A Mass E-Mail From Lew

Some people might have recieved this from Lew, but for those that did not I thought you would enjoy reading what he has to say so far...



Dear Family and Friends,

Tanzanians aren't exactly accustomed to celebrating birthdays, so it was a special event as the monks tried to provide me with their best renindition of a birthday party this past Tuesday. The cook even prepared a Bunt cake, and although it was a bit more bunt than cake, it was well received. They also sang me the infamous "Cakey" song which sort of goes like this, "cakey, cakey, cakey, cakey (pause), cakey, cakey, cakey, cakey". The night climaxed, however, with the Abbot's teaching of his favourite drinking games. All in all it was a special day and thanks for all of the birthday wishes…I did get them.

Derek and I have been in Tanzania for a little over three weeks now, and apart from the short beds and even shorter doorways, we seem to fit in pretty well here. Life in Hanga is definitely wild…not so much in the "Spring Break Cancun" sense of the word, but more in the sense that everyday holds its new experiences and odd surprises. And since things are so different here, I'm not going to try and give a detailed explanation of what it's like. Instead, I thought I would run through a typical day so that you have of sense of what's happening here. Here it goes…



Having lived at St. John's for a good chunk of my life, I am accustomed to waking up to the calling of the church…and in a way it's the same here at Hanga. I guess the only difference is that instead of the slow ringing of soothing bells, there's a monk outside our windows going to town on a rusty old tire rim with a steel rod…it still works to the same effect however…I'm up.

So at 6:00 AM, I am sitting up in my bed trying to get my bearings in a hurry because I know that in 10 minutes, Guisi, the older Italian lady from across the hall, will be knocking at my door to pick me up for Mass. At this time in the morning it is pitch black out, so my mosquito net has proven to do a better job of keeping me in than the mosquitoes out, as I continually attempt to roll out of bed before untucking it first.

For the past two weeks, Guisi has accompanied me for the brisk (it's really cold here in the mornings) walk to the Abbey Church. Over this period of time we have both become accustomed to our specific roles for the walk; I carry the flashlight to light the way while she goes off about something in Italian (she speaks absolutely no English)…I don't know if she is actually talking me or just jabbering, but just in case she thinks I understand, I make sure to throw in a reassuring "si" whenever she pauses to take a breath.

After Mass and breakfast I'm off to work. It depends on the day, but I'll either be heading to the Seminary/Secondary School/Trade School to teach English and physics or to the farm to tend to the pigs and cows. Now while teaching is my full time job here at the Abbey, I'm really excited to be working with the animals and learning the ins and outs of agriculture. The monastery is self sufficient community, so they have everything here from bananas to sweet potatoes to rabbits. The only thing about the working at the farm that gets to me is that I know I've spent considerable amounts of time getting to know the animals that are being served to me later that day. So this is why having two jobs is nice, because you can change up the pace if one gets a little monotonous. The one odd thing about teaching at the Seminary and Secondary school is that the headmasters complain about the teachers not being strict enough with the students…Br. Allan is not afraid to remind us that if we are not comfortable with corporal punishment we should at least be willing to pinch the "foolish" students (check out the picture, you'll understand).

After work, Derek and I usually head out to the grounds to get some physical activity by playing soccer with the kids. Now there are three soccer fields (more like dustbowls) for the students; one for the good players, one for the okay players, and one for the kids with two left feet. To keep our street credit among our students, Derek and I have relinquished ourselves to the playing with the kids with two left feet. And as not to put any team at a greater disadvantage we have chosen to always play on opposite teams. But although there are more than 40 Tanzanians on the field at one time, Derek and I always have a knack of finding and running into one another. It's like we're polar magnets or something, because no matter where we are on the field it seems that we are always getting our gangly, uncoordinated bodies tangled up in one other…and I'm sure the students are just loving it. So far, I've been on the short end up the collisions and have the scabs on my knees to show for it…but also a couple goals (Me 2: Derek 0).

We've thought about hanging up our soccer cleats and picking up running again, but Derek's run in with a Viper during our last hike in the bush has really put a hamper on our desire to go running in the wild. Plus the locals seem to get enough of a shock just seeing a pair of Wazungu (white guys) walking around…so I don't think they'd know what to do if they saw us running towards them.

Our evenings are spent studying Swahili, hanging out with students, or just figuring out what to teach the next day (we have no books for the classes we teach so this can take some creativeness) until it's time for supper. Now supper is usually the highlight of the day, because beside rice, ugali, vegetables, and bananas there is also some meat, fish or something I've never seen before (all things that are not too common for the local Hanga villagers). After dinner we hang out with the younger monks who teach us Swahili slang and at 8:45 we head to Kompleto. By the time Kompleto is over we are fairly exhausted so we hit the sack around 9:30…and that's all she wrote.

Sorry about the mass email, I dislike sending them, but since our time on the internet is scarce, this will have to do. I hope everything is going well in your next of the woods, and write me if you get the chance. It's always good to hear what's going on in the world.



Baadaye,

Lew