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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Day 42: October 16

This morning Hellen decided to pick us up from our hotel, instead of having us take the public bus to school. I think she was nervous about us finding our way. But it was much more pleasant to go with her, and she sat down and ate breakfast with us at the Y.

We drove together to the Njia Health Center, then Hellen walked us over to the school. We were greeted by a very pregnant woman, who introduced herself as the 6th grade English teacher. All four of us walked over to the classroom.

When we entered the room, 65 students arose from their benches and greeted us in unison, first in Swahili, then in English. The teacher greeted them back, herself sounding like she was reciting words that had lost their meaning, then told us to introduce ourselves. In the middle of the introduction, she called out something from the side of the room and the entire class said "Sank you, teacha" and sat down.

The lesson went fairly well...we were teaching them how to write a note and a friendly letter in English. It was a tad disjointed as we got accustomed to teaching, but overall we got people to participate, and it seemed like the understood us. Thank goodness there were two of us!

Next, we were scooped up by the 5th grade English teacher and accompanied to the next classroom. The greeting was repeated, but this time we were prepared, and I told the class to be seated before we introduced ourselves and began teaching. We too were rewarded with a "Sank you, teacha" as they sat. This lesson was much smoother than the first even though this time we were teaching about years, months and weeks. I think we knew more what to expect.

Immediately following 5th grade, we were ushered into the 6B classroom. We were much more on top of of things this time. Third time is always the charm. Although they still weren't as responsive as the 5th graders.

After we dismissed class, we headed over to the Njia clinic for a good old PB&J we'd made this morning. It hit the spot after the grueling morning.

After class and lunch, we headed out with Hellen to do more errands. We stopped at the drug store and multiple tile stores looking for stuff for the Njia clinic. We almost ventured into the market but Hellen got worried that we wouldn't make it back alive (kidding! I don't think she fully realizes how compotant we are!). Once we bought some, we headed BACK to the clinic to unload the tiles. Ok, well Alicia did. I just sat there and chated with one of the doctors about school and religion. Haha. I felt only a little bad.

After this, we got back in the car and headed towards a craft market to buy some elephant carvings for the fundraiser in November. Hellen didn't end up getting anything, but we did.

Because of the traffic leaving Dar, Hellen sent us back on a bus. She practically lifted us onto the bus, of which we were grateful because we had no idea where we were going. We arrived safe and sound of course. Before going back to the hotel, we had dinner at a restaurant called Chef's Pride, which was delicious. We got back to the hotel to plan another day of class. This time with a better idea of what to do. It would be impossible if we weren't doing it together.
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Day 41: Oct 15: Bumpy roads

Breakfast this morning was a great change of pace...we had omlettes! And the Tanzanian tea and coffee is excellent as well.

Hellen picked us up from the YMCA this morning, after getting stuck in quite a bit of traffic, due to the torrential downpours this morning. Unfortunately, because of the awful traffic in Dar Es Salaam, she had to leave her house at 5:30 this morning and didn't get to us until nearly 10!

We experienced a bit of this traffic with her once we got in the car. Unlike Egypt, where people create 4-lane highways out of a 2-lane street and can take alternate routes in order to keep traffic flowing, it seems like in Tanzania there are very few main roads, and you just have to sit and be patient. Once you get out of the traffic, you're likely to be on dirt roads littered with potholes and bumps. Being a passenger on these roads literally feels like a rollercoaster. Here, the seatbelts prevent you from hitting your head on the roof.

We accompanied Hellen on a couple of errands, one of which was to the drugstore to obtain some medication for the clinic. This was an interesting experience as well. The drugstore was this bare room with plastic chairs and a bunch of employees with computers. There was a counter to one side, with a bunch of different products behind the salespeople, and in the middle of the room, some employees were sorting drugs into a basket on the floor. We waited for probably 20 minutes, during which time we didn't even get everything we had come for. In the middle of the wait, the power went out for a couple minutes, causing the employees to lose data on the computer etc. But this is a common occurance, and everyone just rolled their eyes and waited for the power to come back on. Incidently, Hellen mentioned that the clinic was in dire need of a back-up generator for such purposes. I can't even imagine the effect power outages on a hospital!

After a few more errands ( which included getting a cell phone and staking out an international ATM), we made our way across town to the hospital that Life Project funded. It's beautiful. It's located right next door to a busy school, and is off of one of those infamous roads. It's clean and brightly painted, and all it lacks are the patients. The clinic is currently waiting to be approved by the Tanzanian government in order to receive funding to provide affordable or free healthcare. Apparently the approval process is quite involved!

We got a tour of the lab, the observation rooms, the stockroom and the patient care rooms. In all, the clinic has 13 beds and 12 staff. While we were there, a 16 year old girl who is HIV positive came in for treatment. She was on some medication, but was not eating properly so the medication was not working. She was given IV, but while we were there, her condition worsened drastically. To make a long story short, she contracted a brain fungus in her weakened state, and needs medication from Nairobi in order to survive. Hellen has someone bringing the medicine tomorrow, but it's a 16 hour drive each way!

The primary purpose of the hospital will be to diagnose and treat malaria, which surprisingly kills far more Tanzanians than HIV/AIDS. Additionally, the clinic will host workshops to encourage mothers to be tested, as well as to educate them on mother/child tranmission of HIV. Apparently a huge problem with the epidemic is that people refuse to be tested for AIDS because if they test positive, there isn't anything that can be done for them. In fact, there's a lot of propoganda against being tested! They'll even write "my brother don't test" in Swahili on the windows of the dusty buses.

After our sobering experience, we walked across the street to the school. This was quite a contrast to the hospital because it was teeming with life. As we walked by the classrooms, little heads poked out to say "good morning!" We spoke with the "head teacher", who said we can start teaching English tomorrow, and then the 5th and 6th grade teachers were sent in to show us their English books. Essentially, they get the day off tomorrow, and Karla and I will just be teaching! We're excited, but a little nervous. We were introduced to the children, who were all standing in the courtyard (surprisingly well-behaved!), and they all welcomed us. They're probably pretty happy to have a change of pace tomorrow too!

Karla and I walked back to the clinic to meet Hellen, and she took us to the grocery store to get water and food. Then she dropped us off at the hotel, and we made ourselves a late lunch of good ol' PB and J (tastes like home!), before setting out on foot to explore the city a bit.

Back on the ranch just before sunset, we mapped out our lesson plans (we need you Becca!), and shared a dinner of chicken and chips. We overheard a very interesting convo between a Tanzanian and an American about whether or not politics are a good thing (the American said yes, the Tanzanian said no). It got us thinking a lot about the residual effects of colonization, which will be interesting to think about as we grow accustomed to the culture.
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Day 40: October 14. Below the Equator!

It's been a long day. I'm currently sitting outside in the courtyard of our hostel, bathed in 100% DEET bug spray, and sticking to my clothes. But so far, Tanzania has been great!

We spent what feels like the majority of the day in transit. We had an overnight flight from Cairo to Ethiopia, which stopped in Sudan. But Karla and I slept right through that layover. In Ethiopia, we awakened from our stupor to change planes. We had been called to board and got on the bus to go to the airplane, when some airline attendants told us to get off the bus. Once everyone had gotten off, obtained a new boarding card and settled back into waiting at the gate, they called for our flight to board again. We still have no idea what that was about.
Anyway. This flight was more comfortable because our seats reclined (!) But less comfortable because we weren't sitting together and were both sitting in the middle. Oh well. At least we got some sleep.

Hellen, the Tanzanian coordinator of Life Project (www.lifeprojectafrica.org. Check it out!) picked is up from the airport and took us to lunch. There, we met one of the doctors who worked at the clinic built by Life Project, and who now teaches at the medical university in Dar Es Salaam. We relaxed and had a delicious meal of roast pig and bananas (plantains) in a tomato-based sauce. Annnnd, just like we'd read in our travel guide, we ate with our hands. I'm gonna love it here!

After lunch, Hellen took us to our hostel - it's fun to stay at the (everybody!) YMCA! Unfortunately, they're doing renovations on the bathroom literally across the hall from our room, which are EXTREMELY loud, but made Hellen far more upset than us. At least until they wake us up in the wee hours of the morning. If only those mosquito nets in our room would keep out noise too!

Hellen left us, and we decided to go for a quick walk before sunset. We walked down to the beach (a 10 minute walk), and just got a feel for the place before turning around and coming back to the YMCA. We've just finished dinner of rice, sauce and chicken (we ate with utensils. Like foreigners. I think we're going to need a tutorial when there's rice involved!), and I think bed is in the near future...
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