Time, Schools, and the Weekend

I shall seek forgiveness from the Tanzanian people for suggesting, in my last post, that they don't keep to their posted hours. I had forgotten about 'Swahili time'. Basically they have a system of referring to time, where 6 am is considered the beginning of the day. What this means is that 7 am is 1:00, 8 am is 2:00, etc. So, when I saw it was 6:30 pm on my watch, in swahili time, this was 12:30 locally. Roses cafe is open every day from 6 - 10, meaning its open every day from noon to 4...is that clear!

Today we got picked up at 7:45 am to go to a few schools to interview them about their records systems. We went first to Mlosa Secondary School - which is a government run (public) residential secondary school for girls with about 700 students. We met with the head mistress directly for about an hour and a half, and then walked around to see more of the school. Below is a picture of our team with the Head Mistress, and then a few of us with some of the students. All of the girls are required to wear short hair as part of the school uniform, but as you can ee, they can wear their uniform any number of ways. They were quite excited to see visitors.

After Mlosa School, we went to Martin Luther Primary School, which is a private primary school with about 950 students, about 650 are residents. This school was between terms, so we spoke only with their Head Teacher and Admissions Officer (i think). This was a very different meeting. As a private schools the facilities were higher end, and this was a growing private school with new buildings being added.

We returned then to the university to enter the main building in total chaos. The place was heaving with students - and we learned later that this was the day that money was being disbursed to the students - so they were rather excited to get it. There was quite a buzz around the place. We finished the day in our offices, taking in all we'd learned earlier in the day. I have to admit also, we did find and print off instructions for playing euchre - so we could teach everyone in hopes of some friendly competition some of the evenings.

When we got back, we were to meet our hosts at the hotel at 6:30 pm (the real 6:30 pm) to be taken to a place for drinks and dinner and a band. They said it was the police mess hall. This seemed rather odd to me, and we were pleasantly surprised to get there and find a really nice place with outside tables and a bandstand - inside the building there was a wedding. (and yes, this was the police headquarters). We had drinks with 3 of our wonderful hosts, and eventually the band came on. There were two of them, and it was very enjoyable. The temperature drops quite a bit at night. Its not 'cold' unless you are only in a t-shirt - but would require a sweatshirt or jacket to be comfortable. This is the time of the year when it starts getting colder here. This, of course, was in sharp contrast to the devastating heat wave they are having in India. After a bit we jumped in a taxi and headed back to the hotel. We could have walked - as it was rather close, but we were advised it was not at all safe to do so. A few chose to walk back, and we waited to make sure they arrived safely. The taxi's were outside waiting, and it was less than $2 to get 4 of us back to the hotel safely.

We have alot planned for the rest of the weekend - though a bit of rest has got to be found. Tomorrow we'll go to the market, and we have arranged to go to the winery. The wine guy was gracious enough to rent a van for us - so all we have to do is show up at the front door at 1, and hop in the van to be taken to the winery for a tour, and return back to the hotel.....after which we have been invited to the home of on of our excellent hosts. On Sunday we're planning to both go to a soccer game and see some live music. I'd also like to do some reading and plan for next week.

Must get some rest to get the energy for the weekend!