We are at the end of a week and it feel like it has been a month since I left Seattle. The internet here has been available only in a few select places, so the blog has not been put up until now. I began taking written notes of my experiences on the plane, but that did not last long for I have been completely exhausted every night from not only recovering from jet lag, but also because we have been so busy taking everything in here. Nevertheless, I am reflecting on the past week and a half to recall some key experiences to share with my people back home.
The University of Dar es Salaam has a large, spread out campus that is situated on a hill inland from the city. The dorms we are staying in is in an eight story tall, narrow concrete building. I am up on the seventh floor with a great view of the western horizon, which includes the Indian Ocean. My roommate's name is Adam and we have become quick friends. We are both intellectually interested in things in the same kind of way, so we have already had many great conversations about daily observations and thoughts. We are both eager to learn Swahili and have been practicing together, as well as with Tanzanians.
The cafeteria is, well, consistent, to say the least. For breakfast there are these fried breaded pancake-esque pastries called, chapatis, hard boiled eggs, fruit, and tea. For lunch and dinner is your choice of rice, pilaf, potatoes, or chips(fries), with meat, beans, or peas, and some kind of sauce. It is tasty, indeed, but is already becoming quite monotonous. The saving grace, however, is the fruit counter. A young Tanzanian man named Luis, who constantly has the largest, best grin on his face, cuts up parachich (avocado), takit (watermelon), tonga (cucumber), and ndizi (banana). All of these fruits are delicious, much tastier than anything I ever had in Wisconsin, except for the Kietts that Al sent me last fall. The meals are about 1,000-3,000 Tanzanian shillings depending on if you get fruit and water. That is approximately $.65 -$2. Things are very inexpensive here, except in the tourist areas.
Last weekend, we took a trip to Bogomoyo Island. It is right off the coast from Dar in the Indian Ocean. I will post pictures and they can express the scenic views better than I can in words. It was a great trip, except for getting extremely sun-burned. A group of us rented snorkeling masks and fins and spent a couple of hours with our heads in the water viewing colorful fish and coral that swayed with the current. Surprisingly, that was the first time I had ever been snorkeling. It was fantastic. Spending the day in the sand and water felt nice and relaxing after the week of traveling and adjusting.
We started our Kiswahili classes this week; four hours every day for the first two weeks. It is as intense as it sounds. We have two hours of lecture and two hours of group discussion. So far, so good. We have learned greetings, introductions, and how to tell time. We all chose Swahili names and mine is , Nyani, which means baboon. I think that it is very fitting. One major adjustment has been getting used to Swahili time, which is always six hours ahead (or behind) the time that we(Americans use). So if my watch says it is 4:00 p.m. here, than Tanzanians say it is 10 a.m., or saa kumi kamili jioni.
I miss everyone back home very much and hope that this blog helps to include you all in my experience here (for you and me). It is much more complex than I initially expected it to be. The new culture and language makes life exauhsting, for you are constantly interacting with life. I did not realize how many things I tune out back at home because I simply do not have to think about them. Here, I am preoccupied with thinking about everything. It has forced me to question my assumptions and reconfigure how I relate with people, which making me more and more (or less and less?) aware of who I am. Even with being slightly uncomfortable and homesick, I am really enjoying myself here. People are friendly and everyday offers so many new things. There will be more news to come soon. Kwa Heri!
