First Day of School!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

When Wednesday morning arrived, I got my first chance to do what I’d come to Pommern for — go to school!  I was paired with a young math teacher at Pommern Secondary School named Steven.  He was in the middle of teaching a class when Edward led me to the Form III (approximately 11th grade) classroom.  In true African fashion, Steven stopped what he was doing in the middle of his lesson and invited me in.  One of the students said, “Stand up!” to her classmates, which some of them did and the rest did too as their teacher indicated they should do so.  Not quite as in sync as at the primary school, but the formality of Tanzanian education was still quite evident as the class greeted me with a somewhat-in-unison “Good morning.” 

Pommern Secondary School — a large rectangle containing classrooms and offices, with a big open courtyard in the middle

Steven asked me to introduce myself, which I did, telling the class that I am a secondary mathematics teacher in the United States — because even though that’s not what I currently teach, quite frankly it was a whole lot easier than trying to explain what a gifted/talented teacher is.  I then took a seat in the back of the classroom and panicked a little bit when I struggled to figure out the material on the board, wondering actually if I’d been mistakenly placed with a geography teacher as everything on the board was about Earth and latitude and longitude.  I counted 27 students in the room, all wearing their uniform white shirts, orange sweaters, and fuchsia pants/skirts.  That seemed like an unusually small class by Tanzanian standards, but I didn’t have much time to ponder these things because the class period was almost over. 

Form IIIB at Pommern Secondary School

Steven and I left the classroom (teachers move between classrooms from one period to the next, as opposed to the students doing the moving), and we went back to his teacher work area.  He asked me if I knew the material he was teaching, and I had to admit I didn’t.  Later though as we were looking through the whole Form III textbook, I did know most of the rest of the material, so then I didn’t feel so bad.  The curriculum in the Tanzanian secondary schools is an integrated math curriculum – some algebra, some geometry, some trig, and some statistics mixed together throughout the year.

Steven's desk in a math/science work office, located in the back of the physics laboratory

The rest of the math/science office – I'm seated next to Patrick, the physics teacher

Steven and I worked on going through a chapter on spherical geometry, writing down the derivation of formulas and their applications with sample problems.  I was easily able to understand the material based on my knowledge of circles, trig, and latitude/longitude, but it was stuff I’d never really been taught before.

We started off working everything by hand, including long multiplication, long division, cosines using tables, and so on.  It was tedious work, and we caught each other’s computational errors frequently.  After we did our second or third problem that way — the last one being excessively long — I asked about whether the school had any calculators.  Steven told me they did have some, but that students in Forms I-IV are not allowed to use a calculator on their national exams, so they don’t use one in the classroom.  Students in Forms V and VI can use them.  But from that point onward, Steven and I used a calculator to do our own work to speed things along.

At 10:10, it was chai time — if I didn’t already love being at the secondary school, that alone would be an excellent reason to spend time there.  Aandazi!!!  I was forced to drink a cup of tea too, which I really don’t care for but managed to drink half of before pawning the rest of it off on another team member.  All announcements and such were taken care of in English that day, which was very nice.

Aandazi and chai

When teatime was over, I expected that we would be going to teach a class, but we went back to the teacher workroom again.  Steven explained that he teaches Forms IIA, IIB, IIC, and IIIB — each form (grade) is divided into two or three streams (classes).  All the Form II students were taking some sort of practice exams that week, so Steven had only one class to teach 3 days during the week.  Actually, even when he teaches all his sections, I didn’t know how he was teaching a full schedule, once I thought about it.  There are 5 double-periods per day, and Steven teaches each form 3 times a week, so that’s only 12 periods out of 25.  I learned a little later on that the teachers’ workloads as a whole at the school were very unbalanced, with some teachers teaching many more classes than others.

We worked for the remainder of the morning writing out definitions and formulas for upcoming lessons, re-working example problems from the textbook, and writing official lesson plans.  Teachers are required to write very detailed lesson plans using a book of national standards and benchmarks and including a full page of information and details for each lesson.  These books are inspected by the headmaster, as well as an outside administrator.  Some pages had an official stamp on them, demonstrating that they had been read and approved.  Steven wrote the lesson plan for the class he had already taught that morning and had me write some of it for him.  It seemed very bureaucratic, as it was pretty clear to me that the lesson plan and what had actually happened in class didn’t really match.  He also had to record the number of students present and recorded 54, though I’d counted only the 27.  Interesting.

A page that I filled out in the lesson plan book later on during my time in Pommern (click to enlarge)

A page from the book of national standards and benchmarks (click to enlarge)

We had some interruptions while we worked because Steven was “Teacher on Duty” that week and occasionally had to handle various issues that arose, but we also spent time discussing differences between Tanzanian and American educational systems.  We discussed everything from student discipline to grading to tests to teaching style (all of which I’ll discuss at more length in future posts), and I even tried my hand at explaining gifted/talented education.  After two or three attempts from different angles and using different wording (the cultural barrier and the language barrier were both somewhat problematic), I think Steven kind of understood.  He had plenty of questions for me about American education, just as I had questions for him about Tanzanian education.  All in all, I really had an excellent morning.  It was great to have the opportunity to prepare lessons and visit about cultural similarities and differences and so on — to feel like I got to know the person I’d be working with rather than just sitting in the classroom or feeling lost. 

I went back to the mission house for lunch and then spent the afternoon doing manual labor (sounds like cruel and unusual punishment, but it really wasn’t so bad).  Forest (a public health student from New York) and I joined Dan and Ryan (Dan was the one who chased Chakula in the previous entry, and Ryan is his twin brother) carrying boards from the carpentry to the woodcutting work area down just past the clinic, a short distance equal to just one or two city blocks.  We worked with two boys, Tacuzo and Johann, both around 14 or 16 years old.  We didn’t find the work terribly hard, though we were put to shame when the carpentry men carried one load of boards on their way to the woodcutting area.  Two men carried five boards between them, one man carried two more boards himself, and another man carried one board.  All we were managing to do was carry one board per two people!  When that task was finished, I helped Ashley water the spruce-like trees out in front of the Mission House that had been planted to replace trees they recently chopped down. 

Upendo Carpentry Group, located next door to the Mission House

Empty area in front of the Mission House where trees were cut down and new ones have been planted

We were still done with kazi (work) earlier than we were supposed to be, and we hung out outside while Amy showed some of the kids a video from her last trip to Pommern, and people talked and visited.  Mid-afternoon some local women showed up with baskets to sell.  Alana (a home-health nurse from Iowa) definitely won the prize for buying the most baskets, and I bought one basket too.  Later in the afternoon a bunch of us went down to the grounds (field) for a football (soccer) game, which pitted the secondary school teachers against the secondary school students.  We didn’t stay for the whole thing because we were getting cold as the sun started to go down, but the teachers ended up winning 2-1.

A football game at the grounds

After supper, we got a Tanzanian history lesson from Edward.  I took a whole bunch of notes and found it very neat to have the opportunity to be taught that information and learn it firsthand.  I spent the rest of the evening visiting with my teammates and journaling, and it rounded out to be a fairly typical and very nice day in Pommern.  I can’t express in words how happy and right and good it felt to be there.  I love that place.  And I miss it like crazy!

Chasing Chakula

Monday, July 16, and Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Chakula means “food” in Swahili.  Kuku means “chicken.”  I have a hint for you: the kuku was named Chakula.  You can guess where a blogpost entitled “Chasing Chakula” might be headed.  But I’m getting ahead of myself, so read on if you want to hear the rest of that story!

When we arrived in Pommern that first day, we were famished and were excited for Mama Tony’s meal.  There was plenty of food, and we all ate our fill before moving into our rooms in the large Mission House.  I was assigned to a room with Ashley, a school speech pathologist about my age from Washington state; Maria, a spunky special education teacher from New Jersey; and my sister Rachel, a pre-med student at a small college in Iowa. 

Roommates: Rachel, Ashley, Maria, and me

After we’d had a bit of time to settle in, we went out in small groups to walk around and explore the village.  Nearly half of our 16-member team had been to Pommern before, so there were plenty of “tour guides” available.  It was so fun to see everything again, and though I struggled a couple of times to remember the exact paths to take I soon regained my footing.  It was comforting to greet people with the word kamwene (a local greeting for “hello”), and the shouts of ciao from the kids who confused us with the Italians (who volunteer through the Catholic church in another part of the village) and the requests for pipi (“candy”) were familiar as well.  Apparently the Italians frequently give candy to the children of the village.

When we got back from our walk, many of us sat on the porch of the mission house and relaxed for a while.  I took a sun shower before supper – I’d forgotten exactly how much of a pain that is – but being clean after the dusty ride felt good.  Supper was rice and beans, which would become a common evening meal.  After supper the youngest ones among us played more card games and had a grand old time.  We are all so competitive, it definitely could have become our undoing! 

Sun shower time...  :/

Playing cards the first night: [clockwise from lower left] me, Daniel, Ryan, Forrest, Ashley, and Rachel (photo by Amy)

We closed the evening by going outside to get a glimpse of the beautiful night sky in the absence of light pollution.  We were not disappointed, as we saw the brilliantly vivid Milky Way arching across the sky.  It glowed so brightly it was hard to believe that what we were seeing wasn’t just light reflecting off of a cloud.  Very few things on God’s great earth are more spectacular than that sight!

*        *        *

The next morning after breakfast, we had our first official team meeting in Pommern.  We each set three individual goals for ourselves and contributed a “house rule” for the group.  It was a good team-building exercise.  My three goals were to teach math and English at the secondary school, to get to know one or two people of Pommern very well, and to participate in as many different opportunities as possible while there – all things that were very important to me while I was there.

Our goals (photo by Amy)

Our house rules (photo by Amy)

Next we set out to visit the three main places where we would be working while we were in Pommern: the clinic, the secondary school, and the primary school.  We got a tour of the clinic, and the nurses and doctor on our team as well as our two public health/pre-med students got a little more detailed information there since that would be where they would spend the majority of their time.  I saw some rooms in the clinic I hadn’t seen before, including a place where vaccinations for TB, measles, polio, tetanus, and maybe a couple of others are stored.  We met Dr. Elton, who has replaced Dr. Godlove at the clinic.  The clinic currently has 7 nurses, which I’m pretty sure is more than before.  I nearly cried when we went into the main dispensary and saw that the shelves were almost bare.  I felt extremely thankful for our church members and the supplies they and others were able to contribute to send with this team, and I couldn’t wait to deliver them.  A new learning for me was that the patients who stay overnight are not “admitted” to the clinic but are simply “resting overnight” due to government regulations. 

Pommern Clinic

Nearly-bare shelves in the dispensary at the clinic

We had to stop our clinic tour before we got to the overnight wards and the surgical areas because it was 10:00 and nearly time for chai at the secondary school.  Down at the school we met with Haran, who had been the Global Volunteers team leader before Edward, then became secondmaster (assistant headmaster) at the secondary school, and is now the headmaster.  We met in the teacher’s lounge and heard some information about the school.  Enrollment is significantly higher than two years ago, and there are apporximately 800 students at the school and about 30 teachers.  They are working on constructing new classrooms to accommodate the students.  

While we were meeting with Haran, a few students came in carrying thermoses of tea and a pail of aandazi (delicious donut-like treats), followed soon by the arrival of all the teachers.  We listened while one of the teachers read off some announcements in Swahili.  Then we all introduced ourselves, and a few things were spoken in English and more in Swahili between Edward and Haran and the teachers, presumably about our presence and expectations for one another (at least, that’s what the parts in English were about).  After the meeting, we walked around the school grounds.  One of the most exciting parts was seeing the finished kitchen that I helped build two years ago.  It’s very nice!  We also got to see evidence of the buildings they are converting into new classrooms and got to go in the computer lab.

Inside the teacher's lounge at tea time -- you can see the thermoses of tea and pots of aandazi on the table, as well as the aandazi in bowls around the room.

The new secondary school kitchen as it looked when we left two years ago...

...and the secondary school kitchen today!

Inside the computer lab.  There are about 10 computers, which are powered by solar panels.

Our final stop was at the primary school, which really felt like returning home, as that’s where I spent most of my time two years ago.  We first met in the headmistress’s office – Edward’s wife, Mama Kinte, is now the headmistress.  She told us some things about the primary school, and I learned a couple of new things about the primary school, one being that there is a pre-primary class at the school for kids age 5-6.  We visited it later on, and it seemed very much like a kindergarten and the teacher seemed very friendly and, well, kindergarten-teacher-like.  While the government funds the rest of the primary school teachers’ salaries, it does not fund the pre-primary teacher’s salary, so students who go must pay 1,000 Tanzanian shillings (about 60 cents) a month.  There are 48 kids enrolled in the class, but there were only about 25 there when we visited.  

Pre-primary students (photo by Ashley)

The government is also supposed to subsidize money for chalk and marking pens and so on for the primary school, but the government doesn’t actually send the money, so the headmistress must find a way to buy chalk and red pens, while the teachers pay for any other supplies they want out of their salaries.  In some ways, a teacher paying for things out of their own pocket isn’t so different from home!  Students’ families must buy notebooks and pencils and pens for the children, and they are supposed to buy books too but can’t afford them.  Some recent donations to the school means there are about 5 textbooks per classroom right now, but clearly that’s not nearly enough…and 9 subjects are taught.  The parents are also supposed to contribute money for photocopying of practice and actual exams. 

In addition, we learned that the primary school has a trade/technical school that students who don’t pass their Standard VII exams can attend for two more years.  We visited that as well, which is just outside the courtyard that makes the main primary school.  One group of students was making bricks from a mud hole, and another group was building with already-baked bricks.  Students also have options to learn a trade of sewing or cooking, but we didn’t see that part.  We also visited the Standard III classroom, where the students greeted us by standing as is customary, and we took a peek at the one science textbook in the room, which the teacher was using to teach out of.  It was new and in Swahili, but it’s sad how few the resources are.  A very familiar and comforting sound came near the end of our meeting with Mama Kinte when I heard the unison words coming from one of the classrooms: “Thank you teacher for teaching us.  Welcome again.”  Ah, a wonderful sound of home sweet home!

Brick-baking at the technical school (photo by Amy)

We returned to the mission house for lunch of chipsi mayai (a traditional Tanzanian dish consisting of french fries cooked into a fried egg – it sounds strange, but it tastes wonderful!) and then had some time for journaling and resting.  We had heard at lunch that we were going to have kuku for dinner, and a couple of our team members got excited about helping to catch, kill, and pluck the chicken.  A little bit later, Moses showed up with a rooster he had caught and whose legs he had tied together.  Daniel (a mature-beyond-his-years 14-year-old from North Carolina who came with his twin brother and his mom) was disappointed because he had wanted to catch the rooster himself, so Mama Tony obliged by untying the rooster’s legs and trying a long piece of twine to one of the legs so that the rooster could be easily caught again.  

We named the chicken “Chakula” and all laughed and hooted (and so did some locals over at the carpentry and the store!) at the hilarious sight as mzungu Daniel chased Chakula around the area in front of the mission house for a good 10 or 15 minutes, as we insisted that he catch it “for real,” not my stepping on the long piece of twine!  Then about half of us watched Lisa P. (a nurse from Illinois) try to kill the chicken.  Instead of being instructed to snap the chicken’s neck, Lisa was given a knife to cut the neck.  Unfortunately the blade on the knife was not very sharp, and it was not an easy or quick process.  That part certainly wasn’t a fun experience, but it was still one worth participating in.  (Remember, one of my personal goals was to participate in as many different experiences as possible!)

Moses with the kuku he caught (photo by Amy)

Mama Tony preparing the long piece of twine while Daniel holds the kuku (photo by Maria)

Daniel chasing Chakula (photo by Maria)

Daniel with Chakula after he successfully caught the kuku (photo by Amy)

After our mapumziku (break) we had a Swahili lesson with Edward.  Mohammed usually teaches Swahili, but he had to go to Iringa to renew vehicle licenses that were expiring today.  I really enjoyed being a student of Edward’s teaching style, especially since he is a teacher by profession (and taught at the secondary school in Pommern before becoming the Global Volunteers team leader).  His style was very African, which is hard to describe, but one standard characteristic is starting a sentence and then asked “what?” and expecting us to finish his sentence.  He also often asked us to repeat words or phrases together as a whole group, then one side of the table, then the other, and so on – a strategy I had picked up on from my co-teacher at the primary school last time.

That afternoon we also got a quick tour of the downtown market area, and we had a chance to sit anad watch the village youth choir practice their beautiful singing outside of Pastor Saga’s house across the road from the church.  There’s no better way to end a day in Pommern than with the sweet sound of African music as the sun sets on the red dirt.

Pommern Village Youth Choir

Once the sun had gone down, supper of rice and the kuku we caught and killed was served.  While we ate, we got our work assignments for the next day, and I was excited to learn that I was going to be paired with a math teacher at the secondary school.  I was definitely eager to begin my service!

The Long Road to Pommern....Literally

Saturday, July 14 - Monday, July 16, 2012

Rachel and I arrived at the airport in Dar es Salaam, the pseudo-captial of Tanzania, after 19+ total hours in the air, not to mention the hours spent waiting on layovers in the airport.  (The actual legislative capital is the city of Dodoma, but all the embassies and everything important politically in Tanzania happens in Dar.)  We were tired and Rachel was trying to get her bearings after being airsick while traveling.  I stood at the baggage carousel to collect our luggage — one personal bag for each of us and one bag of medical supplies for each of us, a total of 4 bags.  I had pulled two of our bags off the conveyor belt and was waiting on the other two when one of the airline workers announced, “That’s it.  No more luggage.”  What??  Not what I'd been hoping for...

Rachel had her personal bag, and we had one of our medical supply bags, but my personal bag and the other medical supply bag weren’t there.  It took about an hour to wait in line and then file the paperwork on the missing luggage.  I knew we were going to be leaving Dar in less than 24 hours for the long trip inland, and I could only hope that the bags had made it onto the plane in London just fine but with our short layover in Nairobi, a huge plane from London to Nairobi, and Africa being Africa, they just hadn’t made that connection with us and were still sitting in Nairobi.  The next flight from Nairobi was to come in later in the afternoon, and I hoped they’d be on that plane.

The airport in Dar es Salaam (photo by Rachel)

With the paperwork filed and nothing more I could do other than hope and pray, Rachel and I exited the arrival terminal and met Mohammed, our driver and assistant team leader, for our 1-hour drive through the city of Dar to our hotel.  Traffic was bad going our direction (but pretty empty the other direction, of course).  Just like last time, I had a hard time figuring out the purpose of traffic lights, as they appeared to be merely suggestions that were largely ignored by the driving public.  The sense of awe that I had last time was replaced with a sense of familiarity, which has both some good and some bad – good in that I feel at home and at ease, bad in that I loved the feeling I had last time of totally “not being in Kansas anymore,” and I wished it could be fresh and new again.  Rachel at least got to feel that sense of amazement that I missed.

We stopped at the bank on our way to the hotel, like last time, for Mohammed to cosign some papers with Edward.  It was fantastic to see and be greeted by Edward, our team leader, again!  When we got to the hotel, we checked in and freshened up a little.  I took a shower, while Rachel “bathed” in front of the air conditioner.  Then we headed out to get some lunch and do some exploring. We spent the afternoon in and around the hotel, meeting some members of the outgoing volunteer team and some of the members of what would be our team.  We bought water at the supermarket in an effort to break some of those “huge” 10,000 Tanzanian Shilling bills (worth about 6 USD) that are so hard to get change for but are what the ATM feeds us and what we get as the primary bills when exchanging money too.  That effort was met by lots of glares and complaints from the workers, as no stores ever seem to have any change available in Tanzania, even in the city.

The beautiful Slipway Hotel in Dar es Salaam, where we stayed

Rachel standing in the Indian Ocean (actually, Msasani Bay) right by the hotel

Inside the Slipway Hotel (photo by Rachel)

The view over the bay from our hotel at sunset

We met our full 16-member team for dinner that evening, where we enjoyed some good food and got to know the people we’d be spending the next three weeks with.  Most of us headed to bed pretty early as the jet lag was causing a magnetic-like force to pull our eyelids closed.  Just before bed though, Rachel and I got exciting word from Mohammed that he had been able to retrieve our luggage at the airport (it had indeed just missed the connection in Nairobi) and that we would be reunited with it in the morning.  Another of our team members had also been separated from her luggage, and Mohammed had retrieved hers as well.  GREAT NEWS all around!

*        *        *

The next morning, we awoke before dawn to eat breakfast and get an early start on the road for the long, 10+ hour drive from Dar to Iringa.  Traffic was reasonably light in Dar, but there were definitely lots of people out and about. We stopped at the same nice hotel buffet place for lunch in Morogoro that we’d eaten at twice last time, and the food was very good.

Driving out of Dar es Salaam (photos by Rachel)

Hotel with buffet place in Morogoro

Buffet line -- yum!

During our drive, many of the things I saw were very familiar.  We saw several of the all-too-common truck accidents, one of which was a gas tanker spill.  As we continued inland, vehicles became fewer and fewer, more people sat alongside the road and watched the traffic pass or carried jugs on their head or loads on their bicycles.  There were the banana trees and the palm trees and the thorn trees.  Traditionally dressed Maasai people dotted the roadside.  A large group of children played in a river.  The buildings became less modern and more rustic.  Lots and lots of speed bumps slowed our travel.  During the second half of the drive, we climbed steadily and noticeably uphill.

There were some differences from last time, too.  There were several brand new gleaming fancy-shmancy gas stations nearer to Dar but still outside the city.  They are also apparently planning a project to widen the road between Dar and Morogoro and beyond, so many signs and buildings right by the road are marked with large red X’s to designate that they will need to be torn down or moved.  Just how soon that project would begin, I don’t know (though I could guess it won’t actually be any time soon).  While wider roads would definitely be good for the country’s infrastructure, it’s going to affect a lot of homes and businesses that lie in the path of the planned reconstruction.

Truck accident

Banana trees -- the ones with the big bright green leaves

Maasai people walking along the road

Speed bumps (photo by Rachel)

A home marked with the red X

The road takes us through Mikumi National Park.  Apparently there are new laws about not being allowed to slow down or stop along the road in the park to gawk at the animals.  These are supposedly heavily monitored and strictly enforced, though we saw no one doing so, and Mohammed still slowed down for us at times.

We saw more variety of animals in Mikumi this time compared to last time – impala, baboons, giraffes, zebra, elephants, wildebeest, and buffalo.  The baboons were, as usual, right along the road.  The most exciting was 3 elephants that crossed the road right in front of our vehicle.  It was nice not to get charged by them!  (See this entry from Ruaha National Park two years ago if you are confused.)

Entering Mikumi National Park; the white markings across the road between the two signs also signify speed bumps (photo by Rachel)

Elephants crossing the road ahead of us!

A young baboon finds a small patch of shade created by the shadow of a road sign -- so cute!

The road construction that had existed two years ago along the Great Ruaha River had been completed, so that made things go a little faster compared to last time.  We made a stop at Al Jazeera rest stop/gas station/convenience store, where we had our first experience of this trip with squatty potties.  More than you wanted to know, I’m sure.

Al Jazeera rest stop (photo by teammate Maria)

Yes, I took a picture of the squatty potty...

I dozed off and on during the long drive.  I’m not sure what it is about driving (well, riding) in Africa that puts me to sleep when I rarely can manage to sleep in a car at home.  We made it to Iringa with no problems though, arriving just about exatly 10 hours after we left Dar, and closed out our evening with supper and some rousing card games at the Lutheran guesthouse where we were staying.

*        *        *

The next morning after breakfast, we had a meeting with the general secretary of the Iringa diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT).  The ELCT is Global Volunteers’ official host in the country, and the secondary school and the clinic in Pommern are both affiliated with the ELCT.  We also were able to make safari travel arrangements for the next weekend before it was time to head to Pommern.

Breakfast at the Lutheran guesthouse in Iringa

Our group gathered to listen to the general secretary of the ELCT

The general secretary

The road from Iringa to Pommern was as bumpy as always, but our driver was good at slowing down for the worst bumps.  Unlike the previous day’s drive, which was on a two-lane paved road, this one is just a narrow dirt road.  We made pretty good time though, completing the 35-mile drive in about an hour and a half.  Yes, you read that right: 35 miles in 90 minutes was “making good time.”  If you beg to differ, you should try riding those roads… 

We had a good time chatting in the back of the jeep during the drive, and it was fun to see the more rural parts of Tanzania again -- kids at school and walking to and from school, many more people on their bikes and carrying loads on their heads, cattle on the road, and lots more cries of “mzungu, mzungu!” (“white person, white person!”).  It was really exciting when we arrived in Pommern and the oh-so-familiar Mission House finally came into view.  A late lunch of spaghetti with sauce and pizza-Tanzania-style, prepared by the wonderful Mama Tony, was waiting for us.  I was home!

The road between Iringa and Pommern

The Mission House becomes visible as we come into Pommern (photo by teammate Maria)