A Day in the Life

As I am now beginning my last week in Tanzania, deep sigh, it dawned upon me that I have yet to share what my typical day/week is like. Better late than never, I suppose.

Let’s start with the fact that there is no typical day or week.  Living in a hotel brings a dimension of spontaneity into one’s life rather quickly. :) You never know what or when a guest is going to request something of you.  You also never know when an unexpected guest is going to pop up.  Finally, living and working in a hotel that is directly connected to the school, which happens to sit right in front of it, and as the live-in/on-site 24/7 person, you also never know when guests are going to inquire about the school, meander over to the school, want to learn about the school, request to observe a class, etc.  For a fairly organized and tremendously structured individual, I have found my flexibility skills have greatly increased in the last 6+ months as a result of this living environment of mine.  And, surprisingly enough, I have loved every second of it. 

There also have been multiple two-week periods in 2014 where the lodge has welcomed groups from an organization called International Service Learning to stay with us.  ISL sends groups of two to seventeen undergraduate and/or graduate students preparing for a career in medicine to developing countries to set up mobile health clinics in areas that have marginal, if any, access to regular health care.  Teddy is the official leader of these groups, and doesn’t get a ‘free pass’ on being hotel manager during these groups’ visits, so after my first few months, I began assisting Teddy with these groups so that her load was a little less massive.  Still massive though, mind you.  So, when we are hosting an ISL group, I translate at their clinics on weekend/non-school days and during the school week, I join the group for whatever their late afternoon/early evening activity is, whether it be a tour of Moshi, bartering for souvenirs, eating at a restaurant in town, enjoying a waterfall hike, etc. 

All that being said, from 7:30am to 4:00pm, I spend my time at school.  Our school day is as follows:

7:30 – 8:00      Morning Assembly: kinesthetics, singing, and closing with prayer

8:00 – 10:00    First three classes of the morning

10:00 – 10:20  Morning Break for Children/Tea Time for Teachers

10:20 – 12:20  Final three classes of the morning

12:20 – 1:20    Lunch and Recess

1:20 – 2:40     Afternoon Classes

2:40 – 3:30     Cleaning/Free Time

Children getting ready for morning assembly. 

Each day I teach at least four classes, sometimes more depending upon the day, of math and English to the two oldest grades we currently have, P4 and P5.  Usually I teach three out of my four classes before lunch.  Once lunch and recess are finished at 1:20, I usually have only one additional class.  I spend my prep periods, periods of the day where I am not teaching, grading papers, preparing homework assignment, writing exams, working in the library or completing other Stella Maris School or Lodge tasks. At 2:40, all classes end and children begin cleaning the school building and grounds.  Each day, every floor is swept and mopped.  Children are assigned different days of the week to clean their classrooms and it really is quite a production to see dozens of child clean a school each afternoon – without any adult intervention and very little adult monitoring.  This is also the time that children, based upon gender and grade, can come to the library for reading, coloring, puzzles, etc.  I am the teacher who maintains the library and monitor its usage, so during cleaning each day, I am in the library with the assigned group for that day's library usage.  This very easily could be my favorite part of the day because it is when children who work so hard for the entire rest of the day get to actually be children - for a brief period of time.

 

End of the day cleaning. 

Once children make their way home for the day, I finish up any school related work that I did not get a chance to complete.  I try to go for a run or do some form of exercise and squeeze a meal in there somewhere.  I enjoy sitting and talking with Teddy before she goes home, and sometimes I go home with her for a bit in the evening to see my growing godchild.  I also am able to catch up with friends and family in the evenings – when the internet is working well enough.

The weekends are usually filled with some hotel-related work, but there are a few constant components of my weekend.  On Saturday mornings, I lead a tutoring group for P4 pupils in math to assist them in their preparation for their national exam in November of this year.  This will be the first time they are nationally tested and without passing the test, they cannot continue on to P5.  This ‘Saturday Academy’, as I call it, lasts for about two hours Saturday morning.  When our schedules permits, Teddy, Inno and I, or some of my mzungu friends, devour a delicious lunch at the most mzungu-ish place in the Moshi area called Melinda’s.  The food is absolutely delectable and the ambiance of this outdoor restaurant is just stunning.  They even have the most comfortable tree swing hanging from this absolutely gigantic I-don’t-know-what-kind-of-tree-it-is.  On Sunday, I attend the 9am Children’s Mass at the church next door to the school.  I prefer the children’s mass to the other two adult masses because I get to sit with and celebrate mass as well as I can in Swahili with many of the Stella Maris kids.

Melinda's Outdoor Restaurant

Some of her out of this world food!

Between the work of the school and the hotel, days and weeks go by rather quickly, for there is always something that needs to be done.  Speaking of done, the livening up of the P4 and P5 classrooms with academic content is now complete.  I cannot thank volunteer Cindi from Chicago enough for sharing her artistic talents with our school community.  Cindi was the mastermind behind the images - the queen, the animals and the sprucing up of the charts while I stuck to writing the words, charts and shapes you see.  I would say we made a pretty good team, but you can decide for yourself. :)

P5 specific content:

P4 specific content:

Material found in both classrooms: