, so we have to try and coincide blog inspiration with free time while still at the hotel.

Anyway, we arrived in Dar es Salaam in one piece on Sunday the 24th July, with all our luggage - hurrah! The fact that Olly has done this before was such a help to me as all I had to do was follow him and let him do all the talking - very convenient, especially when you've been on an aeroplane all night. We were met outside the baggage reclaim by a colleague who drove us to the house we'll be staying in while in Dar - another nice thing about Olly having been here before is that some other colleagues who are back in their home country for a while have generously offered us the use of their house and car, which is not only nicer than your living space being just a hotel room, but also has the benefit of being cheaper! We're really enjoying our time there - it definitely feels slightly less like still being in transit than a hotel would, even if we haven't bothered unpacking properly! (what's the point for just three weeks?)

We are now halfway through our initial orientation - it's been really good so far, not just to learn about how life in Tanzania and the specific branch that we're in works, but also to get to know some of our colleagues - people who have been here a while who are leading the sessions and also all the other new people - there are about 20-25 'newbies', mostly from North America and the UK and it's been great getting to know them and to share stories of how God brought each one of us here.

We have just over a week left of orientation, after which about half of the participants (us included) will head off to Iringa for 4 months of language school - during the first week of orientation we had a few introductory Swahili classes, which were great and I think most people are really looking forward to learning more.

I think that's most of the main news for this post... We'll try to be better at keeping this updated but please bear in mind that our internet access will be neither consistent nor very high speed a lot of the time!

We haven't managed to take very many pictures yet, but Cat did get this one from the plane window as we flew over Kilimanjaro - that's a pretty impressive mountain!

Expectations

One of the things people tend to warn you about before you go overseas, or probably for any major life changes, is that of 'realistic expectations'. It makes sense; if you have totally unrealistic expectations, you're bound to be disappointed and might end up in a spiral of despair and hurt when they aren't met. On my previous trips etc... I've managed to have very few expectations - mostly they were such a big change that I had no idea what to expect so it wasn't a major issue for me. This time, I have lived in Africa before, and know a few people who have lived/are living in Tanzania, so I have much more information than ever before. Also, because we are going long-term this time, there is a bit more at stake in my adjustment. The thing is, I need to balance having realistic expectations with my need to be excited about this next step - when I express excitement, much of the time I receive a warning - don't be excited, unfulfilled expectations hurt. So, how to balance a healthy excitement for the next step on our journey with caution and guarding myself? I don't know the answer, but I do have some ideas...

1. Remember that if no matter what the difference is between my expectations and the reality of life, God will not change - I can expect Him to be faithful and present through all the challenges as well as the joys. Sometimes the unmet expectations and the resulting struggles can actually have a long term positive effect - when things look worst, that's often when I cling the hardest to God. I know that sounds very simplistic and that's not necessarily everyone's experience and it certainly doesn't mean I want struggles and difficulties! It is my experience, though, that looking back at the hardest times, these tend to also be the times I can see God working in me and my life the most clearly.

2. Realistic expectations does not equate with negative expectations. The implication when being cautioned about expectations can often be like the famous quote, "expect the worst, and you will never be disappointed", which may be a nice way to protect yourself, but I don't think an entirely pessimistic outlook on life is the healthiest thing in the world! I do think that if you expect things to be bad, you'll, more often than not, find bad things to confirm your expectations. Similarly, I think that if you expect good things, and look for them, the chances are that you will find some! It's very simplistic and clichéd way to say 'count your blessings', but that doesn't mean it's wrong.

Goodbyes

With less than six weeks left in England, our time is filling up with 'lasts'. Last weekend was the first of many goodbyes, with a visit to the Wycliffe Centre to see our good friends Matt and Liz for the last time. This was probably easier than most goodbyes for two reasons: firstly, they are also Wycliffe members so have similar experiences with regards to forever leaving people behind, and secondly, they are from the same branch so will hopefully eventually be in East Africa too so we will get to see them more frequently than many of our friends!

This stage is one of the hardest in our chosen life - the leaving people behind, knowing that our friendships will never be the same, that we are sacrificing a degree of intimacy in our friendships that you simply can't sustain when living so far away. We'll miss big things like seeing our friends get married - even if we make it back for a wedding, the chances are we won't know, and won't be able to get to know our friends' new spouse, seeing our friends start their families - watching their kids grow up. We'll miss the smaller things too - all the shared experiences, being 'in the area' for coffee simply won't happen, we may not know about the highs and lows of our friends' daily lives. Of course, this cuts both ways - you won't know these things about us either! That's one of the reasons we're starting this blog - to try and keep our friends in the loop with our day to day lives.

With this round of farewells, I'm going to try and see them as an opportunity more than a painful necessity - an opportunity to see our friends, to spend time together and appreciate the time we do have instead of focussing only on the future times we will miss.

39...

Yes indeed. We leave for Tanzania in 39 days! Feeling pretty good about our moving 'to do' lists (yes, that's plural - I'm loving one note for it's spendiferous system of tabs and tags for organising my life). We're gradually moving all the things we won't be taking to Tz/needing in the immediate future into Olly's parents' loft, which they've very generously cleared a corner of for us! We have our flights booked, visas processed and all our vaccinations are done. All that's left is the rest of our p*cking (hate that word) and various organisational bits and pieces to do with leaving our house here (final bills, post redirection, address changes etc...). When I look at it that way, I don't feel too stressed. It's just when I look at all the assignments still to do for college and all the goodbyes to survive that the time really seems so very short!

Welcome!

Greetings and congratulations for finding your way to our new blog. We hope to use this as a tool to keep our friends and supporters updated with our lives as we move to Tanzania in a few weeks. Let us know if there's anything you'd particularly like to see on here and we'll see what we can do... assuming suggestions are within our technological repertoire!