Who's Who?

I have had few a comments from friends and family that I am writing about people but only I know who they are. So this is a recap of the people I've met and who they are. I am sure I will miss a few people, so if I missed you let me know cause I didn't mean too. I don't know really where to start so I will start at the beginning with the MCC team.

Mike and Maguy Salomons are the MCC country reps and live in Arusha with their 2 boys, Lucas and Kaleb. Mike is from Edmonton, CA and Maguy is from the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). Janelle and Simeon are from the USA and also live in Arusha with their little boy, Malachi. Simeon works with Global Service Corps on agriculture and appropriate technology projects. Janelle has been working part time doing rehabilitation work with children who have had just surgery. Terry also lives in Arusha and is from the USA. She works as a mediator and in capacity building (I think that's the easiest way to explain what she does). Last but not least is Darnelle who works in Migumu (west of the Serengeti) on computers and networking. He is also from the USA.

Here in Dodoma there is Al and Tiffanee fromt the USA with their 2 girls, Kiara and Kiaya. Tiffanee works as an administator for Grace and Healing Ministries which is run from the church here. They do a lot of work with HIV/AIDS. I work with Al on the sand dam projects. He is the MMC advisor for the overall project and I will be focusing on the agriculture aspects of the project. The rest of the sand dam team is from Tanzania. Musa is the project manager, Pendo is the accountant, Shomari is a mason and Chitema is the community mobilizer. We hope to have someone local working alongside me soon who has agriculture training.

Kevin and Anne

So now on to Iringa! Starting with the students I lived, studied and laughed with for the last 5 weeks. Ben and Katy are from the UK and will be taking over the management of Neema Crafts in Iringa. They will have a large load on their shoulders but I know they will be successful. Anne and Kevin were there again from Kilolo so Kevin could do his last 3 weeks of school. Luisa is from Germany and was supposed to be at university in Dar but felt she was not learning anything as half the time the classes were canceled so she came out to learn Kiswahili. Micheal and Bev are from the USA (sort of) and will be spending a couple years in Tanzania with SIL. They will spend their 1st year in Dar teaching at one of the international schools (Bev English and Micheal art).

Ben and Katy

Micheal and Bev

 Micheal and Bev are fascinating and wonderful people. They have been working for SIL most of their lives and their 3 children grew up in Paupa New Guinea. Bev usually teaches at an international school and Micheal works on illustration, design and art projects with the local people. They have amazing stories but I will not try to repeat them as I can not do them justice.

During my first stay at Rivervalley there was a different group of SIL students who I think I have mentioned in other post, but here is a recap.  Ronit, Holly, Eric and Allison are all from USA and all but Holly are now living in Musoma. Holly is living in Mbeya along with Netta, who is from the UK. They all work for SIL in language translation, administration or computer programming.

Me, Kerrie, Goze @ BBQ

Amanda now owns Rivervalley campsite and her husband Will tries to stay out of it ;). Will grew up in Tanzania across the river at Kibebe Farms. I am so glad that they now have the camp and the changes Amanda has already made are wonderful. They also own Info Iringa in town and Warthog Safari's. Kerrie (who is part of the dancing crew) is their daughter, who just decided to move 'home' to work with her parents. She grew up in Germany and UK and has been living France and the USA for the last 6 years.
 

Now for the rest of the dancing crew. Maria is from Finland and is an exchange student at one of the universities in Iringa. She has just been able to extend her stay until March! Goze is from Turkey and works for the UN Refugees. She is helping to locate land and homes for Burundi refugees who have been given Tanzanian citizenship. Her work seems very interesting, but I am sure is difficult and full of politics. Janneke lives in Mbeya and is seconded to the Regional Area Office to advise on water projects (for domestic use I believe, not agriculture). Last but not least is George aka Queenie. George is Greek but a large portion of his family lives here and he has also returned 'home' to work with the family on the family farms.

George, Maria, Goze, Me, Kerrie

And I think that is everyone from the last few months. Let me know if
I missed someone (or if I missed you?!?).

Going Back a Bit

So a few updates from my time Iringa. Not only did I meet some amazing people again while in Iringa but I also learned more Kiswahili while doing a few fun things. I've already blogged about the weekend trip to Dar.

I got my haircut by a Brazilian nun. Yes, you read that right, a nun (or sister really as she is not an official nun) who grew up in Brazil. Her father was a barber and she has been cutting hair since she was a little girl. Thank goodness for her because I had been cutting my own bangs (fringe) and they were starting to look horrible. Not only did she fix my bangs but she layered my hair (which it needed real bad) and was only 25,000 Tsh (~$16Cdn). Half the price from back home :) 

I also had a jumper made (I am slowly getting Britishized), which I love! (The jumper is what I love). It is purple and looks good and is the kind of thing I will wear often (along with sweats hehehe I can just hear the comments from you Carissa ;) ).

I so enjoy wandering around the streets and the many dukas (stores) in the market area. It is amazing what you can find here. I even found the dresses I wore in Dar here. I also found awesome gifts for the boys which I can’t send for Jack’s B’day because of stupid postal strike in Canada :(  I am looking forward to finally settling in Dodoma and learning the market and dukas and seeing what I can find here.

I also drank iced coffee (coffee with ice cream) which is to die for, every time I came into town. I think it may just be better than the Starbucks iced coffee?!? Either way I am really gonna miss those iced coffees :(

I had an good last weekend at Iringa (Rivervalley). I spent Saturday at the campsite and I must of had a good lazy day cause I can't remember what I did ;). In the evening the dance crew (as I now call them) came out for a BBQ to celebrate George’s 30^th B’day which is this coming Tuesday and to have a going away for me. We never really acknowledge that I am leaving except that George, Maria and Kerrie said I’m not allowed to leave and they are going to kidnap me or find a way to sabotage the bus! 

The BBQ was awesome! I have never seen so much meat in my life and I got to cook most of it :) I was totally in my element cooking (even though I have never cooked on charcoal before) and felt right at home. I had the tongs in one hand, a drink in the other and a big smile on my face. Just like I would if I was at the lake back home with my family. Sunday was spent relaxing and doing homework.

On Monday, Kerrie and I went to town for dinner. Around 5:30 we hooked up with Goze, swung by her place and then headed to Sai Villa for drinks and appi’s on the patio will the sun was setting before George and Maria came. (Wished Janneke could have been there).We were  well on our way by the time they showed up (with laughter and silliness) and by the end of the night they had me laughing so hard I actually cried! I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard! My stomach still hurt the next day from laughing so much. Also Kerrie said she could pick out my giggle from the washroom (yes Mom I know, I know! I will try not to be so loud next time!). 

Instead of packing Tuesday afternoon I played Phase 10 with Amanda and Will and had dinner with the other Kiswahili students. So then I had to pack after dinner and of course as luck would have it the power was out. So I packed by lantern and flashlight. It was bound to happen sometime! I was sad to say good bye to everyone, but it really was time to leave the 'bubble' and get back to real life. I am really looking forward to really getting into the work that brought me here. So now I am 'home' in Dodoma :) even though I am heading to Arusha on Monday for the week.

Nicknames

During the Dar weekend we decided that we needed to give ourselves nicknames. So while on the road there we threw some around. (One must wonder how old we really are?) lol
So Kerrie is now known as Goldie (which is also what her grandfather used to call her) and suits her perfectly. She has long blond hair and a few blond moments. hehe
Janneke is Tommie because she is such a tomboy.
Maria is berry because her name means berry in Finnish and she really is sweet like a strawberry :)
I am maple, for sweet Canadian maple syrup. That works for me!
Last but not least is George who we call Queenie because he is an awesome dancer! It started as Dancing Queen and evolved to Queenie!
Goze (who unfortunately I don't have a pic of yet) is fistigi. This is the name of a Turkish dessert that she loves back home in Turkey and Queenie is obsessed with Turkish desserts.
We'll see how long we stick with them :)

Weekend in Dar es Salaam

I just realized it has been almost a month since I last blogged! So here is long one of what I did last weekend. (I will try to do a catch up blog this weekend).

I had a great weekend in Dar!! And man did I need that! It felt so good to get out and do a little shopping (I browsed more than I bought) and to have lots of laughs, good food and go dancing with friends! :)

We spent the 1^st night at the Southern Sun. Nice hotel and it was nice to be in more classy joint for one night. Then spent the last 2 nights at Onnela’s which is very basic and clean but much cheaper.

We left Iringa bright and early Friday morning (5:30am!). Amazingly none of us really slept on the way. All of us girls dozed off for a few minutes once or twice, but that was it. There was myself, Kerrie (Brit/Tz), Janneke (Dutch), Maria (Finnish) and George (Greek/Dance teacher). We stopped at Mikumi to have breakfast in the park overlooking a water hole. There were elephants and water buffalo nearby. Amazing that we can pop in somewhere for a bit to eat and be able to watch animals and look at the beautiful Tanzanian scenery.

We arrived in Dar around 2pm and went along with George to do his cheese deliveries. He was going to drop us at the hotel first but we told him not to because than he would get stuck in traffic and it would take him forever to do his deliveries and get back to the hotel. It was fun because we were than able to go  for lunch together and checked out a couple shops along the way. We got to the hotel after 4pm and the first thing Kerrie and I did was went for a swim!

I forgot how much I enjoy swimming until I got in that pool. It was a little weird though because the hotel lounge bar overlooked the pool and there were small groups of Tanzanians there. They were definitely watching us, but whatever! Kerrie and I had a great talk. We have already planned that she will come to Canada to visit some day and we are going to check out Montreal together (and whats funny is that the English chick speaks French and the Canadian chick can't! lol).

After swimming we got ready and went down for drink and then we went to BBQ Village (somewhere off the New Bagamoyo Road) for the best seafood dinner I have ever had. After dinner we went to the Yacht Club was some of George's friends and cousins were. Around 1am we headed to Runway, a local club. We only stayed for an hour or so, but it was fun to go to an ‘upscale’ club here, dance a little and laugh at Kerrie getting hit on by Jerry, George’s really drunk friend. I wish I had a picture of her face, it was priceless.

We had a great breakfast at the hotel (which was included). I had my 1^st omelet since I can’t remember when! We than headed out and did some wandering around the shops and eventually made it to Onnela’s. We went for a swim and then Kerrie and I had a nap before getting ready to go out for dinner. We went to BBQ Village again. It was so good the first time we wanted more! And besides, there is no point going somewhere else and being disappointed. Also, it was really cheap. Only 20,000 Tzs per person (~ $15). After another yummy dinner of seafood we headed to the Sweet Easy (in Oyster Bay area) where the salsa night was being held. Unfortunately the DJ kinda sucked and kept switching from Latin music to old house music. And some of the Latin music he played really sucked. But we still had a lot of fun and did lots of dancing!

We did not stay out late and when we got back to the hotel Kerrie and I were both sick, especially Kerrie. We still don’t know if it was food poisoning or if we ate too much before going dancing. But we did sleep well and felt better in the morning. It was nice to sleep in again! We went for lunch at Epidor's which has to have the best baking I have ever had! Kerrie said it was just like being back in France again, so it must have been REALLY good! After lunch I went back to the hotel to hang around the pool by myself and the group went to a different hotel to hang out at the pool there. It was nice to have a few hours to myself, even if I slept for most of it! Hehehe

The crew picked me up for dinner around 6:30 and we went to a Japanese restaurant for sushi and udon noodles. It was also really good. It was the most expensive meal at 30,000 Tzs (~$20) which really is not that bad for fresh seafood.

For the first time this weekend we got to bed at a decent time. I think I was  sleeping by 11pm. We slept in as well and then headed over to the shops to get Kerrie’s new computer (a Mac laptop) and then had a few stops to make on the way out of town. We had a good trip back to Iringa and arrived at Rivervalley around 8:30pm (we would have been earlier but we got stuck in road construction). We had dinner and caught up with Will and Amanda before we all headed off to bed. Tuesday morning it was back to classes for me!

Here is a pic of the crew Friday night before going for dinner and dancing.

Janneke, Me, Kerrie, Maria and George

Some pics :)

Now you see me...

Now you don't.

Having a good laugh...

Following Shetima through the bushes!

My favorite flowers. Just love the color!

At Kawawa helping the Momma's prepare food.

Yes, I'm sticking my tongue out at you (puff adder and very dangerous!).

A Brief

Dodoma was very busy! I was only gone from Iringa for 4 weeks and the time flew by. I am already back in Iringa for my last 5 weeks of Kiswahili. For those of you who do not know we have a blog for the sand dam project here in Tanzania and I have been given the responsiblity of posting. So for an update of what I did while back in Dodoma you will have to go to that blog. Here is the link Sand Dam Project
I will try and post a few personal pics that I love later this week :)

Its been busy here!

I have been so busy these last couple weeks that I have not even had time to think about blogging. I have not even written in my journal much the last two weeks either. So here is a quick snapshot for you.
I went to Arusha Easter Monday (13 hour bus ride) for the week. I had meetings regarding conservation agriculture and sand dams with partner organizations. Then we had our quarterly MCC meeting on Friday and headed back to Dodoma on Saturday with Albert and the girls in the truck. Tiffanee went on the bus because we had a Learning Tour group coming to spend the week with us here in Dodoma and thought it would be best if someone went on the bus with them.
There were six people, five from USA and one from Winkler, MB. They spent most of the week with us visiting the sand dam sites, helping out when possible and spent a lot of time asking questions, visiting with the people and laughing. On Thursday and Friday they spent some time with Tiffanee learning about the health program, Grace and Healing Ministries, which is operated through the church here and also does a lot of good work in the community.
It was a good busy couple of weeks and this week coming I will be working on the sand dam blog and do some planning and research for when I return from Iringa in June. (I am heading back to language school this coming Saturday for another 5 weeks).
So stay tuned as when I have posted on the sand dam blog I will link it here :)
Cheers

A Few Random Pictures. Finally :)

I think Eric was better at scraping coconuts than me!

Enjoying chocolate fondue!

Dancing Elephant

Posing beside waterfalls near Iringa

My first major downpour. The pathway has turned into a river!

Storm coming in.

Back in Dodoma

The latest from my journal :) Enjoy!

April 17

The last week at Riverside was a good week and I am now back in Dodoma. I am going to miss the girls though. So here I am sitting on the Veranda at Albert and Tiffanies’ enjoying having a house to myself and listening to the music from the church over yonder. I arrived yesterday around 6pm and Musa and Pendo picked me up and we went to Pendo's house for dinner. Don was there as well and it was good to see him. Dinner was wonderful and I so enjoyed the company and the food.  After a few hours Musa drove me to the house. It was weird coming here because Hilda is not here as was planned. Then to top off the night there was no water! So I said to heck with it all and went to bed in the main bedroom. Before going to sleep I said a prayer, asking for water so I could clean and do laundry today.

I am so glad that God listens to me sometimes as the water came on around 7am. So like a good little girl I got up and started cleaning and doing laundry. (Although I get to cheat a bit because they have a washing machine). By 8:30am I had finished 2 loads of laundry and it out to dry, washed dishes and swept the floor. The house feels better now that I have done some cleaning and I feel better too.

I must say I like having my own place and space. Then I can also have a garden and do some seed increases for work.

On Friday, my last day with the SIL group at Riverside was a very good day with lots of laughter. We had a cultural excursion into town to meet with a couple Masai who talked about their culture and way  of life. It was very interesting and is defiantly a culture I do not agree with. To begin with, they still do female and male circumcision. The girls at 15 and the boys at 20. They are also a very proud and warlike tribe and will not hesitate to fight. Their way of life regarding cattle grazing is also very unsustainable and environmentally destructive. For a Masai man to be considered wealthy he needs at least 1000 cattle! That is a huge amount of cattle to be grazing! Their's seems to consist mainly of meat, milk and blood. Not a very well rounded diet in my opinion.

Ronit had a necklace chosen for her by the Masai man. To put it in her words, “He gently place the chosen necklace around my ivory neck”. She is so dramatic, but entertaining. Life would be quiet and most likely a little dull without her around camp.

Then that evening we had a chocolate fondue for dessert! ‘Daisy’ brought lots of chocolate with her from home. I couldn’t think of a better way to end the day! We had a lot of fun and lots of laughs.

Later in the Day

Sitting on the veranda in the afternoon listening to the music from next door :) and hoping I can get my internet to work. I have been having a good but busy day. But despite that I can’t believe its only 3:50pm! It feels like it should be so much later than that. And I forgot how much warmer it is here. I have been warm all day. I have done 4 loads of laundry, ironed some of it so I don’t have to worry about the mango fly maggot, and went to make coconut milk but the coconuts were rotten. Walked around and found a vender just done the road to get some tomatoes and oranges (they had slim pickings and I was not going to be fussy).

 April 18^th

I had a great day again today. Spent a quite morning on the veranda reading, reviewing a little Kiswahili checking email and so on. Musa stopped by around 11am to get the truck as he was taking one of the Mama’s to visit her sister at the hospital.

When Musa came back we went to the market so I could get food for the week. I so enjoy Musa’s company. It was good to shop for the first time with a local because now I have an idea of how much things cost. The fruit is much more expensive here compared to Iringa. That is because most of it is not grown here and is brought in from other areas of the country. We also stopped by Two Sisters so I could pick up a few expat items J Then the icing on the cake...

Half way home Musa pulled over and said “Time for you to drive” or something along those lines. And amazingly I did not stall the truck once (nor was I close to stalling it)! It felt so good to drive again and have control. We both had a good laugh though when I went to signal and turned the wipers on instead. Lol Need to remember that the signal switch is on the opposite side, just like almost everything else. Thank goodness the gas, brakes and clutch are all in the same spot. Could you imagine how confusing that would be if they were switched like everything else? Gongshow!!

I need to back up to Saturday as I have not talked about my bus trip back to Dodoma. It was much better than my trip down to Iringa and did not hurt quite so much. I also have another boyfriend! I have got to figure out to talk to men without them thinking that I will be their girlfriend. I now there is a cultural issue as it is not normal for a guy and girl to be friends here. Only relationships are accepted. So very different from back home. At first I thought things were going to be okay with Philimon, but then I got a text from him at 1am last night asking if I would be his girlfriend and he misses and loves me very much. I think this is normal for here, but man does it ever creep me out! But at least I most likely will never run into him as it is a big town. But if he does happen to see me he will remember me even if I don’t remember him. But I am not worried about that J

April 20^th

So far work has been good. Spent the last 2 days either at the church or in the field. There has been a lot of work completed so far but there is still a ways to go. The terracing and tree planting at the 3 new sites is completed and they are getting close to being finished with digging in preparation for the dam. It was wonderful to see the group at Kawawa as they are very hardworking, happy, energetic and they are the ones who named me Mavua (rain woman). I love going there as I feel so comfortable with that group and actually try to speak Kiswahili with them.

Today was the first time I ate ugali in the village with everyone else. I must be honest here. I do not mind the ugali but the mboga (vegetables) that go with it make me want to gag L It has this gooey consistency and is so hard to swallow. There is nothing wrong with flavour though and I will have to force myself to eat it as it would break their hearts if I said no.

Yesterday I drove home from the villages. Again it felt good J I must admit I was quite nervous, almost scared as we were coming up to the city. There is a lot more traffic in the city and I also had a vehicle full of co-workers.  But I managed just fine and everyone said I did a good job and that I am allowed to drive again! Lol It also helps that Musa is a good Mwalimu and gives good directions and advice.

I forgot to mention earlier that I have been cooking for the last few days and it is nice to be able to cook what I want. It is hard to believe that I have not cooked since January!

Cooking the Tanzanian Way

April 9

It has been a good week for the most part with each day better then the last. Thursday and Friday were a lot of fun. We spent the 2^nd half of the class day all together as a group to learn about the kitchen in preparation for a day of cooking on Friday. We learned how to kill and butcher chickens, cook mendazi, chapattis, pilau ( a special Tanzanian rice dish), coconut rice and beans with coconut milk.

What was the most interesting (or shocking depending on how you look at it) was the fact that 'Daisy', who is a vegetarian, wanted to kill one of the chickens! She then proceeded to tell us that the only real reason she is a vegetarian is because she does not like animals! We all thought that was just fantastic as none of us have ever met a vegetarian that has no issues with killing animals, even at her own hand. So off she went to slice the throat of a chicken and she thoroughly enjoyed it! Eric left during the killing of the chickens, Netta turned a bit white and I wished there was an extra chicken so I could kill one. Oh well, maybe next time?!?

So after the killing of the chickens we split up and most of us hung out outside the kitchen learning how to make mendazi and Masala Chai while Ronit and the kitchen staff plucked and cut up the chicken. I missed all the action, bummer!! Mendazi is the local morning tea snack which is basically like small donuts (tim bit size) but with no sugar on the outside. The Masala Chai is something I hope I can make myself as it was so good I had three cups. It is milk, water, tea, cinnamon, cardamon and sugar boiled , and then strained. I than spent the rest of the day in the kitchen at the stove learning how to make pilau, coconut rice, beans with coconut milk and other vegetables  and only burnt my finger once. We had a wonderful feast for lunch that I’m sure it tasted even better because we all helped to make it.

Then to end the day off Kevin and Anne arrived and are staying the weekend. It is Anne’s birthday on Monday so they brought a cake with them. Homemade chocolate with real icing! We all died over it and it was so yummy!! It was the perfect way to end a week that got better with everyday and to end a great day. :)
I will post pictures next week after I have returned to Dodoma.

Mchumba

March 30

Still have a cold and I am slowly losing my voice! I am in the dining banda right now and it is raining quite a bit. I am sure there is a river running down my path by now. I love the sound of the rain beating down on the thatch roofs.

I think I may have my first Tanzanian boyfriend. The Airtel guy was here today and I needed to buy a flash modem (dongle)  as that is what I might going to use when I am in Dodoma. He asked for my number and I was tempted to give him the wrong one, but what if I need to call him because I am having trouble with my modem or need something else? And then he asked if he can come a visit me sometime on the weekend before I go back to Dodoma. How the hell am I supposed to say NO!?!? I realized after the fact that I should have mentioned something about a fiancé back home. I most likely will have the chance to drop some hints as he has already texted me and phoned me twice. I only meet him 6 hours ago! Lol (but almost a little creepy).

April 1

I so hate the internet here!! I tried accessing the internet with the dongle and now I can’t get online with the dongle or with my phone!!! But I know I have internet because it is working on my phone. And then to top it all off there was no hot water and it is cool and wet today and a HOT shower would feel sooo good right now, so I guess I will have to just be satisfied with ranting and maybe a beer or two! Lol Life can be so horrible lol.

April 2

I went into town today to pick up a few things and try and figure out what is going on with my computer and internet. Needless to say I had no luck on the internet part but was able to find a new backpack for my laptop for only 20,000 shillings ($15). I was sitting on the balcony at Neema Crafts having coffee and guess who comes along. My new boyfriend, the Airtel Guy! Way to funny yet almost creepy. I am starting to think he has tagged me with a GPS system ;) 

So we were chatting and I was amazed he actually stayed as long as he did as I was most definitely not in a good mood or in the mood to chat (you all know what that’s like)! Anyways he starts asking about my about my family back home and so I told him that I my parents are back home along with an older brother and his family. I then casually mentioned that I have a boyfriend back home. I said that he has a really good job that he can’t leave but he is coming here in a couple months  to see me. The whole time I am telling this fib I am saying to myself ‘pole’. He then says ‘I am looking for an mchumba’. I nearly burst out laughing as an mchumba is a fiancé! I said we all are and that when my boyfriend comes to see me he better put a ring on my finger. I have a feeling I may not hear from my Airtell Boyfriend again :)

My latest graditude

Sometimes Gods creation astounds me and all I can do at that moment is say ’Thank you for sharing this with me’.  These moments often occur when I am walking around the hills/mountains here at Riverside. I will be walking along a trail and come upon a vista that it stunning. I almost never take photos at these moments as I want to just appreciate the moment and a picture will never do it justice.

Mimi ninajifunza Kiswahili

I am learning Swahili, and after 2 weeks I can now get myself around but it will be quite some time till I can have a decent conversation :)

I have not had a chance to update you on my safari to Ruaha. It was a great trip, had a lot of fun and saw so many animals. Twiga, simba, kiboko, swala, dikidiki, impala, tumbili, nyani, ngiri. (I am going to let you all figure out which animals I'm talking about) ;) I have to admit that one of the things I was feeling as I was sitting in the land rover 3 feet away from a pack of lions was 'these animals really are real!' It is so different, almost surreal at first, seeing all these beautiful animals in their own habitat compared to the zoo. 
I hope to post pictures someday soon (but don't get yuor hopes up).

It has rained a fair amount over the last couple of weeks and everything is so green and the trees are starting to flower. So there is a rich tapestry of greens, yellows and oranges, with specks of other colors. Very pretty here in the mountains of Iringa. I pray that it has rained a bit in Dodoma.

So if I am going to be honest with you all, I do have to admit there have been a few days where I am wondering what the heck am I doing here in Africa! I think I have been bothered by the fact that I do not feel 'in love' with Africa as I did when I was in Central America. But than Aunty Louise sent me a note saying that it may never feel the same a Central America was my first. Sort of like how most of never forget our first love. Thinking this way makes me feel much better!

There is so much more I could write but for now my time is almost up here at the internet cafe. I will try to prewrite a blog for next weekend with more details for you and with any luck an couple of pictures :)

A Section from my Journal

March 1

I have arrived at Riverside Campsite and Swahili Language School just outside of Iringa. What an adventure that was, as always when I’m traveling! I don’t even know what was the craziest or funniest, so I will start at the beginning of the day. Left Dodoma at 6 am, fell asleep after watching my first African sunrise which was a brilliant pink and orange. I only wish it had lasted longer. I was rudely awakened from my peaceful sleep due to the bus hitting a speed-bump and not really slowing down for it. My head hit the ceiling above me and I still have a sore neck from being tossed around. I am so glad I was not in the last row (which was the row right behind me) as their seats were not secured to the floor of the bus and therefore with every speed bump the drivers  not slow down enough for their seats moved as they went flying. I eventually found my seat belt and put it on. I felt a little more secure after that as this happened numerous times throughout the 9 hour trip.

The  next thing, and this really annoyed me  as the day went on was that the Momma who purchased the seat next to me (I had the window seat and she had the middle seat and a man had the seat on the other side of her- 5 seats across, 2 and 3 with aisle). She had with her not one but two little girls under the age of four I would guess. So she plopped the older girl on the guys lap and held the younger one on her lap. She originally had started to push the girl towards me but I put my purse on my lap and looked out the window. It may have been rude in her cultural context, but there was no way I was spending the next 8 to 9 hours with someone elses' kid on my lap that I can’t even talk to. The trip was uncomfortable enough for me as it was! I know, such a typical, whiny Mzungu J

It was interesting though to watch the parenting/discipline. The kids are not allowed to cry and even though the younger girl was between 1 and 2 with a mouth full of teeth she was still feeding. Although I am not sure if she really was feeding or if the breasts are the African version of the sucky? And there is no hiding or shame of exposing the breasts for a child, which I think is wonderful.

I also now know that I really am in Africa. I saw my first giraffe, long horned impala (or something like that) and some type of monkey. At first I did not even think the giraffe was real as it did not appear to be moving and then I saw its tail switch. There were most likely a dozen impalas, if that is what they were as I am not positive. I saw the monkey or chimp or whatever it was as again, I am not sure, on the top of a tree, looking straight out the window.

I never realized how mountainous Tanzania is. I think I always imagined that the mountains here would be more similar to the foothills back home, but they are not. They really are quite tall (but not like the Rockies) and are very beautiful. So as we were climbing up another steep slope and I was deciding whether to close my eyes and not look so as not to be freaked out by the long drop down I took a quick glance. And wouldn’t you know it, there was a monkey eye level with me! It was kinda cool and took my mind off how uncomfortable I had gotten. 8 hours in the bus by then, no AC and every time we stopped I would get so hot my skin was very wet. I don’t think I have ever been that hot and uncomfortable before. Maybe if I would have a little more room. But with Momma and her 2 kids and a lady sitting on a crate in the aisle there were 6 adults and 2 kids straight across.

Than to top it all off I missed my stop. The bus was supposed to drop me at the entrance to Riverside, but they didn’t. Then when we got to Iringa I did not know that was where we were and so I did not get off. But I knew something wasn’t right so I called Steve and he talked to the lady behind me and we realized I did not get off at the bus station in Iringa. Thankfully we were still in Iringa so the bus let me off at a gas station. The attendant there found me a taxi and I made my way North again and this time arrived at my destination.

March 4

I am staying in Stone Banda 2 and it is lovely. I have 3 beds (even though I only need one lol), a little fridge,  a closet to hang some clothes, a couple small tables and my own bathroom. I have had a couple days of Swahili classes and it is going well. A little bit overwhelming and I feel like I have not had the time to process any of it yet. I would do that over the weekend but I am going on a safari to Ruaha National Park tomorrow morning, back Sunday sometime with the rest of the group that is also here at Riverside.