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
Sunday, August 31, 2008
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
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.
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
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!
our mini safari in Mikumi national park. Enjoy!
Top 15 Things That I Do Here That I Would NEVER Do in the States
15. Become shocked or offended when I see women's knees or shoulders.
14. See a white person on the street and assume I know them
13. Not stop to look when I see a monkey
12. Not get insulted when people shout "White Person" (in Swahili) as if it were my name
11. Get complimented on my language skills after saying ONE word in Swahili
10. Run across a 4 lane highway.
9. Not flinch at all when I see a chicken in the bus that I'm on.
8. Let 25 dirty children play with my hair.
7. Spend a large portion of my time explaining why a don't go to church on Sunday.
6. Wait for 2 hours at a restaurant for my food and not complain, or receive any kind of apology.
5. Celebrate when I take a bite of food without finding a rock in it.
4. Consider it a miracle when I find a bathroom with toilets, toilet paper, running water AND soap, regardless of how bad it smells.
3. Look at a 16 seat van with 25 people packed in it an assume there is still plenty of room to hop on.
2. Argue for 10 minutes about a 50 cent decrease in price...and then leave since the guy wouldn't lower it.
1. Take a free ride in the back of a stranger's pick-up truck.
14. See a white person on the street and assume I know them
13. Not stop to look when I see a monkey
12. Not get insulted when people shout "White Person" (in Swahili) as if it were my name
11. Get complimented on my language skills after saying ONE word in Swahili
10. Run across a 4 lane highway.
9. Not flinch at all when I see a chicken in the bus that I'm on.
8. Let 25 dirty children play with my hair.
7. Spend a large portion of my time explaining why a don't go to church on Sunday.
6. Wait for 2 hours at a restaurant for my food and not complain, or receive any kind of apology.
5. Celebrate when I take a bite of food without finding a rock in it.
4. Consider it a miracle when I find a bathroom with toilets, toilet paper, running water AND soap, regardless of how bad it smells.
3. Look at a 16 seat van with 25 people packed in it an assume there is still plenty of room to hop on.
2. Argue for 10 minutes about a 50 cent decrease in price...and then leave since the guy wouldn't lower it.
1. Take a free ride in the back of a stranger's pick-up truck.
Friday, August 8, 2008
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