Dear Friends & Family,

Yes, you did just hear from me a few weeks ago -- I'm hoping I can be a little bit better about writing when I can, and there are always things left untold, so...

Ten minutes before starting this note, I finished graing my last exam and I'm DONE! (Except for turning in my grades). It's been a strange term, with all the various events in my life I've already mentioned... in Form 5 I ended up way behind in the syllabus, but in Form 6 I'm right on track, even a little ahead. The students neither did surprisingly well nor surprisingly poorly on their exams; about what was expected. They've already headed home on vacation...

...and so have I! Tomorrow, right after I send this message, I'm headed off to Morogoro for a Saturday Thanksgiving party. Gary has promised smoked turkey for all from his new smokehouse that he just built! It promises to be a good time. His party is supposed to last a few days, but I have to run off to Dar on Sunday...

...because I, along with another volunteer and our Peace Corps education director will be co-facilitating a two-day Girls' Education workshop on Monday and Tuesday for Volunteers representing every region in the country.

Plans are still a little loose, to accommodate the different needs of the different regional representatives. However, the general model with which we're working uses Monday to talk about some of the large-scale events we've been having in the different regions (Girls' Conferences, Health Seminars, Career Days, etc.), their successes and failures, and how to keep that momentum going by sharing our ideas across regions.

The second day will focus more on base-level competencies for our teachers: Ensuring gender equity in the classroom, ways to accommodate girls students' differing needs without playing favorites, ways to get girls to spend more time at home doing their schoolwork and less time doing housework (without seriously disrupting the household structure) and other day-to-day issues that address some of Tanzanian girls' fundamental obstacles in their education.

After that, I'll get a chance to chill out for a little while with the trainees in Dar Es Salaam before they leave to go to their sites.... because, if you remember that about which I was writing to you about this time last year, you might correctly guess that next week is "Swearing-In" of the new Volunteers. That will be followed by a big party and all sorts of fun stuff for a few days before they disperse far and wide.

Immediately following Swearing-In is the final Close-Of-Service for the older Volunteers with whom we've been serving fot the past year. That's going to be weird, because that means I am officially an "mzee (old person)" Volunteer. It also means saying goodbye to some close friends, which will be bittersweet.

After that, I am oficially and deliberately unplanned for the subsequent three weeks. I am waiting to see what the other Volunteers are doing (there will be many of us in Dar for Swearing-In)... my only priority is that I would like to to go to some part of the country to which I have never been and one far enough away so that I could not possibly get there in a typical school-term weekend. Where I go will largely depend on where other folks are going and who will be in-country at the time.

My Christmas plans are also up in the air right now. Part of it will depend on where I end up going and if I want to stick around for the holiday. If I am back in Monduli/Arusha, I will likely go spend it with my host family (from training), like I did last year.

As I have hinted to some of you, my plans for the New Year to end all New Years (at least, according to some millenialists) are less than exciting. Washington DC is a little/a lot paranoid about potential problems either directly or indirectly related to the Y2K computer problem.

Therefore, the volunteers who are still in-country on 31 December will be asked to gather at the one of the seven "consolidation points" around the country. We aren't given an option to choose our point; it must be the one closest to our sites. I'll be in Arusha near the training site. We will be there from the 31st to the 4th, assuming that there is no immediate strife or unrest (which everyone suspects will not be a problem). After that, we're asked to return to our sites and not to leave for three weeks while we see if there are any additional adverse effects.

Now, you're probably saying to yourself, "Isn't Africa the last place to worry about a computer problem?" A fair question, but it reveals some misconceptions:

(1) "There are no computers here, and what few there are don't run anything important." False: Things like phones and power grids and water supply in some places all depend on machines and computers to manage and facilitate their inner workings. Not all such machines are brand new state-of-the-art technology. :)

(2) "Do they really think the world is going to blow up at midnight on the 1st?" No, nobody really does. What they are worried bout is ability to communicate with and contact their volunteers if other non-Y2K-related things go wrong. PC guarantees it has some line of communication to each volunteer all the time. If they can't guarantee that, they need to get us to a place where they can.

(3) "If you don't have computers near you, you're set, right?" Nope. In fact, all of Tz's computer could well be compliant (they're not, but they could be...) What could happen, though, is the Indian-owned ships that ship petroleum to East Africa from the Middle East get grounded because their navigation systems fail. As a consequence, gas becomes scarce, and more expensive. The cost of shipping good to rural areas skyrockets. People can't afford to buy food shipped by the expensive petrol. Civil unrest, then riots occur as people are starving. That's what people are a little more worried about here than their own computers failing.

So there is a chance, and I think they all want to take the New Zealand perspective on it which is, "If we get there and ask, 'Why did we make such a big fuss about it?' we will have done our job."

Anyway, I hope to have a report to you in December/January about how all these things have progressed.

I saw a herd of about 3 dozen zebra on the Monduli-Arusha road this morning.

There's a crazy guy at the Korogwe bus stand who just walks around repeating things to himself and everyone all the time. If you pay him some money, sometimes he will repeat what you tell him to. Hence, the statement I have heard from Lorie, the volunteer there: "If you get to Korogwe and I'm not at the stand to meet you, I'll leave a message with the crazy guy." Lorie recently sponsored a fund drive/bike race for her students' environmental club. You'll never guess one of the ways she was able to publicize and hype-up the event...

Thanks for all your responses and good words in the past few weeks. They are very much appreciated and treasured. The end of the term has been a pinch, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to write back to all of you yet, but hopefully after I get back from vacation, I'll have some time to churn out some quality season's greetings.

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving.

Kwenye siku hii, ninashukuru,
(On this day, I am being thankful,)
Ethan

P.S. Some of you have asked for my address. It's in some of the older mailings, but here it is again in all its glory:

and of course the web site is still there.
Any holiday cards or cheesy American trinkets will be greatly appreciated!

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