So far in Africa....

GREETINGS FROM AFRICA! Where to start would be the hardest part! Its only been a week and I feel I’ve already seen so much! Words will not be able to justify what my eyes have already seen and trying to put it all down is a task and a half so get ready for some rambling!

From the moment the plane descended down into Dar, I knew I was going to be in for a wild ride! I arrived at around 7 in the morning so I was in the sky as the sun was rising, and words can’t even justify how beautiful it looked. Even just the drive from the airport to my host family gave me a great taste for what life in Dar was like. People roam the streets as if nothing takes place inside. The heat is brutal and humid but hopefully somewhat adjustable over time. The streets are chaotic and the roads are completely undeveloped. It’s a weird adjustment seeing cars drive on the opposite sides of the road and the daladalas drive like maniacs! There are never ending roads of markets selling produce, fish, meat, clothing, and so many other random goods. The stereotypical vision of native women carrying baskets and on their heads and men pulling bikes and carts filled with local goods is exactly what you see. Muslims, Africans, Indians, and Massai tribesmen cover the streets. There is always so much more than the eye can handle. Children of all ages are found everywhere, especially without any parental guidance. It’s a weird adjustment but understandable once you hear about how they raised. It blew my mind to know that parents and teachers still abuse the children for doing anything considered wrong. I have to accept that everything changes in good time, just as it has in our society.

My host family is absolutely amazing and it is very nice and assuring to have a safe haven to come home to each day. It’s probably the only clean and normal bathroom I’ve come across yet (you don’t even want to know what the “bathrooms” look like around here). My host family parents are Baba Benno and Mama Dorica, who are so sweet and will just repeatedly tell me to be free and enjoy everything. They have two daughters, Deborah and Dorica. Dorica is 16 and is at boarding school for the most part. Deborah is 11 and knows more about American pop culture than I would ever know! She’s a little spoiled but definitely a sweetheart. Haika is the housekeeper and speaks little to no English so I’ve been trying to pick up on as much Swahili as possible and so far so good! She’s an amazing cook. I haven’t had food this good on a daily basis pretty much ever in my life. There is always awesome fresh fruit and veggies, beans, rice, chapatti, and the list goes on. I’ve yet to adjust to having her do things like my laundry and wash my dishes. I need to accept that it is what she does but I try and help out as much as possible. Doing laundry is definitely an interesting activity! It’s very conserving of water and I think it honestly cleans the clothing better than any washing machine! We soak up the clothes and scrub them in various buckets of water, to then be hung on the clotheslines to dry. I had to be sure to clip the clothing onto the line or else monkeys can steal it! The shower is also quite the water conserver. Its pretty much a bucket shower with optional hot water but I haven’t even figured out how to use hot water and don’t plan on it with how hot it is around here! Sleeping is always an interesting experience. I fall asleep and wake up to the sound of either beautiful Muslim prayer chanting, monkeys knocking on the roof, chickens cawing, or dogs howling. I find it all to be extremely soothing and love waking up early and taking on each day until I just can’t go on anymore at night!

Classes are “supposed” to start on next week but I have a feeling they wont. Nobody has registered yet and we basically just go to campus and find which classes we want and sit through them and have about 3 weeks to actually register. Welcome to the hakuna matata lifestyle! It’s pretty much a joke and is awesome that I will be able to fulfill a semesters worth of credits in pretty much no time, which means lots of time to travel!! Orientation was awesome because I met some awesome chicas that I’ve known for about 24 hours but feel as if I’ve known them forever! My roomate arrived last night and is she is amazing! We are about to embark upon an amazing journey! I can finally go out at night and travel all over and take the daladalas around town, now that I’ve made friends! We went to Mwenge and the wood carvers market, which is awesome! You can buy anything from fruit, veggies, and fish to fabrics, clothing, art, jewelry, and any house goods. They have tailors at the market that can make the fabric into anything and it’s all SO cheap! The wood carvers are awesome and will make you anything from random art and pipes in exchange for some English lessons. We get to go hang out there at night and teach English to the locals. I had my first Safari lager last night (6% alcohol) and it was delicious! There’s a cool outdoor bar right outside my neighborhood in between campus. We have the next few days off before classes “start” and Amanda and I are planning a trip to the Usumbara Mountains. There is rainforest and hiking and camping all over there and it’s only about a 6-hour bus ride away so I’m pretty excited for that. The beach is close by and just a daladala ride away, so were bound to head there sometime soon. The equator sun has already turned me black, which is exciting, but has also led to some interesting tan lines!

I got to visit a few places already between orientation trips and family excursions. I went with the family to Bagamoyo which was an awesome place to see and I hope to go back with some friends. Its amazing to see such undeveloped housing and pretty much constant outdoor life. The people are beautiful and friendly and I find that happiness overpowers all poverty here, and there is definitely a lot of poverty. It’s sad that no money goes towards development here. Tax money just goes to the select wealthy, which leaves 75% of the people in undeveloped poverty. Bagamoyo had beautiful beaches and I dipped my feet in the Indian Ocean there for the first time! It was all white sand, beautiful seashells, and clear blue water! They have beautiful resorts with on beach huts for so cheap! Four of us could stay in a hut for about $10 a person! Other than Bagamoyo, I went with my neighbors to Kygamboni one day which was a nice beach that we took the ferry over to. My orientation included a trip to the sokola samaki (fish market) and the National Museum where I got to see some cool archaeology stuff. So far, the local Mwenge market is my favorite and I will probably be spending some amount of time there (already been four times over the span of a week). It’s amazing to hear about all of the places the other exchange students have been and I can’t wait to get in mad traveling! Everyone has such a different story and it’s a beautiful thing!

It’s definitely an adjustment to having to be very aware of my surroundings at all times. You immediately notice who is watching you and wanting to see if there is a good moment to rob you or get money from you. I have to be aware of when its okay to take out my camera and I have to ask permission of people to take pictures of them and most of the time they will say no or ask for money in exchange. I say no and hope the next person will just be okay with it! You have to be aware of where you use your phone because someone will just grab it right from you. If this happens in a public place, one would think to yell thief (or mwizi), but you need to be aware to that people react to this by stoning, or even killing the thief. It is very looked down upon to steal here and you would then have to take into consideration how important a simple possession like a phone is before you lead someone to get stoned for it. Basically, just don’t be stupid and be aware of your surroundings and everything is cool. It’s cool to know that thieves aren’t only after me as a white and female tourist, but they are after anyone or anything, including fellow African males. I learned pretty quick how to carry myself, minus the fact that it’s impossible to avoid the fact that I will be a white female tourist the entire time I’m here. The majority is very friendly towards me and greetings go a long way here. The one thing I conquered immediately was a handful of greetings because people expect an exchange of multiple greetings when talking and not a just a simple hello. It’s nice and honestly and very comforting.

There is way too much to say and its only been a week. I really can’t explain how much beauty is in this country. Dar is a definitely a hectic and happening city from sunrise to sunset and I can’t wait to take on these next four months. I will find myself coming back these ways again without a doubt. Between the food, the people, and the lifestyle, I can’t get enough! I wish you all were here but until my next entry, amani and kweheri! (peace and goodbye!)

April 11, 2009 and on…

It has basically been non-stop moving and trekking and I have not slept a minute. I don’t even find myself getting tired and am constantly full of energy (most likely still just high off the fact that I got here). I took the most crammed daladala ride of my life to Mwenge with Amanda and Brahnwinn, where we then took the next daladala to Kiumbuchi Beach. We got into what would be a five star resort anywhere for $5 and spent the whole day on the paradise beach and by the pool. Its Easter weekend so no one was really around and it was pretty much our own private beach. It was a great relaxation day and I got way burnt.  Amanda and I the n drew out our calendar plans for where our travels will take place. I found out that classes don’t really even need to be attended and that they are a joke for international students. I get to take my exams extra early and plan on doing them in mid June, which gives me a month and a half to do an east Africa route tour. I plan to do the route with a Florida girl and a girl from Finland (who has the most amazing dreads!). We will bus up to Northern Tanzania in Arusha. We can visit Ngorogoro crater there and then head to Uganda, then to Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, and then down into southwest Tanzania and back to Dar! It will be affordable and amazing. Regarding weekend plans with Amanda while she is still here are also amazing. We are heading to the Usumbara Rainforest Mountains this weekend. We will hit up the full moon party in Zanzibar in a few weeks, as well as Dodoma to visit the rock paintings, Mbeya to see the meteorite, and Mombasa in Kenya! I can’t wait! We have just been trekking around Dar in the meantime and meeting the locals at the Mwenge market and doing the beach here and there. There is always somewhere to go and I’ve been up by 7 every morning. I figure I will sleep when I return back to the states! I hope all is well over there and feel free to inform me about everything I am missing out on! Love to you all!

I am most likely leaving out a lot of information and not because I don’t want to inform all of you but because I know you don’t want to read all my ramble and because there just aren’t words to describe what I have seen and will see out here! I wish you all were here!