Last night partners and placements were announced!
My partner is Alex...he is originally from Dodoma (the capital) and went to secondary school in Dar es Salaam. I am very excited! He is energetic and enthusiastic about SPW and I think we will really get along well.
We will be going to a rather large village in Ludewa which is the Southern most district of Iringa region and the closest to the country of Malawi and Lake Malawi which is supposed to be absolutely amazing. The village is called Lungalawa. I really wanted to see a new part of Tanzania so I am very excited to be in one of the farthest villages from where we are now (Iringa Town).
I have a lot of learning to do with my Swahili. I can easily get around socially but I have to learn more of the Sexual Reproductive Health terms in Kiswahili. The journey will be very long (probably 8 hours) to Ludewa and then after three weeks we return to Iringa to discuss the needs etc of our village. We leave Iringa on Friday and return in mid-April. Then we will head back to village for 2 and a half months beginning the festivals, community seminars, and teaching. I will come to town once a month at the least! I will be in Iringa (as I said) for another week so send me emails and post on the blog because I will not be online as frequently!
Check out a map of Tanzania...Iringa is in the South west region of the country and Ludewa is the district just East of the big lake to the South of Tanzania.
Things are going well...we are slowly but surely getting through this training, but last night definately made us all more excited and ready to hit the road!
Ask questions etc! I will be on-line again soon!
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I took your advice and google earthed Iringa. It's actually quite large! Well, it looks like that on a satellite map anyway...all I can see is mostly dirt roads and roofs...
...AND A ROGUE ZEBRA! BEHIND YOU!
Did you spell Lungalawa right, because google has never heard of it. Or is it that small?
I hope your partner drives you out to the lake and then uses a combination of brute force and deception to try to throw you into it. What goes around comes around!
Hey you....I sent you a text today. I don't know if you got it. I'm glad things are going so well. Life is good here. I turned in my law review paper...51 pages of meatpacking glory for you to read when you get back!
Hey Buddy,
Well it sounds like you are settling in quite well. Interesting how one can know a language but must learn another one within it. When we take the cats to the vets I often feel like they are speaking another language with some of their terms. I am sure it is the same for you with all the anatomy and health terms you must get to know.
Are you going to be doing anything with agriculture over there? I know that was mentioned but it seems you are more involved with HIV/AIDS training at this point.
I just read a book that one of my Irish friends wrote. It is amazing how great it is being it's her first publication. I have read some "first" books before and this one is nothing like those. She has a real flare for telling a story. I thought it might make a great film. The story is told even better that "Angela's Ashes." I am thinking you can make the film in Ireland and we can visit a lot. That will mean singing and drinking in the pub you know! Ah well, someone has to do it.
Off to the farm for now. Miss you and love you!
Love,
FnL
I'm glad your partner is just as excited and energetic as you are! The village you're assigned to sounds amazing! I looked up some pictures of the lake– the water is blue-green, the sand is orange, and there are palm trees on the shore! All you need is a pina colada and you'll be all set.
It so funny that you're going to come back to the United States with a thorough knowledge of how to teach sex ed in Swahili. You know this will come back to haunt you. Twenty years from now your son is going to come to you and ask, "Dad... where do babies come from?" And you will reply with a wise expression, "Well, son...when a man and woman love each other very very much... they have kujamiana kwa njia ya ukeni. But if your not ready to start a family, don't do it kujamiiana bila kipira. Always bring a vipira and practice kujamiana salama!"
Emma and I saw an improvised musical in New York. The audience suggestion was "Midgets on Safari!" It was hysterical and it was about people getting attacked by midgets while on Safari in the Irish bush. So watch out for midgets, as well as rabid Zebras.
Miss you!
Sent you two e-mails recently. I assume you're still checking your g-mail but let me know if you didn't get them and I'll post them on your blog.
hey! You don't know me but I'm Steph and I was in Mdilidili next to Lugarawa last year but i stayed in Lugarawa and taught at Lugarawa secondary school. It is a beautiful place you are going to have a great time. I'm so happy to have found your blog so i can see what is going on! I wrote a blog when I was there if you want to see what I thought about everything...
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/the_names_steph/1/1201267380/tpod.html
keep up the good work! can't wait to hear more..
Steph Mulhern x
Hi Kyle,
Just watching a bit of news and noticed that CNN has a feature called "Inside Africa" and one called "ireport." I am thinking maybe you should try to upload some parts of your documentaries. If they like the stuff perhaps it could become a regular feature and be of benefit yourself as well as SPW. Hope all is well!
Love,
U.F.
Ooo my first comment...I feel very pressured to make it good...
I was gunna talk about the incredibly coincidental "Midgets on Safari" show, but the lovely Miss Barrante beat me to it...thanks Kimbo.
I guess I will simply say that I am terribly disappointed in Disney for it's redundancy. You CANNOT name a lion "Lion," that is simply lazy. Nor should you name it "Sandy." That is lazy too.
Miss you! Please share the salacious Swahili terms you will be learning...I would love to teach my mother a terribly inappropriate phrase in Swahili and tell her it means "Jesus is my protector and friend." Or something like that.
Darling, I'm glad to hear everything is going so well and you're learning and exploring! That's so awesome.
Have I mentioned that you're awesome? Don't get a big head or anything, but it's true. In other news, I can't walk by the Long Wharf without thinking about all our awesome midnight photo shoots and adventures. Miss you, and good luck with your partner!
~J
Hey deadbeat!
I was just looking at a population density map for religious belief, and Africa is one of the densest parts of the map. (As in 95-100% of the population is considered religious.) What is the story there? Have you picked up on any of that?
Kyler -- so your movie was on the big screen last night. i emailed you as well, but i don't know if you are able to get all (if any) of these "techno" messages so i am writing to you in every fashion possible. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY A-MAZING. there are just not good words for what i am trying to say...the screenplay, the lighting, the effects, the music...it was just awesome.
i met all of you actors too and they seemed really pleased with it and said to say hi.
of course i saw your theatre influence in there, but it was just right for film. you did stuff you obviously couldn't have done with a stage. you have quite an eye and an amazing talent, but you don't have to hear that from me.
i don't know what else to say other than that i am once again so very proud to be able to claim you as my brother.
Greetings from Hell Week in NYC!
Did a 13 hour day in tech today (Ug!) But the show is going well! We open Friday night and I'm acting as ASM for the run.
I turned into the unofficial prop master. I have constructed, to this date, 3 airline tickets from an imaginary airline I made up called "Deutchland Air", an Iraqi military ID, Army orders, a request for Asylum, and donated my headshot to be a picture of someone's daughter, which sadly gets crumpled in a fit of rage!
I MISS YOU SO MUCH! How is the teaching going? How you holding up with the transition? Did you go swimming in the lake? Are there mermaid's in the lake like at Hogwarts? What's the Swahili word for magic wand? When do you get yours? Send your next blog by owl post.
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