Day 44: October 18. Jambo! Karibu Zanzibar!

We woke up this morning feeling refreshed (we slept until 7:30!) We had breakfast on the roof of our hostel. Then we set out to explore Zanzibar and Stone Town.

Our first stop was the Anglican Church which was built over the site of a former slave market around 1837. Its the oldest Anglican church in the Zanzibar Archipelago. The book said there wasn't much to see, so we dodged the entrance fee and instead just read about it on the sign, and thought somberly about what had occurred in this place before moseying along.

Our next stop was a food market. It was smaller and more confined than the ones we've been seeing recently, but it was fun to wander around the outdoor vendors, looking at and smelling the fresh fruit they were selling. The indoor part was MUCH more exciting (maybe too exciting?)

We first walked in and took a right into the fish market, where vendors were laying out their catches (we THINK they were supposed to be fresh), which included squid, octapus, tuna, and various smaller fishes, which were all being bled into a gutter on the floor in front of where the customers walked. Needless to say, the flies were quite thick around us...

Next we turned around and went into the meat market. The flies were positively swarming now (sanitary? I think not...) as we watched butchers literally hack apart recognizable parts of animals - cow and goat heads with the fur still on, for example - with axes. I think this experience is the closest I've ever come to being a vegetarian in my life (says Alicia). I think it was the flies that put me over the top.

Thankful for some fresh air, we made our way to the coast, and went into the Palace Museum, where we learned a bit about Zanzibar's history and how (and when) it became Muslim (8th century). Next, we walked to the Old Dispensary, where we saw a tiny craft market, and I learned how to play an East African game similar to Mancala called Bao while Karla looked on anf rooted for the guy selling them (who claimed to be the top champion in Zanzibar). It turns out that he was able to lose on purpose in record time. I guess he reallly knows the game (or how to sell them).

Next, we made our way over to the House of Wonders, which is a silly name (or so Alicia claims) for the National Museum, housed in another palace next door to the first museum. It was the first building on Zanzibar to host electricity and an elevator. This was also really interesting as a museum, as it explainied many aspects of Swahili culture, dress, and culinary cuisine that had been puzzling us, and showcasing an exhibit on a traditional house. It also had a great exhibition on boats and marine life as well as the enviromental problems that are occuring over time. It even brushed over ecotourism and its benefits.

Grabbing a snack of local bread that tasted kindof like a soft pretzle, we wandered into the Old Fort. Here, while Karla bargained for batiks (for over an hour-typical), I challenged one of the merchants to a game of Bao. I think he was excited to have something to do on a slow day, and I was really psyched to try out my new skill! We ended in a stalemate when Karla wrapped up her purchase, then I got the hard sell to buy one of the Bao boards, but I stuck to my guns, and we were off again.

After all this bargaining, we needed another little pick-me-up, so we found a cafe and indulged in caffinated beverages and a giant brownie! Perfect.

With renewed energy, we shopped around for crafts and comparison shopped for a spice tour tomorrow. We finally found one, and ended up chatting with Charles, who we thought might be the owner, for quite some time about American and Tanzanian politics and lifestyles. It was interesting to get a local perspective on some of the things we were seeing from someone other than Hellen. He surprised us with his overall positive take on tourism and visitors. Of course its a part of his job to like tourists, but still.

We emerged from the Tourism office just as the sun was begining to set, so we walked to the nearest park overlooking the water on the western shore, and watched a gorgeous sunset. Better even than Santorini! The park was small but packed with locals playing soccer, diving in the water, or just watching the sunset. Although the occasional tourist "braved" the park, most sat up at the restaurant across the street, lining up on the railing and snapping away.

We ate dinner at the restaurant across from Monsoon (last nights restaurant), then went on a mission to find live local taarab music. It took us 3 or 4 tries, but we finally ended up back at Monsoon. At first they didn't want to let us in just for tea, but then they realized that no one else was coming for dinner (plus we told them we ate there last night), so we got to enjoy the music for about 15 min until the band packed up. We ended up just finding a regular band at a local bar, and listening to them play a little while, which was a little disappointing, but at least we found something!
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Day 46: October 20: Life in Dar

The adventure started early this morning when after breakfast Karla and I tried to catch the dalla dalla (bus) to T/Segeria to go to school. We must have just missed one because we stood for over 20 minutes watching every other dalla dalla in Dar-Es-Salaam come and go before ours finally arrived.

The bus ride took almost an hour, and despite the smell of exhaust, wasn't unpleasant. We then walked about 20 minutes up a dirt road to get to school, only asking once for directions. It was nice to actually experience what school children experience every day; that is a long wait, followed by a long bus ride, followed by a long walk. Although it's more fun to be pampered by Hellen, it's much more real to get there this way.

Hellen wasn't yet at the clinic when we arrived, so we walked ourselves over to the school, and were scooped up within minutes by the substitute standard 6 teacher. (We think the regular teacher had her baby!) We taught 6A about the difference between a letter to a "penfriend" and a formal letter. It went well. We're getting many less blank stares these days!

Next, the standard 5 teacher found us and took us to the 5A class, whom we had not yet taught. So we repeated our standard 5 lesson from Thursday, which was about days, weeks, months and years. We were met with about 80% participation and a lot of enthusiasm which was awesome to see.

As we were leaving, a girl handed us a note, which we thought was just her "penfriend" letter left over from Friday, but it turns out that she wrote us to tell us that she's an orphan and needs a sponser to continue her education, which is quite expensive in Tanzania, even at the secondary level. We spoke to Hellen about her, and we're going to put her on the Life Project waiting list. It would be amazing if we were actually able to help her!

When we got back to Njia, we chatted with Stephan (Father Stephen's nephew) and ate PB&J while waiting for Hellen to arrive. We just got so sleepy that we had to lie down...and ended up taking a nap in the breezeway of the health center. Don't worry...it was completely socially appropriate! Even the receptionist joined us for a bit.

When Hellen arrived, we sat and chatted with her while she ate her lunch, then we piled in the car and drove to drop off our bags (which we had stored at the Health Center for the weekend) at the YMCA before going to the tailor. We all got fitted for dresses (we're using the material we bought on Friday), and they'll be ready on Wednesday! The fitting was quite an experience, as we first had to figure out what style we wanted, then had to be measured, then waited around for a long while for Hellen to negotiate the price for us...but it was yet another real glimpse into how things work here, so we were happy to have the experience.

Next, we accompanied Hellen to the wealthy section of Dar called Masaki, where we were getting an estimate on car repairs. Turns out that she knows the mechanic and his family through a priest at Alicia's church, and they welcomed us enthusiastically, then sat us down for tea.

On the way home, Hellen pointed out the embassies and all of the mansions of the wealthy government officials, and we talked again about the corruption that permeates Tanzanian politics. Apparently even a few weeks ago, there was a non-violent protest staged by impoverished Tanzanians, who lay down in front of the president's car and told him to run them over and kill them rather than make them suffer any longer. Apparently government officials have embezzled billions of dollars of aid money from the U.S. alone and hundreds of thousands of Tanzanians are suffering because they can't buy food, while their elected officials buy more excessively large houses in gated areas. When I asked Hellen if she thought the system could change, she said maybe in 15-20 years. It was a very sobering conversation, and it explains a lot about why things work (or don't work) they way they do here.

We were dropped off at the YMCA and ran to the grocery store, before coming back here for dinner. Now all we have standing between us and our mosquito-net protected beds is lesson plans for tomorrow! (And grading some more papers.)
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Day 45: October 19. Things get a little spicy...

I got up extra early this morning to go to mass at St. Joseph's Cathedral before our spice tour. I wanted to experience local spirituality, and Hellen had been telling me that going to church here is a very different experience than it is at home, so I decided to check it out. Unfortunately, the 7 am mass was the English mass, and very very similar to home. Maybe next week we'll both make it to a Swahili mass!

I walked back to the hostel, and Karla and I had breakfast on the roof in a sudden rainstorm, which luckily cleared just as we were being picked up for our tour.

The tour itself was fantastic: it took us to 5 stops and showed us how dozens of spices are grown. We were a little skeptical at first because everything always seems so chaotic and disorganized. Once we got to the plantations things seemed to fall in place perfectly. My favorite sprice was cinnamon: the spice literally comes from the bark of the tree, and cinnamon sticks are just twigs from this tree. It's amazing that people figured this out! Karla's favorite was the jackfruit, which is this large fruit that is about as big as a watermelon, and which grows by dangling seemingly precariously from the trunk of the tree! We got to try the jackfruit later, and it tastes like a banana but more citrusy and had the consistancy of a pineapple. It's quite delicious.

We tried several other exotic fruits before lunch (one of which I had an extremely mild allergic reaction to...I'll have to be careful with fruit in the future!), all of which were interesting, to say the least. We had a lovely lunch of rice pliau with a coconut milk sauce and more of that delicious bread before heading back to Stone Town. There we had just enough time for a last spiced cuppa (tea for Karla and coffee for me) at Monsoon, before getting on our ferry back to Dar. They served every cup with a small piece of Kashata (or peanut fudge) that Karla loved. We actually went in search of it on our way to the ferry.

Let's just say the ride back wasn't exactly smooth. For some reason, we encountered very rough water, and poor Karla was violently ill for the whole 2.5 hour journey. All around us, people were sick, and everyone was offering us their personal remedy: one man offered motion sickness tablets, an Indian woman offered cloves to put on her tongue, and the porter just kept handing us plastic bags. Even I, though I have a very strong stomach -knock on wood - was feeling quite queasy by the end.

We made it back to the good ol' YMCA more or less in one piece, and Karla's sleeping it off. She was able to stomach a little rice and Coke. I think we've both gone through more Coke in the last week than either of us has consumed in the last 4 years! It's sad when you're more sure about soda than water...anyway I think Karla will be just fine in the morning! This is why I've written the last few entries (plus she's lazy haha).
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Day 43: October 17: Rats.

This morning after breakfast we went to the port to buy ferry tickets for Zanzibar. As with most things here, it was quite a process involving two ferry companies and two different currencies. But we procured the tickets, and that's all that counts.

After a couple more errands, we wound up at the Njia Health Center, then walked over to school. We taught only 6th grade today, as we got there a little later this morning, but we had two very good classes. As with yesterday, we were much better at explaining ourselves to the second class! Also of note - in the second class as I was explaining something, I looked up and saw a rat crossing a ceiling beam! Luckily I held in my exclamation of surprise because I think the kids really would have laughed at me otherwise.

After class, we had another PB and J lunch in the storeroom with Hellen before going on more errands. This time we ended up going to a fabric store to get materials for Hellen to make sheets for the beds in the hospital. Karla and I found materials that we liked too and bought some to have dresses made this week! We're so excited! This will really expand our wardrobe.

After this errand, Hellen dropped us off at a park where we waited to board the ferry. The ferry ride itself was largely uneventful, but it was quite pretty. We couldn't believe we've already made it to the Indian Ocean!

Once on the island, we found a cab to take us to our hotel just as the sun was setting. We checked in, then began our search for dinner. We wandered all around the town, first walking through the night market, then meandering towards the water, but we couldn't find anything in our price range, or not *too* local. Finally, just as we were getting to the point of being grouchy with no return, we found the perfect place, called Monsoon. Not only was dinner delicious, but we also capped off our meal with Tanzanian tea brewed with local spices! If only we had found the place an hour earlier...it wasn't until our walk the next morning that we realized how close it was the water. Its amazing how darkness can disorient you (mostly Karla) when you are unfamilar with the area.

We then returned to our hotel safe and sound (and pleasantly full!). Our rooms are pretty great. Spacious and clean, with even a sink in the room!! Its also a pretty large hostel and seems very safe. We have a full day planned out (sort of) for tomorrow.
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