An update before I physically leave the continent is definitely necessary.

location: Dar Es Salaam. on my own.

discoveries of the last 24 hours:
Dar Express bus station is super far from the city centre and taxis are expensive
make reservations at hostels a week in advance or else you're stuck with a pricey room
I dont like traveling on my own

The only time I ever get stressed is when money is involved, but Im not allowing that to happen on my last day here. My room is a double; one bed to sleep in and one bed to keep all of my stuff on. I've got a nice fan and my own bathroom. YES my own bathroom with HOT water. I didnt feel bad at all taking a 15 minute shower and using up alot of soap (that I have to toss today anyway). Also, I have digital cable! So I watched Smash Lab (new favorite) followed by Mythbusters (old favorite).
And for dinner I treated myself to some delish octopus.

It was a good day.



and now I will attempt to find a market, buy some fabric and atleast a kilo of dried dates. my favorite.


seattle, i am ready. I think.

not sure quite what to say yet.


back from zanzibar. the plane broke and we were delayed 12 hours. that's 12 hours i could have spent buying cute things, eating food... OR EXPLORING THE STREETS. just beautiful.


i go home soon. 2 weeks. is that enough? was that enough time? too much time?

Sawa

favorite word of the week.

When I have more than 20 minutes, I will copy ans paste parts of my emails here as I feel those are a better representation of what's going on in my life. That and it's got all the juicy details.

I can't believe I've been here for 5 weeks already. Where did the time go? I came here unsure of what I was doing exactly, then got super stoked on being active and now I'm somewhere in between. I met a really neat and smart person who proposed a lot of questions that got me thinking, what the hell am i doing here? what am I planning to do after this? what are my plans in terms of school? am i really just trying to move to NYC to be with all the hipsters (hah NO.)?


be assured, i'm doing a lot of thinking here. once it gets dark at 7, there's not much to do but speed sudoku, logic puzzles and think. so much thinking.


in 4 or 5 days i fly to zanzibar. there goes more money. but hey! it's MY holiday. i want some sun. yes holiday. damn brits. i'm moving to your damn country and picking up your accents because it sounds fancier than my rough americanese.

I am well. After 2 weeks at Mt Meru University, I finally moved in with my host family. They are adorable. We live in a place called Manyire village, like 60 min from Arusha. I'm trying to find a google photos to show you where... Apparently there are 5000 people here but it's SO rural. I could get lost for days walking the mountains and fields.
we live on a farm with goats, cattle, cows and hella chickens. and one annoying kitten. YES THERE ARE LIKE 20 ANIMALS. I wake up with goats talking to each other and a rooster yelling. One of the mama cows gave birth last night. Mama is going to teach me to milk a cow soon. And she is teaching me to make Tanzanian food... more on that later. the house is super simple with 3 rooms, one of which I share with an English girl named Kate. She is super nice and funny and keeps me sane. we have three kids, 9, 7 and 5. they are so cute! there are a bunch of kids that live close (all family) so there are times there will be 10 kids in a 10 by 10 "living room". totally nuts. The first night one of the boys dreaded my hair and kept saying "rasta rasta". My mama is super nice and cooks pretty good food. The standard Tanzanian food is rice, ugali (corn flour and water... kind of like cream of wheat except you roll it into a ball and scoop up beans with it), beans, beans, mchicha (shredded spinach that is heated) and chapati (like naan bread or tortillas). My roommate and I requested no meat as we cannot eat cow instestines :( gross. so we asked for chicken and got all the parts of teh chicken BUT the breast. seriously. like chicken feet and neck and everything else. apparently the head is edible? Anyway, we are getting sick of the high carb diet so we are trying to get some more eggs and peanut butter into our diet. Standard breakfast is white bread with butter and instant coffee. OH AND our kitchen is separate from our house... a little hut with these stone boxes that make a fire place. Totally weird, I know. I'll take a picture if I can. So mama taught me to make chapati and roasted bananas so far. Next up is ugali and some other stuff.

So what have I been doing? Teaching! we started teaching last Wednesday. We're teaching at a primary school where each class is OVER 60 students. We teach standards 4, 5, 6 and 7 (about 10-16 yr olds). The standard 7 class is 60 students and apparently the standard 4 is 94. OH MY GOODNESS. Teaching is a lot of fun though. We teach in English and then our Tanzanian teaching partners translate to English. It's really rewarding work. all the kids have a lot of energy and we do a lot of shouting games and clapping and such.

Tanzanian update (#1?)

I have not yet written from East Africa. Why? Simply SO MUCH TO DO.

actually, that is a lie. There hasnt been a whole lot to do before the program started (today). I cant begin to explain how long my transit was!! So much waiting, so much time on moving vehicles. But it's so worth it. It is SO baeutiful here. I believe I was the stupid blogger and forgot my camera cord. You may have to wait.


the internet is too slow. more later.

Dubai

Omg it's like 102 degrees here. thank goodness for air coniditioning.
best airplane food EVER. my meal was made by human hands and there was too much of it.
Today has already been long. Today and yesterday?

fri 9:30-3:00 (6:00est) - seattle to nyc //// flight time 5.5
6est to 11est - waited for airplane //// wait time 5
11:20est-8am dubai time? - nyc to dubai //// flight time 12.5
8 - 10:45 /// wait time 2.75
10:45 - 3:30 - flight from dubai to dar es salaam


and i cant even go on. there is so much crazy stuff going. I'll write later.

Sorry this blog looks so boring

Maybe with some photos and a better color scheme (anyone out there have a nice layout? eh?) it will look nicer. Most of you who are reading this are probably on my 'general mailing list' (minus my parents) and I'm sorry that I don't have more exciting news here. Check back in a few days and i'll give you an update or two.

First letter of conduct, written and sent on July 18th, 2008:
'Hello dear friends!

I'm writing to you just hours away... heck who am I kidding? This is not a formal letter. This is a blurb to tell you what is going on in my life and where I will be the next couple of months in case you were trying to get lunch or invite me to some rad party (like that ever happens anyway).

At 9pm tonight, I fly to NYC, where I will catch a plane to Dubai, from where I will catch another plane to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Yes Tanzania. I included a map with points and destinations for your convenience. From Dar Es Salaam, I will take a 9 HOUR bus ride to Arusha, where I will meet up with the rest of my group. I will be living in a rural village with a Tanzanian family for 2 months, helping teach how to prevent HIV and working with locals to become more aware of the deadly virus. As you may have guessed, I will be taking photographs. A lot of them. And mostly all on film!
Not to totally brag, but I'd like to stick it in REI's face that what they advertised as a "weekend backpack" has me packed for 62 days, no joke.

It's going to be a tough adventure, but I'm super excited because I love traveling and am committed to global health.

Wish me well, that I will come back to Seattle in one piece, with a backpack overflowing with Tanzanian goodies and a mind and heart filled with inspiration, knowledge and awareness.'


Tanzania!!!!!