Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Everything seems so normal to me

Nothing much has changed in the last few days, but I guess stuff is still kinda crazy.

We are finishing up classes, even though they never really started. Today I had a test scheduled at 4:00 so I went to the room. At four, I called the teacher (which is already really weird) and he said, of course, that he forgot, could we please reschedule. Oy.

we are planning to cook a very ghetto, but legit Thanksgiving dinner at our program coordinator's house on Saturday. I am making chickens, since you can't really find turkeys in this country. It should be funny.

Miss you all.

Also, CONGRATS to Mike on landing an amazing new job.

Amani,

Rachel

Saturday, November 22, 2008

I bought a cat and other news

Hello all,

Well, I'm getting to the 6 week mark which is absolutely crazy. Things have gone so fast but they also have become strangely normal.

Last week Stephen visited and it was tons of fun. We went to Zanzibar, the movies, the beach and shopping, and it opened my eyes a little to remind me how rugged my life here is. Its also so nice that someone will understand a little bit when i get home. We took the craziest 3-wheeler ride ever. Three wheelers are the mini-taxis here. They are like motorcycles with seats in the back, or something. I will take a picture. Anyway, we took one home from the airport after flying to Zanzibar, and it literally swerved through all of the traffic and then went up on the bumpy sidewalk and sped through massive crowds of people, barely missing them as it honked its way through. Oh, Dar.

This week we have spent a lot of the time getting classes organized. Essentially, we need to have a midterm, paper, presentation and final for each class all in the next 2 weeks. But, we've only had a few real lectures in each class, there are only foreign students in the classes and the teachers are not very excited about it all. Its especially weird calling and texting teachers. I have yet to work out 3 of my classes.

Natalia and Megan both got Malaria this week. Its not as big of a deal as it sounds. But they still feel sick :( So, Julie, Tony and i went to go get tested to be sure. (Tony has malaria but no symptoms) and they (the dispensary) had a bunch of new kittens whose mom had abandoned them. So, today, I went to the tailor and asked her if she wanted a cat, and she was like, "sure, bring it here," like it was no big deal. So I went back to the clinic and got a kitten and brought it to her and her niece/daughter. The cat cost me $1.80.

Alrighty, off to bed.

With Love,

RQ

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

2 Pieces of Not-so-great News

1. I found out from my mother, that my puppy, Layla has recently died. This is the message from my mom: "at 5:00 pm yesterday we put Lovely Miss Layla to rest. She was down to 7.5 pounds and more than weak. She was 15 1/2 years old. She was a brave fighter who lived life her way. She was loved and will be dearly missed everyday." I am quite sad but it is particularly difficult for my mom, who put so much time and energy into keeping this dog healthy. Rest in Peace, Layla.


2. Today the University of Dar es Salaam was closed indefinitely, following 3 days of protests and student strikes. The students were striking about loans and financial aid, and the minister of education refused to meet with the student leaders. According to UDSM policy, if a strike lasts for 3 days, the school is closed. The army drove all around campus today announcing that everyone except foreign students had 3 hours to evacuate. Supposedly they will continue holding classes for us (I am the only foreign student in a few of my classes!). I am sad especially to see my roommate leave, since we have spent so much time making Tanzanian friends, and now they are leaving! :(

On a happier note, my friend Stephen from Stanford is visiting and I am giving him a crash course in Dar es Salaam life...tomorrow we are going to Zanzibar! Wooo. It was an exciting time for him to be on campus, eh?

Ok, I will write more soon.

Go hug your dogs.

Love,
Tumaini...haha Rachel

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Guest Blog Entry

Hello to Rachel’s blog readers. This entry comes from Rachel’s Mom and Dad (Janet and Brian).

We had an amazing trip to Tanzania and, with all the traveling, now really understand that Rachel is truly on the other size of the earth!

With all of the amazing things we saw and experienced, the best part was our visit and time spent with Rachel, touring Dar and the University, meeting the Brown gang and providing Rachel with a few hot showers and some fancier meals. We were able to view, first hand, her good work at the orphanage. But, best of all, we saw how well she speaks Swahili! Though she’d argue that she isn’t fluent, there wasn’t one situation where she wasn’t able to fully communicate with the locals. And they really get a charge out of seeing a white girl from America speaking their language.

We had a relaxing couple of days in Zanibar then it was off on the safari!

We spent about 10 days with our driver/guide Shaaban (just the two of us and Shaaban) touring around northern Tanzania. We experienced the whole spectrum of accommodations, from a 5 star hotel down to a two person tent. We spent time in the Tarangire National Park, the Ngorongoro Recreation Area and the Serengeti.

We saw all of the Big Five (the lion, the African elephant, the Cape Buffalo, the leopard and the rhinoceros), plus giraffes, zebras (LOTS of zebras), wildebeest (LOTS of them too), impalas, cheetahs, hippos, ostriches, baboons, hyenas, jackals, and more. We were quite happy to see paved roads when we got home.

We met people from all over the world (not too many Americans) and found everyone very friendly and accommodating.

This was truly an experience of a lifetime. It took us 41 hours to get back (from leaving our final accommodation to our front door in California), with a small plane ride (landing and taking off from a dirt air strip and three stops), a few layovers and two international flights (one for 10 hours and the other for 11 hours). But it was all worth it!!

We look forward to having Rachel home in January.

We took over 1,100 photos and have posted three short slideshows (if you’re interested):

http://web.me.com/bquint/TanzaniaAdventure/TanzaniaMovies.html

Also, just 6 photos are posted below. Thanks for reading.

J & B






Update!

Alright, I have had a lot of requests for a blog update so I will do my best to write a long one.

So, I think Mom and Dad will write a little on this blog as well, but I can just say they had a fantastic time. They saw every animal anyone would ever want to see on safari...I don't think they realize how lucky they are to have seen so many cats -- eating, sleeping, mating, etc. So, they left on Sunday and I went back to "school." Classes are happening, but they are just so different than classes at home. Once in a while a professor won't show up, but most of the time they are lectures that are in English, but taught by teachers who don't really know English that well. The resources available here are not great, so a lot of the time teachers are lecturing about really outdated material. I have made a few friends with Tanzanians in various classes, but its harder than you might have expected, especially because the students are not really here to socialize, much more to get an education.

Tony and Megan had their birthdays last weekend, so we did a lot of celebrating, including going out to a club in the city which was really fun. What else to report? I've been doing some tourist shopping which is really quite fun and going out for fancy coffee more frequently. I really am excited to get back to the states for real, good food, and coffee shops that have soy milk. Mmmm. We are planning on making a version of Thanksgiving dinner here, using the kitchens of various women we are friends with and a lot of canned versions of food we like. I am in charge of the chicken (there are no turkeys in this country).

This weekend I went out with a Tanzanian friend to a concert which was really fun. Megan and I were the only non-Tanzanians there and a big hit.

Last night Miriam and I went to visit an American family that she knows that is living in Dar for the next few years. (They are teachers at the International School) and it was really interesting to see that ex-pat world out here. It is a whole other world, much nicer than the rest of Dar, but you can't really blame them for wanting running water, electricity, internet, etc.

So, I'm half way around the world and the only thing anyone can talk about is the US election. I would say 99% of people here want Obama, and everyone is interested in talking about it. Not like this will make a difference, but: PLEASE GO VOTE!

Alright, off to lunch soon.

With Love,

RQ

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Wazazi Wangu

My parents have come and gone. I am sad to see them off but it was so wonderful to see them and show them around here. Thursday I showed them around Dar - we visited all of my friends, the orphanage and the market and then had a delicious Ethiopian food dinner with my group. Friday we headed to Zanzibar and took a tour of the city and had a spice tour, followed by the long (1 hour) drive to our BEAUTIFUL hotel on the beach. Saturday we spent relaxing by the pool - Mom even swam! They fed me unbelievably well (this previously vegetarian girl ate a hamburger for lunch and a steak for dinner!) Now they are up in Tarangire National Park and seeing all of the animals you could imagine. Yesterday they saw a mother and 3 baby lions eating a freshly killed zebra! Mom is particularly happy to finally see all of her National Geographic photos in real life.

School is finally starting to happen. Sorta. I didn't realize "African Time" tramnslated to weeks, not just hours. Oy.

Much love.

Rachel

Saturday, September 27, 2008

All Kinds of Things

So, I haven't written in a long time, so I will try to give a whole bunch of information today.

We are just waiting around for school to start and our roommates to arrive and nothing is very clear. Apparently classes will begin tomorrow, but we don't know which classes, or exactly how to register. Its crazy how, as the biggest, most prestigious University in the country, they are this unorganized. It also just shows how crazy organized Stanford is. Also, I got clearance to volunteer at a local hospital, so we will see if I can get there sometime this week.

Transportation in Tanzania
I've gotten so used to the transportation here that I almost forgot to write about it. In Dar, and the rest of Tanzania, most people travel via Dala-Dalas. They are small, 16-seater Toyota vans in which all of the original seats have been removed and replaced with more seats (the ultimate goal is to get as many people inside as possible). The ceiling is usually covered in some kind of wildly tacky cloth, and the back is painted with an often religious phrase, sometimes in English and terribly misspelled (example: "Grory to God" since Swahili speakers tend to mix up their Ls and Rs.) If you want to get anywhere in town, you wait at a "bus stop" (a cut out in the road) and a Dala will swing by to pick you up. There is a driver and a conductor ("conda") who shouts at people to get in and collects money. They drive specific routes and when you want to get off, you call "shusha," which means "get off" and the conda will get the driver to stop at the next bus stop. The whole system is really efficient, and besides being periodically sat on by mamas or forced to stand with your butt in someone's face, it's quite easy to use. Plus, each ride is 300 shillings, equivalent to 27 cents. Recently, Tony got a chance to be a conda for a day, and he is now seriously famous. Everywhere we go, people shout, "conda!" at him. Also, there are taxis and mini 3-wheel taxis. When mom and dad come (in less than 2 weeks!) I think we may stick to taxis.

Food
Food is definitely what I miss most about home (after the people of course). Tanzanian food is almost always fried carbs and ridiculously chewy meat. For breakfast, Tanzanians usually eat mandazi (fried pastry), chapati, samosas, or supu, this disgusting meat broth with pieces of literal cow foot. The rest of the food (aka lunch and dinner) is rice, ugali (corn maize mush), cooked bananas with beans, peas, okra, or meat. Also, chipsi (aka french fries) is often served as a main course with meat, or cooked with eggs as an egg-french-fried-omelette. The saving grace is the availability of fresh fruits and veggies, which I can buy at the cafeteria and the guy will cut up for us. Plus, there are some more American and Asian places around that we can get to for special occasion. Oh, what I would do for a turkey sandwich!

Greetings
Greetings here is a huge part of daily life. Every time I enter the dorm I have to greet the guard (who, incidentally is a little old women who frequently loses her voice and sits on a chair all day listening to the radio - good to know we have a fierce attentive guard!) Greetings go something like this:
Me: Shikamoo (repsectfully greeting her)
Guard: Marahaba (I accept your respect). Hujambo? (how are you?)
Me: Sijambo (I am fine), Habari za kazi? (how is your work?)
Guard: nzuri (good) za kwako? (your home?)
Me: Nzuri (good)
Guard: za shule? (school?)
Me: nzuri (good)
Guard: za siku? (the day?)
Me: Nzuri (good)
Guard: nzima? (are you whole?)
Me: nzima. (I am whole.)
...all before I can get into the dorm! Other variations ask about your night, your morning, even the last 5 minutes if I have been up to my room only briefly and heading back down. Oy.

Alright...off to have some amazing Tanzania food....

RQ

Monday, September 22, 2008

All is well

Just writing to say all is well. I moved into my new room today to make room for my Tanzanian roommate who will move in next week. It seems like the internet is better here!

I will write more soon.

RQ

Monday, September 15, 2008

Blogs and Emails

Hey all,

Just some info on keeping in touch for the rest of the time...

The best way to keep in touch is to send me emails. I promise I will respond to any emails I get as soon as I can. That is best because my email is the first thing I check and is much easier to log into than facebook.

Also, my friends here have blogs too if you are interested.

Tony: welcomebanana.blogspot.com
Megan: allabroad.blogspot.com

love,

RQ

Friday, September 12, 2008

Some Photos from Trip to the North












More Details

I stole this from a friend's email to her friends and family, but it gives lots of good details and I changed it a little...

One daladala and one bumpy pick-up truck later, we arrived at Isaya’s boma, which consisted of three small huts – one for each wife and their children, and one for his father, surrounded by a thick wall of thorns. The huts themselves, which were made of dung and ash, consisted of one large room with a small fire for cooking in the middle surrounded by a few stools. Each hut had two “beds, ” which, in reality, were a pile of sticks covered by a hard cow skin. Each bed, which was about the size of a full, was expected to hold anywhere between three and five people. In the middle of the boma was a smaller enclosure made of thorns for the cattle. Although the area was no more than thirty feet across, at night, it was home to more than one hundred cows. Just to the left of the cattle, fifty goats slept in a separate pen. Although the cattle were taken far beyond the walls of the boma everyday to forage for food, the goats were free to wander around the compound, leaving the dusty ground covered in feces. And yet, Isaya’s one-year-old sister crawled freely across the compound.

Almost immediately after we arrived, Isaya along with five or six of his friends began to dance. Maasai dancing is actually more like jumping. They begin by shuffling around in a line tapping their fimbos while making the most bizarre sounds – a combination of high-pitched cries and low guttural sounds. Suddenly, they stopped shuffling and began to jump one at a time,
low to the ground at first but eventually they started to get higher and higher, feeding off each other’s energy. You would never believe how high they are able to jump, and with such ease. You would think they had nike shocks instead of pieces of tire tied to their feet. After thirty minutes or so, they invited us to join. Women, however, are not supposed to jump. They shake, but somehow they do it without moving their shoulders at all. Try it. It is a lot harder than it sounds.

Then we were to eat a goat...apparently, in Maasai tradition, it is good luck to name the goat just before it is slaughtered. As we were the guests of honor, we were asked to give the goat an American name. Only one named seemed appropriate – Barack Obama. Minutes after his christening, we watched in horror as Barack Obama was suffocated. [Actually, I, Rachel, stood away so I did not have to see the apparently brutal death. I explained in Swahili that I didn't mind the goat alive, or dead, but I didn't want to see it in-between] As blood is one of the Maasai’s staple foods, it would be a shame to waste any of it by cutting its throat. Immediately three or four Maasai descended on the carcass, skillfully carving the animal apart.

No part of the goat is wasted – even the feet are smoked and eaten. Before I knew it, I had not only tasted smoked goat, I had eaten raw kidney and drank blood, and not from a cup – straight from the stomach. It must be fresh of course. I suppose it is all part of the cultural experience. I am practically Maasai now. In fact, I almost became Maasai when one of Isaya’s friends began to bargain with Tony over my bride price.

After the entire goat had been devoured (not by us I can assure you) and another few hours of dancing around the bonfire, we retired to the hut, which was now completely filled with smoke. With only one small lantern in the corner, we felt the way towards the bed, around the baby goats who were spread across the room to sleep for the evening. In order to experience the true Maasai lifestyle, all four girls squeezed onto one rock-hard bed. I think it is safe to say not one of us slept for more than a few hours that night and I may have woken up with a few bruises on my hips. In the end, it was not necessarily a comfortable experience, but I can certainly say I have gained a whole new understanding of village life and the Maasai lifestyle, in particular. Definitely an adventure.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Goats are better alive

Well, I am back in Dar from the vacation up north. I don't think I have the energy right now to write about everything, so I will give some highlights.

Friday we spent the day in Moshi, the town/city right near Mt. Kilimanjaro. For those of you who don't know, Kili is the tallest mountain in Africa. Anyway, we got a guide and the 5 of us usual travellers, plus the new girl, Miriam who just arrived, and the 2 Lithuanian and 2 Swedish exchange students hiked around the villages near Kili and went to some waterfalls there. It was beautiful! (Photos to come...)

Saturday we got up early and met a friend of Conner's (named Isaya) in Arusha to go visit his Masaai village. As it turns out, he is the chief of the entire region. (He dresses in traditional wear all the time). You can actually read about him since he was one of the guys who ran the London marathon (actually, they skipped the London marathon); just google it. Anyway, we took a 1 hour bus ride and then a 1 hour pick up truck ride to his village. Well, the pictures will tell more, but they live in the most remote place in the entire world. We stayed in a literal mud hut, on these extremely hard "beds" made of cow hide. The Masaai are fascinating -- their diet consists of meat, milk and drinking the blood from their cows and goats. Thus, they killed a goat for us, and I tried raw goat kidney, goat blood and meat, all which was DISGUSTING...but a great adventure. They also danced for us, and taught us about their culture etc.

I will spend some time and try to get photos to work...

Love,

RQ

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

More Traveling?

Hello All,

I am just letting you all know that I am heading out for another vacation tomorrow up to the North. We will be starting in Moshi, to Arusha and then possibly to Mwanza and Rwanda! I have my cell if you need me.

RQ

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Chapati Chapati

Yesterday was a great day. We woke up kinda early and took the two new Lithuanian exchange students to the market to get their bed nets, buckets, etc. They don't know ANY Swahili. I mean, I am not an expert, but I can't imagine coming here without any language training, or even plans to take language classes! Then we went to the orphanage for the morning and the women there taught us how to make chapati, the best breakfast food here. It is basically like really good naan bread. It is quite a process. They roll out the dough it 4 different steps to add air and oit to make it fluffy. It is amazing. In the evening, a few of us went to check out a concert downtown, but decided not to enter since it was about $20 and we didn't know the bands or anything. Instead, we just hung out at a local bar for a while, which was fun, too.

I will write more soon.

XOXO
Gossip Girl

just kidding, but I have been watching that show and it is hilarious.

RQ

Friday, August 29, 2008

Missionaries and Rich People

Right now Conner and I are in the middle of New York City or London. Well, not really, but it sure feels like it. We decided to go downtown to get some real coffee and free internet at the fancy hotel. It is called the Kilamanjaro Hotel and it is where George Bush stayed when he came here. It is at least as nice as a Four Seasons -- shopping, casino, expensive food, 2 restaurants, etc. etc. The strangest thing about Tanzania is the freedom and legitimacy we can get just because we are white. We walked into the hotel (the nicest hotel I have ever seen) with our backpacks and all and the security guard literally shook out hands. Similar stuff happens when we ask to use bathrooms at offices, etc. We can often get privileges that other people would NEVER get here. On one hand, it is extremely convenient. As we are slightly picky about our bathrooms, etc, we can often find nice ones easily. Similarly, we are able to escape crowds by going into fancy restaurants or hotels where security would question a Tanzanian, but not us. Its also strange and a constant reminder that we will never be able to be Tanzanian for reals. So, as I sit here, I am wildly curious to know why all of these people are here in TZ. So, I have subsequently created an imaginary research project investigating "American Social Presence in Tanzania" to give me an excuse to ask people why they are here. Goodness, I really have no fear of embarrassment or awkwardness. So, we are sitting with a nice couple who are missionaries for the Evangelical Church of America. I don't know how I feel about missionaries. They are nice enough-- actually extremely nice. They are doing great development work and really living in TZ for real, with the people. Plus, so many Tanzanians are Christian anyway, its not like they are converting them from indigenous religions. Plus, Christian Tanzanians, since they are very religious now, basically consider Missionaries to be historical heros. But, of course they are always going to have a holier-than-thou element since they are bringing the "correct" religion to the people. All is well, because missionary Mama Carol is going to help me get knitting needles.

Oh my, I haven't had real coffee in 2 months and I am soooo wired.

Love,

Rachel

Thursday, August 28, 2008

One of Africa's Great Journeys, Part 2

Monday, August 18

Monday we took a bus to the second town, Tukuyu, a really pretty rural town. We stayed in another “guest house” that, for $10 per room, was quite luxurious compared to our other hotels. We spent the day walking around the town and the market, and found an extremely legit tour company for a hike the following day. That night we hung out in th hotel bar and played the card game “spoons” with the hotel staff. Quite hilarious. We also got to watch some Olympics, which was exciting.

Tuesday, August 19

Tuesday after breakfast we met up with our tour company to go to a place called Kaporogwe Falls. We took an INSANE van ride down to the falls…it was about one hour of the bumpiest road I have ever been on in my life. Then we had lunch in the cave behind the falls and went down to the pool below to go swimming. So, I have learned since I have been here that as a rule, Tanzanians don’t know how to swim. It makes sense, since going to swimming lessons or something is clearly a luxury. Anyway, one of our drivers decided to come in the water with us (and I guess stay on the edge) but basically started drowning and grabbed onto Julie to try to stay afloat. Tony pulled Julie away from him, and them him out of the water. It was pretty scary, but Tony was a hero for sure! After that excitement, we went back to the hotel, and the hotel staff was really disappointed when we were too tired for hanging out at the bar again.

Wednesday, August 20

We headed on another bus to Kyela, the “biggest” town in the area. We were pretty excited when we found a decent hotel for $3.50 per room per night. The guidebook said that Kyela was “nobody’s favorite,” but it wasn’t too bad…until evening. We should’ve realized that for $3.50 it was going to be the hangout for prostitutes and other hooligans, who had little sense of quiet hours. The night was rather unpleasant, to say the least. On a positive note, Julie and I did get a chance to walk around and made some friends and got some cool portraits of locals (see below). FYI the creepy looking girl actually has really bad cataracts.

Thursday, August 21

So, the guidebook had essentially raved about a possible ferry ride from Itungi port (near Kyela) to Mbamba Bay on Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi), calling it “One of Africa’s Great Journeys”. We had gotten really excited about this, since the book had made it sound like the first class cabins were nice and the views were amazing. We also somehow had begun to quote the book as saying “Africa’s Greatest Journey.” Anyway, we took a ride to the “port” down a dirt road, and when we got there, realized that this “ferry” was basically just a large fishing boat with some rooms on the top with bunks for sleeping. I have some pictures below (note the chickens). In our adventurous state, we decided to take the 22-hour ferry anyway. Oy. We stayed in the first class “cabins” on the top of the boat, and the poor locals stayed in the bottom of the ship in a big room with benches. It made us feel a bit guilty, but we certainly weren’t willing to stay down there. (Our tickets were $22, the 3rd class tickets were $7) In the first 15 minutes, we all realized that we had overlooked the level of rocky waves that can exist on a lake. The girls went to sleep, and I tried to stay awake with Tony, leading to me vomiting 3 times. In the end, Julie and Conner slept for 23 hours, Megan for 17 and me for 14. In the process, we did see some amazing scenery, especially the towns were we stopped along the way that basically cannot be reached by other means. It appeared that the entire town came onto the beach to greet the ship.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

One of Africa's Greatest Journeys, Part 1 (for real)

To begin:

I was planning on writing more today but then Tony introduced me to the fun that is Garage Band and we have been playing with it for a long while instead of writing blogs. My apologies. I am going to try to give a day-by-day recap of my trip this past week. Overall, the trip was absolutely the biggest adventure of my life. For sure, not everything went "well" per say, all the time, but the overall experience was amazing. Its funny to think how happy I am though to be "home" in the dorms in Dar. Essentially the trip was the 5 of us (5 of 6 Brown Program people) bought a bus ticket to the south of Tanzania and headed down with our "Rough Guide" book and clothes and money. For the sake of stories and pictures, Julie is the one with the cute short blonde hair, Conner is the other girl (not boy) with the brown hair, Megan is the girl with the kick-ass African braids, and Tony is the one, very good sported, male. He very often allowed us to pretend that we were his polygamist wives in order to prevent us from getting painfully hit on. Usually men asked for one of us and he kindly refused. Ok, enough chatter…

Friday, August 15

Thursday was actually our last day of Swahili classes. I am by no means fluent in Swahili, but I can carry on a conversation and get around, especially when it comes to asking for something or buying stuff. I am working on it.

Friday, Megan and I went on a wile goose chase into the city center to find an ATM that takes MasterCard. We also had lunch with some of the leaving American students (summer is almost over?). Other than that we just packed up and went to sleep early to prepare for the day.

Saturday, August 16

Saturday we woke up early to catch the 14 hour bus to Mbeya, The bus company we took is called Scandinavian Express and is relatively nice, so the seats were comfy enough. We stopped a few times along the way for "bathroom" breaks and for lunch. Also, many people use buses as an opportunity to sell things, so we were able to buy snacks through eh bus windows. Our favorite snack is roasted corn, though the sellers decided that we would continue to buy if they shoved as many corns as possible through the window into poor Conner's face. (See photo coming soon) I spent a good amount of time next to a nice but perhaps out-of-it old man (since there are five of us one person is with the stranger…) We also passed by Mikumi national park again, and saw elephants and giraffes as we drove past! After a long day of iPodding, sleeping, eating, chatting and 20 questions, we arrived in Mbeya and stayed the night at the Morovian Church hostel. It was nice ($7 per room) and Julie and I shared a bed since we didn't want to have to buy a whole room for one person. A tight squeeze but not a problem J .

Sunday, August 16

Sunday was the first day that we discovered that perhaps our trusty guidebook was going to steer us wrong. The book suggested several hikes and day trips around Mbeya and said that the only legitimate would be through the program "Sisi kwa Sisi." After an hours of searching and befriending a random German-Polish Priest living in TZ, we found the Sisi kwa Sisi building (closed for Sunday) with 4 different numbers painted on the building, all which did not work at all. Instead, we used our Swahili to chat up the man at the bus office who found us a random guide on the street who took us up the mountain to the crater lake (Ngosi Crater lake). Jack (the guide) was the first Tanzanian I have ever met who likes President Bush (they are all OBSESSED with Obama here), which should have made us weary of him (he ended up overcharging us quite lot.) Plus, he led us on a crazy hike wearing white, pointed men's dress shoes. Oy Tanzania. We took a crazy crowded bus (see photo of Julie on my lap with a Tanzania baby on her lap… The hike was beautiful, challenging, and we met a bunch of interesting kids at the top of the mountain who go down and collect water from the late for locals who believe the water has healing power. On the way back we met a villager, who had us come over to her home for a break. We literally sat in the house while a zillion kids peered in through the window and doors at us. I feel bad for zoo animals, dude, it was awkward. Check out the photos of the day, below.

Ok I am getting tired…more tomorrow!

With Love,

RQ









Monday, August 25, 2008

One of Africa's Greatest Journeys (part 1)

Ok, so I spent an hour writing this blog entry and then the internet died and erased the entire thing. So, I am doing my best, but it might be a little while till I re-write this. (A little while being like the whole day today). Sorry!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Weekend Trip to Morogoro and Mikumi

Here are a few photos from our trip to Morogoro and
our mini safari in Mikumi national park. Enjoy!