Snow-pocalypse 2010 and Flashbacks to TZ

It's been a while and I've probably lost most of you, but I felt like a post was in order. Especially since I've been snowed in basically since last Friday and am getting a little bit of cabin fever...

I've been back in the US for over two months now and I'm something like 98% re-acclimated. Every now and then I have flashbacks to people or places in Tanzania and I am all but transported back to Arusha. Occasionally I'll say something in Swahili in response to someone before trailing off and realizing there is probably not a person within a ten block radius who understands the words I just said. That's probably the strangest. "What language did they speak in Tanzania? French?" "No, you can get by with English but I learned Swahili, also." "Oh... Swahili... interesting..." Sometimes there's some genuine interest in the language, but for most part I think that people don't know what to say beyond that. The strangest sensation over the last two months has been not talking about Tanzania. It's relieving to get back to school and to live in a room where everyone studied abroad this semester so that we can just preface a sentence with, "Oh yeah, in Tanzania/Egypt/India..." and no one really bats an eye.

There was quite a while when I felt like I hadn't talked about Tanzania or anything that I had done there. I think it boiled down to people not really knowing what to say or to ask. Very few people know anything about Tanzania and so beyond, "How was your trip? Good, that's good", most people don't know how to continue the conversation. I didn't want to feel like I was talking people's ears off and they didn't want to pry and so the result was me not talking as much as I wanted to about my time there. But don't worry, it's all better now :) It's nice being around people who were abroad all the time because we're all in the same boat. Now I just don't have the same issue.

I don't miss the mosquito nets or the power outages or the sub-par academics. I do miss the closeness of life in Tanzania. Literally greeting a person by asking how they are, how their day is, how their family is or how work is, is a way of life that makes you feel very close to the people around you. Not only was I always around the same 7 students on the program, but even the people that we didn't know really wanted to know how we were.

Enough about re-entry, let's talk about the ridiculous amounts of snow in DC right now. I haven't had class or my internship since last Thursday and we won't have any until at least Thursday. And classes Thursday are looking unlikely since we're supposed to get 10-20 additional inches of snow tonight and the city has far surpassed its snow removal budget already. So for all of you skeptics out there who think that DC is overreacting... I hate to break it to you but this is actually A LOT of snow.

Reentry Rummaging

It's cold. Whenever anyone asks me how it feels to be home, that's the first thing to come to mind. Obviously it's not the most important thing, but it is foremost in my mind because it is the difference that I can comprehend without much thought at all. It was warm in Arusha for four months straight. It is cold here. Simple enough.

And beyond that I'm still processing. I think. Tanzania already feels like such a distant experience because that life is just so opposite of the life I lead here. Sure there are reminders of it every so often, but despite that it feels like months, if not years ago, that I was wandering the streets of Arusha and sweltering on the bus on the way back from Zanzibar. There is no way that is less than a month ago. But alas, it was, and somehow I feel as though my brain will never really be able to grasp that. Really in the scheme of things, hopefully, four months will be just the blink of eye and just a chapter of my life, but at this point my brain doesn't know whether those four months felt like four years or four weeks. As I said, more processing is in order.

Apparently, though, I'm dealing with reentry culture shock by compulsively giving away things. The night that I got back from London I opened my closet, stared for a moment and almost said aloud, "there is so much stuff!" I wore the same clothes for four months and needless to say, saw people with next to nothing in their possession, so seeing a closet full of stuff just felt odd. I proceeded to give away a garbage bag full of things starting the next day. It was an ongoing process that took about a week and took me to literally every surface of my room. I now have a lot less stuff partially because I feel like I know what I don't actually need, and partially because I know that if those "just in case" situations have not occurred since I went to college two and half years ago, then they're probably never going to happen. And so, like I said, reentry culture shock seems to have manifested itself in me purging my room of excess. Not so bad I guess.

So since I've been home I've started working again at the office where I worked this summer. I was able to go back for about two weeks, which has been great. It's always nice to have an opportunity to make some money, even if it is only for a while. I'm looking forward to Christmas at home and then Virginia for New Years. I go back to school January 9 and will be starting an internship this semester at a human rights NGO that I'm really excited about. So life back in the US has been good and it's been nice to not have to really jump back into anything too hectic.

Besides the cold, the things that I have been extra alert to are: the fast internet, the fast pace of life and of walking, being in the (overwhelming) racial majority in Minnesota, and the pronounced lack of Swahili being spoken. Not too bad, really. I haven't become an American-hating elitist, nor was I absolutely dying to get my feet back on US soil. Tanzania has changed me but to be honest, I'm still not quite sure how.

Look! Look! Fast Internet!

I'm home safe and sound with amazingly fast internet! I'm definitely still in the processing phase of reentry so I don't have a very coherent post at the moment but I decided some pictures were in order just to show off how many things I can upload! I promise I'll write some more entries eventually, though. Keenan and I went into London Friday from Egham, where Royal Holloway University is. This is the Eye of London, built for the millennium, next to Big Ben and the House of Parliament. Friday night we went to Wicked at the Apollo Victoria for 15 pounds apiece - not bad! It was absolutely astonishing The picturesque Zanzibar beaches. Like I said, Paradise. Local women on the beach cleaning the fish they just caught and that we're about to eat :) The House of Wonders in Stone Town - second largest doors in Africa! It also held its own during the shortest war in history (45 minutes vs. Britain)This is inside a cathedral built by freed slaves on the site of the slave market in Stone Town. The supervisor left for a week and the slaves, unclear about how the pillars were supposed to look, installed all of them upside down. They're perfectly sturdy and really look normal until you know their flaw. A poignant monument to the slaves that were bought, sold and killed at this site during the slave trade. The chain around their necks was actually found in the ocean off the shore of Bagamoyo from a sunken slave ship. During our spice tour - a man climbing up a coconut tree to retrieve coconuts for us. It was incredible how fast he scurried up there! Our trusty Cupcake! This is the dala dala that we took to the hot springs and that promptly died the morning we tried to leave. Also, you can't see it here, but he most definitely had leopard print upholstery. My birthday dinner at the Arusha hotel - Christina, Jan and I Momma and baby when we visited a home in Lake Eyasi in October. Adorable, right?

Snapshot of Paradise

Zanzibar is amazing. It is one of the most picturesque places I have ever been. Our trip was fantastic and it was good to have some much needed relaxation. And the best part was that we’re all college kids so we swung the entire trip (transportation, accommodations, food, etc.) for about $300.

But let us begin with the week before Zanzibar. Finals were going along fine until one day when I started feeling kind of off. I didn’t think much of it except that I was not looking forward to a ten hour bus ride feeling that way. And then all of a sudden I realized just how sick I was feeling and sure enough I had about a 102º fever. I ended up at Selian Hospital in Arusha at about 11 pm that night. Although the hospital is really nice we had to wait about 45 minutes for an English-speaking doctor at that hour, which is, as you can imagine, not fun when you feel that way. We were also sort of puzzled why nobody was really reacting to me saying that I had a102º fever until we realized that if someone told us that they had a fever of 38º C we wouldn’t think anything of it either. It ended up just being some infection of some sort – NOT malaria, which was good. The doctor first tried to tell me that it is probably just because I’m eating food that’s different than the food at home. I had to make it clear that I have been here for FOUR MONTHS and I eat at the SAME PLACE EVERY NIGHT. I think I got the point across. So anyway, I have now been to a Tanzanian hospital and police station (when we got robbed – don’t worry, there’s not another story that I didn’t mention).

Because I wasn’t feeling 100%, my friend Christina and I stayed behind one day from the group before leaving for Zanzibar. It was great to feel better, but traveling as two young women alone is definitely one of the more stressful experiences I’ve ever had. It was uneventful but literally for over 24 hours my body did not let its guard down once. I was on high alert from the minute we got in the cab to the bus station until we finally pulled up to Les Toits De Palme in Kendwa on Zanzibar. It was pretty mentally and physically draining. But there’s no better place to recover from that stress than on the white sandy beaches of Zanzibar.

The day after we got there we went on a snorkeling excursion and it was awesome. I had never been snorkeling before and was kind of indifferent to the idea but decided that it would be a fun time. The whole adventure cost us $15 and included one of the most amazing lunches I’ve ever eaten of freshly caught tuna fish on a deserted beach. Wonderful. Worth more than $15 in itself in the States. When we were snorkeling we saw angel fish, star fish, sting rays and Dory from Finding Nemo! Once I had my breathing through a pipe figured out I really enjoyed myself. Despite really enjoying myself, though, I’m still kind of indifferent to snorkeling I think.

The remaining days we pretty much sat around and read and explored the beach. AND I will have you all know, I did NOT get sunburned! Because I know that if you’re reading this you were probably worried about that. We also found a restaurant in the village called Kijiji Restaurant, which literally means Village Restaurant that had whole meals for 5,000 Tsh ( about $3.80) that were absolutely incredible. They served prawns, calamari, octopus or tuna fish in your choice of coconut, masala or curry sauce, caught from the ocean not more than 500 feet away. Incredible. It was kind of humorous, though, juxtaposed with the 4,500 Tsh we then proceeded to spend on cocktails at the resort nearby.

After four days on the beach we traveled south down the island to finish our trip. On our way to Stone Town, the major city on Zanzibar, we stopped for a spice tour. Zanzibar is known as the Spice Island and exports spices all over the island (although there are definite remnants of its socialist history apparent when they told us that individuals are not allowed to sell their spices – the government buys them and then exports them). We saw all sorts of cool spices – cinnamon, pepper, vanilla, cloves, ginger, and cacao (not nearly as cool before its turned into chocolate). The cinnamon tree was really cool because they were telling us that the leaves, bark and roots can all be utilized. The bark is what is rolled up into cinnamon sticks and the roots are used as medicine, in fact they smelled like menthol. A guy also climbed a coconut tree and retrieved coconuts for us, which we got to drink and eat. Also, I now LOVE pineapple after my experience in Zanzibar – they were so juicy and delicious.

After the spice tour we traveled to Stone Town, which was basically like entering a completely different continent. There is a huge Arab influence on Zanzibar and 95% of the population is Muslim. I felt like I traveled to an Arab country for the afternoon before returning to Africa. We didn’t visit nearly as many historical sites as I would have liked, but we did see the old slave market, which was really an amazing thing to see. There was also a cathedral there that was built by freed slaves after the trade officially ended there in 1873. The coolest part about Stone Town, though, were the amazing doors. They were very intricate and huuuge – in fact, Stone Town has the second largest doors in Africa. There’s a fact you never thought you would know.

When I think back on Zanzibar two things come to mind. One is the amazing beach and relaxation. The other is the almost unbearable heat. Literally you wake up and have to shower because you’re sweaty from sleeping. It is 24/7 heat and humidity that is only bearable when you get to lounge around in your swimming suit all day. I cannot fathom how people can live everyday in that heat. We avoided noon outside at all costs. I have never appreciated Arusha’s temperate climate as much as I did on Friday night when we returned.

I suppose the third thing I will remember is the incredibly long traveling involved. We left our hotel in Stone Town at 6 am on Friday morning. We got back to our apartments in Arusha at 9:30 pm. We had to take a ferry to Zanzibar and then a ten hour bus ride back to Arusha, which was one of the more unpleasant things I’ve experienced. Remember that heat I was talking about? Yeah, multiply that by however many sweaty bodies were on that bus and being wedged in between two people, one of whom has no concept of personal space. I felt like a parent that needed to draw a line and say “You can’t cross this line!” Ugh… awful. It’s a strange sensation to be thinking so much about going home and being excited to be home, but then when we returned from Zanzibar to Arusha we definitely felt at home here. Let’s just hope this time we don’t get robbed.

We have one more full day in Arusha and then we’re gone, which is a very strange and exciting thing. Today we went to the orphanage one last time – amazing, as usual – and tomorrow we’re going to attempt for the third time to see a trial at ICTR. Then we’re having a birthday/goodbye party at our friend Aziz’s house and packing our bags! I will definitely write more once I leave and once I’ve returned but I think this will be my last post from Arusha! I will see many of you soon!

Also, and by "Snapshot of Paradise" I meant "Mental Snapshot of Paradise" and I will have to put up pictures once I get my laptop back from our super-secret hiding place where we stashed them while we were away :)

Hot Springs and Cold Milk

The only times I have successfully camped (as in the middle of nowhere, in a tent because there is nowhere else to sleep) have been in foreign countries, why is that? We tried to camp with the Wilsons when I was in like fourth grade and somehow that fell through. Bailey, Kevin, Hantho, Tucker and I tried to camp two summers ago but it started storming and trees fell down in the park we were in. But somehow I successfully camped when we were in the mountains of Panama and also this past weekend at some hot springs outside of Arusha. The hot springs (maji moto in Swahili) were wonderful and it was really relaxing to get out of Arusha for a night and away from the crazy amounts of work that we have to do this last week. Our friend Aziz is a tour guide but he is also awesome so we had him set everything up for us and he did it perfectly. There were tents, sleeping mats, and absolutely delicious food. And the hot springs were also wonderful (I wish I could relay the story of my roommate Bailey falling in while trying to find a place to pee in the dark, but I just couldn’t do it justice). So after finally getting our dala dala started on Saturday morning because we killed the battery the night before by using it to light our cooking, we dragged our feet back to the reality of schoolwork. It was a nice one-night hiatus, though.

I know last week I said we were going to ICTR, but that didn’t happen last week. It did (sort of) happen today, though. We went there for our international law class with the intention of getting a tour, listening to a speaker and then seeing a trial. But of course once we finally got in we learned that the court session was closed because of a sensitive testimony and so we never got to see a case in session… leaving us with a documentary and speaker. It was a fine documentary and the speaker was very knowledgeable but it was just not what I was hoping for. Also I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about the quite melodramatic statement that on April 6^th the people of Rwanda awoke to discover that “God had abandoned Rwanda and would not return for 100 days.” Everyone deals with tragedies differently, but I’m pretty sure it can’t be empirically proven that God just straight up left.

Basically I have spent the last week writing papers for all of my classes. This week we have six papers due. Six. Grasp that for a second. And now you understand why I haven’t written much. Actually the real issue is not necessarily not having time to write, it’s more about not having anything new to write about since I’m spending my time writing papers. Although I will say that I have learned a lot of very interesting things in writing these papers. I know I already listed some of them, but the list of all the papers I’m writing are about: Female Genital Mutilation in East Africa, the sewage treatment plant that I talked about in an earlier post (actually two papers about that topic), rape as a weapon of war and its correlation (or possible lack thereof) with HIV transmission, a very unique volcano in Tanzania, and the Lord’s Resistance Army and regional efforts to contain the conflict. Some of you may be thinking that none of that sounds remotely interesting, but I know I made a couple of you jealous with some of those topics :)

I guess those are about the only updates I can give since, like I said, nothing super exciting is happening. Next week is final exams and the week after that is Zanzibar! Please google image search “Zanzibar beach” and tell me you’re not jealous. I’m not sick of Tanzania, but there are definitely a number of things that I’m looking forward to doing in three weeks. One is not having to use a bednet every night while I sleep. I’m getting excited just thinking about how easy it will be to get into my bed. Also, I’m excited to not have to plan showers twenty minutes ahead of time in order to have hot water. And I’m ready for some cold milk. The milk here pretty much always needs to be boiled before you drink it, which only really allows for you to put it in coffee, etc. and not drink just straight. And I want Chipotle.

3 Down... 1 To Go

And again I’ve neglected my blog.

So as those of you in the US are aware, yesterday was Halloween. What many of you might not be aware of is not only does Tanzania not celebrate Halloween, but people think that you’re acting strangely, even for an American, if you walk down the street dressed as an orca, a zebra, a cat, Swine Flu, and Bollywood stars (Jan and I were the latter). A couple of the clubs that cater to wazungu hosted Halloween parties so we went to one, but felt lame for being the only ones in costume and left after a while. Not your standard Halloween, but hey… pretty good for a place that doesn’t celebrate anything like it.

The family left on Tuesday and arrived home safely (Matt about 9 hours later than expected, I believe). It was really good to have them here. I think that they saw the Arusha that I know, and I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. Yes, we went on safari, but we kind of got that out of the way at the beginning and the next week was spent exploring Arusha. The highlight for me was bringing them to the orphanage that my friends and I have spent some time at. They brought some things for the kids, and although they were definitely appreciated, I think the most fun part was reading with the kids earlier in the day. It was really fun to spend time with the kids because they really remind you how to hope and that there’s plenty of reason to.

After the orphanage, we stopped at the home of Dave and Eunice Simonson. For those of you who don’t know, the Simonsons are pretty much legendary. They came here I believe in the 60s as missionaries and have stayed here ever since doing really genuinely great things for the community. Dave has had some health problems in the last couple of years so he couldn’t talk with us much, but they were both very hospitable and Eunice told some great stories. I had visited them when I was here in 2007 but her stories don’t get old and their beautiful home never loses its effect. It really was a great day.

When I got back last night and looked at my calendar, I saw that I have only a month left here. I knew that but it didn’t really hit me until I saw “Leave” and then “LONDON” on this month’s calendar view. We only have two weeks left of classes before exams, and believe me those will be a busy couple of weeks. But we’re squeezing in some interesting field trips before classes are over. Tomorrow we are going to go on a tour of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and then hopefully to see a trial. ICTR is literally right next door to our classroom and things like that are basically the reason that I came here, and yet I haven’t gone to a trial yet. It has definitely not been for lack of opportunity, and so I’m glad that we’re finally getting a chance to go. That will be a very interesting experience, I’m quite sure.

Also, in class on Thursday we went on an interesting field trip to a sewage “treatment” “plant”/ dump. You will understand the quotes in a minute. Basically we traveled in our nice little mini-van with our professor into the slums. We thought seeing an example of an unplanned area was going to be the field trip, until we came upon a giant reservoir of crap. There was a pool of water with garbage and other debris floating on top of it and a layer of some sort of sludge, as well. The water then “filtered” through multiple of these reservoirs before apparently being used by the local population. Words fail me at trying to describe the smell of this place and just how vile it all was. We literally had to leave because we were feeling nauseous from the smell. We may have places like that in the United States but I’ve never heard of people being forced to live next to (and downwind) from them and using the runoff to irrigate the crops that they then sell in town. Maybe I’m missing something. Anyway, that was a shock to the system, and for that reason a trip well worth two hours of class.

So the ¾ mark is feeling a bit strange. When I say that I still have a quarter of my time left it seems like a lot, but then I remember that after two weeks of class life will move probably the fastest I’ve ever felt. I think four months is a good amount of time. I haven’t felt too heavily culture shocked (not yet, at least – I’m not looking forward to re-entry), I haven’t really missed home too much – just people from home, but I also feel like I’ve really gotten to know my surroundings quite well, and really juiced this experience for all that it’s worth. But I still have four more weeks to squeeze a little more out.

Dik Diks and Wait A Bits

Wow… it’s been a while. And it’s been a tumultuous couple of weeks.

Just to get all of it out of the way in the beginning – it’s hard to say that the whole robbery thing has been ‘resolved’ because we couldn’t recover any of our things and there was no insurance coverage on any of them through the program and the hotel is not liable. We have yet to get an official statement from Arcadia about the situation and overall we’re feeling like we just kind of have to accept it because nothing is going to change. I know that’s a virtue, but it’s pretty hard to accept that when you did nothing wrong and someone waltzed in and stole all of your valuables that somehow nobody gets any blame and nothing really gets fixed. After trying to play it cool for pretty much the entirety of two weeks I feel like maybe I just need to like punch a wall or something and just stop thinking about it.

On to much lighter things:

As many of you know, my family is here right now. Even Matt could make it! They got in last Friday night and early Saturday morning the four of us left for safari. Even through the jetlag and culture shock we had a really great time in Ngorogoro Crater on Saturday. I think the animal highlights were all of the lions that we saw: two right after a fresh zebra kill and two more basically just basking in the sun two feet from the side of the road. We stayed at a beautiful lodge on the crater rim, where on our walk back after dinner we encountered two Cape Buffalo who apparently are notorious for eating the lodge’s grass and drinking from their pool. Wouldn’t you?

After our day in the Crater we drove to Lake Eyasi, which in theory is not a very long drive. But in practice it is one of the more miserable drives that I have taken. The driving was slow, bumpy and dusty, but the road led to a wonderful camp where we stayed. The lake was pretty much dried up since they haven’t had a drop of rain in the region since April 15. Six months. No wonder it’s dusty. That afternoon we went on a so-called ‘cultural safari’ (I really don’t like that term – although it does kind of feel that way when you’re there). We went to the homes of two Datoga families, one of which was a blacksmith. We got to see their homes, Matt got to melt some metal, I got to grind some maize, and mama got to hold a wee little baby.

And then came the real adventure. Monday morning we woke up at 5:00 IN THE MORNING to go on a hunt with a group of Hazabe (Bushmen) hunters. The Hazabe are one of the last click-speaking tribes and they still practice hunting and gathering. Our guide says there are only about 700-800 Wahazabe left in all of Tanzania and for the most part they all still live this lifestyle. When we arrived the men and seemingly any boy who had gone through puberty were sitting around the fire smoking from their pipe (what they were smoking varied) and chatting. They then showed us their super-efficient way of starting a fire (which both Matt and dad attempted and for the most part succeeded at) and then showed us the different types of arrows that they used for hunting. We then followed them up a small mountain trying not to get our clothing stuck on the thorns known as Wait A Bits (because once you get caught on one you have to wait a bit to unhook them). Unfortunately, the hunters only shot a small bird. Although, when you think about it that’s almost more impressive because they hit it with an arrow. The find of the day by any account was the honey that they discovered in a tree. There wasn’t a hive, instead there was just a tree limb that they started chucking huge rocks at and once it broke there were gobs of honey inside. Being nice young boys they offered it around, but the bugs and dirt stuck in it weren’t very appealing so after a small taste we let them have the rest. And they gladly accepted. When we got back to camp but Matt and dad tried their luck at the bow and arrow. The arrow flew but no luck on hitting the target. I’m pretty sure with more practice, though, that they could definitely shoot a dik dik.

From Lake Eyasi we then traveled to Tarangire National Park, which was pretty cool. We saw so many elephants that they started to feel like squirrels running around (except slightly larger). The definite highlight for me was seeing a mother and baby leopard wandering through the savannah grasses. So cool. We saw pretty much every animal (including the Big 5) between Ngorogoro and Tarangire. Safari success. I went back a day early because unfortunately I have things to do here, but the whole family is now back in Arusha and planning a couple of interesting things for the next couple of days. We’ll see how all of that pans out and update later.

As for everything else… it’s good. We’re nearing the end of classes, with only three weeks left before finals and then a trip to Zanzibar. The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty crazy with papers to write, but fortunately for me they’re all about topics that I find really interesting. I will be writing a health paper about the effects of civil conflict on the transmission and treatment of HIV/AIDS, a research paper about the Lord Resistance Army and its spillover into Sudan and the DRC, and a paper about water projects and access to water in Arusha for my environmental class. They should be very interesting papers, albeit a lot of work.

I miss a lot of things from home, but I can list a couple of things that I don’t miss. One is snow in the middle of October. Another is partisan bickering and ridiculously unnecessary news coverage of that partisan bickering. Yet another is the pace. Nothing moves quickly here. Except tourists. It will be a strange adjustment returning to all of those things, but I like the perspective I think I’ve gained.