So I've told you a bit about the arrival and my study, but I'm sure those things don't actually tell much of what living here is like. So, I thought it would be nice to tell you of the whole of my past week this time. There have been more and also less eventful weeks, I think this week was kind of "normal".
Starting last Saturday, I spent much of my time cleaning, doing the laundry, such tasks, besides also resting a bit from the week before. My dorm mate initiated a dinner party at our dorm in the evening, with a some friends of both of us. So everybody cooked or brought their own thing - there was French quiche, Italian couscous, Polish vodka, and, Dutch pancakes. The Polish one insisted we had a shot of the vodka, luckily I got away with drinking just a small bit. Anyway, the evening was filled with talks and eventually also the "Who am I" game, it was very enjoyable. I had to go to bed a little early though - church was to start at 10 the following day.
I go to a fairly traditional church here, in all honestly in large part because I simply know many people there, since a few friends from KFS go there too. They're so kind to translate for me, as well as the other internationals from KFS. Which is actually quite a growing number - really mostly because I keep inviting people to come there. Tomorrow we're with five, which will make translating a little difficult maybe... But I know they will try without hesitation. After church we, as usual, went for a cup of coffee or tea in the adjacent building, where we also have the KFS meetings. We just chatted until they closed somewhere in the afternoon. After that it was off to home, though sometimes we also do other things like have some lunch, or play some game. (And with some game I mean uno.)
Mondays, quite sadly, I have to wake up early. I have to be at uni at 8:15, which means I have to wake up at 7 at the latest. It's quite a full day, with some eight hours of college. After that though usually comes a nice evening: me and some international friends meet at Monday's Cafe to have dinner. Monday's Cafe is a cheap-ish restaurant on Monday only, specifically for international students. They have nice meals, though often I wish they were a little larger... After that we went to Dexter's, a cafe where they often have life music. They had a really great jazz combo that night, it was very enjoyable. Loud, if you're sitting just 5 metres away, but enjoyable.
Tuesdays I can fortunately sleep in a bit, have a calm morning, though with class starting at 12:15. (All classes start a quarter past the hour by the way, to truly account for the "academic quarter".) This week I decided to spend some of that morning cleaning up too though - it's really one of the things you'd rather not think about when it's very busy, so things stack up a little from time to time. After class we had to work on a report until we were through, the deadline is coming up coming Monday, making for a bit of stress... The evening I had off at least, allowing me to send some emails.
The following day was again one to wake up early on, 6:45 as I had to bike a bit further. With four hours of class and four and a half hours of working on the report the evening approached quickly, but I wasn't done: after this I still had Danish lessons from five until a quarter past eight. You can probably imagine with what kind of roaring stomach I come home at 8:45 pm, still having to prepare dinner...
On Thursdays I currently have the first two hours off, but after that it's usually class until four. This time the teacher got ill though, which meant we... Could work on the report some more. I did take a little nap too (something I never did in the Netherlands), because after that was a great KFS evening. We had dinner first - bread with sausages that had exploded (they blamed it on the kitchen, they were edible nonetheless) - then a talk by a speaker about God as a father. After that we chatted a lot... It was really such a situation in which you know you have to go, but to actually leave is impossible since you as well as the ones you want to bike home with keep on getting involved in conversations. I'm really not good at saying goodbye.
I did manage eventually, but it was far too late: the following morning again I had to wake up really early, and had a presentation right at the first class... It was about our project though, so I knew the stuff well enough, and it wasn't graded either. Sadly we got to hear that we actually still have quite a lot to do... After this we had more class, and, after some homework, it was already time to go home and have dinner - I agreed to meet at six at the university with two new friends, just to talk, relax, and mostly listen to music all evening.
Today I should have worked on the report and the project... Well... I did the former at least. Which means tomorrow evening I'll be occupied. The afternoon should be nice though, we hope to just... "Go do something" after church. It'll probably involve food, a walk, and maybe uno or another game. After having been at home all day, I'm quite looking forward to it. This night there is actually a party at my "Kollegiet" (group of student dormitories), but unfortunately it's a "Kinky Party" and involves strippers... So I decided to stay at my dorm instead. Nice and safe. Safe from people lacking clothing.
Anyway, that's all for now. :) If you'd like me to tell of a certain topic, by all means, ask!
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
On my studies
Again a post long overdue... My apologies! It seems that I really am no less busy here than I was in the Netherlands most of last year. And to think I feared I would be bored here...
To be fair I have myself to blame for it, mostly. Currently I'm trying to do 40 EC in half a year - which my coordinator may have strongly advised against, and actually hadn't seen pulled off thus far... But I really like the courses! Save for that I would like just a bit more engineering in there, they match what I was hoping for very, very nicely.
My study is naturally a bit schizophrenic - at times it doesn't really know whether it's about biology, or maybe product assessment, or urban engineering perhaps... But that's basically no different from me at all, so that's perfect.
Currently I have courses in aquatic ecology (which includes lake and stream restoration and such), statistics, lifecycle impact assessment and business management. Yes, here too they like to include courses that are from beyond the study's main focus.
There's differences too though, to the Dutch system: It might be the relatively small class sizes (in one we're with 12, and there are five people teaching us), but the teachers are really quite "easy going". If I'd go and ask for an examination to be moved to another date because it doesn't work out for me, and they'd probably actually seriously consider it. The downside to this is that important dates unfortunately aren't really known up to maybe a month or two ahead, which in my case makes planning for Christmas kind of hard. But you do feel very welcome to go ahead and ask questions, or even just have a chat with the teachers, which is awesome.
It's also interesting to see that this university has such a different focus within a topic than say Utrecht University. I know that if I got any ecology class there, the basic predator-prey equations will quite definitely be in one or more of the first lectures. Here, there's none of that - the closest thing was probably the bit about there being "bad guys", of which there's usually too many, and "good guys" of which we want more to reduce the number of bad guys. Also, amazingly, I haven't seen any computer model regarding the environment yet. On the other hand, I do know a lot about marginal suppliers and avoided impacts now, which I never got taught about before.
Of course relatively speaking, the Dutch and Danish systems are practically the same. In some cases in Poland, apparently, class is basically the teacher's tiny kingdom, where everything is strict and in accordance with rules initiated 30 years ago. And I was told that in Latvia they still use some Soviet curricula...
As for how things are for me now, well, they're good. The past few weeks were especially hectic, as we had to submit the first version of our research report, and I had to do a presentation and submit another report. Also, the weekend before the deadlines I went to visit Hamburg with a friend, so that added to the stress a bit... Now I officially have vacation, but they gave us this exam assignment that we have to submit right after the holidays, so I didn't get that much free time this week either so far. But since we finished it mostly already, this Friday I should be off at least!
To be fair I have myself to blame for it, mostly. Currently I'm trying to do 40 EC in half a year - which my coordinator may have strongly advised against, and actually hadn't seen pulled off thus far... But I really like the courses! Save for that I would like just a bit more engineering in there, they match what I was hoping for very, very nicely.
My study is naturally a bit schizophrenic - at times it doesn't really know whether it's about biology, or maybe product assessment, or urban engineering perhaps... But that's basically no different from me at all, so that's perfect.
Currently I have courses in aquatic ecology (which includes lake and stream restoration and such), statistics, lifecycle impact assessment and business management. Yes, here too they like to include courses that are from beyond the study's main focus.
There's differences too though, to the Dutch system: It might be the relatively small class sizes (in one we're with 12, and there are five people teaching us), but the teachers are really quite "easy going". If I'd go and ask for an examination to be moved to another date because it doesn't work out for me, and they'd probably actually seriously consider it. The downside to this is that important dates unfortunately aren't really known up to maybe a month or two ahead, which in my case makes planning for Christmas kind of hard. But you do feel very welcome to go ahead and ask questions, or even just have a chat with the teachers, which is awesome.
It's also interesting to see that this university has such a different focus within a topic than say Utrecht University. I know that if I got any ecology class there, the basic predator-prey equations will quite definitely be in one or more of the first lectures. Here, there's none of that - the closest thing was probably the bit about there being "bad guys", of which there's usually too many, and "good guys" of which we want more to reduce the number of bad guys. Also, amazingly, I haven't seen any computer model regarding the environment yet. On the other hand, I do know a lot about marginal suppliers and avoided impacts now, which I never got taught about before.
Of course relatively speaking, the Dutch and Danish systems are practically the same. In some cases in Poland, apparently, class is basically the teacher's tiny kingdom, where everything is strict and in accordance with rules initiated 30 years ago. And I was told that in Latvia they still use some Soviet curricula...
As for how things are for me now, well, they're good. The past few weeks were especially hectic, as we had to submit the first version of our research report, and I had to do a presentation and submit another report. Also, the weekend before the deadlines I went to visit Hamburg with a friend, so that added to the stress a bit... Now I officially have vacation, but they gave us this exam assignment that we have to submit right after the holidays, so I didn't get that much free time this week either so far. But since we finished it mostly already, this Friday I should be off at least!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Arrival in Odense, the first days
Two years after the start of my internship in Africa I thought I'd dust off this blog and write for it again, for a new adventure or such. For those I didn't yet tell, I have decided to go study abroad, in Denmark, for two years.
I really wanted to write this blog post a lot sooner, but the last couple of weeks have been quite busy, and tiring. In reality the decision of what and where to study (naturally inflated to "What do I want to do with the whole of the rest of my life?") has been pressing on me for several years now, and after having come to terms with what I think would be the absolute best for me all the arrangements that needed to be made only prolonged the stress.
Nonetheless, by the end of the summer it actually started to look like most of the stuff that needed doing was done. So, knowing that I wouldn't see many of my friends in a while, I spent quite a lot of time being with them, which was great of course. I might actually have stretched it a little, meaning that the last two days ended up being quite stressful once again. And just as time had run out... One or two things were still left to be done, just as last time. Oh well.
To help me get settled, and to see what Odense (the city I study in) would be like, my parents and brother came with me as we went to Denmark about two weeks ago. Of course my sisters wanted to come too, but all in all we managed to stuff the car quite wholly, unfortunately leaving too little space.
So what was the trip like? Well, there were goats on the train tracks, a dog on the highway, lightning strikes on the highway, a car crash etc. Lots to see, though I think I slept through about half of it. We arrived in Odense late, and spent the night in a hostel. The weather was quite miserable, but we brought drinks and goat cheese, and the prospect of getting some more rest made it all quite well.
The following day, after breakfast at the Ikea, we went to see the university. What that place is like I think I'll tell in another post - let's say I still owe you that. We had a good look around, and were kind of surprised there were still so many there on a Saturday. Unfortunately, as I only realised later, the faculty my study is at is on a different site altogether, which we didn't visit at that time. But roughly half my courses are at the main campus anyway.
After that we could finally pick up my keys to see what my room is like. And well, it's huge. Especially by Utrecht's standards - it must be over twice the size of my previous one. A downside though is that there isn't a living room, instead part of my room is. I share the dorm with Luigi, a cheerful, friendly and outgoing Italian guy. He's so up to date on all goings on and tends to arrange all sorts of things (together with me or no) there's plenty of social things to be part of for me as well.
But back to the first days in Odense - we spent the rest of the day getting the room all ready to use. Many hands do make light work, and at the end of the day it was already quite liveable, if a bit messy still. We ended the day's work with a nice meal at a Mexican we found in the city centre (which was actually quite nice and cozy, to our surprise), before all sleeping in the room itself. Unfortunately my family had to go home a little early again the next day - as close as Denmark is, it's not really just around the corner either.
So there I was then, in my new home, in a place I knew hardly anyone... Fortunately, there's a group that quite realises that many foreign students find themselves in such a situation, namely the Erasmus Student Network. And just that day, only a few hours after my parents left, they had a walk through the city for all newcomers like me. So, me and Luigi gladly took that opportunity to meet people, as did probably well over a hundred others. And many people we did meet there, including some that would become part of a group of friends I have here now, that do quite many things together. I also met a Dutch and an Australian girl that happened to live at the same group of dormitories as I do, and having plenty of food I thought it nice to have dinner together. And as it happened, Luigi had invited two girls for dinner too - it was quite funny when we heard that of each other. It was almost one of those "manly victory moments", but of course people of any other gender would have been just as welcome. At any rate, we had a lovely dinner, a great first "on my own" at that.
The next weeks too there were many things and arrangements, I bit too much to cover in this blog post too I do think. Suffice to say that there has been and is plenty to do here - which has good and less good sides. But I hope to inform you of most regardless.
I really wanted to write this blog post a lot sooner, but the last couple of weeks have been quite busy, and tiring. In reality the decision of what and where to study (naturally inflated to "What do I want to do with the whole of the rest of my life?") has been pressing on me for several years now, and after having come to terms with what I think would be the absolute best for me all the arrangements that needed to be made only prolonged the stress.
Nonetheless, by the end of the summer it actually started to look like most of the stuff that needed doing was done. So, knowing that I wouldn't see many of my friends in a while, I spent quite a lot of time being with them, which was great of course. I might actually have stretched it a little, meaning that the last two days ended up being quite stressful once again. And just as time had run out... One or two things were still left to be done, just as last time. Oh well.
To help me get settled, and to see what Odense (the city I study in) would be like, my parents and brother came with me as we went to Denmark about two weeks ago. Of course my sisters wanted to come too, but all in all we managed to stuff the car quite wholly, unfortunately leaving too little space.
So what was the trip like? Well, there were goats on the train tracks, a dog on the highway, lightning strikes on the highway, a car crash etc. Lots to see, though I think I slept through about half of it. We arrived in Odense late, and spent the night in a hostel. The weather was quite miserable, but we brought drinks and goat cheese, and the prospect of getting some more rest made it all quite well.
The following day, after breakfast at the Ikea, we went to see the university. What that place is like I think I'll tell in another post - let's say I still owe you that. We had a good look around, and were kind of surprised there were still so many there on a Saturday. Unfortunately, as I only realised later, the faculty my study is at is on a different site altogether, which we didn't visit at that time. But roughly half my courses are at the main campus anyway.
After that we could finally pick up my keys to see what my room is like. And well, it's huge. Especially by Utrecht's standards - it must be over twice the size of my previous one. A downside though is that there isn't a living room, instead part of my room is. I share the dorm with Luigi, a cheerful, friendly and outgoing Italian guy. He's so up to date on all goings on and tends to arrange all sorts of things (together with me or no) there's plenty of social things to be part of for me as well.
But back to the first days in Odense - we spent the rest of the day getting the room all ready to use. Many hands do make light work, and at the end of the day it was already quite liveable, if a bit messy still. We ended the day's work with a nice meal at a Mexican we found in the city centre (which was actually quite nice and cozy, to our surprise), before all sleeping in the room itself. Unfortunately my family had to go home a little early again the next day - as close as Denmark is, it's not really just around the corner either.
So there I was then, in my new home, in a place I knew hardly anyone... Fortunately, there's a group that quite realises that many foreign students find themselves in such a situation, namely the Erasmus Student Network. And just that day, only a few hours after my parents left, they had a walk through the city for all newcomers like me. So, me and Luigi gladly took that opportunity to meet people, as did probably well over a hundred others. And many people we did meet there, including some that would become part of a group of friends I have here now, that do quite many things together. I also met a Dutch and an Australian girl that happened to live at the same group of dormitories as I do, and having plenty of food I thought it nice to have dinner together. And as it happened, Luigi had invited two girls for dinner too - it was quite funny when we heard that of each other. It was almost one of those "manly victory moments", but of course people of any other gender would have been just as welcome. At any rate, we had a lovely dinner, a great first "on my own" at that.
The next weeks too there were many things and arrangements, I bit too much to cover in this blog post too I do think. Suffice to say that there has been and is plenty to do here - which has good and less good sides. But I hope to inform you of most regardless.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Pictures
I finally got to upload the pictures. I put them on facebook, here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2054830
You'll need to be my "matey". Enjoy. :)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2054830
You'll need to be my "matey". Enjoy. :)
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Back in the land of the Wazungu
I finally returned home, this journey came to an end. The last days were really very nice, and didn’t really involve too much work, at least, for university. Of course they involved many goodbyes too.
On Monday I met with Simtu, who was my student. We had some food, and I visited his home. It’s really awesome, he used to be Muslim, but now he became a Christian. I guess he noticed, he saw something special during his time at YWAM. Now he goes to church, chose Bible knowledge for his secondary education and even wants to do a DTS. That’s a party in Heaven! And he really puts it in practice too, he wants to help and give.
That evening he came to the base, just after the little farewell “ceremony”. I’ve seen a few those, now it was my turn... People said kind words, I did too. They gave me this wooden African statue, and everyone prayed for me and said goodbye. Bebe was there afterwards as well, apparently she had been keeping Simtu up. James, who couldn’t be there at the time, sent me a gift too – a box full of fruit from Matombo. It had like, five pineapples and a watermelon. I wouldn’t go to Dar Es Salaam as lightly burdened as I had hoped!
That departure was actually the following day. It was somewhat hasty, unfortunately I didn’t even get to say bye to Sitini and Sered. But the journey itself was fine, actually better than expected. So much so that the whole suitcase detour wasn’t very necessary. I assume to combat the army of salesmen they enclosed the final bus stop, you had to pay or have a bus ticket to get there. Besides that, Niwaely’s place wasn’t actually close to the terminal, at all. In fact, it was on an entirely different location. We had to spend a very long time retrieving it the next day, after doing just a small bit of shopping. We also went to view Obadiah’s neighbourhood (I was staying at his place, in case you missed it). He really lives in a beautiful area. Dar Es Salaam is at the ocean, and while his place was quite a distance from it, it did seem like he lived in the dunes. There was very clean sand, hills, and lots of coconut and mango trees. And there was an ocean breeze most of the time too, which is really, really pleasant in a place as hot and humid as Dar. I really enjoyed the place. Of course we enjoyed James’ fruit a lot too. The pineapple was so very nice, not quite what we’re used to in Europe. I ate until my tongue got sore...
On Thursday we went on a trip to Zanzibar, a beautiful and popular island off the coast. We took an airplane there – as we later found out it’s actually cheaper than taking the boat for me (not for Obadiah, they have different prices for residents and non-residents at Zanzibar in some cases), and it didn’t make didn’t make Obadiah sick. Also, it was his first time to go by airplane, so it was quite worth it. We stayed at an acquaintance of Obadiah, the mother of a pastor he knows. It was really a “normal” home, which was of course very nice for me to see. But to my surprise there was also a white person there, a female student from Switzerland who was also sort of between her bachelor and her master and was also teaching English. Common thing, maybe?
Anyway, the first of the two days we stayed there we spent on visiting Stonetown. We saw its beaches, a museum and the old slave market. The dungeons are still there, as a memorial to that horrible time. They would literally stack people there, twenty-five dying every day, the survivors being whipped, some to death just to select the strong ones. To end it all the Brits built a church on the place where the latter happened.
The following day we got up early to go to Prison Island, a very small off the coast of Zanzibar itself. As eerie as it sounds it was actually absolutely stunning. Really the stereotypical “holiday paradise island” – white beaches, palm trees, giant turtles... Well, ok, maybe not so stereotypical, that last one. They did have the very big turtles there, the ones that can get some 180 years old. They actually had one of about 150 there. They once were a gift to the owner of the island at that time. We could actually feed them and even hold them. A baby one of course, just a few years old. There was also a building there that was used as a prison, for disobedient slaves. Or perhaps it was meant to be used as such, I’m not sure. After the Zanzibar revolution, they used it as a place for people with contagious diseases as cholera. But really, what a beautiful location that is...
After having spent a lovely time there, it was time to get back to the mainland, in order to avoid the horrible traffic jams. This time we did go with the ferry, in total it was just a bit cheaper, and it was nice to experience too. I had a great time, standing on the bow of the ship, defying wave after wave. Obadiah however, hadn’t. He was feeling rather sick; probably the only reason he didn’t exit his lunch was because we didn’t have any. He would feel bad for quite a while afterwards.
We did successfully escape the jams, and spent most of the night at Gladness’ place. She’s Oba’s sister, and actually has electricity at her home. There I made a few dvds and cds, we watched the dvd too as it was about the English school. Gladness is really a lovely person, indeed very happy too. She assured my that by this time next year I would be back in Tanzania, and that I would have at least four kids later, which will be when she’ll visit me.
The following day we spent mostly on getting me ready to go as it was actually the day of my departure, my last hours on African soil. Of course I had to say goodbye, to Josephine, Obadiah’s wife, their daughter Deborah and also Bebe. I really don’t know when I’ll see my fellow teachers again, perhaps the next time will be in Heaven... Which will obviously be awesome.
So I got a few presents for my family, we had lunch in town, visited Obadiah’s church’s headquarters... It was a nice time, and all worked out well. I said goodbye to my very dear friend Obadiah, I got on the plane... Finally said bye to Tanzania too.
And so it came to an end. The flight was excellent, and at its destination my family warmly welcomed a rather tired and dazzled Eddy. There were very big roads, wallpaper, chocolate, internet, a terrible cold... But most of you know all that already, don’t you?
As for my coming days, I’ll be receiving a very, very special guest and writing a huge report. Then going to a different university, new dormitory, making sure my loan’s ok, fraternity, uni, uni, uni...
Maybe after three years, or if God wishes...
On Monday I met with Simtu, who was my student. We had some food, and I visited his home. It’s really awesome, he used to be Muslim, but now he became a Christian. I guess he noticed, he saw something special during his time at YWAM. Now he goes to church, chose Bible knowledge for his secondary education and even wants to do a DTS. That’s a party in Heaven! And he really puts it in practice too, he wants to help and give.
That evening he came to the base, just after the little farewell “ceremony”. I’ve seen a few those, now it was my turn... People said kind words, I did too. They gave me this wooden African statue, and everyone prayed for me and said goodbye. Bebe was there afterwards as well, apparently she had been keeping Simtu up. James, who couldn’t be there at the time, sent me a gift too – a box full of fruit from Matombo. It had like, five pineapples and a watermelon. I wouldn’t go to Dar Es Salaam as lightly burdened as I had hoped!
That departure was actually the following day. It was somewhat hasty, unfortunately I didn’t even get to say bye to Sitini and Sered. But the journey itself was fine, actually better than expected. So much so that the whole suitcase detour wasn’t very necessary. I assume to combat the army of salesmen they enclosed the final bus stop, you had to pay or have a bus ticket to get there. Besides that, Niwaely’s place wasn’t actually close to the terminal, at all. In fact, it was on an entirely different location. We had to spend a very long time retrieving it the next day, after doing just a small bit of shopping. We also went to view Obadiah’s neighbourhood (I was staying at his place, in case you missed it). He really lives in a beautiful area. Dar Es Salaam is at the ocean, and while his place was quite a distance from it, it did seem like he lived in the dunes. There was very clean sand, hills, and lots of coconut and mango trees. And there was an ocean breeze most of the time too, which is really, really pleasant in a place as hot and humid as Dar. I really enjoyed the place. Of course we enjoyed James’ fruit a lot too. The pineapple was so very nice, not quite what we’re used to in Europe. I ate until my tongue got sore...
On Thursday we went on a trip to Zanzibar, a beautiful and popular island off the coast. We took an airplane there – as we later found out it’s actually cheaper than taking the boat for me (not for Obadiah, they have different prices for residents and non-residents at Zanzibar in some cases), and it didn’t make didn’t make Obadiah sick. Also, it was his first time to go by airplane, so it was quite worth it. We stayed at an acquaintance of Obadiah, the mother of a pastor he knows. It was really a “normal” home, which was of course very nice for me to see. But to my surprise there was also a white person there, a female student from Switzerland who was also sort of between her bachelor and her master and was also teaching English. Common thing, maybe?
Anyway, the first of the two days we stayed there we spent on visiting Stonetown. We saw its beaches, a museum and the old slave market. The dungeons are still there, as a memorial to that horrible time. They would literally stack people there, twenty-five dying every day, the survivors being whipped, some to death just to select the strong ones. To end it all the Brits built a church on the place where the latter happened.
The following day we got up early to go to Prison Island, a very small off the coast of Zanzibar itself. As eerie as it sounds it was actually absolutely stunning. Really the stereotypical “holiday paradise island” – white beaches, palm trees, giant turtles... Well, ok, maybe not so stereotypical, that last one. They did have the very big turtles there, the ones that can get some 180 years old. They actually had one of about 150 there. They once were a gift to the owner of the island at that time. We could actually feed them and even hold them. A baby one of course, just a few years old. There was also a building there that was used as a prison, for disobedient slaves. Or perhaps it was meant to be used as such, I’m not sure. After the Zanzibar revolution, they used it as a place for people with contagious diseases as cholera. But really, what a beautiful location that is...
After having spent a lovely time there, it was time to get back to the mainland, in order to avoid the horrible traffic jams. This time we did go with the ferry, in total it was just a bit cheaper, and it was nice to experience too. I had a great time, standing on the bow of the ship, defying wave after wave. Obadiah however, hadn’t. He was feeling rather sick; probably the only reason he didn’t exit his lunch was because we didn’t have any. He would feel bad for quite a while afterwards.
We did successfully escape the jams, and spent most of the night at Gladness’ place. She’s Oba’s sister, and actually has electricity at her home. There I made a few dvds and cds, we watched the dvd too as it was about the English school. Gladness is really a lovely person, indeed very happy too. She assured my that by this time next year I would be back in Tanzania, and that I would have at least four kids later, which will be when she’ll visit me.
The following day we spent mostly on getting me ready to go as it was actually the day of my departure, my last hours on African soil. Of course I had to say goodbye, to Josephine, Obadiah’s wife, their daughter Deborah and also Bebe. I really don’t know when I’ll see my fellow teachers again, perhaps the next time will be in Heaven... Which will obviously be awesome.
So I got a few presents for my family, we had lunch in town, visited Obadiah’s church’s headquarters... It was a nice time, and all worked out well. I said goodbye to my very dear friend Obadiah, I got on the plane... Finally said bye to Tanzania too.
And so it came to an end. The flight was excellent, and at its destination my family warmly welcomed a rather tired and dazzled Eddy. There were very big roads, wallpaper, chocolate, internet, a terrible cold... But most of you know all that already, don’t you?
As for my coming days, I’ll be receiving a very, very special guest and writing a huge report. Then going to a different university, new dormitory, making sure my loan’s ok, fraternity, uni, uni, uni...
Maybe after three years, or if God wishes...
Monday, November 16, 2009
The final stretch
Yes, this is probably my last post from Tanzania. I might be able to squeeze one in in the coming week, but that’s not very probable. By this time a week from now I’ll be on my way home.
The last week has been rather exhausting, I think mainly because I became ill again. It was the same sort of thing as that other time, but not as bad because I didn’t take medicine this time... I’m not sure how I got it, but I think the heat as well as eating a whole loaf of YWAM bread may have something to do with it. The latter is known for its ability to stop things from going.
But we also actually went to Arusha, we being Asheri and me. It was a ten hour trip, so Wednesday and Saturday were spent mostly on lazying in the bus and staring out the window. Which was nice in a way – I got to see a lot of Tanzania which I otherwise wouldn’t have at all. There were some very, very beautiful sight there, it looked really nice. Lush green planes and hills all the way to the horizon... But I admit I slept for quite a while too.
The place that we stayed at itself was (as I may have mentioned) another YWAM base. It’s about the size of the one I’m at, but is much more densely built and populated. I actually quite like it, there’s always people about here and there, it feels very nice. It has more stuff in general actually – more cars, more refrigerators, wireless internet, showerheads, and that most wonderful of blessings: toilets you can actually sit on. But, for some strange reason, they don’t have plates.
On Thursday we got to see the computer school, which was very good. We got a lot of questions answered and our idea regarding it has become quite a bit more clear. One of the teachers there, who was also the one that kept us company and showed us around the Arusha base, was actually a guy from the US. He name is Nick, I think he was about my age. He was really quite a blessing to us. He had only ten students, in a pretty large classroom. In fact, here we’ll try stuffing sixteen in one that’s about three times smaller. Wonder how that’ll be... But anyway, we joined their class, interviewed Nick, had lunch, interviewed him some more... It was our “data gathering” day.
Friday though, we were free. This was the time I would have liked to climb the Kilimanjaro... But we heard that for that, we would need to hire one guy to be our guide, another one to carry our stuff and then yet another one for an equally stupid reason as the other two, which I can’t even remember. And then there’s park fees and the like, all adding up to about a thousand dollars if you want to reach the top. “Commercialised” doesn’t quite cover it. So just having a stroll on the foot of the mountain wouldn’t really be as nice as it had seemed.
Instead, we just went to visit Arusha town, which I think was what Asheri preferred anyway. What I noticed really early was that the people were a fair bit more rude there. They weren’t afraid to come crowding around you, desperately calling you to enter their taxi or to buy their stuff, even if you just want to pass. You don’t see that a lot in Morogoro, which is quite a blessing. But besides about a billion salesmen we also met with Joshua, which was of course great. He’s now well and truly studying. In case I didn’t mention, he studies English for major and Swahili for his minor. He seems to do well, especially at the speaking part. So we had a nice stroll around town, saw a few places, talked a lot while having some sodas etc. Just a very nice, though tiring time. We also had lunch, but I think that’s what made me (more) ill later.
The following day we had to get up very early to go back again, which was good since it meant we’d arrive in Morogoro “early” too. While in the buss we saw even more salesmen, though it wasn’t as bad as on Wednesday. Back then, at some point, there were about twenty people all wanting to sell nets of oranges to the passengers of our bus. Twenty people with oranges, and they all seemed to be rather desperate. The saddest thing was when one lady actually wanted to buy a net, and a guy had handed it over through the window, the bus left before any money could be exchanged. When the lady dropped the fruit to give it back, I think it got under a wheel... You’d say there has to be some better way for these guys to make a living, surely they see that markets can be oversaturated too.
So now we’re safe at home once again. Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Dar Es Salaam, and on Saturday to that other, somewhat more real home. Of course I’ll still tell you how that was here, but by that time many of you will be able to just come and ask about it yourself as well.
As for that last “adventure”, I had some concern regarding my suitcase. You see, in Dar Es Salaam the thievery is apparently so bad your mobile phone isn’t even safe when you’re holding it in your hand. And then I’d be there, shining white and with a huge, 30 kg suitcase... So to avoid the otherwise inevitable we made a dastardly plan: Niwaely, my fellow teacher who now studies in Dar Es Salaam, actually went there with my suitcase yesterday. She is of course black, which helps tonnes, and has a place nearby the bus terminal to store my suitcase safely. The only thing is that Niwa was in a bit more danger... But I just heard that she arrived safely. Thank God for His protection there! A second, less pressing issue was that I had to toil the suitcase through all the way to Niwa’s house, under the African, dry season, midday sun. My right arm was absolutely useless for a while after that. But tomorrow I’ll only have to go with a backpack mostly filled with t-shirts and underwear – and if they steal that it’s not too bad. That’s quite a blessing, too.
The last week has been rather exhausting, I think mainly because I became ill again. It was the same sort of thing as that other time, but not as bad because I didn’t take medicine this time... I’m not sure how I got it, but I think the heat as well as eating a whole loaf of YWAM bread may have something to do with it. The latter is known for its ability to stop things from going.
But we also actually went to Arusha, we being Asheri and me. It was a ten hour trip, so Wednesday and Saturday were spent mostly on lazying in the bus and staring out the window. Which was nice in a way – I got to see a lot of Tanzania which I otherwise wouldn’t have at all. There were some very, very beautiful sight there, it looked really nice. Lush green planes and hills all the way to the horizon... But I admit I slept for quite a while too.
The place that we stayed at itself was (as I may have mentioned) another YWAM base. It’s about the size of the one I’m at, but is much more densely built and populated. I actually quite like it, there’s always people about here and there, it feels very nice. It has more stuff in general actually – more cars, more refrigerators, wireless internet, showerheads, and that most wonderful of blessings: toilets you can actually sit on. But, for some strange reason, they don’t have plates.
On Thursday we got to see the computer school, which was very good. We got a lot of questions answered and our idea regarding it has become quite a bit more clear. One of the teachers there, who was also the one that kept us company and showed us around the Arusha base, was actually a guy from the US. He name is Nick, I think he was about my age. He was really quite a blessing to us. He had only ten students, in a pretty large classroom. In fact, here we’ll try stuffing sixteen in one that’s about three times smaller. Wonder how that’ll be... But anyway, we joined their class, interviewed Nick, had lunch, interviewed him some more... It was our “data gathering” day.
Friday though, we were free. This was the time I would have liked to climb the Kilimanjaro... But we heard that for that, we would need to hire one guy to be our guide, another one to carry our stuff and then yet another one for an equally stupid reason as the other two, which I can’t even remember. And then there’s park fees and the like, all adding up to about a thousand dollars if you want to reach the top. “Commercialised” doesn’t quite cover it. So just having a stroll on the foot of the mountain wouldn’t really be as nice as it had seemed.
Instead, we just went to visit Arusha town, which I think was what Asheri preferred anyway. What I noticed really early was that the people were a fair bit more rude there. They weren’t afraid to come crowding around you, desperately calling you to enter their taxi or to buy their stuff, even if you just want to pass. You don’t see that a lot in Morogoro, which is quite a blessing. But besides about a billion salesmen we also met with Joshua, which was of course great. He’s now well and truly studying. In case I didn’t mention, he studies English for major and Swahili for his minor. He seems to do well, especially at the speaking part. So we had a nice stroll around town, saw a few places, talked a lot while having some sodas etc. Just a very nice, though tiring time. We also had lunch, but I think that’s what made me (more) ill later.
The following day we had to get up very early to go back again, which was good since it meant we’d arrive in Morogoro “early” too. While in the buss we saw even more salesmen, though it wasn’t as bad as on Wednesday. Back then, at some point, there were about twenty people all wanting to sell nets of oranges to the passengers of our bus. Twenty people with oranges, and they all seemed to be rather desperate. The saddest thing was when one lady actually wanted to buy a net, and a guy had handed it over through the window, the bus left before any money could be exchanged. When the lady dropped the fruit to give it back, I think it got under a wheel... You’d say there has to be some better way for these guys to make a living, surely they see that markets can be oversaturated too.
So now we’re safe at home once again. Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Dar Es Salaam, and on Saturday to that other, somewhat more real home. Of course I’ll still tell you how that was here, but by that time many of you will be able to just come and ask about it yourself as well.
As for that last “adventure”, I had some concern regarding my suitcase. You see, in Dar Es Salaam the thievery is apparently so bad your mobile phone isn’t even safe when you’re holding it in your hand. And then I’d be there, shining white and with a huge, 30 kg suitcase... So to avoid the otherwise inevitable we made a dastardly plan: Niwaely, my fellow teacher who now studies in Dar Es Salaam, actually went there with my suitcase yesterday. She is of course black, which helps tonnes, and has a place nearby the bus terminal to store my suitcase safely. The only thing is that Niwa was in a bit more danger... But I just heard that she arrived safely. Thank God for His protection there! A second, less pressing issue was that I had to toil the suitcase through all the way to Niwa’s house, under the African, dry season, midday sun. My right arm was absolutely useless for a while after that. But tomorrow I’ll only have to go with a backpack mostly filled with t-shirts and underwear – and if they steal that it’s not too bad. That’s quite a blessing, too.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
“May God give you oversized blessings, God bless you too much.”
Unfortunately we didn’t get to go to Arusha, at least, not yet – we decided to postpone our trip a week, because there’s some graduation celebration coming week. I think I’ve had my share of those, but Asheri knows the person as it’s a member of our base.
So anyway, Timothy and Paulina’s wedding was truly great. They didn’t go to a government building as we do in the Netherlands, but they did go to a church and the YWAM conference hall for the celebration.
As for the service, if it wasn’t for the long preaching I think many of us dutchies would call it more of a party than a service. There was much dancing and singing and the like, it was very nice. After the service there was of course a real celebration, which I was told was actually a rather quiet one. There wasn’t too much shouting I suppose, a large part was just introducing the visitors and the two families. You could really see that besides the union of two people a wedding is also the union of two families. The families had special seats, and they were given time to introduce themselves, and at dinner time the parents of the two families had a special, separate place so that they could talk together. Also, Timothy and Paulina had to offer one “level” of the wedding pie to their now partner’s family. Of course the couple had to feed each other, and Obadiah and his wife too, as seems to be normal in any celebration that involves a cake here.
Obadiah and his wife had the special roles of best man and best maid. That meant they had to stay close to the wedding couple at all times (even when the couple had to be in front, which was nearly all the time), wipe the sweat of their foreheads, proper the dress, carry the above mentioned pie levels etc. Quite an honour!
One of the last things, which was done in a more celebrative fashion, was of course the giving of gifts. They now have a house to decorate, so they needed quite a few things. And they got them too, but then there were probably well over a hundred guests. There were also a few Maasai, actually, who were given special time to dress the couple in typical Maasai fashion.
I actually had breakfast with them the next morning – they couldn’t really go home since the wedding ended somewhat late. As for Timothy and Paulina, well, until this Saturday they had honeymoon, at this base. After the wedding there really wasn’t any money left for a trip, unfortunately. I think they really have been blessed with each other, even though the nervousness was drooping from their faces during the wedding I think a wonderful thing happened there.
As for my own daily business, I have spent my time working on the computer school, with things as the layout. We decided that it was better if I focused on that rather than the technology school. The main issue there is the lack of a teacher, the other things are relatively easy to do once one is available and can give some input. No, I’m not very much suited for this... It’s mostly about practical stuff, I only know the theory. I have about three days left here to work, I realised – the rest will be spent in either Arusha or Dar Es Salaam. But somewhere that’s ok, I feel like my task here is almost complete, a “closed chapter” as it were. Of course I might still come back... But for now there’s plenty waiting for me in the Netherlands.
So anyway, Timothy and Paulina’s wedding was truly great. They didn’t go to a government building as we do in the Netherlands, but they did go to a church and the YWAM conference hall for the celebration.
As for the service, if it wasn’t for the long preaching I think many of us dutchies would call it more of a party than a service. There was much dancing and singing and the like, it was very nice. After the service there was of course a real celebration, which I was told was actually a rather quiet one. There wasn’t too much shouting I suppose, a large part was just introducing the visitors and the two families. You could really see that besides the union of two people a wedding is also the union of two families. The families had special seats, and they were given time to introduce themselves, and at dinner time the parents of the two families had a special, separate place so that they could talk together. Also, Timothy and Paulina had to offer one “level” of the wedding pie to their now partner’s family. Of course the couple had to feed each other, and Obadiah and his wife too, as seems to be normal in any celebration that involves a cake here.
Obadiah and his wife had the special roles of best man and best maid. That meant they had to stay close to the wedding couple at all times (even when the couple had to be in front, which was nearly all the time), wipe the sweat of their foreheads, proper the dress, carry the above mentioned pie levels etc. Quite an honour!
One of the last things, which was done in a more celebrative fashion, was of course the giving of gifts. They now have a house to decorate, so they needed quite a few things. And they got them too, but then there were probably well over a hundred guests. There were also a few Maasai, actually, who were given special time to dress the couple in typical Maasai fashion.
I actually had breakfast with them the next morning – they couldn’t really go home since the wedding ended somewhat late. As for Timothy and Paulina, well, until this Saturday they had honeymoon, at this base. After the wedding there really wasn’t any money left for a trip, unfortunately. I think they really have been blessed with each other, even though the nervousness was drooping from their faces during the wedding I think a wonderful thing happened there.
As for my own daily business, I have spent my time working on the computer school, with things as the layout. We decided that it was better if I focused on that rather than the technology school. The main issue there is the lack of a teacher, the other things are relatively easy to do once one is available and can give some input. No, I’m not very much suited for this... It’s mostly about practical stuff, I only know the theory. I have about three days left here to work, I realised – the rest will be spent in either Arusha or Dar Es Salaam. But somewhere that’s ok, I feel like my task here is almost complete, a “closed chapter” as it were. Of course I might still come back... But for now there’s plenty waiting for me in the Netherlands.
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