[Note from the author: Sorry this took so long to post…but my internet has been quite shoddy lately. Thanks for your patience!]
I am a huge fan of Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Although I considered my home as my “Walden Pond” of solitude, I often connect it to my work, purely due to the proximity of my humble abode from the school. As of yet, the teachers’ duplexes near my house are still unfinished so I am mostly isolated in the woods from other villagers. Honestly, I like it this way, because I can escape to my oasis that is free from expectations, and I can just be myself… It is my Cabin in the Woods (not to be mistaken with the horror film, Cabin in the Woods). Many of my fellow teachers find it difficult to understand how I can be happy and not afraid of living alone, but I just tell them that I like the quiet and independence of it all. Tanzanians like to surround themselves with friends and family and are rarely ever alone. Now don’t get me wrong, I also love being around friends, family, and people in general, but it can be overwhelming at times. I need time to myself as well, and the past week has been especially necessary to relax and escape within myself.
Most days, secluding back into the recesses of my large house is sufficient, but the last two weeks before Easter holiday (comparable to my homeland’s Spring Break) were jam packed full of miscommunication of when sports days and midterms actually were, impromptu lesson planning after I was notified that midterms were not going to be before the holiday, cancellation of classes, unnecessarily long school meetings, and having to write and rewrite midterms for all my five classes. This all usually wouldn’t be that cumbersome if I was notified of all these things prior to a couple of hours before the actual happenstance, but seeing as I was not notified until the last possible moment, I had to put my adaptability skills to the test. Once the week was over, I was able to finally relax, but I knew I could not possibly stay at my site without feeling the need to be productive. Alas, I needed a new Walden Pond.
My goal for this past week was to not plan anything and just follow where the southern winds took me. The southern highland winds led me to Njombe to a peaceful lake a little ways outside of town. It is known by a lot of Ex-Pats (Ex-Patriots) as “The Dam.” A few PCVs who live in Njombe had heard about it before, so Steve and I decided to check it out. We packed the basic amenities for camping, bought some foodstuffs, and got in a taxi heading towards the lake, not knowing exactly what to expect. When we got there, we met an Australian family that was just leaving with their boat and we set up camp in the concrete gazebo. Apparently, Ex-Pats go to the lake every Sunday and no one really stays there overnight, but the Tanzanian that worked there had no qualms about it. The facility was really nice and there was even a bathroom with a western toilet, though no running water or electricity.
Once we secured our tent safely away from the “siafu” [ants], we took in the scenery. It was gorgeous and perfectly serene. This was my new Walden Pond.
My new Walden Pond
The reflections of the clouds in the lake were just so clear and the size of the lake was not too big, not too small – it was just right. The crazy thing was that this place was so close to town yet still isolated enough that we were the only two people there for the whole two nights and three days. Every day, the Tanzanian man that managed the facility would build a fire in the morning, maintain the area near the lake, and rekindle the fire in the evening before he left for the night. Once the sun set each night, Steve and I were left to our own devices (mainly playing lots of card games and sitting by the warmth of the fire). It was the most ideal scenario to just stick to the simple things, since that was all we had anyway. It was perfect and I felt completely refreshed. My peace of mind was restored and I was myself again, after getting a jumpstart from the life of nature itself.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” - Henry David Thoreau, Walden
