After a week in Tanzania I can already tell its going to be hard to come home. Everything about this country from the people, the language, the food and the landscape I absolutely love! We are finally in Arushu and even after a week SOOOO much has happened so I'm going to try and give you an idea of the chaos, adventure and allure of Tanzania. Also sorry if this is jumbled and doesn't make sense, its hard to organize all my thoughts in only 30 minutes.
After 24 hours of traveling we landed in Tanzania and were all corralled into 5 Safari cars and driven into the middle of the African bush where we set up camp in the dark and ate our first amazing Tanzanian meal. That first day was a crazy whirlwind of meeting new people, sleep depravation, small talk, new places and constant action, and trying to figure out how to put my tent together in the dark (it only had one pole...) The first full day we woke up at dawn (aka 7am aka 1 o'clock tanzanian time) ate some breakfast and went on a hike in the bush. It was really interesting to be hiking and have a guard with a huge gun at his side. Already by the first full day we had seen zebras, monkeys, wildebeests, giraffes, and elephants.
On the second day it was pretty similar to our first day but we started Kiswahili lessons and I love the language. At this point in the trip after only a few lessons I can already have simple conversations with people and make my way around town! I have definitely made a few mistakes but people here always correct which is super nice. For example when you great an elder you say Shikamoo, which literally means may I hold your feet, as a sign of respect before you carry on the conversation. So to follow Tanzanian culture I went up to great one of my new teachers and tried to greet him in a respectful way but instead I accidentally said Shikambo...it means "may I hold your penis", needless to say when i realized what I had done I was completely mortified. But on the bright side I have Shikamoo DOWN! Never making that mistake again.
On Sunday we were able to go to a villages church service and it was one of the most amazing experiences I have had, and one I will never forget. The whole service was full of music and dancing and watching the men and women sing full blown and dance was so powerful. There were masaii as well as regular village folk but everybody was so respectful of everybody else and you could tell there was a very strong sense of community there. One of the biggest differences besides the singing and dancing was at the end of the service there was an auction to auction of goods given by families who couldn't afford to give actual money for the church. After the service everybody filed out of the church and the Priest begin to yell out numbers and auction off eggs, nuts, and other little crafts. After that we hung out with all the people and practiced our greetings and learned new dances from all the kids (who are SO FREAKING CUTE!) After church we went to a little meat roaster and had our first experience with completely authentic Tanzanian food and beer.
On tuesday were able to go to a Masaii Boma which is part of a village but only about two families (aka two husbands) are in one boma but there are still lots of women and children. When we got there the massaii women put their jewelry on the thorny bushes and we were able to buy one or two pieces off of them. It was a little awkward at first and so incredible different from anything I have ever known but it got me extremely excited for our home-stay. Whenever we would take pictures the kids and women loved looking at the picture we took. After that we split up into groups and got to actually go inside the mud/poop/pee hut and talk with the mama. Our mama had three kids already and couldn't be over 25, but she was super funny and seemingly happy and care free. The house was way more extensive then I had imagined and they said it takes about 3 or 4 months to make depending on how well liked they are in the village and how many people will help them.
We got into Arushu last night and it has been a little overwhelming but mostly so awesome! we are staying at the Klub Africa which is a little hotel but each room is its own little hut. The first day in town we packed 6 people into a little taxi and road 10 minutes into town, paying 60 cents each. People kept pestering us constantly to buy stuff and I got really good at saying Hapala! (no) We got some food in this bar where the polite thing to do is just go sit where there are empty seats so we sat down with two tanzanians and started talking to them while eating some great food. On the way home we took the dolla dolla which is this van that pulls over on the side of the road, you jump on, and then drive off taking all of about 30 seconds. The dolla dolla is about 10 cents a ride and its motto is there is always room for one more person! They definitely stick to that motto and during rush hour i was sitting on multiple random Tanzanians lap, swerving in and out of rush hour traffic. It is quite the experience, and one that I LOVE!
Basically I love it here and can already tell that going home is going to be hard. Everything about this country I have fallen in love with and the people are so incredibly friendly and love talking with us in Kiswahili. I don't have pictures off my camera yet but as soon as I can I will put up some pictures!
Kwa heri!
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