Letter 16, September 14th, 2003

Dear Fam,

In the midst of all my Sunday catch up activities today I suddenly realized that the new volunteers were here and had been here for a full three days. Where did that last year go since I first arrived in Arusha for training? Pretty soon I'll be a "2nd Year" volunteer.

I'm excited to really get into teaching again tomorrow. I only actually taught one day in the last three weeks (mid-term exams, mid-term break, and then a math seminar), so I'm more than ready to get back in the classroom. Well I should be too as I'm definitely not teaching 12 period anymore. Over break I had set up that I'm going to start teaching Life Skill (Basically HIV/Aids Ed.) at two of the local primary schools. Two days ago Form 111 math teacher told me he was going to the national math seminar and asked me to pick up his 12 periods while he's gone, teaching a topic he doesn't particularly like and then yesterday the news came that two of my favorite teachers (the 2nd master and my counterpart) have been accepted to the University at Dar and have to report on the 20th. Well, they are two of three Biology and Chemistry teachers, so things have been shifted around again, and I'll be picking up Forms 11's again in a week or so. All of this and the Peer Leader Group and preparing to go to a girls' conference in Mtwara in two weeks. When it rains it pours. It will be a challenge, but I'm actually looking forward to it.

Math Seminars - In an effort to improve education in Tanzania, the Ministry of Education puts on several seminars for Science and Math teachers. Not many Peace Corps volunteers go for several reasons, mainly because they aren't interested, don't have the time, and the Tanzanian teachers want to go cuz they get per diem for it. I actually wasn't that interested until my headmistress made it clear that she wanted me to go. So I I went, and to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. It was really nice to do math as a student again, working out problems and not having the answer right there in front of you. It was also nice to talk with other Tanzania teachers and exchange ideas as to why students did poorly in some topics and better in others and how to change that. My only complaint is that I had to miss three days of teaching in order to go.

The other big news is that I actually managed to make a pretty good tasting carrot cake today. I don't find carrots very often and I'm becoming rather proud of different things I manage to make in my stove top/charcoal top oven. I'll definitely be a much better cook after all the experimenting I get to do with it here.

So that's it for now - this is a short note. Love to you all,

Jessica