Next Steps

My self-portrait from kindergarten depicts me as a teacher, the grown-up I always knew I would be. As a fourth-generation educator, I’m proud to be continuing a family legacy that has been wrought in one-room schoolhouses, special education programs, and multicultural classrooms for the past 90 years. My great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother have each wholeheartedly invested themselves in the lives of their students, as elementary school teachers are wont to do, and I’m inspired by the hard work, generous spirits, and feisty nature of these women who have come before me.

I love school. I always have. I’ve been living within the rhythms of the school year—beginning with crisp fall mornings and ending as the June ocean breezes bring in tourists and the sounds of summer—since I was five years old. There is something magical about education, and I’ve never quite been able to leave its spell.

Education is proactive. It is an incredible agent of change, and it is the greatest and most effective tool for achieving social justice that I have encountered. Education changes lives—I’ve seen it alter the paths of countless students’ lives.

I know it has changed mine, and it will this autumn when I become a student once again.

Two weeks ago, I received a letter:

“Dear Julia,
Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to the Master of Education program in International Education Policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education to pursue full-time study for the 2012-2013 academic year. […]”

CAMBRIDGE, HERE I COME!

I have always loved the Boston/Cambridge area, and I can’t wait to try life on the East Coast. I am excited, overwhelmed, honored, …but mostly just excited.

And so, here’s the Oscar speech…

Thank you to Chris, Kathryn, and Kristin for writing letters of recommendation for me. For your support during our time working together and now in this new endeavor, I am forever grateful.

For being my biggest cheerleaders in the beginning—especially over our Thanksgiving meal of 2008, Michael and Densil, you rock.

For reading my personal statement, offering astute feedback, and assuaging my fears that it was all a bunch of fluff…Erinn and Jason, asante sana!

And for my family, who has already looked up the Hampton Inn nearest Harvard so they can come visit (twice), I love you so much!

Orientation begins on August 27, and then I have ten months to “suck out all the marrow” of this incredible experience.

Boys Will Be Boys

This is a sampling of the 70 pages currently sitting on my desk that read, “I will not teach bad words to other students.” Five boys filled 70 pages with 500 sentences each following this very charming behavior.

Oh, the joys of working with youth!

Obama Fun Run

So, Obama is kind of a big deal here. I’m not sure if our nation’s president knows it, but he has a whole industry of items with his name and image on them. There are Obama backpacks, Obama t-shirts, Obama polo shirts, Obama lollipops, Obama chewing gum, Obama khangas, and so on.

Naturally, Kayci and I needed Obama t-shirts, which we purchased on a recent market outing. We’ll wear them one day in the future and say “oh yes, I bought this when I lived in Africa while Obama was president.” And everyone at the cocktail party will nod approvingly at how cool we are on numerous fronts...or, that’s how I’ve imagined it, anyway. (Not sure why we’re wearing old t-shirts at a cocktail party 25 years from now, but just go with it.)

Of course, we wanted an occasion sooner than the afore-mentioned imaginary cocktail party of the future to wear our shirts.

And then came President’s Day.

In the meantime, we had welcomed a new colleague to the JBFC Tanzania team, Kris Mills. Kris just happened to have his own, authentic Obama t-shirt from the States...perfect. Our “look” was complete for the President’s Day Fun-Run, which took place WAY too early in the morning. (See bleary-eyed looks below. No wait, don’t look too closely!)

Who says you have to live in America to celebrate President's Day? Not these patriots!

The Halfway Point

Now that Mama Julia is gone, I know that I am past the halfway point of my (first) Tanzania adventure. I looked at a calendar last night and realized I have fewer than twenty weeks left in this country I have come to love deeply. I know I will return at some point, God willing, but I also know life will never be exactly the same as it is right now.

I’m at my desk this morning...waiting for a yet-again broken-down Coaster to be repaired and bring our teachers and students from Igoma/Kisesa. Salome, Yonga, and Catherine are gathered around me, little girls who are all at an age when everything is magical—the sound of my cell phone, the welcome icon on this laptop, the smooth texture of my bracelet. They are giggling as they play with a pencil sharpener, which is dangerously close to sprinkling wood shavings on my keyboard. I know I will look back and long for moments like these, when I am surrounded by love constantly.

In these first five months, I’ve been presented with new experiences at every turn. I’ve never once been bored. Now I feel the pressing of time slipping away, and I must be proactive in order to accomplish everything I set out to do. Many of these things have happened organically...but some will take more effort. When I think about there being a finite number of Sunday Pilau Dinners and times to run with the girls left...well, I can’t think about it now.

I’m going out to live these moments as fully as possible. See items sans "check!" below for a list of what I hope the next few months hold for me.

Julia’s Tanzania Bucket List (A Work in Progress…)

1. Learn Swahili (check!)
2. Learn to speak GOOD Swahili
3. Build my vocabulary of Kisukuma and Kimasai, also
4. Eavesdrop on a conversation in Swahili when people don’t know I speak it, then reply with an awesome comeback
5. Memorize all the regions of Tanzania and generally become not an idiot about the country’s geography
6. Read up on Tanzanian history
7. Proudly sing all the words to the Tanzanian National Anthem at morning assembly (check!)
8. Take a foot picture on the “heart rock” (check!)
9. Eat at Hotel Tilapia (check!)
10. Learn to dance, Africa-style (check!)
11. Learn how to plait the girls’ hair (check!)
12. Plait my hair (check!)
13. Experience Christmas in Tanzania (check!)
14. Hike Kilimanjaro
15. Learn to cook several Tanzanian dishes: pilau, kisamvu (check!), mandazi (check!), chapatti (check!), matoke (check!)…
16. Know the name of every student at Joseph and Mary Primary Academy
17. Walk to the fishpond (check!)
18. Turn right at the main road (check!)
19. Swim in Lake Victoria (check!)
20. Walk to Kitongo and buy something without a Swahili-speaking chaperone (check!)
21. Buy my own produce in Mwanza’s huge market while bargaining in Swahili (check!)
22. Take a piki-piki to a dala-dala to another dala-dala to Mwanza
23. Wander the streets of Mwanza by myself without the anxiety of having a driver wait for me (check!)
24. Marvel at the Serengeti’s magnificence (check, check!)
25. Eat in a random café with plastic chairs (check!)
26. Soak up the sun on the beaches of Zanzibar (check!)
27. Do one special thing for/with each of our girls
28. Paint my bedroom sky blue (check!)
29. Coordinate a half marathon and train the girls for it
30. Teach the girls sign language to accompany the lyrics to various songs
31. Perform a song, with dance choreography, on Sunday night for the girls (check!)
32. Be part of a flash mob with the girls—future guests, beware!
33. Beat Liku on a run (well, I can dream, anyway…)
34. Be invited to someone’s home for dinner and actually go (check!)
35. Same as 32, but with a local family (check!)
36. Introduce Thanksgiving to my Tanzanian family (check!)
37. Master those terrible “Lucky” matches so that lighting the gas stove and oven is not an overwhelming object lesson in failure, daily (check!)
38. Teach the girls origami
39. Open a nail salon for the day (check!)
40. Go on a date (check!)
41. Learn to balance items on my head (at least five pounds, walking a distance of at least 100 feet with no hands)
42. Attend a wedding (check!)
43. Buy a fish directly from the fisherman, clean and cook it myself
44. Swim in the Indian Ocean (check!)
45. Host a Disco Night in the dining hall for all the girls (check!)
46. Get a dress custom made for me by a fundi (check!)

New Friends

Over this trip, my mom and I discussed the joys of travel, of which we have narrowed down to three—though the rankings are still yet to be finalized—meeting new people (locals and tourists alike), seeing new sights, and tasting new food. Here is a sampling of the people who made our time together in Tanzania one we will never forget.

Andy and Kathy...a simple “where are you from?” turned into a three hour afternoon conversation...and what a joy it was! Sometimes you need to go halfway around the world to meet people who are from your own neighborhood. This charming couple captivated us with stories of their recent spectacular safari and other adventures. I hope we really will go wine tasting back in California someday, as planned!

Emerson, who enchanted us with his gourmet food, spectactular decor, warmth, jolly laugh, and fascinating life experiences. This Brooklyn-born psychologist turned Zanzibarian restauranteur lays claim to the finest food in Stonetown, served in a former Arabian palace that is now his five story hotel with rooftop restaurant overlooking the city. It was our fortune to be invited to share his table for an evening, and what a privilege it was!

The (slightly odd) German tourist in the Zanzibar airport who, upon hearing us speak English, began muttering phrases such as “See you later, Aligator!” and “Okie dokie, artichokie!” to himself as a means of enticing us into conversation. After taking the bait, we discovered this Bavarian native had very interesting commentary on American and international politics.

The Masai security guards posted along the beaches in Nungwi at each hotel entrance who whooped and hollered and ran over to greet me after they heard I spoke (a few words of) Masai language. I’m really bummed I didn’t ask to take a picture with the one wearing a pink flowered scarf and fanny pack. Shalo-balo!!

Martine, my Mwanza cab driver-turned-friend, who patiently spoke with me the entire ride back to Kitongo and graciously spelled out words and repeated phrases in Kiswahili so I could record them in my book to refer back to later. A look at my new vocabulary list reveals the twists and turns of our discussion over the course of the journey.

Nelly, who left work early to take my mom and I shopping for fabric...and then on to meet a fundi who made a dress for my mom overnight so she could wear it home the following day. Nelly, I look forward to celebrating our May birthdays together soon.

Maria, who deserves an entire blog of her own. For now, I will say this lovely Hungarian woman redefines hospitality and was one of the highlights of our trip. Maria Magdalena, you were a “divine appointment,” truly.

We were so lucky to encounter these individuals along the way who made our trip such a delight. Wherever you are tonight, may you be blessed!

A Little Less than Perfect

My mom and I had the most wonderful of getaways. And yet, no trip is without its snags. Considering we were traveling alone in fairly unfamiliar territory, I think we did ok. Here are a few moments that make the “things we don’t want to repeat” list:

*ALL CAB DRIVERS ON THE ISLAND OF ZANZIBAR WITH VERY FEW EXCEPTIONS. One charming driver, who couldn’t find our destination and became angry when I showed him a map, tried to abandon us in a dark alley late at night within the maze of Stonetown’s streets where twenty men sat drinking and smoking. (But my mama didn’t raise no dummy.) Another was—at best—completely lacking all sense of direction and—at worst—was trying to kidnap us. (We made a VERY quick exit from that cab as he tried to enter what looked like a deserted garage.) A third cab driver may-or-may-not have been conducting drug deals while taking us to a spice plantation for a tour. So...yeah. Cab drivers are our FAVORITE.

*My less-than-graceful leap off the top of the dhow into the Indian Ocean during our snorkeling expedition in Nungwi. Unfortunately, the entire boat—including the handsome German OB-GYN—watched as I tried (with little success) to redeem my past chickening-out regarding all high dives and cliff jumping opportunities. C’est la vie.

*An unfortunate situation in which my wallet was lifted from my purse in the home of a friend. I’m grateful there was only 2,000 tsh in it (about $1.50), and I know now that I need to be on my guard even in places that seem safe.

*A moment when I was not-so-charming after several hotel employees tried to convince us to embark on a CLEARLY unsafe sea expedition. I’m (sort of) sorry about losing it when they told me it wasn’t raining AND THERE WERE RAINDROPS ON THE GROUND, along with whitecaps across the ocean shore.

*Bei Mzungu. It’s exhausting to constantly be in suspicion that you are being overcharged simply because your skin is pale. (And yet, I know the reality of this is that I AM fortunate and I CAN pay for these oft-marked up items.)

*A request for a bribe in airport security...icky.

*The beautiful little girl on the beach who, when I asked in Kiswahili what her name was, replied, “dollar.” It makes me sad parents teach such things to their babies.

And now my Pollyanna side is begging to be heard...we were healthy, safe, and happy throughout the rest of our three weeks together. What more could we ask for?

Mama Julia's Tanzania Adventure

The blog has been a little quiet for the past three weeks because we (in the royal sense) have been entertaining a very important guest...MAMA JULIA!! (In Tanzania, it is customary to call women “Mama” followed by the name of their child.)

After leaving the States on Valentine’s Day and traveling twenty four hours in the air alone—plus an overnight layover in Dubai, in which she took an impromptu city tour and saw all its splendor—she arrived at Mwanza Airport A FULL HOUR EARLY.

Having no way to check flight times, I arrived five minutes late to pick her up, assuming that I would still be about 30 minutes early. “Africa time” has YET to mean early in my experience, so imagine my surprise when I pulled up to see my mom sitting in the airport, happily chatting away with her new friend/seatmate from the flight, who was also waiting for his ride. Tanzanian friend #1. There would be many to come.

Kayci and I made a big fuss over our KARIBU JEANNINE...and then my mom’s three week adventure began.

It’s hard to know where to begin with the highlights reel...but here’s a very small sampling, most of which will be blogs to follow in the coming weeks.

Meeting everyone she’s heard about for the past five months

Sunday Pilau Dinner and singing with the girls

Invitations to share meals with friends in their homes

Walking through Kitongo’s town center and being so warmly greeted by everyone

Siku ya Wazazi—Parents’ Day at Joseph and Mary School

Driving through herds of zebra in Serengeti National Park

Shopping in Stonetown

Walking on the pristine white beaches of Zanzibar that stretch for kilometers

Swimming in the Indian Ocean for the first time

Getting our hair braided:

My mom returned home with a new style, many new friends, and all these wonderful memories!