Thursday, November 5, 2009

New Camera Will Travel...



Tonight is Thursday( November 5th) and we have new pictures and a new camera.  The week has gone fast!  It was our first week with classes and a full schedule of seminars.  Add in early morning Chapel, prayer meeting on Tuesdays, Bible Study on Wednesday (7:00 pm) and Choir practice on Wednesdays (4:00 to 6:00pm) and Saturdays I am one tired puppy this week.  Not to mention the fact I am now recovering from a very bad cold I caught last week.   With the week nearing an end and a retreat coming up at a conference center Friday night and Saturday, I decided to enter these pictures of the campus,  We are still learning about our new camera...so don't expect too much.  Just a footnote here on how our camera came to be.  Yesse the young man who picked us up in Dar es Salaam (Human Resource Director) was going back to Dar on business and said he would pick us up one.  SO....we gave him the money and here is our camera.  Now you might ask why would we not buy one here in a town of 350,000 people.  BECAUSE most things sold in Dodoma are either very cheap,  or possibly an "old-new" camera and may not work well or they are very high end and cost more than they are worth. 

Everyone told us to wait and buy in Dar or the United States when we were back there. Yesse was our knight in shinning armor.  We are very grateful to him.



Yesse with David in Living Room..with camera!!
We still have nothing up on our walls because the walls are concrete.
All the pipes and electrical wiring are on the outside on the walls.
If anyone has any suggestions would love them on how to hang things in concrete. (No special nails or screws are sold here!)






This is the largest tree on campus  over 150 years old in the background.
There are  places to sit around it for the students.  It is one of the best places to be when it is hot which is everyday.


This is David and Aurelia, my two seminar instructors.  They also teach a class each with over 130 students in their second year of study.
David teaches Dialects of English and Aurelia teaches the Oral Traditions of Africa along with myself doing Written Literature.  There was bad traffic accident involving a professor from our English Department killing two people.  Due to issues related to the accident he is unable to teach his Literature class so Aurelia and I were asked to take over.  WOW!, what a difference taking on another class makes to my schedule when you include two more seminar classes per week to prepare for.  So I said of yes,course, but hope he is back soon to teach.



David's (Reid) Curriculum and Methods class is waiting to get in the
 main theater which holds around 600 people. 
His class now averages around 300 students for lectures.






David before class around 2:00 p.m.
He has been using a projector for his power points.  Things are going better for his huge group now.  David's course is on educational curriculum for secondary students.








Notice the way we keep our windows open with the now broken rulers.
David and I are using the same computer (ours).  Most professors use their own computer.  Our little office has two desks, two chairs and a very small book shelf with a few of our books.Throw in a power strip and internet/printer connections and we have many things to tangle our feet.






David's assistant, Angelina teaching a seminar, one of 13 during the week.  His other assistant Focus (pronounced Focooz) teaches half of the seminars as does Angelina.  David acts as a mentor and guide to help them review lecture content and hear students make presentations on topics from the curriculum course.  They will help "mark" test papers and other assignments for the 300 students.


My Week in Review (By David Reid)

This week has had both good and not so good things happen.  Good is that the lectures are going well and lecture assistants are reinforcing the lecture content in the seminars.  I am lucky to have two very competent people assisting me. I am working on an undergraduate course for all our future teachers to take on how to work with mild disabilities.  The Dean has also asked me to put together a proposal for a possible master's degree in Special Education.  I have completed the prospectus so far.

Things that did not go so well include not getting things printed in a timely manner, due to the department being sold "new-old toner" replacement that was only half full.  It had to be taken back and demand a refund to go and buy one in the box that  totally sealed with a manufactor's date.  (Only $157.00 U.S.)

Next, the tech assistant was not at the checkout center for PowerPoint projectors and made me late to class for both lectures this week.  Then another instructor put the power cord for the projector that Charlotte was to use in his own computer case leaving Charlotte without a cord to power her presentations ruining her lecture effectivness for the class. Finally, students were upset because if they did not have their ID card showing they had paid their tuition, they could not continue attending class.  Naturally this left some students very unhappy.

It getting late about 10:00 p.m. here in Tanzania, but 11:00 a.m. in Denver, so I am signing off.  The next blog entry will include our visit to the Catholic Retreat for a two day meeting of Anglican missionaries!  Think about that for a moment.