This is Jackie, reporting for the team. So we're all officially pretty tired...sleeping at break times and hitting the pillow at 9 pm most nights. After a long week at the work sight, today was an easy day. A morning of work and then a feast prepared for us by our Tanzanian brothers and sisters. We drove up in the van this morning to the sight of 2 freshly slaughtered goats...and as it turned out, they were pretty delicious barbecued. Some beans, rice, ugali, cooked cabbage salad, soul-food peas, rice and chapatti completed the deliciousness. We ate, and ate some more and were all impressed by how much food the Tanzanians could eat! We dozed for a while, similar to post-Thanksgiving style, enjoying the nice day. Now, some souvenir shopping and a restful, early night in at guest house.
It's been a long, tiring week. But we moved a lot of bricks, painted a lot of things, and put up a roof. And made some new friends and had a few laughs.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Down and Out
This is Jackie. Yesterday was a pretty good day for most people, except Evie (the missionary who is our guide for the trip) and I. We were down and out, with suspected food poisoning from the meal that we shared at the airport, waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive. Yesterday was spent in bed but today we're both up and about, feeling a lot better. Our hope is that it actually was food poisoning, as opposed to the flu so the rest of the team doesn't get it as well.
The team reported back with a good day at the site. The labor was a bit less tedious and grueling. No more moving bricks! They helped hoist up some rafters for a roof and did some more painting. It sounded like they had a lot of fun and had some laughs with their Tanzanian counterparts.
We were treated to a delicious meal from our Korean friends last night. Just like home and what I needed to settle my stomach. Kimchi really does cure it all! This morning we had some leftover side dishes and juk (rice porridge) with some gim. Mmmm...delicious! Home cooking at its best.
The team reported back with a good day at the site. The labor was a bit less tedious and grueling. No more moving bricks! They helped hoist up some rafters for a roof and did some more painting. It sounded like they had a lot of fun and had some laughs with their Tanzanian counterparts.
We were treated to a delicious meal from our Korean friends last night. Just like home and what I needed to settle my stomach. Kimchi really does cure it all! This morning we had some leftover side dishes and juk (rice porridge) with some gim. Mmmm...delicious! Home cooking at its best.
Tuesday - August 12
- Posted by Josh -
Today was our first day of work. Chris, Curtis (Chris's dad), Shawn, and I (and Jakie off and on) spent most of the day moving cement blocks from one place to another. It was hard work, 3 blocks to a wheelbarrow, and then stacking them in a row 50'x10'. My back was getting pretty sore. Then half way through the afternoon, I was mercifully drafted to help cut boards for the rafters or joists. That was kind of fun once I got the hang for it. The wood was kind of hard to work with b/c it was so roughly sawn. The general size was a 2x4, but that could vary up to 3x6 or so. That made it kind of hard to cut identical shapes.
Joe and John (OoYoung) spent the whole day working on ceiling joists. They were measuring and cutting wood and then nailing it together in the appropriate places. We will should finish the joists and start putting them into position tomorrow.
The ladies (and sometimes John) spend the day painting. First, they painted very long facia boards. Then, they sanded and painted some metal fences and gates. The paint was reddish orange, so when they finished, they looked like they had been in a war.
We had lots of fun, though. Once, while moving blocks, I accidentally cut the tail off a 14 inch long lizard (we later measured him). I brought the tail to SoYoung, and she jumped about 10 feet. Later, we found the same lizard (missing his tail), and I caught him - amazing colors: green body, red head, blue front legs. This time I warned the guys what I was going to do, and then I walked into the room where the girls were painting. Lots of screams!
Just before lunch, we found a snake in the blocks, and with the help of Ernest (one of our African coworkes) I killed it and picked it up with a stick. That was fun. Joe said he thought it looked like a pignosed snake - very poisonous. I’ve been searching google to try to identify the snake, and actually, I think it might have been a black mamba - not actually black. Maybe tomorrow I can dig it out of the compost pile and check its mouth for identification. They sure sign of a black mamba is a black mouth. The actual body can be a wide variety of colors. However, I saw several pictures that looked just like our snake. If ours was a mamba, it was just a teenager – about 1 meter long. Full grown mambas are 2-3 meters – yikes!
Still later in the afternoon, Ernest found two more baby snakes (apparently of a different variety) and 2 snake eggs. These blocks are quite the nesting place b/c of all the bugs that make their homes down there. We'll have to be careful with the bottom layer of blocks. I think Ernest will be taking care of most of those!
Tonight we ate a Tanzanian stew -kind of a cross between chili and vegetable beef stew. It was so good, I ate way too much!
I talked a lot with Chris today while stacking blocks, and some with his dad. I really like his dad. He is very encouraging and laughs a lot. George, the foreman in training, remembered Curtis from last year and called him "Fraha" - or happy guy. It's a well-fitting name for him.
Jackie and Evie (one of the team coordinators) got sick today. They seem to have the stomach flu or something - lots of throwing up and an upset stomach. Please pray for them.
Over all, though, this was a great first day!
Today was our first day of work. Chris, Curtis (Chris's dad), Shawn, and I (and Jakie off and on) spent most of the day moving cement blocks from one place to another. It was hard work, 3 blocks to a wheelbarrow, and then stacking them in a row 50'x10'. My back was getting pretty sore. Then half way through the afternoon, I was mercifully drafted to help cut boards for the rafters or joists. That was kind of fun once I got the hang for it. The wood was kind of hard to work with b/c it was so roughly sawn. The general size was a 2x4, but that could vary up to 3x6 or so. That made it kind of hard to cut identical shapes.
Joe and John (OoYoung) spent the whole day working on ceiling joists. They were measuring and cutting wood and then nailing it together in the appropriate places. We will should finish the joists and start putting them into position tomorrow.
The ladies (and sometimes John) spend the day painting. First, they painted very long facia boards. Then, they sanded and painted some metal fences and gates. The paint was reddish orange, so when they finished, they looked like they had been in a war.
We had lots of fun, though. Once, while moving blocks, I accidentally cut the tail off a 14 inch long lizard (we later measured him). I brought the tail to SoYoung, and she jumped about 10 feet. Later, we found the same lizard (missing his tail), and I caught him - amazing colors: green body, red head, blue front legs. This time I warned the guys what I was going to do, and then I walked into the room where the girls were painting. Lots of screams!
Just before lunch, we found a snake in the blocks, and with the help of Ernest (one of our African coworkes) I killed it and picked it up with a stick. That was fun. Joe said he thought it looked like a pignosed snake - very poisonous. I’ve been searching google to try to identify the snake, and actually, I think it might have been a black mamba - not actually black. Maybe tomorrow I can dig it out of the compost pile and check its mouth for identification. They sure sign of a black mamba is a black mouth. The actual body can be a wide variety of colors. However, I saw several pictures that looked just like our snake. If ours was a mamba, it was just a teenager – about 1 meter long. Full grown mambas are 2-3 meters – yikes!
Still later in the afternoon, Ernest found two more baby snakes (apparently of a different variety) and 2 snake eggs. These blocks are quite the nesting place b/c of all the bugs that make their homes down there. We'll have to be careful with the bottom layer of blocks. I think Ernest will be taking care of most of those!
Tonight we ate a Tanzanian stew -kind of a cross between chili and vegetable beef stew. It was so good, I ate way too much!
I talked a lot with Chris today while stacking blocks, and some with his dad. I really like his dad. He is very encouraging and laughs a lot. George, the foreman in training, remembered Curtis from last year and called him "Fraha" - or happy guy. It's a well-fitting name for him.
Jackie and Evie (one of the team coordinators) got sick today. They seem to have the stomach flu or something - lots of throwing up and an upset stomach. Please pray for them.
Over all, though, this was a great first day!
Monday, August 11, 2008
I thought you might like an account from a second perspective... not realizing Josh already contributed. Enjoy. Joe.
We are here in Dodoma now. It is 4:30 in the morning. I could not sleep so I got up and Chris left his laptop out so I can email you all. If there are typing errors, it is early and I am trying my best .
Here is our adventure so far :)
We left from KNU around 5:30pm on Saturday evening. Then flew out of Seoul around 11:20pm. The flight to Dar es Salaam was around 8 1/2 ~ 9 hours. We flew on Emirates airlines to Dubai. That was the most luxurious Economy class I have ever been in. It was a nice flight. We got in to Dubai around around 3:30am (5 hours time difference than Korea) in the morning their time. The airport their is very new and still under construction so we got off the plane and were greeted with 94 degree weather at night. It was hot! They had stair trucks unload us and a bus took us to the airport.
In Dubai we were to have a long layover. We were to leave at 10:55. The airport was very nice and so busy! There were people everywhere... sleeping on the ground walking around shopping, eating. All the shops and stores were open 24/7. You could buy a McDonalds McArabia hamburger and then go buy a Rolex watch or a water tobacco pipe or food at the grocery store.. dvd player..anything almost. The one thing that really stuck out to me was the diverseness of people in the airport. It truly was a slice of all cultures in the world. Every nationality, sect and race seemed to be represented. We waited there a long time. I went shopping and got some Arabic Pop song cds, a soda, gum and candy for the wait. If your layover is longer than 4 hours in Dubai, Emirates gives you a complementary meal at one of the restaurants. So we went to eat at 8 am. All we had was a snack that they served us, some how we did not understand that we could eat from the buffet, but we were satisfied and not hungry.We were so full indeed that we passed up eating Coldstone Creamery. :0
So we waited and went to our gate for the flight. There was some problem with the plane so we were waiting longer than expected. When we boarded the plane we immediately knew why there was a delay. The plane was hot! But it was a dry heat around 110~ 115. The A/C was not working properly. The pilot said they had fixed the problem and it would cool off shortly. once we were all boarded no temperature change had happened and the doors were shut. Wow, hot! So we taxied out to the runway and due to the problem the airline was reconsidering the flight. So once we were on the runway they decided that it was not safe to continue the flight and said they were going to return to the airport and deboard the plane. Then that changed, the gate was in use by another plane, so they were bringing the stair trucks and buses back to unload us.We waited on the plane for about an hour with no A/C...... I was really hot but did not feel too sweaty I guess because it was so dry. SuJa tried her best to keep me cool. She was fanning me and gave me here handkerchief with water on it.. and fanning me more. It was very nice of her. Yet as she and I fanned myself, it became apparent to me that I was more or less in a convection oven and the breeze was not cooling but swirling the heat around me.
All the passengers were calm and very orderly. I was amazed that no one got angry or wanted to cuss out someone. The flight attendants were great! I don't know how the women managed to keep their makeup on in that heat! They passed out water as needed and really made a bad situation better. At some point several passengers asked that the doors at least be opened to let some fresh air in, but they did not do so and I thought it wise as the cabin was hot but outside hotter.
We got off the plane and bussed to the terminal and went back to the gate. Another plane was ready for us around 2:30pm. So again we were off, with the crew from the last plane.The flight was great. I slept most of that flight and only a few hours on the previous flight.
We landed around 7~8 pm. Getting off the plane in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (1 hour time difference than Dubai, 6 than Korea) was a welcoming. It is around 78 degrees (22 c) during the day, cooler that normal for this time of year and upper 50s to low 60s (15 c ) at night. Immigration took awhile to process. Once we were out of the airport we were greeted by Samuel's father and family as well as our Host. Dar es Salaam is his home town and his family came out to meet us at our scheduled arrival time 4~ 5 hour previously. He greeted us very warmly , hugging us several times and making sure we knew his place was our home. We loaded several vans rode out to Samuel's house for dinner. We were at his house around 9pm. We ate some very good Tanzanian food that was prepared and catered by his family. We all sat together and ate in candlelight under he stars listening to a Brian Adams and Shania Twain. It was a great time. We all felt very welcome by his family.
We got to our hotel around 11:00pm and got showered and in bed by 12pm.
The next day, the bus came to pick us up at 9:45am right across fro the hotel. Two tickets each were purchased for us since we had so much luggage. The bus was not full so it was not a problem. It was a great bus ride. The roads were all paved and smooth. The temperature was in the 70s with the window slightly cracked open. I will have to describe the scenery later, but the buildings were anything from stucco to wood and tin vendor booths to mud brick and thatched houses. The smell of burning wood was in the air as well as dust and other scents. We rode comfortably for 6 1/2 hours. We made several stops and at every stop on the side of the road, vendors would tap on the side and hold up their wares or snacks. On the way we tried some roasted cashews (very good!) , some skewered beef and potato wedges with salt (I like that a lot) and some fruit and juice. Once we got to Dodoma at 4:30pm ish we drove by the building site and had a tour. Then we found out where we are staying and were very pleased. We are staying on the M.A.F. (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) Compound in Dodoma. http://www.maf.or.tz/
When we arrived at MAF there were around 8 western missionary and or pilots kids ages 4 to 9. They were all playing together and I wished the boys and Emma could have come ( as well as Elena).
It is a nice place and we all feel safe and well taken care of.
After settling a little we regrouped and went to dinner at a hotel downtown. The town is not very big in population but it is the capital of Tanzania as it is in the middle of the country. We went to a Chinese restaurant and had as quality and good tasting of food as I have eaten.
When we got back to MAF we had orientation and group time ...then to bed. I was falling asleep...
We are excited to be here. I am excited to be on the MAF site. I have always had an interest in flighting and after seeing this place it is really a good operation. I talked with one of the pilot/mechanics for a while.
Well the adventure has started and everyone is glad that travel is over for a few days. We will be able to cook meals here at MAF and at the work site. There is laundry for around $2.50 a load. We will start at the site today. Our project is to put up the roof on the house. There are already walls and rooms. Now it is 6am here. I think it is 6 more hours than Korea, so maybe a 20 hour time difference ahead than US central time.
Joe
We are here in Dodoma now. It is 4:30 in the morning. I could not sleep so I got up and Chris left his laptop out so I can email you all. If there are typing errors, it is early and I am trying my best .
Here is our adventure so far :)
We left from KNU around 5:30pm on Saturday evening. Then flew out of Seoul around 11:20pm. The flight to Dar es Salaam was around 8 1/2 ~ 9 hours. We flew on Emirates airlines to Dubai. That was the most luxurious Economy class I have ever been in. It was a nice flight. We got in to Dubai around around 3:30am (5 hours time difference than Korea) in the morning their time. The airport their is very new and still under construction so we got off the plane and were greeted with 94 degree weather at night. It was hot! They had stair trucks unload us and a bus took us to the airport.
In Dubai we were to have a long layover. We were to leave at 10:55. The airport was very nice and so busy! There were people everywhere... sleeping on the ground walking around shopping, eating. All the shops and stores were open 24/7. You could buy a McDonalds McArabia hamburger and then go buy a Rolex watch or a water tobacco pipe or food at the grocery store.. dvd player..anything almost. The one thing that really stuck out to me was the diverseness of people in the airport. It truly was a slice of all cultures in the world. Every nationality, sect and race seemed to be represented. We waited there a long time. I went shopping and got some Arabic Pop song cds, a soda, gum and candy for the wait. If your layover is longer than 4 hours in Dubai, Emirates gives you a complementary meal at one of the restaurants. So we went to eat at 8 am. All we had was a snack that they served us, some how we did not understand that we could eat from the buffet, but we were satisfied and not hungry.We were so full indeed that we passed up eating Coldstone Creamery. :0
So we waited and went to our gate for the flight. There was some problem with the plane so we were waiting longer than expected. When we boarded the plane we immediately knew why there was a delay. The plane was hot! But it was a dry heat around 110~ 115. The A/C was not working properly. The pilot said they had fixed the problem and it would cool off shortly. once we were all boarded no temperature change had happened and the doors were shut. Wow, hot! So we taxied out to the runway and due to the problem the airline was reconsidering the flight. So once we were on the runway they decided that it was not safe to continue the flight and said they were going to return to the airport and deboard the plane. Then that changed, the gate was in use by another plane, so they were bringing the stair trucks and buses back to unload us.We waited on the plane for about an hour with no A/C...... I was really hot but did not feel too sweaty I guess because it was so dry. SuJa tried her best to keep me cool. She was fanning me and gave me here handkerchief with water on it.. and fanning me more. It was very nice of her. Yet as she and I fanned myself, it became apparent to me that I was more or less in a convection oven and the breeze was not cooling but swirling the heat around me.
All the passengers were calm and very orderly. I was amazed that no one got angry or wanted to cuss out someone. The flight attendants were great! I don't know how the women managed to keep their makeup on in that heat! They passed out water as needed and really made a bad situation better. At some point several passengers asked that the doors at least be opened to let some fresh air in, but they did not do so and I thought it wise as the cabin was hot but outside hotter.
We got off the plane and bussed to the terminal and went back to the gate. Another plane was ready for us around 2:30pm. So again we were off, with the crew from the last plane.The flight was great. I slept most of that flight and only a few hours on the previous flight.
We landed around 7~8 pm. Getting off the plane in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (1 hour time difference than Dubai, 6 than Korea) was a welcoming. It is around 78 degrees (22 c) during the day, cooler that normal for this time of year and upper 50s to low 60s (15 c ) at night. Immigration took awhile to process. Once we were out of the airport we were greeted by Samuel's father and family as well as our Host. Dar es Salaam is his home town and his family came out to meet us at our scheduled arrival time 4~ 5 hour previously. He greeted us very warmly , hugging us several times and making sure we knew his place was our home. We loaded several vans rode out to Samuel's house for dinner. We were at his house around 9pm. We ate some very good Tanzanian food that was prepared and catered by his family. We all sat together and ate in candlelight under he stars listening to a Brian Adams and Shania Twain. It was a great time. We all felt very welcome by his family.
We got to our hotel around 11:00pm and got showered and in bed by 12pm.
The next day, the bus came to pick us up at 9:45am right across fro the hotel. Two tickets each were purchased for us since we had so much luggage. The bus was not full so it was not a problem. It was a great bus ride. The roads were all paved and smooth. The temperature was in the 70s with the window slightly cracked open. I will have to describe the scenery later, but the buildings were anything from stucco to wood and tin vendor booths to mud brick and thatched houses. The smell of burning wood was in the air as well as dust and other scents. We rode comfortably for 6 1/2 hours. We made several stops and at every stop on the side of the road, vendors would tap on the side and hold up their wares or snacks. On the way we tried some roasted cashews (very good!) , some skewered beef and potato wedges with salt (I like that a lot) and some fruit and juice. Once we got to Dodoma at 4:30pm ish we drove by the building site and had a tour. Then we found out where we are staying and were very pleased. We are staying on the M.A.F. (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) Compound in Dodoma. http://www.maf.or.tz/
When we arrived at MAF there were around 8 western missionary and or pilots kids ages 4 to 9. They were all playing together and I wished the boys and Emma could have come ( as well as Elena).
It is a nice place and we all feel safe and well taken care of.
After settling a little we regrouped and went to dinner at a hotel downtown. The town is not very big in population but it is the capital of Tanzania as it is in the middle of the country. We went to a Chinese restaurant and had as quality and good tasting of food as I have eaten.
When we got back to MAF we had orientation and group time ...then to bed. I was falling asleep...
We are excited to be here. I am excited to be on the MAF site. I have always had an interest in flighting and after seeing this place it is really a good operation. I talked with one of the pilot/mechanics for a while.
Well the adventure has started and everyone is glad that travel is over for a few days. We will be able to cook meals here at MAF and at the work site. There is laundry for around $2.50 a load. We will start at the site today. Our project is to put up the roof on the house. There are already walls and rooms. Now it is 6am here. I think it is 6 more hours than Korea, so maybe a 20 hour time difference ahead than US central time.
Joe
Safe Arrival
We're here!
We had a little drama before leaving Cheonan. We just missed the 6pm airport bus, but SoYoung asked the bus company to help us out. They had the bus stop before getting onto the highway, and they drove us out to the Cheonan interchange to let us on. Talk about excellent service!
After getting checked in at the airport, we enjoyed a nice supper at Burger King. Then, we boarded our midnight flight to Dubai.
We arrived in Dubai ahead of schedule, which extended our planned 5 hour layover to almost 7. We wandered and ate and played cards and tried to sleep. Finally, it was time to board the plane to Dar es Salam. There were some delays, but we finally got on the plane and found out what the problem had been. The airconditioner wasn't working - which is a real problem in Dubai. We sat on the plane for about an hour while they tried to fix the AC. Finally, we all got off and went back into the airport to wait for another plane. By the time we finally got to Dar es Salam, we were 4 hours late.
Jackie and the missionary (Evie) and Samuel's family had to wait on us that whole time. Our late arrival meant that we did not have much time to spend with Samuel's family. They treated us to a wonderful meal of Tanzanian food. (Maybe So-Young can post some pictures tomorrow.)
Then today, we took a bus to Dodoma. Traveling through the Tanzanian countryside was amazing. There's just too much to recount everything: grass huts, mud shacks, nice houses, varieties of stores, streetside vendors, vendors raising their snacks to the bus windows.....
We visited the work site for about 30 minutes. That was great. We got to meet our coworkers and get a feel for what we'll be doing: building a roof on a missionary's house.
After getting squared away in our housing (at a Missionary Aviation Fellowship compound), we took a surprise trip to a Chinese restaurant. Shawn was delighted to speak to the owner in Chinese.
After supper we had orientation and devotions. We will be talking about Philippians 2 all week during devotions.
Tomorrow: breakfast at 7:30 and work at 8:00!
We had a little drama before leaving Cheonan. We just missed the 6pm airport bus, but SoYoung asked the bus company to help us out. They had the bus stop before getting onto the highway, and they drove us out to the Cheonan interchange to let us on. Talk about excellent service!
After getting checked in at the airport, we enjoyed a nice supper at Burger King. Then, we boarded our midnight flight to Dubai.
We arrived in Dubai ahead of schedule, which extended our planned 5 hour layover to almost 7. We wandered and ate and played cards and tried to sleep. Finally, it was time to board the plane to Dar es Salam. There were some delays, but we finally got on the plane and found out what the problem had been. The airconditioner wasn't working - which is a real problem in Dubai. We sat on the plane for about an hour while they tried to fix the AC. Finally, we all got off and went back into the airport to wait for another plane. By the time we finally got to Dar es Salam, we were 4 hours late.
Jackie and the missionary (Evie) and Samuel's family had to wait on us that whole time. Our late arrival meant that we did not have much time to spend with Samuel's family. They treated us to a wonderful meal of Tanzanian food. (Maybe So-Young can post some pictures tomorrow.)
Then today, we took a bus to Dodoma. Traveling through the Tanzanian countryside was amazing. There's just too much to recount everything: grass huts, mud shacks, nice houses, varieties of stores, streetside vendors, vendors raising their snacks to the bus windows.....
We visited the work site for about 30 minutes. That was great. We got to meet our coworkers and get a feel for what we'll be doing: building a roof on a missionary's house.
After getting squared away in our housing (at a Missionary Aviation Fellowship compound), we took a surprise trip to a Chinese restaurant. Shawn was delighted to speak to the owner in Chinese.
After supper we had orientation and devotions. We will be talking about Philippians 2 all week during devotions.
Tomorrow: breakfast at 7:30 and work at 8:00!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
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