Rafiki

The word 'rafiki' has many meanings.  While the dictionary may fool you by saying that it means 'friend,' other variations exist.  They include:

1. Dude
2. Person
3. You, as in "Hey you"
4. There, as in "Hey there"
5. Rich foreigner

Way back during training, in response to a lecture regarding the identity of a volunteer, I asked "how can I overcome the tradition that identifies me as the helper/ pseudo-savior, and the local people as those who absolutely need my help?"  And in response, she recommended me to think about the meaning of KOICA's new brand "World Friends Korea."  Instead of such dichotomy, think of myself and the locals as friends.

Friends, as in dude, person, you, there, or rich foreigner?  Despite the new warm and cuddly PR initiative, volunteers struggle to break free from the asymmetric relationships and conceptions formulated by the people around us.

Saba Saba Secondary has a new headmaster.  I've met him twice and at both times, he called me rafiki.  In fact, he said "ooooooooooh rafikiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii."  It's an odd feeling, especially when there is a strict hierarchy in the school system.  Hearing the word rafiki made me feel both foreign and uncomfortable.  On the second occasion, after greeting me "ooooooooooh rafikiiiiiiiiii" again, he asked me whether there was anything my organization (ie the government of Korea) could do to assist him in painting and cleaning up the school.  Volunteers dread questions like this because we're dispatched more as human capital rather than santa clauses with huge gift bags.  Am I being classified as definition number five?

Hey let me introduce you to my bathroom!

There are a couple of rules in regards to using my bathroom.

1. Never flush the toilet.  Water comes from the pipes once every 3 - 30 days, so I need to be strategic with my 500 L water tank.  Use the water from the buckets instead.  In most cases, 1-2L will be enough.  In case of number 2, see below.

2. Collect the shower water.  It'll be enough to flush the morning business.  Plus it cleans the toilet, every day. 

I think that's about it. To summarize, why let the water go down the drain, when you could use it to flush your toilet?

Dry Season

there are two nicknames for the dry season:

1. the hot season (as opposed to the really hot season)

2. want some sandstorm in your house babe?

Movies

Would it shock you if I told you that the largest movie screen in East Africa is located in Tanzania?

Would it shock you even more that my first movie in the theater in 6 months happened to be Date Night?!

I'm sure if you had seen the movie you would agree with me that Tina Fey is good looking, and that the movie wasn't very good.

So I decided to redeem myself by watching Toy Story 3 before I came down to Mtwara.  And at this moment, I proclaim to the world that my dear friend Tory cried towards the end.

And perhaps if you're thinking "really?" or "who's tory?" well, the Blind Side is the only movie that i have ever cried to, and Tory's my testicle buddy (a korean not-so-vulgar slang for good-old-friend, or the korean equivalent of BESTI).

Is spontaneity necessarily creative or confusing? 

And with that, I end this post.

Vacation!!!

Damn that was a good break.  For the past three weeks, I had a sweet vacation, watching some of the sights of Tanzania, and just having a good time meeting new volunteers and becoming closer to some old ones.  It was nice to have a giant increase in social interactions, and now it's a bit eerie to be back in the somewhat solitary life.  To make matters a bit more difficult, I have received terrible news that my headmistress will be transferring to another school.  After relying so much on her in both social and work aspects of Saba Saba, I feel like I am up for a new start.

And so a picture is worth a thousand words, but a thousand more bites (or byte? whatever the plural for the unit of computer memory is).  Here's a parsimonious selection:

This is my travel companion, Lim Sunguang (aka Julius).  Julius works in a sweet ass office in Dar es Salaam, in an institution that trains important people.  He helps out with various IT and computer work.  We became travel buddies for both wanting to spend less and not plan too much.  A trip inside Julius' head was also a trip in itself.

There is a famous resort in Zanzibar amongst the volunteers for its special discount ($75 a night).  Not too cheap, but with unlimited booze and food, plus all the nice five star resort service, it is quite popular.  Julius and I decided at the last minute to follow our friends there, but was persuaded Miyoung, our host for one night, to have a thriftier trip in Zanzibar.  So we did, and we spent 4 days eating cheap food and exploring this free beach.

Julius and I did manage to meet up with the rest of our friends, when we all decided to crash at a volunteer's house in the heart of Stonetown.  The streets of Stonetown is a complete maze, and I lost all sense of direction.

And then we left on the first ferry, which was so bumpy that about 10% of the passengers vomit.  The weird French animation shown in the ferry with a lot of boobs and annoying sounds did not help with the sea sickness.

 

For our next destination, we went to Mbeya, where Youngsin lived.  He was spending his last days in Mbeya, saying good bye and packing, so we thought, what a perfect time to crash.  We took the 24 hour long train, which wasn't as comfortable as we thought, and we both had diarrehea.  We ended up missing all the signs of Mbeya (not too many tough), pooping a lot, and playing Monopoly on the computer.

After full recuperation, we went up to the Usambara mountains, known for its hiking and views.  We first thought of doing the three day trekking from Lushoto to Mtae, but that I soon realized that I wasn't fit enough, so we just took a bus instead.

The view was stunning, with clouds rising during the day, and falling below our feet towarrds the evening.

A volunteer from Zanzibar visited Mtwara before, and took some photos of the school.  

Oh teaching sometimes is such an uphill struggle.

 

And this is Kyungbok, my dear neighbor/friend/mentor/co-worker.  She left, and I will forever miss her.

Vacation

VACATION TIME!!!

Starting tomorrow I go on my 2 week vacation.  For many volunteers, the ENTIRE TWO YEARS is like an extended vacation, doing work half-time or quarter-time, taking really long breaks, traveling every possible damn corner of Tanzania. 

What a life!  Well, for me, it's a bit different.  I'm doing doing volunteer service instead of my mandatory military service, so I have a zillion restrictions.  One of them is that I am not permitted to exit my "work place" without a holiday or work-related-trip, much like a soldier in a barrack.  What the hell, I work at the school, and it's 200m away from my house.  I'm supposed to not leave a 200m radius?  How am I supposed to go buy food?

Oh, don't worry, the KOICA has been generous enough to expand the definition of the "work place" to the Mtwara region.  Well, thanks because Newala and Masasi are really must-see places, and they are really related to my job here.

Well, it's still a vacation.  So good bye for now.

National Identity.... and Soccer!

It's the World Cup season!  But the games are lackluster, and the French team is knocked out so that drama is over.  I wish they actually had qualified for the second round so that their implosion could implode again.

With the World Cup all about country vs. country, the question of national identity has attacked my life again.  Earlier, North Korea lost to Portugal by 7-0, and I received so many condolences.  So I had to tell them one by one that I'm from South, and kill the conversation.  And then they tell me how happy I must be that South Korea qualified.  A bit, but not so much.  It was just mildly pleasant. 

Having lived in so many places in my life, I have no national identity.  I was actually interviewed about this in my college newspaper.  Being glad about the attention I got, I sent my parents a copy, only for them to give me a worrying phone call. Here's the in-house-controversial article:

http://media.www.themacweekly.com/media/storage/paper1230/news/2009/02/27/Spotlight/Tommy.Kim-3649748.shtml. 

Anyways, back to national identity and soccer, I've just read an article that shows how it's quite of a jungle.  It lists all these players who must have confused national identities.  Two thirds of the Swiss team are second-generation immigrants.  Four years ago, the Kalou brothers were about to play each other in different national teams, until Saloman's Dutch citizenship request was denied.  But to no avail, only four years later, the Boateng brothers have achieved it.  Just when the world thought, what an anomaly, it only took one more tournament for it to happen.  One of my favorite example is Owen Hargreaves, who was born in Canada, rose to fame in Germany, but plays for England because of parental heritage.

This globalization of soccer is multiplied by a ridiculous amount when we consider club football.  The money, sponsors, owners, viewers, not enough English players in England, Tanzanians fighting over who's going to win the top four, etc.  And now, globalization is deeply embedded in the sphere of national soccer teams, who are often the symbol of national pride.  It seems that Luis Figo complaining that the Brazilian born Deco was in the Portugese side, or Harry Redknapp vehemently opposing the chance of Manuel Almunia in the English national squad is anachronistic and absurd.

Being who I am, without a clear national identity, this is one of the most exciting part about the rather boring 2010 World Cup: finding out who is the product of globalization.

Familiarity

Familiarity is a very important concept for a volunteer.  It sometimes feels as if an overseas volunteer is abruptly placed at one of the most unnatural settings in the world.  They are separated from their normal lives, including: family, friends, casual acquaintances, etc., and are placed where they know no one, and no very little about local customs nor language.

But as time passes by most manage, and most get accustomed to their lives.  They make new relations.  Looking back, the key concept of this rather mystical process of escaping the unnatural setting is familiarity.  At first, nothing is familiar.  The people and the places are all novel and rather strange.  But as time passes, things begin to be more familiar.  The onion seller at the market, the fruit stand on the road, Dubai restaurant after Sunday church, teaching routine, the office tea, the neighbors; the list goes on.  Thus, in the process of the unfamiliar becoming familiar, a volunteer begins to feel the unnatural turn natural.  Familiarity is perhaps the most important concept for a volunteer.

Okay whatever, picture time.

The entire school staff minus three or four, plus three student government representatives.  This was taken during Kyungbok's farewell party, a rather interesting event indeed.  The above staff take care of 750 students.  Or more precisely, the above staff have a hard time taking care of 750 students

This is Dubai, the most popular restaurant among the Korean volunteers, and the weekly gathering place after church.  Quick service, friendly, cheap price, and decent quality makes this place the "Best Restaurant of Mtwara 2010."  It probably has retained the title since 1991, and will continue to do so until 2037, when Armageddon comes.

Inside Dubai.  I often talk about how it would be interesting to open a Dubai in Korea, or wherever.  The business will definitely tank, but the imagination of it thriving is a rather fun thought.

A highlight location for those touring Mtwara.  The Msemo / Southern Cross Hotel is the most luxurious place in Mtwara, offering meals that cost up to..... $10!! What a rip off!  The hotel and its restaurant does boast a remarkable beach view, along with high quality painting and sculpture shop.  It's also the only place to see Masai (a.k.a. cow thieves) in Mtwara.

My wonderful neighbor.  Oh my neighbors.  My neighborhood is rather dysfunctional.  All the fathers are poor fathers, most of them neglecting family duties, asking for divorces, going out without letting their families know, and in one extreme case, wife-beating!  Mr. Ninje is one of the milder cases, who has an angelic glow when he talks about how he buys meat for his three boys, or how they love to hear his stories (I've seen this in action, him sitting on a stool with the two older boys being absorbed in his stories, rather remarkable sight of father-sons relationship).  But to be honest, he's just another irresponsible Tanzanian father.  The mom is an angel too, being a wonderful neighbor.  And the boys are just so cute.  The first born, Lama, is pretty much a second mom.  He does all the chores, and even cooked for the family, including his dad, while his mom was away for a month.  The second, Ashlaf, is just like his dad, playful and cute.  And the last one, Daufiki, is the baby of the neighborhood.  Two months ago he could barely stand, but now he walks up to the stove and picks up the charcoal to eat it.  My favorite neighbors, but unfortunately, they'll be moving out soon, as their house will be occupied by the next Japanese volunteer.