Perhaps an unfocused post

Sorry for the lack of posting; I've switched to a different cafe which allows for faster connection to G-mail, but slower overall speed. The upshot is that I can read e-mails, but do nothing else. This week I'm posting first.

It has been many weeks and I feel better about my Kiswahili. I even have people I hang out with that speak it natively. I'm trying to convince myself that this is a better way of learning than studying.

The food is still excellent, but the lack of variety is boring, as one might expect. Also, my sister is now comfortable enough with me to call me a liar and insist that I take more food when I say I'm full. However, I am now well practiced in saying "You don't know, only I know when I am hungry" in Kiswahili. Now I just need to learn to say "It's my body; I'll do what I want" and "I didn't ask to be born".

In regards to my sister, I didn't mean to suggest that she seemed more like a servant than my brother. They both work most of the time. She is always cooking and cleaning and my brother runs the family's store when he comes home from school. I was surprised the first days to see that the parents actually go to bed before the children and wake up after them. The only reasons I suspected my sister, but not my brother, might be a servant were:
1) I was warned that 'dada' means both 'sister' and 'maid'. What I discovered later is I am everyone's 'kaka', which means 'brother' and 'houseboy'. I have since learned that family terms are used based on age and not on actual relations. The proper translations might be more like "young woman that I have a relationship with" and "young man that I have a relationship with". I was confused for a long time because my mama didn't seem old enough to have all the children that she claimed were her's.
2) My sister never talked to me. Ever. This is also yet another cultural thing that I just had to get used to. Men and women don't associated with each other like they do in America. Now that we are more established as family, we can talk more freely up to, and including, name-calling.

I've also started and finished my practice teaching since my last post. The students were generally good, but their English was sometimes lacking, which is of course not their fault; it isn't their choice that they have to learn chemistry via their third language. I've learned some useful things RE: Teaching that are probably boring to relate here. I also learned that at least one Tanzanian student thinks all Americans are intelligent (the others were just as shocked when I set them straight). I explained that American people are just like Tanzanians - most average and some above and below. I finished by saying that if there are any differences they are probably due to poor nutrition (I'm still a science teacher).

Next week is our last week of formal learning then we shadow a volunteer for a few days. Afterward we have a logistics-teaching nightmare called "Week Nine" and then I find out where I will be spending my next two years. In four weeks I move to my site (have I really been here a month and a half?). At some point in the shuffle I may even buy stamps and send out some letters. Although I definitely need more time to write, I will have that when I get to site and hopefully correspondence will become regular.