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.

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.

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…

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...

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….

Today

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

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....