Climbing the Mountain (10/22/2005)

This week I discovered my muscles have atrophied when I went hiking yesterday. We hiked 2 and a half hours up and on the way down my legs were tired. I only went half way up the mountain because I did not bring water or tell my host parents I would be gone. There were about 17 PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) and we all piled into the daladala. FYI a daladala is a bus the size of a van that does not move unless it is so full that a sardine would feel cramped. On the hike there were many people farming on the mountain and we saw many tethered goats and children (untethered). The trail was narrow and had many forks. Even though the group accidentally got broken up and took different paths we all managed to meet at Morning site, which is a house halfway up the mountain. From a local I learned that there are snakes large enough to eat a whole goat.

I finally started teaching this week and it went fairly well. The 80 minutes that I teach goes by so fast I feel like I write one sentence and it is over. My board work has improved alot and I am now pretty comfortable looking at blank faces. One girl was practally falling as sleep at the start of class, but later she perked up, it is apparent how my enthusiasm tranfers to the class.I think my sleep is less restful during the night when I take the malaria pill. I think I will switch the days so that the next day does not affect my teaching.

This has been a tough week for my host family a neighbor died and so did the grandfather on the father's side. I am not sure how the grandfather died, but the neighbor was run over by a truck. The grieving process is a bit different here. People gather at the home of the deceased for several days hanging out and they spend the nights there too. Then the body is buried. I went to the house and saw the men and women divided outside. I think you are only supposed to go in the house if you are invited so I did not enter. Also there is a guest book where you are supposed to sign and write the amount you donate. The money goes to pay for the food, etc. and apparently the donations are public knowledge so PCV are expected to attend funerals and donate money to strengthen community ties even if you did not personally know the person. I think that is all for this week.

Oh yeah, sorry for the double spaces and other typos and thanks for writing
T.