After 11 hours of riding on a bus, we finally arrived back in Dar es Salaam the day before last. The bus ride was actually quite nice – we got served drinks, snacks, water, and candy, and we even got to watch Harry Potter! Lauren and I made it back to our host family’s house and crashed. I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, so it was good to finally be in a bed again. Yesterday I picked up my things at the Godde’s house, did some grocery shopping at Mlimani City, and explored a new cafeteria on campus. This new cafeteria is awesome! It has rice, ugali, pasta, pilau, beans, peas, chipsi mayai – everything anyone could ever want. And plus, there are a ton of fruit stands in the cafeteria and they serve mango, pineapple, papaya, bananas, oranges, and watermelon. There are so many choices! It’s funny just how many people are on campus now. All the dorms are full and every building is bustling. Apparently the university has been pretty wild lately. There have been protests about funding and loans for the university, and apparently the university was on the verge of shutdown a week ago. 10 students got arrested and put in jail, but thankfully the students protested and got them out. Things seemed to have calmed down now, but there are still a ton of people on campus.
Dar is extremely humid. I think that it’s about as hot as Tarangire, but there is 100% humidity, which makes life a little difficult. I sweat profusely just walking anywhere. It’s crazy! It’s also weird being isolated, and not with the group anymore. We are so used to seeing each other every day, that I feel like I don’t know what to do with myself when I’m by myself.
Last night we went to Posta for Liz’s birthday and ate at an Indian restaurant. I had naan and lentils, and the food was really good. We have officially decided to go to the American Consulate’s Thanksgiving feast. They are holding a Thanksgiving dinner at the embassy for all of the Americans in Tanzania and we are all planning on going as a group. Rumor has it that they have real turkey, stuffing, and even pumpkin pie!
Today we have our ecology review session, but other than that I’m free all day. I think I’ll study ecology a little bit, work on my paper, and maybe do some sewing on my quilt. Well, that’s all for now!
Erin
Swahili Word of the Day: Mgahawa [mm-gah-hah-wah] = cafeteria
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