Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy 2013 (also belated)! I hope everyone's holidays, celebrations, family get togethers, meals, church services, and all the in-betweens went smoothly, safely, and joyously. As I mentioned in my last blog, I was lucky enough to go to Europe for about two weeks with my mom. It was, to say the least, a memorable trip and unique Christmas.
Things started off with a wonderful God blessed day getting to Europe. Pastor agreed to accompany me to DAR to the airport to help me get organized since this would be only my second trip to the DAR airport, and I really wasn't in a condition the first time to be paying attention to the little nuances that would be helpful to know on later trips. My flight didn't leave until 8 pm, which was an intentional choice on my part. Getting to DAR from Morogoro is a four hour bus ride, roughly; choosing a later flight would mean someone could accompany me to DAR and still have time to return to Morogoro in the same day without having to spend the night. I told Pastor I wanted to be in DAR at least by 4 pm. He suggested we leave at 6 am. Since I was asking him to go with me, I really didn't think I should argue, so bright and early at 5 AM the alarm went off. We left Morogoro at 6:30 AM. We got to DAR at 9:50 AM. That was probably the fastest ride to DAR ever. I wasn't really excited about the 10 hour wait at the airport, but I'm really glad that I agreed because it turned out to be an amazing day. Since we got there so early, Pastor suggested we go to the DAR Methodist Church, where the Tanzanian bishop serves (who I've also met and is a great guy). I said, "OK!" The church service was far more traditional than our style. I really felt like it was the true median between Methodist churches in the US and the pentecostal style of worship here. It was kind of fun and helped me get ready for Europe. At church, I met another, brand new missionary. She had only been in DAR for two weeks and was just starting language school. She hadn't yet figured our where she would be serving even. Apparently, I was the first foreigner she had seen the entire time, and she was thrilled! We talked for a while after the service, and we also talked with the bishop and Pastor. It was truly enjoyable, and before I knew it, it was already 2 in the afternoon! About that time we figured we should go to the airport so Pastor could go back to Morogoro.
After getting settled and organized at the airport, I went upstairs to the resturant because I hadn't eaten since 5 am. While there, a woman sat at the table in front of me, and because of a mutual agreement to watch each other's stuff while the other went to the bathroom, we started talking. She also was a missionary working with healthcare in villages. We exchanged stories and experiences, and I learned so much about the bigger picture of Tanzania. Sometimes, being in the same small world, you get swallowed up in those challenges and concerns. I learned I basically live in paradise in Morogoro. Morogoro is by no doubts a city; I believe it's bigger than Sioux Falls even. Our specific area, Kihonda, is not the poorest of the areas either, and because we are in a private school, a number of the families sending students there do have some money. This is relative to Tanzania of course, but nontheless, it makes a difference. I mean, I have electricity, running water, internet, a western style toilet, etc. Usually, not all of these are working at the same time, but they all are here in some quantity. With enough money, you can leave quite western here. The villages are a whole other world. The missionary I met told me how many of the people she met didn't even believe in giving their children education beyond basic arithemetic so the kids could do business. They believe in farming only and making sure their kids understand how to do that. They don't have water or electricity, or if they do they have very little. It was an eye-opening conversation. I knew that Tanzania was among the top 12 poorest nations in the world, but I was sheltered from the worst of it. Mostly, I've just seen beggars in town. Kihonda is median in terms of wealth, and while I know that, since it's the bulk of what I see, I'm sheltered from the reality.
Nonetheless, she was really good company, and before I knew it, it was 6 pm which meant I could officially check into my gate. At the DAR airport, apparetnly you can't even go through to the check in area until a couple hours before your flight. You have to go through two security checkpoints and customs even though you're leaving. Customs was kind of fun actually, it made me feel like a legitmate missionary. First off, if you weren't a resident or citizen of Tanzania, you had to fill out paperwork and what not, but I am now, so I got to breeze through. Secondly, I greeted the customs agent properly in Swahili. I could tell he was testing me because he went through a number of greetings before finally smiling and wishing me a good trip. Really, this whole day made me feel like an accomplished missionary. I utilized language throughout the day appropriately, I got to share my experiences, it hit how much I've grown and adjusted to. I think I can safely say I was in some state of bewilderment before this. It wasn't bad; most people really struggle with culture shock for a while. I was just more of in a funk. I wasn't so excited anymore about my life here, and with a lot of the events that happened at the end like the Youth Service that pushed me more than I felt ready for. By the time I left, I was really ready for a trip back to the first world which I hadn't been bothered by until the last week or so. Between this day, and getting to talk to my Mom about lots of things, more so than our skype conversations, kind of hit it home for me: I've done a lot here and I've grown a lot.
By the way, I really did go to Europe. I feel like for this blog though, that was maybe the most important day of the trip. Mom and I both met in Paris the next afternoon, eight hours later than expected (She ran into some problems, which is ironic because we expected if either of us would have problems, it would be me). But we made it! We saw the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, went to a small French town called Beaune which had a medieavel hospital, the Swiss Alps, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, "The Last Supper" in Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. I assure you, we slept well every night. Christmas Eve was special because we went to the Vatican for Christmas Mass. I think there were at least 10,000 other people in the St. Peter's Basilica that night, and supposedly the square outside could hold up to 70,000. We got to the square at 7 pm, waited outside for almost two hours, and then got in. This was most intense line I had ever been in. I think we were already at around the 2,000/3,000 person mark when we got there. There were actually nuns and priests running inside to get good seats! At 10 pm, the Pope himself came in and led the mass. Granted, I'm not Catholic and I don't speak Italian, but it was still pretty amazing. We had a decent view too, we were off to the side of the nave. It was definitly unlike any Christmas I had celebrated before; my gut says I won't have too many like it too.
Mom and I went from France to Switzerland to Italy then back to France to finish up with one last day sightseeing in Paris. Thankfully that day, we also finally got to go through the bag of donated school items she brought from the states! It was so perfectly timed at Christmas- I felt like a little kid! I can't wait to use everything in the school and at the church. At about 11 am on Saturday the 29th, I left Paris. We landed in Naibrobi, Kenya about 10 pm Kenya time (which is the same as Tanzania). I had to get my second boarding pass from Nairobi to DAR printed in Nairobi, which I didn't understand why they said that in Paris and I'm glad I didn't ask there. I didn't have a lot of extra time in Paris, but I was expecting a ten hour layover in Nairobi, so I had plenty of time. The Kenyan Airways representative kept typing and not saying anything, or if he did it was only to ask what flight I was on, which I kept replying "The morning one to DAR." I didn't remember the exact time, but I didn't understand the problem. Finally he told me that I had been placed on the evening flight to DAR and that without an interary of any sort, he couldn't believe me. I hadn't exactly had access to printing means (nor had I thought it necessary). I needed to get back to DAR in the morning, or at least early afternoon because Christine had arrived from her trip to Spain to visit her sister the night before; she had to spend the night regardless, but she waited for me to land so we could go back to Morogoro together. I finally asked the representative if there was another flight to DAR in the morning. He said there was and put me on it with little problem. I still had a long layover, but I would get to DAR at 10:40 in the morning. He even assured me that my luggage would get to DAR on the morning flight.
The night passed surprisingly quickly. I realized around 3 am why I had ever been shifted flights in the first place. My flight had apparently been cancelled, which I was never informed of. Surprises. Well, things were going fine. About 6:45 when I was waiting to go into the gate (in Nairobi, you have to do security to get to the gate area and then do security to go through the gate itself) when I realized that we would be making a stop in Zanzaibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania first. All but three of us on the flight got off at Zanzibar, the plane refilled, and we finally got to DAR. I've mentioned before how I'm not a big fan of DAR especially compared to Morogoro; I've never been so happy to be back in DAR. I was just thrilled! That didn't last too long. Neither of my bags arrived, which didn't surprise me with the flight change, but did create a problem. Waiting until the evening would mean that Christine and I would have to spend the night in DAR which neither of us wanted to do. We both had hit the point where we just wanted to go home. I was assured though that my bags would arrive in Morogoro if the airline shipped them, which would have meant that Christine and I could go home then. I wasn't really sure if I trusted it, but we called Pastor and he said it was fine, so we went with it. My bags did arrive that evening in DAR, got sent on a bus the next day, and shipped to the bus office in town. When Christine and I went to the bus office the next day, there they were! I was shocked, but so happy! We unpacked all the supplies, but we won't be able to bring it to the school until maybe next week, if not when school starts on the 14th.
For New Year's Eve, we celebrated with the missionaries. It was an enjoyable night of fellowship, especially since I hadn't seen most since the beginning of December. Everyone stayed awake until midnight; our new year came at about 3 pm for most of you! :) We heard some fireworks going off throughout the night, but otherwise it was pretty quiet. People do celebrate; there was a church service, but we missed it. We spent the night at another missionary's house, stayed awake until 2:30 talking (a poor choice on our part), and then got up at 7 the next morning to climb a mountain. I've mentioned that Morogoro sits at the base of the Uluguru mountains, and I was actually a little disappointed with myself that I hadn't gone up one yet. But then it worked out to do this on our break, so Christine, the other missionary and I did. Apparently, the Uluguru mountains are harder than climbing Mt. Kilamanjaro even because they're so steep. It was a tough climb, but we chose one of the shorter paths. At the top, we had a fantastic view of Morogoro, it was so cool!
We went down a different path on the way down; this path was a lot narrower and steeper. It was ok, just sort of slow. Then we came across a sprinkler system for the crops on the mountainside (there are tons of farms throughout the mountains). The water made the even trickier though because the dirt became slippery mud. Again, ok for a while. Then I put my foot down on what I thought was a good hold, shifted my weight, and felt my foot slide out. There was no stopping it; a second later I was going down the mountainside. I rolled at least two or three times before I stopped, which mercifully wasn't too far down. There was a small plateau down the mountain 10-15 feet maybe. I slowed, stopped, and actually stood right back up. I was covered in mud and a bunch of scrapes on my right side, but nothing was broken or seriously hurt. We washed out the scrapes in a nearby stream and continued back down. I'm sore today, but again, considering what could have happened, I said a lot of thank you's to God yesterday.
Well, as you can see by now, we've only been back a few days, but a lot's already happend! I can't believe how naturally I fell back into life here. For about the first week, everything in the first world was exciting and new almost. I mean, hot showers, cold weather, pasta, soft bread, snow, safe water from the sink, it was wonderful! I was worried that coming back would be hard for me. It hasn't been actually, so I'm glad. It's shocking to me that in about three months that I'll be back to the US. I feel like I'm a fourth of the way through my time, not half. Things are a little strange now in that we aren't in school. Clearly, we've kept busy otherwise, and I plan to do lots of schoolwork during this time too. I know we'll soon have to do some work getting organized for the coming school year. It'll be strange for me since I'll only be here one fourth of the year; I've heard we plan out the whole year, but I'd feel bad doing that for some incoming teacher. We'll just have to see!
God bless,
Kjirstin
Things started off with a wonderful God blessed day getting to Europe. Pastor agreed to accompany me to DAR to the airport to help me get organized since this would be only my second trip to the DAR airport, and I really wasn't in a condition the first time to be paying attention to the little nuances that would be helpful to know on later trips. My flight didn't leave until 8 pm, which was an intentional choice on my part. Getting to DAR from Morogoro is a four hour bus ride, roughly; choosing a later flight would mean someone could accompany me to DAR and still have time to return to Morogoro in the same day without having to spend the night. I told Pastor I wanted to be in DAR at least by 4 pm. He suggested we leave at 6 am. Since I was asking him to go with me, I really didn't think I should argue, so bright and early at 5 AM the alarm went off. We left Morogoro at 6:30 AM. We got to DAR at 9:50 AM. That was probably the fastest ride to DAR ever. I wasn't really excited about the 10 hour wait at the airport, but I'm really glad that I agreed because it turned out to be an amazing day. Since we got there so early, Pastor suggested we go to the DAR Methodist Church, where the Tanzanian bishop serves (who I've also met and is a great guy). I said, "OK!" The church service was far more traditional than our style. I really felt like it was the true median between Methodist churches in the US and the pentecostal style of worship here. It was kind of fun and helped me get ready for Europe. At church, I met another, brand new missionary. She had only been in DAR for two weeks and was just starting language school. She hadn't yet figured our where she would be serving even. Apparently, I was the first foreigner she had seen the entire time, and she was thrilled! We talked for a while after the service, and we also talked with the bishop and Pastor. It was truly enjoyable, and before I knew it, it was already 2 in the afternoon! About that time we figured we should go to the airport so Pastor could go back to Morogoro.
After getting settled and organized at the airport, I went upstairs to the resturant because I hadn't eaten since 5 am. While there, a woman sat at the table in front of me, and because of a mutual agreement to watch each other's stuff while the other went to the bathroom, we started talking. She also was a missionary working with healthcare in villages. We exchanged stories and experiences, and I learned so much about the bigger picture of Tanzania. Sometimes, being in the same small world, you get swallowed up in those challenges and concerns. I learned I basically live in paradise in Morogoro. Morogoro is by no doubts a city; I believe it's bigger than Sioux Falls even. Our specific area, Kihonda, is not the poorest of the areas either, and because we are in a private school, a number of the families sending students there do have some money. This is relative to Tanzania of course, but nontheless, it makes a difference. I mean, I have electricity, running water, internet, a western style toilet, etc. Usually, not all of these are working at the same time, but they all are here in some quantity. With enough money, you can leave quite western here. The villages are a whole other world. The missionary I met told me how many of the people she met didn't even believe in giving their children education beyond basic arithemetic so the kids could do business. They believe in farming only and making sure their kids understand how to do that. They don't have water or electricity, or if they do they have very little. It was an eye-opening conversation. I knew that Tanzania was among the top 12 poorest nations in the world, but I was sheltered from the worst of it. Mostly, I've just seen beggars in town. Kihonda is median in terms of wealth, and while I know that, since it's the bulk of what I see, I'm sheltered from the reality.
Nonetheless, she was really good company, and before I knew it, it was 6 pm which meant I could officially check into my gate. At the DAR airport, apparetnly you can't even go through to the check in area until a couple hours before your flight. You have to go through two security checkpoints and customs even though you're leaving. Customs was kind of fun actually, it made me feel like a legitmate missionary. First off, if you weren't a resident or citizen of Tanzania, you had to fill out paperwork and what not, but I am now, so I got to breeze through. Secondly, I greeted the customs agent properly in Swahili. I could tell he was testing me because he went through a number of greetings before finally smiling and wishing me a good trip. Really, this whole day made me feel like an accomplished missionary. I utilized language throughout the day appropriately, I got to share my experiences, it hit how much I've grown and adjusted to. I think I can safely say I was in some state of bewilderment before this. It wasn't bad; most people really struggle with culture shock for a while. I was just more of in a funk. I wasn't so excited anymore about my life here, and with a lot of the events that happened at the end like the Youth Service that pushed me more than I felt ready for. By the time I left, I was really ready for a trip back to the first world which I hadn't been bothered by until the last week or so. Between this day, and getting to talk to my Mom about lots of things, more so than our skype conversations, kind of hit it home for me: I've done a lot here and I've grown a lot.
By the way, I really did go to Europe. I feel like for this blog though, that was maybe the most important day of the trip. Mom and I both met in Paris the next afternoon, eight hours later than expected (She ran into some problems, which is ironic because we expected if either of us would have problems, it would be me). But we made it! We saw the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, went to a small French town called Beaune which had a medieavel hospital, the Swiss Alps, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, "The Last Supper" in Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. I assure you, we slept well every night. Christmas Eve was special because we went to the Vatican for Christmas Mass. I think there were at least 10,000 other people in the St. Peter's Basilica that night, and supposedly the square outside could hold up to 70,000. We got to the square at 7 pm, waited outside for almost two hours, and then got in. This was most intense line I had ever been in. I think we were already at around the 2,000/3,000 person mark when we got there. There were actually nuns and priests running inside to get good seats! At 10 pm, the Pope himself came in and led the mass. Granted, I'm not Catholic and I don't speak Italian, but it was still pretty amazing. We had a decent view too, we were off to the side of the nave. It was definitly unlike any Christmas I had celebrated before; my gut says I won't have too many like it too.
Mom and I went from France to Switzerland to Italy then back to France to finish up with one last day sightseeing in Paris. Thankfully that day, we also finally got to go through the bag of donated school items she brought from the states! It was so perfectly timed at Christmas- I felt like a little kid! I can't wait to use everything in the school and at the church. At about 11 am on Saturday the 29th, I left Paris. We landed in Naibrobi, Kenya about 10 pm Kenya time (which is the same as Tanzania). I had to get my second boarding pass from Nairobi to DAR printed in Nairobi, which I didn't understand why they said that in Paris and I'm glad I didn't ask there. I didn't have a lot of extra time in Paris, but I was expecting a ten hour layover in Nairobi, so I had plenty of time. The Kenyan Airways representative kept typing and not saying anything, or if he did it was only to ask what flight I was on, which I kept replying "The morning one to DAR." I didn't remember the exact time, but I didn't understand the problem. Finally he told me that I had been placed on the evening flight to DAR and that without an interary of any sort, he couldn't believe me. I hadn't exactly had access to printing means (nor had I thought it necessary). I needed to get back to DAR in the morning, or at least early afternoon because Christine had arrived from her trip to Spain to visit her sister the night before; she had to spend the night regardless, but she waited for me to land so we could go back to Morogoro together. I finally asked the representative if there was another flight to DAR in the morning. He said there was and put me on it with little problem. I still had a long layover, but I would get to DAR at 10:40 in the morning. He even assured me that my luggage would get to DAR on the morning flight.
The night passed surprisingly quickly. I realized around 3 am why I had ever been shifted flights in the first place. My flight had apparently been cancelled, which I was never informed of. Surprises. Well, things were going fine. About 6:45 when I was waiting to go into the gate (in Nairobi, you have to do security to get to the gate area and then do security to go through the gate itself) when I realized that we would be making a stop in Zanzaibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania first. All but three of us on the flight got off at Zanzibar, the plane refilled, and we finally got to DAR. I've mentioned before how I'm not a big fan of DAR especially compared to Morogoro; I've never been so happy to be back in DAR. I was just thrilled! That didn't last too long. Neither of my bags arrived, which didn't surprise me with the flight change, but did create a problem. Waiting until the evening would mean that Christine and I would have to spend the night in DAR which neither of us wanted to do. We both had hit the point where we just wanted to go home. I was assured though that my bags would arrive in Morogoro if the airline shipped them, which would have meant that Christine and I could go home then. I wasn't really sure if I trusted it, but we called Pastor and he said it was fine, so we went with it. My bags did arrive that evening in DAR, got sent on a bus the next day, and shipped to the bus office in town. When Christine and I went to the bus office the next day, there they were! I was shocked, but so happy! We unpacked all the supplies, but we won't be able to bring it to the school until maybe next week, if not when school starts on the 14th.
For New Year's Eve, we celebrated with the missionaries. It was an enjoyable night of fellowship, especially since I hadn't seen most since the beginning of December. Everyone stayed awake until midnight; our new year came at about 3 pm for most of you! :) We heard some fireworks going off throughout the night, but otherwise it was pretty quiet. People do celebrate; there was a church service, but we missed it. We spent the night at another missionary's house, stayed awake until 2:30 talking (a poor choice on our part), and then got up at 7 the next morning to climb a mountain. I've mentioned that Morogoro sits at the base of the Uluguru mountains, and I was actually a little disappointed with myself that I hadn't gone up one yet. But then it worked out to do this on our break, so Christine, the other missionary and I did. Apparently, the Uluguru mountains are harder than climbing Mt. Kilamanjaro even because they're so steep. It was a tough climb, but we chose one of the shorter paths. At the top, we had a fantastic view of Morogoro, it was so cool!
We went down a different path on the way down; this path was a lot narrower and steeper. It was ok, just sort of slow. Then we came across a sprinkler system for the crops on the mountainside (there are tons of farms throughout the mountains). The water made the even trickier though because the dirt became slippery mud. Again, ok for a while. Then I put my foot down on what I thought was a good hold, shifted my weight, and felt my foot slide out. There was no stopping it; a second later I was going down the mountainside. I rolled at least two or three times before I stopped, which mercifully wasn't too far down. There was a small plateau down the mountain 10-15 feet maybe. I slowed, stopped, and actually stood right back up. I was covered in mud and a bunch of scrapes on my right side, but nothing was broken or seriously hurt. We washed out the scrapes in a nearby stream and continued back down. I'm sore today, but again, considering what could have happened, I said a lot of thank you's to God yesterday.
Well, as you can see by now, we've only been back a few days, but a lot's already happend! I can't believe how naturally I fell back into life here. For about the first week, everything in the first world was exciting and new almost. I mean, hot showers, cold weather, pasta, soft bread, snow, safe water from the sink, it was wonderful! I was worried that coming back would be hard for me. It hasn't been actually, so I'm glad. It's shocking to me that in about three months that I'll be back to the US. I feel like I'm a fourth of the way through my time, not half. Things are a little strange now in that we aren't in school. Clearly, we've kept busy otherwise, and I plan to do lots of schoolwork during this time too. I know we'll soon have to do some work getting organized for the coming school year. It'll be strange for me since I'll only be here one fourth of the year; I've heard we plan out the whole year, but I'd feel bad doing that for some incoming teacher. We'll just have to see!
God bless,
Kjirstin
What an amazing post, Kjirstin! I can't even imagine how it felt to travel from the third world to first to third again... In weeks. I'd love to hear more stories about how it feels to live there. And sorry that you slipped on the mountain. Come visit. I'll take you on some cool trails...
ReplyDelete