Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Kwa Heri Congo

Well, once again it’s time for me to say farewell, this time to the DRC. I confess I find it much more difficult to leave here and I’m even more at a loss for what I could possible say to describe the time I’ve spent here. I realize that I haven’t written as much while I’ve been here and that I have shared very little of my experiences. At this point I’m not even sure where to begin. I’ve already described where I’ve stayed in Uvira and some of the friends I’ve made here….Clavert, Isadord, Willy, Francine, Rolphe. They taught me much and I admire each of them in different ways:

Clavert for his unflappable optimism and his belief in education, the possibility of change, and the goodness in people, even in the face of a life that has shown him so much death, destruction, and hardship.

Isadord for his inevitable ability to make me laugh. I swear all that boy had to do was walk into the room and he could make me smile.

Willy, Rolphe’s younger brother, for his many insights on politics and history. I had some great conversations with him.

Francine, Rolphe’s fiancĂ©, for being my dose of femininity in a world chalked full of male friends. It was always a good day when Francine and I got to hang out together, cooking and chatting.

And finally Rolphe, for being such a great friend and guide. He is quite possibly the most helpful person I could have encountered in the DRC. I can’t even begin to count the ways in which he has helped me – offering me a place to stay, helping me meet the people I needed to meet and find the places I needed to find, sharing great meals and conversations, welcoming me into his life in the Congo as if we were old friends. I still haven’t figured out how I’ll ever repay him.

And these are just the people that I spent the majority of my time with here, there are plenty of other great people I’ve met and befriended as well. Rolphe’s family in Bukavu, for example, who so generously welcomed me into their home and their lives. I had a great time staying with them, hanging out with the girls (of whom there were 8 between the ages of 21 and 1), chatting with them about whatever they wanted to chat about. Often times that was life in America….they really wanted to know how we live, what I think of the Congo, why I wasn’t married and when I thought I would get married, and all sorts of fun things (my non-married status is something of a continuous theme in conversation in Africa….though I think I’ve pretty much mastered my techniques for dodging that bullet….I find that vague half-truths about plans to marry in the future, after I finish school, work well).

As far as research I’ve learned a lot here. I’ve met with some very interesting and helpful people and had some fascinating conversations. But I won’t bore my non-academic friends with the details. Probably the most important thing I’ve discovered here in regards to my research is that, without a doubt, this is where I want to do my field work. I’ve been fascinated by the history of this region for some time and this trip has just served to add fuel to that fire. There is much to be learned about the history here and, I believe, even more to be learned from that history.

I’ve also learned a lot about language. Language is a fascinating phenomenon, and is rendered even more fascinating in region where conversation flows fluidly between Swahili and French, at times from sentence to sentence, at other times from word to word within a single sentence. Admittedly this made it more than a little bit difficult for me to follow conversations at times….you get used to nodding your head and looking like an idiot half the time. Just Swahili I can do without the slightest problem, just French I can follow with a fair amount of effort, but the way the Congolese switch back and forth between the languages makes my head spin. Still, with a little more time I think I would have it down. By the end even I was beginning to mix the languages. And, it is ever-so-interesting to follow when and where people use French versus Swahili…which language is used to express which ideas and in what circumstances one language is emphasized over the other. I did not have enough time, or enough linguistic skill for that matter, to be able to do any sort of thorough analysis of the matter, but it is certainly fodder for future intellectual endeavor.

I haven’t really even begun to give sense of what, exactly, it was that I did here every day. Many times it included taking long walks around the city in the afternoons with Isadord and Clavert or sitting around in the evenings at the MJA building cooking, eating, and conversing with friends. Other times it included seeking out people to talk to, to discuss the possibility of future research. Other times it included just listening, watching, and recording my thoughts about the things I’ve seen and done here. Other times it included long drives to Bukavu on bumpy, dusty, narrow mountain roads that provide some of the most stunning scenery you’ve ever seen….as long as you don’t look down over the edge of the road. At other times it involved an impromptu meal with a kindly old woman who spends her life caring for orphaned children and was beyond excited to chat with me because she was just sure I’d be able to help her find an old friend from America who had worked for the Red Cross in Uvira in the 80s….even though she only knew the woman’s first name because all of her documents with the woman’s contact information were stolen during the war. Other times it involved watching a team of young Congolese men play soccer against a team of Pakistani UN soldiers….and then having half of the Pakistani players ask me if they could take a picture with me after the game (so embarrassing).

Ashley asked me in an earlier post how the Congo differs from Tanzania. The answers to that question are numerous. In many ways for me the biggest difference was the circumstances in which I experienced the two places. My impressions of the Congo, where I spent all of my time living with and conversing with Congolese people (exclusively in Swahili) on a comparatively un-structured schedule are inevitably different from my impressions of Tanzania, where I spent the majority of my time with a group of American students in structured program, in a gated compound. My interaction with the people and the culture of the two places was different at its very essence. Here in the Congo I felt like a student, but also like a friend and colleague to my Congolese hosts. In Tanzania I felt like a student…but also like a tourist much of the time.

Still, even if my living circumstances in Tanzania had been more similar to those in Congo, the two places would be markedly different. They have very different histories, different cultures, and very different political presents. The countries share many of the same infrastructural problems - such as poor education systems, unreliable power sources, and poor roads, to give a few examples – but in the Congo these problems are noticeably more pronounced. The DRC is a country that has only recently begun to emerge from a brutal past couple of decades of war (and is, in fact, still plagued by war in some areas), and those decades were preceded by decades of Mobutu’s dictatorship, which were preceded by brutal Belgian colonial rule, not to mention centuries of the slave trade. Tanzania, while it shares a history of colonialism and the slave trade, differs historically from the DRC in marked ways and those differences shape people’s perception of the world and frame the conversations that take place in the present. To give just one example, it shapes the way that people tend to mark time when they talk about their life histories. In the Congo people often marked time by various phases of war and peace – before the war, after the war, when the chaos began, once the chaos subsided. In the Congo most everyone I talked to has moved at least once in their life because of war. I think that such experiences structure people’s perception of time in ways that are unique to a post-war society.

Anyway, I’m babbling at this point. Please forgive the super-long post. I guess that’s what happens when I wait to long to make a post. Congratulations to those of you troopers who stuck it out to the end! I hope I’ve been able to share a little bit of what my experiences and thoughts have been here. In a word, it’s been amazing. And, though I am excited to get back to the states to see all of my friends and family (and, of course, Bjorn), I am admittedly quite sad to leave this place just as I was beginning to settle in and I will miss all of my new friends here. I look forward to my future return.

Ninawatakia wote hapa Congo kila la heri mpaka tutaonana tena….


And now begins the 3 day trek home….I’ll be seeing many of you soon. And for those of you I don’t see, stay tuned for the Swiss Edition of the Traveling Historian’s blog beginning Sept. 12….

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

MJA

I thought some of you might be interested in learning more about the organization that Rolphe has created here in the DRC. Check out their website:

http://www.mjadrc.org/node/15

For those of you who are in Madison, you'll notice that there is a fundraiser going on this weekend. You should check it out....they do great work here and would be able to do so much more if they had the funds....not to mention the fact that they have been exceedingly kind, generous, and helpful to me while I am staying here.

I'll write more when I get the chance. My internet time is quite limited at the moment...not to mention expensive.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Nimeshindwa na the Gods of Internet

Apparently I forgot to knock on wood when I posted my last message because as soon as I posted it the internet connection was lost at Rolphe's internet center and we still haven't gotten it back. I guess I counted my chickens before they were hatched...

Otherwise things are going great. Leaving for Bukavu tomorrow...will write more when I get the chance!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The DRC

I am now in the DRC and things are going great here. The craziness of it all is that I am more hooked up technologically here in Uvira than I have been at any other point in Africa. I have met up with a friend of a friend, Rolphe, who has started and runs an NGO that works with youths and part of his project is to teach them about computer’s and give them access to technology. He runs an internet center here that he charges a small fee for some people to use, but lets others (especially the kids he works with) use for free. He uses the profits from the internet center to pay for operational costs of the place. I am staying right here at the facility where the internet center is and he has even hooked me up with my own private internet access since I have my computer here. His brother Willy lives here with a couple of the youths. We eat meals here together…but I haven’t figured out how to make them let me help with cooking and cleaning…they just tell me to rest. I feel a bit useless. I just haven’t figured out exactly what I should be doing with my free time here and when and where it is ok for me to go wandering around by myself. Other than the internet center, they teach classes on IT here and run a soccer league among various other youth activities. Tomorrow I am going to watch a soccer match being played between the older students here and a team of Pakistani soldiers who work with MONUC (the UN mission here). Should be fun to watch. They are also in the process of putting together a library...which will be filled with books that came from, of all places, an NGO in St. Paul called Books for Africa that is located right across the street from the PBS building I used to work it.

Research is coming along. I've been working hard on making contacts with people. Today I got to have a conversation with a leader of a Kitawalist church (the very same church featured in my MA thesis)..which was pretty awesome. I am going to meet with him again the day after tomorrow to ask more questions. I did not really have many questions planned when I met with him today because I didn’t know we were going to see him until I had already left. I did find out, however, that they now name Patrice Lumumba as the profit who founded their religion. So interesting. My good friend Clavert (19 year-old, one of the students, lives in the center) showed me around the city today and took me to talk to the Kitawalist guy. He helped me a lot with translating (into Swahili) bits of the convo that I didn’t quite catch. I still can’t get used to the way they mix Swahili and French together…it gets me every time. Anyway this kid is cool as hell and has been unbelievably helpful. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to thank him for his help...how I'm going to thank anyone here for their help, for that matter. Another one of the guys living here (they’re pretty much all young guys…the gender dynamic is a bit strange, though not in a bad way) wrote a history of the violence in Burundi that he wants me to read. Very interesting.

Anyway, I am about done being a computer hermit for the day so I will wrap this up. But, I just wanted to let everyone know that things are going great. Will write more soon....and with pictures.


Saturday, August 9, 2008

In Burundi

Hello faithful readers. Just wanted to let everyone know that I made it to Burundi Safe and sound and will be heading to the Congo soon. Will write more when I can.

P.S. French keyboards suck.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Parting Thoughts

Well...the time has come to bid adieu to Tanzania. I just have tomorrow left and then I head off to Bujumbura where my research adventures into the Congo will begin. I don't really know what I can say about my time here that won't sound cliche. So many parts of my time here have been fantastic....the wonderul people I've met, the engaging conversations I've had, the chance to learn while immersed in a Swahili-speaking community. Other parts of have been eye-opening. Today we took a trip to a home where street children are cared for and educated, mostly in technical skills for future work as farmers, electricians, mechanics, etc. I spent the morning conversing with a 14-year old boy who had lived on the streets for some time before arriving at the home 6 months ago. He was smart as hell. Saidi was his name. He wants to go to college eventually and earn a degree in a math-related field such as accounting, but he feels like it is also important for him to have a good grasp of technical skills such as mechanic-work, wood-work, farming, herding, and welding. Life in Tanzania, he informed me, often requires such skills of every man who wants to have a family and succeesful life....even if his career is not in the technical trades. Such maturity at such a young age; life has robbed him of his childhood and left him with wisdom beyond his years. A meager compensation. I thought about a conversation I had with a young boy of about the same age in America last year. I was up north with my family for memorial day. The kid came over and sat near me by the fire. He proceded to tell me about how stupid he thought school was and how much he hated his teachers. The little punk. I told him he should perhaps think twice about saying such things in front of a future teacher. It's unfortunate that we live in a such a world where a kid like Saidi must grow up on the street dreaming of having education while others get to remain completely oblivious of - and even resentul toward - their own priviledge. But I suppose I am just stating the obvious. Of course it's unfortunate....and equally frustrating.

I don't know that I've had time to fully process the things I've learned here in Tanzania. I am even less sure that I am prepared to process the things that I will learn and see in the Congo. Tanzania was a bit of a soft landing for me. The gated, guarded world of MS-TCDC in Arusha undoubtedly differs vastly from the post-conflict world of the eastern DRC. But I will speak more of such differences when the time comes. For now I will just close this blog entry with an expression of gratefulness to those with whom I've met and conversed here. Nawatakieni wote kila la heri.

Bila shaka Tanzania itakuwa na sehemu maalum moyoni mwangu daima. Natumaini nitapata nafasi ya kurudi badaaye.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Just call me Chicken-slayer

So the other day I was walking to the market with a couple of my classmates and two of us somehow got into a discussion about how we thought it might be interesting to buy a chicken, slaughter it, and cook it....a bit morbid, I realize. We decided against doing it that day, but continued to discuss the plan, much to the chagrin of our vegetarian friends who thought we were just interested in being cruel to animals (which is not true, I just had never slaughtered an animal before and I feel like if you can eat the meat, you should be able to slaughter the animal it comes from...humanely, of course). One day we were standing around at chai (we have chai-time every day at 10 am.) discussing said plan and our teacher over-heard us. She thought it was a great idea and that we could make it part of class time....learning how to slaughter, clean, and cook a chicken Tanzanian style. So we proceeded to make plans for this lesson. Since there were only a few of us interested in learning about chicken-slaying, everyone else got to learn how to cook something different...such as pea-stew, spiced rice, or chapati (flat bread). Then we got to eat it all...it was delicious. I myself got to be the official chicken-slayer....see the lovely picture of me doing the deed:




















Sadly, I was not as lucky as my friend Mike....when he slaughtered his chicken, it laid an egg. Personally, I think it was witchcraft.....

Anyway, I hope you have all enjoyed hearing about my chicken-murdering escapades. I feel like I've earned some badge of honor now....I have officially earned the right to eat chicken. Go me.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Ants in My Pants

So yesterday we decided to go out to dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant in Arusha to celebrate the birthday of one of the students in my program. It was delicious and we had a great time, but when we got ready to leave we were waiting outside for a taxi and apparently a few of us were standing in the midst of a gaggle of ants. As we sat there waiting for the taxi to come, these sneaky little ants began climbing up our legs into our pants...but of course we did not notice this until round about the time we got in the cab and said ants began to bite us. So, imagine a cab full of us squirming and flailing around trying to kill the ants slowly making their way up our pants.

Yep....I actually had ants in my pants....priceless.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Zanzibar and Dar

Well we just got back from our week-long trip to the coast and I suppose its about time that I made another post. It all began with a 10 hour bus trip to Dar es Salaam…much of it through beautiful mountainous countryside that looked something like this…
















When we got to Dar we ate some dinner and then scurried off to get dressed up in our Sunday best because we were fortunate enough to be invited to a wedding that night. The couple getting married were the children of some people who we knew from TCDC (our compound in Arusha). It was really nice of them to invite us an interesting to see, though we didn’t stay long because we were all pooped…and because it was a bit awkward since we didn’t really know the bride or groom….

The next day we headed off to Bagamoyo to learn about the East Indian Ocean trade and see the ruins of the coastal village Kaole. They looked something like this…














This picture shows the inside of the Mosque in the center of the village…the doorway faces Mecca. While we were here we also went down to the coast and saw the port that was used most frequently during the slave trade. For those of you who don’t know, the name Bagamoyo translates to “throw down your hearts” and the city is famous (infamous?) for the part it played in the Indian Ocean slave trade. It is uncertain whether the name refers to the slaves essentially giving up hope at this place or the fact that the workers of the trade caravans finally got to rest at this place and throw down their burdens after a long trek from the interior. Later, Bagamoyo became an important seat of power for first the Sultan of Zanzibar, then the German colonizers. In 1888 it was the cite of a famous anti-colonial revolt led by a Shirazi (elite Swahili/Arab) named Bushiri (and as those of you who have read my thesis know, I love me some revolts led by men named Bushiri). Much of the action centered around this historical fort, on which Dan, Vivian, and Mike so cleverly posed for me…









Speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil is oddly fitting for the history of this place….

When the slave trade finally ended, Bagamoyo ceased to be such an important trading hub and today economy survives mostly on fishing and tourism. It has a fascinating history though and a pretty sweet coastal view, as you can see in this picture…









Oh, and I shouldn’t forget our exciting adventures climbing around in a 500-year-old Baobob tree while we were near the ruins at Kaole. Check it out….









We spent most of the next day wandering around Dar es Salaam. We started off touring around the University campus and then went to the giant market famous for selling carvings made of ebony and soap stone. We ended this day eating some of what quite possible might have been the most delicious Ethiopian food ever…

The next morning we got up bright and early and climbed aboard the boat that took us on our 2 sea cruise to Zanzibar. When we got to Stone Town we had a delightful tour of this city on which we wandered around the streets that looked something like this…











…and saw many exciting historical sights, the likes of which gave us amazing views such as this one from the Sultan’s palace…









I would write more about the Omani Sultans and their fascinating history in Zanzibar, but I’m sure that those of you who actually care already know that history.

The next day was spice tour day. We started off the day with a tour of some more castle ruins. This castle was the home of the 90 concubines of Sultan Baraghesh in the mid 1800s and unfortunately it burned down at some point. I suppose it wasn’t unfortunate for everyone however, because our good friend Frank the Punda made a lovely home for himself in the room that used to house the baths…









For the record, I was the first person to walk into this room that Frank was hanging out in and he scared the crap out of me. For some reason I didn’t really expect to walk around the corner and find a donkey hanging out….I screamed like a little girl.

After visiting Frank, we headed out to the spice farm for our tour. It was really interesting and I learned all kinds of information about spices of which I was completely ignorant….did you know, for example, that cinnamon and menthol come from the same tree? I had no idea. It started pouring down rain during in the middle of the tour and we used banana leaves as umbrella, as my good friends Xander and Cara so aptly demonstrate in this photo…











And the little children who lived near the farm milked money out of us by weaving all sorts of exciting things out of palm leaves. Check out Xander in his sweet crown, bracelet and glasses…





















Things only got more exciting when we returned to Stone Town, because that’s when we got free time. Xander, Dan, and Cody thought it would be hilarious if they bought some of these hideous shirts that basically only tourists wear. And they looked ridiculous….but it admittedly did make me laugh, even if I hid my head in shame most of the time I was with them. See for yourself…









After that we headed to the old fort because they were holding an international film festival there and at night they had live bands. Before the bands came out, however, there was a dance contest and my friend Cara definitely entered it…and fell over in the middle of it….it was awesome….unfortunately I have no pictures to document said event because my camera mysteriously stopped working just for the period of time that she was on stage. I think it was fates way of telling us some things are meant to remain memories only in the mind. But I do have a video of one of the bands…

Our final day on Zanzibar was spent roaming through the protected Mangrove forests, watching red monkeys, and playing on the beach….
















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That last picture is all of us mourning the destruction of our sand castle by the encroaching tide.

The next day we hopped on a boat back to Dar (one of the more uncomfortable boat rides of my life….lets just say there were a lot of big waves and more than one person tossed their cookies on that boat…though I wasn’t one of them). Then we traveled 10 hours home to our compound.

And that was my week in Dar and Zanzibar. I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty sweet. Will be back soon with chronicles of some more adventures…


Thursday, July 10, 2008

Guess what?

I just bought a ticket to Bujumbura after I'm done in Arusha.....and I'm border hopping to the Congo from there....awesome...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Sweet nectar from heaven....

What, you may be asking yourself, is this sweet nectar of heaven that she speaks of? Juisi (a.k.a. juice). Sweet delicious juice hand squeezed by the neighbor of my host mother. It had everything you could possibly think of in it…passion fruit, orange, mango, carrot, ginger, avocado (yep, I said avocado), lemon…..and mmm it was delectable. I could devote an entire blog entry to my love of this juice. I could write poems of its greatness. But I won’t…instead I’ll tell you of my home stay….

In short, it was a fantastic experience. My host family is great. My host mother, Elly, works here on campus and may be one of the sweetest people I’ve ever encounter. Her husband, Paulus, is a musician. He teaches music to students at two different schools in Arusha part time and plays gigs at local bars on the weekends. They have two sons, Jonas(9) and Simon(14). Simon is a bit shy and seems rather unsure of us (another classmate, Sam, was with me for the home stay), but Jonas is a hoot. I was particularly fond of how excited he got about the game of Uno that I brought him….probably because I love that game too. There was also a girl living with them, Paulina (15), who is the daughter of a friend.

We did all kinds of things this weekend, but much of our activity revolved around food. We were either a) preparing food to be cooked, b) cooking said food, or c) eating said food (the largest portion of time can be attributed to the latter activity…seriously, I ate so much I thought I would explode…but I’m not sorry…it was delicious). If you’re lucky, perhaps I’ll cook some of this food for you when I get back.

Besides the night we went to the bar to watch our host father’s band play, other particularly exciting moments include the plethora of great conversations we had about Tanzanian politics and the life histories of my host father and mother.

Overall it was a blast and I am excited for the next time we go back to stay with them. But do you know what else I’m excited for? ZANZIBAR! Yep...this weekend…it’s off to the sweet clove scented shores of Zanzibar for a week on Friday. Well…technically we’re only in Zanzibar for a couple of days and we’re in Dar es Salaam for the rest of the time, but these are just details.

More to come….

Monday, July 7, 2008

Today

I cried myself to sleep because none of my friends or family care enough to leave me a message.......*tear*.....

Thursday, July 3, 2008

I just called...to say....I love you...

BTW, people, I have a phone here. So if the mood strikes you, feel free to call me. And if you wanted to sing Stevie Wonder when you did it, I wouldn't be opposed...

011-255-787543033

I think that should work...

Twiga na Temba na Simba...oh my!

We went to Oldupai and Ngorongoro this past weekend. Basically we went on safari courtesy of the U.S. government (a great big thanks to all of my tax-paying readers). It’s true…I was a tourist…a walking talking stereotype. I admittedly feel a bit dirty about it…but I’m not gonna say I’m sorry and you can’t make me. Just look at my sweet pictures….













Hippos, Baby Zebras, Elephants at Ngorongoro...and that's not zoom, folks...that zebra was about 2 feet away from the car...and the elephant was about 10 feet away.























I inserted this snake-charming picture just for you, Annie....and all of my other snakeaphobic friends. I'd post more pictures, but I think I might die of impatience trying to upload them with the slow-ass internet....and if anyone could die of impatience, it would be me...

I dismiss it above, but it seriously was a bit disconcerting to take on that role of the tourist. Even if we like to scoff at other tourists and think of ourselves as different - as students who are here to really learn about the people, the language, the history, and the culture – in the end there is little difference between us and any other tourist. To the teenager selling “Masaai necklaces” on the side of the road we’re just another busload of Americans…Americans who speak Swahili, but Americans nonetheless…customers to whom they can peddle their goods. Making distinctions is far more important to us than to the Tanzanians who depend on tourism for their livelihood.

Anyway...

Other than that things have been peachy keen here. I'm still a little put off by the fact that we're stuck on this gated campus in the middle of the countryside, but I'm slowly coming to grips with it. I still manage to have a lot of interesting conversations when we do get to go out and about. I had a fascinating conversation about American politics with a young guy in Karatu (the village we stayed in overnight on our safari). He told me all about how he thought Bush was a good strong president (insert sneer and poorly-stifled gag noise) and that he wasn't sure that Obama could be as strong. His reasoning was interesting and had much to do with race and power and his reluctance to believe that those who wield power in the world would allow a black man to successfully run the U.S. . While conceding the relevance of his point about race and power in the U.S. and the world at large, in the end I had to disagree with him and argue that we must hope for change. Since when did I become so unabashedly optimistic? Apparently we're supposed to avoid talking about politics here...meh...lame rule.

Ok...I'm rambling now and I need to go get dinner.....more to come soon...this weekend is family stay weekend....

Friday, June 27, 2008

Nikki anaenda sokoni...and other first week tidbits...















Well, it’s been a week now, so I figure it’s about time to make a post on this blog of brilliant observation. Where to begin….

The trip here:

Long. Many, many hours on a plane with the movie 27 Dresses. Most of the people on the trip were lucky enough to sleep through the 2nd and 3rd showings of that movie. Alas, I am not blessed with the fortunate ability to sleep on an airplane….so I watched. Again…and again. I also chatted with the people on my trip. Which leads me to my next topic of discussion….

My classmates:

On the whole, a pretty cool bunch of people. If I have to be stuck with a bunch of Americans, I'm glad it's them....

My lodging:

Well…basically we are on a secluded, gated compound located about 16km outside of Arusha….and while there are other African students here, most of them are only here for a short course and then they move on. Luckily, there is a nice little village about 2 miles down the road called Usa River. There are a couple of bars there and they have a market 2 days a week, so when we are not in class, I can go there and meet people and talk with them. I can also take the bus into Arusha….but I will probably only do that a couple of days a week. After being in class from 8-4, I don’t really have the energy to make that journey every day. Also, my brain tends to be fried by that point from thinking in Swahili all day…..

My Classes

In a word: easy. I’m am somewhat further ahead than many of my classmates, but it’s cool. I still learn a lot and get to hear and speak Swahili all day. Besides, the real learning goes on when I talk to people outside of class….like at the market…

The Market:

We’ve gone twice now. I love it….it’s so much fun talking to people and I think they appreciate that I can carry on a pretty good conversation with them in Swahili (this is what I tell myself…it makes me feel better about being a giant Mzungu). The first time we went to the Arusha market, I chatted with a couple of little boys for a while. Then they took me to their mother’s fabric/Kanga shop, where I bought some lovely Kangas (Tanzanian cloths that are worn as skirts or wraps and usually have a proverb on them. They’re really fascinating…many of you have heard me talk about them before, but for those who haven’t, maybe I’ll make a blog entry about them at a later date.) Then the woman was kind enough to offer her older son to me as a husband. When I told her that I didn’t think I’d make a very good wife because I don’t know how to cook Ugali (staple food…cornmeal porridge), she told me she’d teach me everything I needed to know. I told her I was honored, but had to respectfully decline her offer…

The smaller market in Usa River was also really fun. I met the nicest older woman and I chatted with her for a long time. I told her I like to cook and she asked if my mother had taught me how. When I told her I mostly learned from my Dad she laughed and laughed and laughed. Then she offered to teach me how to make Ugali some time…..I may take her up on that…but that means I will have to come up with new reasons why I’d be a terrible wife. The reasons are infinite, so that shouldn’t be too much of a challenge…


Well….that’s probably enough for today. Tomorrow we leave for a group trip to Ngorogoro crater (kind of like a natural animal reserve) and Olduvai gorge (cradle of humanity, people…look it up). I’m pretty stoked…I do love giraffes….

Will be back with more soon…

Saturday, June 21, 2008

How do you know you're in Africa?

When you wake up, there's a monkey in the tree outside your bedroom. Life is good.

I'm here and all is well. I'll post more once I'm a bit more settled. Right now I'm going to go get some chai...

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Anticipation + Procrastination

Few of you are likely to be surprised by this news (since my blog-reading ranks will include almost exclusively family and friends), but I'm heading to Africa for the summer. Seven weeks in Tanzania and, if all goes according to plan, three weeks in the Congo. I am beyond excited...which is why I am now ignoring the half-revised thesis draft I've been brooding over for the past week and writing my first entry in this blog. As the title to this entry suggests, anticipation and procrastination make happy bedfellows....

I'll be posting here from time to time...trying to keep everyone updated on my experiences, thoughts, and epiphanies. (Well....I don't know if there will be any epiphanies, but it can't hurt to be optimistic, right? Especially if one of those epiphanies manifests itself as a rockin' dissertation proposal....) Come on by and read all about it when you get the whim...and drop me a comment while you're at it.

Less than two weeks and counting.....the next post will be from Tanzania.