So this week has been fairly uneventful/not so greatsince I last wrote. On Monday afternoon I got retested for Malaria because I had taken drugs from the US that I found out later may not be the best option (considering we don't actually have malaria in the US and doctors there aren't experts). The doctor said that I still had the two parasites (what I originally had) but that if I didn't have the syptoms of malaria I should be fine because apparently everyone who has had it before would show up having the parasites if you looked closely. I didn't exactly believe that analysis and was starting to doubt the clinic's reputation, so I was planning to get tested yet again at a different hospital the next day. Unfortunately, before I even had the chance to do that, I got really sick again Monday night... so obviously the parasites weren't gone. Anyways, I ended up going back to a different clinic and getting medicine specific for the malaria parasites that exist here, so now I am feeling a lot better. Nothing to worry about!
The past few days I havem't been doing much because I have been tired and worn out from the malaria, but I did go to the woodcarvers market again last night to teach English. The men there (and one or two women) are soo wonderful and eager to learn, its great. We mostly do discussions instead of formal lessons because that is better practice and is more conducive to the relaxed teaching style there (since all the different levels are usually put together and not everyone comes every day that there is class).
Today we had our second Kswahili test, which marks us finishing 4 of the 6 weeks of intensive Swahili training. Although 4 hours a day can get pretty rough and painful at times, I'm actually sad it's going by this quickly because it is so unbelievably helpful.
We leave tomorrow morning to go to Arusha on one of our group trips. We actually pass by Moshi (where I was this summer) on the 8 or 9 hopur bus there, so hopefully I can convince Prof Senkoro to let me stop off there by myself and stay for at least one of the two days. I'm sure going to Arusha with the group would be fun, but I think I've done most of the stuff there already and I would really love to go visit people in Moshi. We'll see...
Miss you all,
-Lisa
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
My first few weeks in a nutshell...
Here's a brief synopsis of a few things I've done so far and my life in general here in Dar es Salaam... most of this is from letters and such so I apologize if any of this sounds repetative. Here it goes:
The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) campus is gorgeoussss, it literally looks like im living in the middle of a rainforest. I'm in living in a double dorm room on the 7th floor, which is a surprisingly nice room with a common bathroom for about 10 of us (I think they put all of the foreigners in this dorm because it is the nicest). Being up this high is nice because there is a great breeze, less mosquitoes, and a wonderful view of the ocean... but the walk up 8 flights is pretty miserable in an African summer haha. The weather in Dar is pretty hot, but definitely nicer than winter in the states so im not complaining too much. We are about an hour long dala dala ride out of downtown Dar... and if I haven't explained this to you already, being on a dala dala (the public transportation) basically means smushing as many people into a tiny van as physically possible and sweating yourself to death, but getting just about anywhere on about 30 cents. I'd say you get what you pay for.
All of the people on campus are just as nice and great as they were in Moshi last summer, and I love getting to know the other students. Because of protests and random stuff from last semester (I dont know how much I told all of you about but its kind of a long story) up until now only the grad students were on campus. This week/this weekend though, the rest of the students are finally moving back in. A few days ago I finally got a tanzanian roommate... her name is Ashengai and she seems to be really sweet. She doesnt speak english all that well, but hopefully that will help me improve my Kiswahili. Right now, we have 4 hours of swahili class every morning, which is a bit hard and overwhelming at times, but I've learned more in two weeks than I ever thought possible. The rest of my classes start in mid-Feb, and I'll be taking Kiswahili, African literature, gender and development, History of East Africa, and Politics of Sub-saharan Africa. I'm pretty excited to start all of them, although unfortunately I'll be in classes with only foreign students since the regular university semester schedule is all messed up as a result of the protests.
The first weekend I was here, we spent one wonderful day on the beach the (when I got to swim in the Indian Ocean for the first time!) and had a great dinner by the ocean with our Swahili professor and his family. Todd, our program director from University of Florida was still here at that point, so he showed us around town and taught us all about campus life/food/dorms/etc.
Last weekend, on Friday afternoon, a few of us went downtown (which takes a full hour or so on multiple different daladalas) to go to the Tanzanian national museum. A few local Tanzanian
students who live in the dorm next to us (which holds the only students that weren't affected by the strikes and are on the correct schedule) took us thewre and it was a lot of fun. Dad, you would have loved it. It is a great museum that combines history (from the very beginning through colonialism, the world wars, and independence up until present) of both the mainland and Zanzibar, a lot about plants and animals of the country, and also has some tanzanian art/sculptures. On Friday night, we all tagged along with Julie (the girl from the Brown program who had been here 6 months already) to go to a mini circus by the beach that was hosted by one of the phone companies here. Julie was taking one of the girls (about 12 years old) from a
local orphanage she goes to to see the show, so we all joined them and it was a lot of fun. There were no animals, it was just acrobats and contortionists and what not, but 95% of the cast was from Tanzania which made it fun. Oh and on the way home, our "Bijaji" (a small 3 wheeler taxi type thing) broke down twice... it was an interesting experience haha.
Then on Saturday night, we went to a semi-tradtional Tanzanian wedding of the newphew of our swahili professor. They are definitely very well off because it was a beautiful wedding with around 500 people at the reception! It was fun for the most part... but quite possibly the longest wedding ever in the history of mankind haha. They continued all of these tradtions and ceremonies during the reception part of it, so the reception was probably 80% talking and other things and very little dancing. Not to mention that when the dancing actually was going on, the bride and groom usually sat at the front on a stage rather than joining in... I would hate that if it was my wedding! Also we got there at 6 and we didn't even eat dinner until 10:30! It was a bit bizarre, and fairly boring at times (considering it was almost all in Swahili and we didnt understand a lot of the talking parts), but fun on the whole.
On a regular day, I am eating all of my meals on campus, having Kiswahili class all mornings, and then just hanging out around campus in the afternoons making friends with the local students. Sometimes we also take the dala dala to or walk to the market that is closer than town (called Mwenge), which is fun too. I started teaching English to a group of older men who are woodcarvers from a local craft market (I will probably do that once or twice a week), but have only had the chance to go once so far because I've been sick this week.
This past week things haven't been so great because I unfortunately already managed to get malaria... I was the first one out of our group to buy a mosquito net, I've been extremely careful with my bug spray, and this is what I get haha. Just my luck. I'm really fine (of course my parents dont seem to think so, but I know I am) because I caught it very early and started taking medication right away. I already feel a lot better and other than that minor detail, I really love it here so far.
This past weekend we went on a group trip to Bagamoyo with our Swahili Professor, Prof Senkoro, which was great. Bagamoyo is a small town on the coast about an hour north of Dar. It was the first big port in tanzania and was the main on for a while until, after mangroves took over the harbor at bagamoyo, the center or trade was moved to the then smaller Dar es Salaam. Bagamoyo has a lot of history because it was the place of the first church in all of east africa, the place when people came from the middle east and first introducted Islam, the last place where slaves were funneled through before heading to Zanzibar and then being sent overseas, etc. Both days we went to different museums/historical sites covering all of the different things there. (You would have looooved it Dad.) It was a lot of fun, as well as relaxing because we got to sleep at a nice hotel by the beach and all. Oh and on Saturday night we all went out to dinner together and then danced the night away to lots of Tanzanian music... which is always fun in my mind.
I'm back at the dorm now and we actually don't have class tomorrow, which is exciting (Prof Senkoro had to stay the night in Bagamoyo to do something so we got the day off tomorrow). That's all for now, but hopefully that will get everyone at least a bit up to speed on what I've done so far and I'll try to write more soon. When I do so depends entirely on when the internet in our dorm decides it likes us next and stays on for more than 10 minutes, so who knows when that will be. (What can you expect, I am in Africa...)
Miss and love you all,
Lisa
The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) campus is gorgeoussss, it literally looks like im living in the middle of a rainforest. I'm in living in a double dorm room on the 7th floor, which is a surprisingly nice room with a common bathroom for about 10 of us (I think they put all of the foreigners in this dorm because it is the nicest). Being up this high is nice because there is a great breeze, less mosquitoes, and a wonderful view of the ocean... but the walk up 8 flights is pretty miserable in an African summer haha. The weather in Dar is pretty hot, but definitely nicer than winter in the states so im not complaining too much. We are about an hour long dala dala ride out of downtown Dar... and if I haven't explained this to you already, being on a dala dala (the public transportation) basically means smushing as many people into a tiny van as physically possible and sweating yourself to death, but getting just about anywhere on about 30 cents. I'd say you get what you pay for.
All of the people on campus are just as nice and great as they were in Moshi last summer, and I love getting to know the other students. Because of protests and random stuff from last semester (I dont know how much I told all of you about but its kind of a long story) up until now only the grad students were on campus. This week/this weekend though, the rest of the students are finally moving back in. A few days ago I finally got a tanzanian roommate... her name is Ashengai and she seems to be really sweet. She doesnt speak english all that well, but hopefully that will help me improve my Kiswahili. Right now, we have 4 hours of swahili class every morning, which is a bit hard and overwhelming at times, but I've learned more in two weeks than I ever thought possible. The rest of my classes start in mid-Feb, and I'll be taking Kiswahili, African literature, gender and development, History of East Africa, and Politics of Sub-saharan Africa. I'm pretty excited to start all of them, although unfortunately I'll be in classes with only foreign students since the regular university semester schedule is all messed up as a result of the protests.
The first weekend I was here, we spent one wonderful day on the beach the (when I got to swim in the Indian Ocean for the first time!) and had a great dinner by the ocean with our Swahili professor and his family. Todd, our program director from University of Florida was still here at that point, so he showed us around town and taught us all about campus life/food/dorms/etc.
Last weekend, on Friday afternoon, a few of us went downtown (which takes a full hour or so on multiple different daladalas) to go to the Tanzanian national museum. A few local Tanzanian
students who live in the dorm next to us (which holds the only students that weren't affected by the strikes and are on the correct schedule) took us thewre and it was a lot of fun. Dad, you would have loved it. It is a great museum that combines history (from the very beginning through colonialism, the world wars, and independence up until present) of both the mainland and Zanzibar, a lot about plants and animals of the country, and also has some tanzanian art/sculptures. On Friday night, we all tagged along with Julie (the girl from the Brown program who had been here 6 months already) to go to a mini circus by the beach that was hosted by one of the phone companies here. Julie was taking one of the girls (about 12 years old) from a
local orphanage she goes to to see the show, so we all joined them and it was a lot of fun. There were no animals, it was just acrobats and contortionists and what not, but 95% of the cast was from Tanzania which made it fun. Oh and on the way home, our "Bijaji" (a small 3 wheeler taxi type thing) broke down twice... it was an interesting experience haha.
Then on Saturday night, we went to a semi-tradtional Tanzanian wedding of the newphew of our swahili professor. They are definitely very well off because it was a beautiful wedding with around 500 people at the reception! It was fun for the most part... but quite possibly the longest wedding ever in the history of mankind haha. They continued all of these tradtions and ceremonies during the reception part of it, so the reception was probably 80% talking and other things and very little dancing. Not to mention that when the dancing actually was going on, the bride and groom usually sat at the front on a stage rather than joining in... I would hate that if it was my wedding! Also we got there at 6 and we didn't even eat dinner until 10:30! It was a bit bizarre, and fairly boring at times (considering it was almost all in Swahili and we didnt understand a lot of the talking parts), but fun on the whole.
On a regular day, I am eating all of my meals on campus, having Kiswahili class all mornings, and then just hanging out around campus in the afternoons making friends with the local students. Sometimes we also take the dala dala to or walk to the market that is closer than town (called Mwenge), which is fun too. I started teaching English to a group of older men who are woodcarvers from a local craft market (I will probably do that once or twice a week), but have only had the chance to go once so far because I've been sick this week.
This past week things haven't been so great because I unfortunately already managed to get malaria... I was the first one out of our group to buy a mosquito net, I've been extremely careful with my bug spray, and this is what I get haha. Just my luck. I'm really fine (of course my parents dont seem to think so, but I know I am) because I caught it very early and started taking medication right away. I already feel a lot better and other than that minor detail, I really love it here so far.
This past weekend we went on a group trip to Bagamoyo with our Swahili Professor, Prof Senkoro, which was great. Bagamoyo is a small town on the coast about an hour north of Dar. It was the first big port in tanzania and was the main on for a while until, after mangroves took over the harbor at bagamoyo, the center or trade was moved to the then smaller Dar es Salaam. Bagamoyo has a lot of history because it was the place of the first church in all of east africa, the place when people came from the middle east and first introducted Islam, the last place where slaves were funneled through before heading to Zanzibar and then being sent overseas, etc. Both days we went to different museums/historical sites covering all of the different things there. (You would have looooved it Dad.) It was a lot of fun, as well as relaxing because we got to sleep at a nice hotel by the beach and all. Oh and on Saturday night we all went out to dinner together and then danced the night away to lots of Tanzanian music... which is always fun in my mind.
I'm back at the dorm now and we actually don't have class tomorrow, which is exciting (Prof Senkoro had to stay the night in Bagamoyo to do something so we got the day off tomorrow). That's all for now, but hopefully that will get everyone at least a bit up to speed on what I've done so far and I'll try to write more soon. When I do so depends entirely on when the internet in our dorm decides it likes us next and stays on for more than 10 minutes, so who knows when that will be. (What can you expect, I am in Africa...)
Miss and love you all,
Lisa
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