created & maintained by Chris Biles
The holidays have come and gone, and somehow it’s nearing the end of January already – 2018. Kumbe. The office prior to the holidays was wonderfully calm and peaceful, and I was able to get a good amount of work done. People slowly filtered out for their own vacations, and then I too had my …
I wrote a letter to a few friends today and realized that it’s getting to be the holiday season, though it doesn’t feel like it here in hot and sweaty Dar es Salaam. But while the weather won’t bring the sentiments of the season, time with my close friends/Peace Corps family certainly will. I’ll spend …
Calm and peaceful, black rock white sand, bananas/cassava/bread fruit/soursop, big ol’ bats, bonjour/ca va, Swahili!, warm ocean waters, tiny nation, HOT, houses of painted cement/warn cement/wood/iron sheets, kebabs with spicy chili sauce, electricity, running water, narrow but paved roads, community libraries, spiced fish, mosques, calls to prayer, trash trash trash, slow goin… I recently had …
I’ve been living the life of the nomad these past few weeks! While it’s been tiring, it has also been great fun. I certainly feel my most useful as a PCVL when interacting with other PCVs, and two plus weeks of technical assistance site visits have given me a sense of fulfillment. I was able …
Tides flow in, pull out People come and people go Still, the sun will rise Time again to say farewell… In Peace Corps people really do come and go. There is the opportunity to make so many connections, some deeper than you’ve ever experienced before, but so often the people you connect with are gone …
Continue reading "Taken with the Tides – 9 September 2017"
Sitting in the early morning on my friend’s balcony, looking up at the glowing yellow clouds: illuminated from the side by the soft light of the rising sun, surrounded by the subdued splendor of a sleepy sky adjusting to wakefulness – like me. Sipping coffee, appreciative that the hour of my awakening coincides with the …
I had the pleasure of leading some of the new education class around the city yesterday (Dar) to see the sights, learn the essentials, tell some stories, share some (what may seem like) wisdom. It brought me back to the very beginning of my service – week zero as it’s known, the week of arrival, …
I am sitting here on the water at a lovely little ocean-side restaurant drinking a vanilla milkshake. Taking a dive into the safi life of Dar (the fancy life), and it is lovely to indulge every so often. Thinking of indulging, I will be doing more of that starting in just a few short days …
Well it’s Earth Day, and I am inside staring at a computer screen rather than out enjoying the natural beauty of our world – but it’s for a good reason: the rainy season has truly come to Dar. It’s been raining all day, pretty much non-stop, so I’ve resigned my self to an indoor baking/chores/computer/TV …
This Swahili proverb basically translates to: patient eats ripe, implying a patient person eats ripe fruits, or, patience pays. Our all-knowing agriculture guru in Peace Corps (pictured below) introduced me to this saying two weeks ago, during my first day with the new PCTZ Health/Ag class. We were speaking of the pre-service training (PST), and …
marks in the sand 