Home Sweet Home

After 30 hours of travelling, I have finally made it home.  The journey began with two days straight of rain in Dar (the biggest rainfall they have had in 50 years).  As a result, many roads were flooded and closed down.  I almost had a panic attack waiting for my driver to come pick me up from the airport.  After 40 minutes he still had not shown up!  I finally decided to call another taxi, but had no idea how long it would take him to get there, especially since many of the roads were out of commission.  He drove like mad (going 60 mph in Dar is not usually recommended) and we finally reached the airport only an hour and a half before my plane departed.  I met up with Chelsea and we were both relieved to finally have gotten to the airport.  It turns out that it took Chelsea three hours to get to the airport because of traffic.  It was such a relief when we finally got on the plane.  We were so excited!...especially for Swiss Airline food!  It sounds crazy, but both Chelsea and I had been dreaming of the day when we would get wonderful airplane food.  Now I don’t know if many of you have travelled internationally before, but the food is excellent, nothing like the fake stuff they serve you on domestic American flights.  We got cannelloni, warm rolls, fresh cheese, vegetables, and carrot cake.  For breakfast they served us yogurt, warm croissants, and orange juice.  When we got to Zurich, it was freezing cold!  We could see our breath walking into the airport!  We had a 6 hour layover and managed to kill time in the business class lounge (they didn’t check our tickets so we got in even though we were flying economy).  We watched the news, read our books, and ate lots of free food!  The next flight was 10 hours long and I managed to watch a ton of movies and TV shows, finish a book, and sleep a little.  Surprisingly, I wasn’t really tired on the flight.  When we finally touched down in America, it was almost surreal.  I remember thinking that it was the first time in a long time that I was able to see real houses in the city…no mud huts or shacks.  Chelsea and I headed off to customs and ended up waiting in line for at least a half an hour.  We were really excited about the water fountains in the airport.  We could finally drink water out of the fountain without getting sick!  I met up with my family in the O’Hare airport and we drove home, getting there at about 8:00 pm.  I was hungry and went into the pantry only to be bombarded by choices.  I got out a bagel at first and starting toasting it, but then realized I wanted crackers, and then saw the cereal.  I couldn’t decide what I wanted.  There were so many choices!  I settled on a bowl of cereal and found that it was a lot more sugary than I remembered.  In fact, I have found that about a lot of things here.  I ate raw carrots yesterday and thought they tasted like candy.  And things that I would normally love, like salad dressing and milk, don’t seem to do hardly anything for me.  In fact, I haven’t been able to finish a whole glass of milk yet.  I think I am a little lactose-intolerant from not having milk for 4 months.  Other observations about being home: I have to constantly remind myself that I am no longer in Africa when riding in a car.  My first thought out of the airport was that I had to pee, and that I could just get out and go pee on the side of the road.  Hah, also, I have to remind myself to put on my seatbelt.  Seatbelts are hardly ever present in Tanzania.  I am loving the fact that there is warm water.  Having clean water to wash your face with and brush your teeth is a wonderful thing.  I have already taken two baths and they have been amazing.  Also, I LOVE washing machines.  I was so excited to get home and wash all of my clothes.  So far, the culture shock hasn’t hit me too much.  Of course, I do notice differences between the two countries, but I haven’t been too shaken up yet.  I’m still adjusting to the time difference.  I almost lost it yesterday after waking up at 4:30 am and being up for the entire day.  By 7:00 I had crashed and could not function.  And last night I managed to wake up every 2 hours.  But, these things will all come back with time.  Lately, I have been doing a lot of cooking to make up for all the months when I wasn’t able to cook.  I’m sure I’ll think of more things that are different here than in Africa as time goes on, but for now, I am just going to relax and enjoy the holidays.  Thank you Tanzania for all of the memories.  It has been absolutely wonderful, and I know that this is an experience I will remember for the rest of my life. 

Leaving Tanzania

Well this is it.  I don’t know if I thought this day would ever come, but it’s finally here.  I leave to go back to America at 10:10 pm tonight.  It’s crazy to think that I can now officially say that I’ve “studied abroad in Africa”.  It seems like just yesterday that we were arriving here in Dar and having our first orientation.  It’s only been 11 days since the program has ended and already I miss everyone.  It’s hard to go from seeing everyone 24/7 to not seeing them at all.  I think we are all going to suffer withdrawal from each other eventually.  We helped the Godde’s leave the other day and it dawned on me that it really is time to go.  I think I am finally ready.  No more bottled water, rice for every meal of the day, or squat toilets.  However, I will miss the wonderful fruit, the people, and of course, the weather.  Today and yesterday have unfortunately been rainy, but other than that, it has been beautiful here.  Highs are usually around 90 with tons of humidity, and the sun is always shining.  I stayed with my parents last night at the Whitemark Hotel and it was nice to be spoiled for once (air conditioning, a real bed, a flush toilet).  But at the same time, it was hard to see them go.  Our planes arrive in Chicago at the same time, but they have a 20 hour layover in Turkey and had to depart Dar earlier than me.  I missed my parents, of course, during the course of the program, but I think that now it is so hard to watch them leave after spending so much time with them.  I’m excited to go home, but also slightly nervous.  I’ve heard that the transition home is sometimes difficult, only because people don’t expect it to be difficult at all.  I can’t even imagine having a pantry or drinking water from the tap.  Also, there is a small little holiday just around the corner called Christmas.  Of all times to be going home, I get to come home right in the middle of Christmas.  It’s going to be crazy.  Thankfully, I have done all my shopping here in Tanzania, but part of me doesn’t even want to have Christmas.  I don’t really need anything (well, except new underwear since all of mine is being thrown away here in Tanzania) and I don’t really want to be around a ton of people obsessing over trivial gifts.  On the other hand, I am excited to be with my extended family, and to reunite with many of my friends.  I’m not sure if winter break will go by fast or not.  I fear not having enough time to reconnect with everyone.  I am also afraid that the busy American lifestyle will be a little hard for me to cope with.  For 4.5 months I have been here in Tanzania where everything and everyone moves so slowly.  They don’t have to be anywhere or do anything.  Yet Americans seem exactly the opposite-always going and always doing.  I am sitting here typing this in the cafeteria.  I have just eaten my last meal here (rice and beans…plus there were a few rocks in there).  It’s going to be strange adapting to a new eating pattern.  Right now I am so used to eating three HUGE meals (you should see the amount of rice they give you here) and never snacking, however, I’m sure that is about to change. 

Overall, I’m so glad that I did this program.  I just can’t get over the fact that I’ve spent four months here.  It certainly doesn’t feel like it.  I have met a wonderful group of young individuals and have shared some meaningful conversations with many of them.  I know that I have definitely changed and grown as a person, however, I think it will take some time before I actually recognize these changes.  Eventually, I’ll have to reread my blog from the beginning, in order to get a sense of who I was before I came.  I thank you all for taking the time to follow me in Africa.  I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the comments and e-mails.  Happy holidays to all,

Erin

(Look for one more post after I return to the states)

Zanzibar

Well, we made it to Zanzibar!  We took the 9:30 ferry on Thursday and ended up arriving around noon.  We checked into the hotel and then ate lunch at a cute little restaurant down the street.  I had vegetable biriani, Lara had Pilau, and mom had chicken and chips.  Then, we headed off for a guided walking city tour around Stone Town.  I had already been on this tour, but it was cool to hear everything again.  I caught so much more this time around since we weren’t in a huge group.  The tour showed us the old slave chambers, the church, Tippu Tip’s house, Zanzibar doors, and much more.  We all returned to the hotel, hot and sweaty, for a nice shower.  We ate at the seafood market that night and I had a tuna shishkabob and chapatti while mom had a prawn skewer.  We also tried Zanzibarian pizza-a fried pizza with laughing cow cheese, tomato, and egg.  We also had passionfruit juice and fresh pineapple.  By that night, we were all exhausted, so we went to sleep on our lovely air conditioned rooms J. 

Yesterday we got up early and had a breakfast of  fruit, toast, cereal, eggs, and kitumbua.  We met Karen’s family down in the hotel lobby for a dolphin tour.  The drive was quite long (over an hour) but we finally made it to the dolphin beach where we got masks and flippers and headed out in a boat to find dolphins.  After about 30 minutes we spotted a pod of dolphins and got ready to jump.  And just like that, we were swimming with the dolphins!  I LOVE swimming with the dolphins!  This pod was a group of 6 dolphins, and they were quite fast so it was hard to keep up with them.  We snorkeled for a while afterwords and got to see starfish, sea cucumbers, needlefish, parrot fish, angel fish, and lots of coral.  We ate lunch at the lodge and had rice, chips, chapatti, tuna, spinach, and coconut sauce.  It was delicious!  After lunch we drove to the Jozani forest and got to see the red colobus monkeys which live only on Zanzibar.  We returned to the hotel around mid afternoon and I went off to the market while the others showered and rested.  I ended up buying a kanga and some spices.  I got lost a few times in Stone Town, but eventually found my way back.  Last night we ate dinner at the Radha Food House, a wonderful little Indian Restaurant. 

Today we are just going to hang around Stone Town. We don’t have a ton planned but we want to go to the shops and do some shopping and then perhaps go to the beach. 

Mikumi National Park

Monday we departed for our safari!!  Lara and I were a little nervous about making it to the hotel on time, since we had to be there by 8:00 am, but it ended up working out perfectly.  We took a dala-dala to Ubungo and then walked to the hotel, and still had plenty of time to spare.  Our tour company picked us up at the hotel and we were introduced to our driver: Amani.  He was a very nice guy and spoke pretty good English.  The drive took us about 4 hours, but then we drove on a little game drive through the park for another couple of hours.  By the time we got to the lodge it was close to 3:00 pm!  We ate lunch at the lodge (it had such American food, it wasn’t even funny).  We had vegetable pancakes and dad had a burger and fries.  I also got a real salad!  We went on a game drive that afternoon and saw a variety of animals including impala, giraffe, elephant, red buck, bush buck, marabou stork, saddleback stork, hornbill, lilac breasted roller, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, and hippos.  We returned around 7:00 pm and had dinner at the lodge.  I had fish and rice while Lara and mom had beef kebabs and dad had spaghetti.  Lara and I went to sleep in our wonderful lodge (which we had all to ourself) and slept soundly. 

Breakfast the next morning was a huge plate of fruit, toast, and eggs with sausage and bacon.  We left at around 8:30 am and did a game drive until noon when we came back for lunch.  Lunch was tomato soup and a salad for me, a sandwich for mom and dad, and roast chicken for Lara.  We hung out and played cards until 4:00pm when we went on another game drive.  We returned for dinner and then headed off to bed. 

Wednesday morning we woke up super early for an early morning game drive at 6:00 am.  It was the perfect temperature out, not too hot and not too cold!  During the first hour of our game drive, Amani spotted two lions off in the distance and we drove around to get a closer look.  Sure enough, there was a male lion and female lion sitting in the grass.  We watched the lions for about an hour-my dad was so excited to see them!  We continued on with the rest of our drive and then went to breakfast at 9:00 am.  We departed MIkumi National Park at 10:00 and started off back towards Dar.  The drive took longer than usual since we stopped at an ATM and at a woodcarver’s market.  Plus, there was a huge traffic jam!  We didn’t get back to the hotel until around 4:00 pm.  We dropped our stuff at the hotel and went to a little café to eat.   Dad and I had beans and rice while the others had meat and rice.  From there we went to the Godde’s and watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty, which my dad had brought on DVD from the states.  It was weird watching the movies on DVD and in the sweltering heat!  Carla and Zoe stopped by and we said our goodbyes to them (they left that night) and Hani and Lauren also departed.  It was yet another day filled with goodbyes. 

The Family Has Arrived!

Dinner at Addis in Dar

All of the delicious food that my parents brought for us!

The parents have finally arrived!  Friday night was spent partying and saying goodbye to all of the wonderful friends we have made here in Tanzania.  We went to Addis in Dar for dinner and I had a lovely dinner of prawns and spicy chicken with Liz.  It was delicious!  From there, we all headed to the Godde’s house to hang out.  When it came time to say goodbye, we were all so sad and some of us even shed some tears.  I got back to Mama Frida’s house around 12:30 am – just in time for two hours of sleep before picking up my family at the airport in Dar.  It turned out that their flight was delayed so I ended up waiting at the airport for an hour, but it was so good to see them when they finally arrived!  We took a taxi back to the Godde’s house where we met the Kili kids (those who went to climb Mount Kilimanjaro) and gave them the goodies that their parents had sent for them.  By then, it was about 6:00 am and I was exhausted!  Lara and I went to Mama Frida’s and took a nap, which made me feel much better.  At 11:00 am we went back to the Godde’s for our cheese and cracker party!  My wonderful mother brought 5 kinds of cheese, crackers, sausage, peanut butter cookies, scotcheroos, chocolate chip cookies, puppy chow, and candy canes for us since those are foods that we have missed dearly while in Tanzania.  You should have seen how much food there was!  All of the kids came over and we munched on the food for a while.  Afterwords, I gave my parents an introduction to cafeteria food: chipsi mayaii, chapatti, and fruit and then gave them a short tour of campus.  They were amazed by the monkeys.  Hah, remember when I was amazed by the monkeys?  Now they are just as ordinary as squirrels are in Wisconsin.  We went for dinner at Mama Frida’s and Diana cooked us up some rice, beans, meat, chapatti, and spinach.  We brought papaya and cookies for dessert!  By then, I was SO tired, but I had to get my parents to their hotel.  So, I sent them off on a dala-dala and hoped that they actually made it to the hotel. 

Sunday Lara and I took a dala-dala over to the hotel after we had woken up.  We then piled into a dala-dala and headed towards Mwenge.  It was hot today and my family got their first introduction to Tanzanian heat.  We shopped at Mwenge for a couple of hours, looking at wood carvings, clothes, shoes, etc.  Dad bought a pair of leather flip flops and Lara bought a beaded headband.  I think they were a little overwhelmed at all the people!  We went for lunch at the cafeteria and I got to introduce them to Pilau (spiced rice), which my dad loves.  I had the usual rice and peas while Lara and my mom got pasta.  I don’t know what has gotten into me here, but it absolutely drives me crazy to see people leave half-finished plates of food on the table.  Obviously I’ve had a bit more practice at the Tanzanian food system here and know how much food they give you at each meal, but it just kills me to watch my family eat a tiny bit of food off of their plate and then leave the rest to go to waste.  Anyway, the afternoon was spent at the Godde’s hanging out and napping yet again.  We ate dinner at UDASA, a bar on the university campus, and had rice, chicken, and beans.  Lara and I shipped the parents off again to their hotel and we turned into Mama Frida’s.

PEMBA!

Well, it’s been a while again, now, hasn’t it?  Well, Pemba was a wonderful way to end this program.  We travelled by ferry to Zanzibar early Saturday morning and then proceeded by way of another ferry from Zanzibar to Pemba.  The whole trip lasted about 9 hours (5 hours total on the ferries plus layover and bus time).  The way there was pretty terrible only because there was no air conditioning and it was hotter than blazes.  There were about a hundred people packed into one space and we had the sun shining on us the whole time.  Some of us even began to feel light headed.  There was virtually NO air movement at all.  Anyway, we finally got to Pemba and the hotel staff took us out on a boat right away to snorkel.  We went about 45 minutes away to a sand bar in the middle of the ocean where we ate lunch (fish pasta) and had TONS of fruit. They just kept cutting it up!  They had everything from pineapple to mangoes to papaya to watermelon to bananas.  We couldn’t even eat it all!  We swam around the sand bar for a while enjoying the cool water (it was hot out!).  Then, we headed back to the hotel for a shower and dinner.  The hotel was really nice and we had several dorm style rooms.  I shared a room with Siri, Chelsea, Zoe, and Carla.  For dinner we had rice, fish, octopus, kalamari, French fries, salad, veggies, and for dessert: more fruit!  I didn’t try the octopus since I had already had it before and didn’t really like it but I did have kalamari and it was one of the stranger foods I have ever tried-good, but strange. 

The next morning we got up and ate breakfast (tons of fruit again, bread, and eggs).  Then, we headed out to a beach to snorkel and hike.  The snorkeling was pretty good and the reef was really extensive.  My favorite part was swimming in this huge school of minnows.  You could see these minnows for miles!  I also saw lots of starfish, sea cucumbers, angel fish, and coral.  We ate lunch on the island and had rice and beans, and fish curry. The fish curry was so good!  And of course, we had fruit.  We hiked around the island after lunch and got to see some of the caverns on the island.  Then, we headed out on the boat to a spot where we could snorkel and where there are often sea turtles.  We didn’t end up seeing any sea turtles, but hey, what can you expect when you have 20 people thrashing about in the water?  We went back to the hotel in the evening for dinner which was pilau, fish, kalamari, veggies, and French fries. 

Our last whole day in Pemba was spent riding a boat 2.5 hours out to a shipwreck where we snorkeled.  It was really cool seeing the ship underwater.  It had sunk in 1967 and now there is tons of coral on it!  After we got out, it started to rain and soon it was pouring on us.  We were actually a little cold!  We rode back and had lunch (pasta and fruit).  Then, we headed into town to find some flying foxes (fruit bats that inhabit the island).  We were unsuccessful, but did end up watching part of a Tanzanian soccer game.  We hung out the rest of the afternoon and then had dinner: rice, shellfish, crab, fish, veggies, French fries and fruit.  After dinner, the hotel staff made us a fire and we watched a traditional dance.  It was very Tanzanian! 

Yesterday we woke up early to board the ferry and ended up making it back to Dar around 4:00 pm.  Nobody got sick on the boat this time!  Now, I have tons of laundry to do today and really nothing else to fill my day with.  I’ll probably go to the Godde’s house and hang out.  I can’t wait until the parents and Lara get here-only three days left! 
Well, I’ll talk to you later!

Erin

La-Dee-Dah

Well, I haven’t been blogging much since there isn’t much to talk about.  We’ve been doing a whole lot of sitting around lately.  Let’s see, yesterday I woke up, went to the Godde’s, sent some e-mails, went to lunch, went back to the Godde’s, studied a little, watched Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, went back to my homestay, ate dinner, and went to bed.  Eventful, right?  And today, about the only exciting thing I have to report is that we took our final exam in human evolution.  It was sooo easy!  It was all of two sections: each section included two questions and you had to pick one to write about.  Plus, he gave us the questions ahead of time.  It probably took me 20 minutes tops to finish the test.  So, that’s it.  School is done here in Tanzania.  I now officially have nothing to do as my paper and poster are both finished.  I have taken to coloring (although all of my coloring pages are now colored), writing plane letters, proofreading other people’s papers, and just plain sitting around.  It’s crazy to think that there are only 8 days left of this program!  I can’t wait until the family comes so I can show them around. 

 Well, I have nothing else to say, so I'll talk to you in a few days!

Erin

Eggplant and Mango

So I’ve had a little bit of time on my hands here in Tanzania.  And yesterday, after studying, reading, checking my email, coloring, and working on my paper, I officially ran out of things to do.  So, I decided to cook.  I bought some eggplant and garlic and made myself some lovely ratatouille with pasta.  It was delicious!  Plus, it’s kind of exciting because I get to introduce the family to new foods. 

This evening, I just finished making a batch of mango jam.  And let me tell you, I think it’s going to be delicious!  It was incredibly easy: 3 mangoes, 1 c. water, 1.5 c. sugar, 1 tbs vinegar, and a pinch of salt.  Just simmer away until it thickens and voila, jam! 

Today I woke up and did some laundry.  I only managed to wash my underwear since I just didn’t have the motivation to do all of my laundry (it would have taken me hours).   I studied for our human evolution final and read a little.  Then, I went to church with Mama Frida.  We went to the church on campus and it was in all Swahili, but it was amazing how much of it I could understand. I especially liked listening to the choir.  The service was a little long (10:00-12:30) but I enjoyed getting a taste of the Tanzanian culture.  I haven’t heard from Liz or Abby yet, but apparently the church service they went to today goes from 10:00 to 4:00.  How crazy!  I ate lunch at the cafeteria as usual (rice and beans).  It’s really nice to have a communal eating area.  There is always someone from our group at the cafeteria so you never have to eat alone.  Then I went back to the Godde’s and worked on REU applications and my paper.  Again, it’s wonderful to have a communal place to go to.  Most of us go to the Godde’s house to hang out at least once a day, so there are always a ton of people there!  I came back to the house after that and now am helping Diana cook dinner.  We are having rice, leftover eggplant, cabbage, and meat.  This evening Lauren and some others are going to a pizza restaurant in downtown Dar and another group is going to Samaki Samaki restaurant at Mlimani City.  I didn’t really feel like spending money, so I’m just staying in. 

So I know I’ve talked about having so much downtime on the program, but having downtime here is so much different than downtime in the field.  In the field, we were all together.  So even when no one was doing anything, at least you had the company of everyone else.  Here, with our homestays, we are so much more isolated.  I wasn’t homesick at all in Tarangire, but here, I definitely am.  Maybe it’s the fact that the end of the program is so near (less than two weeks!) or maybe it’s just the fact that I get lonely not seeing everyone.  Also, this is random but I never realized how close we are to the ocean.  I understand that Dar is on the coast, but I never realized how close the university was to downtown Dar.  Traffic is so bad in Dar that it usually takes us 40 minutes to get downtown.  But the other day I was running up a huge hill outside campus and when I got to the top, I could see the ocean!  It was mind boggling!  Hah, oh the things you continue to learn here, even after 4 months. 

Hope all is well back home.  Miss you guys!

Erin

Swahili Word of the Day: Embe [EMM-bay] = mango

Happy Thanksgiving

Can I tell you just how weird it is that yesterday was Thanksgiving?  It’s 90 degrees here with a TON of humidity and we are all sweating profusely…and yet they claim that it’s Thanksgiving.  Weird.  Yesterday we took our ecology final in the morning.  It went surprisingly well.   Keep in mind that this is the professor who asked us on the first exam who the authors of our textbook were.  On our final, he only had one random question, so hopefully we all did well!  We will know our grades by the end of the program.  Also, our professor claimed that we needed our student ID’s for the exam and that he wouldn’t let us take the exam without them.  However, my ID had gotten pickpocketed at Mwenge a while back so I no longer had it.  So, the other day, I had to go to the student ID office and ask about getting a new one.  Well apparently it is a long and complicated process which involves going to downtown Dar for a police report, then coming to the UDSM police station to get another police report, going to the Dean’s office to get a signature, paying 10,000 Tsh to the bank, and then finally getting your ID.  Fortunately, I was able to forego some of these steps because I told them I had my exam the next day, but it was still a huge hassle. 

Thanksgiving yesterday was at the Azura health center (think spa on the beach) and was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy.  We got to meet the U.S. Embassador to Tanzania and also got to talk with many other Americans.  It was so weird being in a huge room filled with white people!  The program included speeches by a variety of U.S. Embassy officials as well as a charity raffle.  Zach ended up winning a gift certificate to a produce store while Jen won a night at a hotel for two.  The food was absolutely wonderful and was cooked by several of the Embassy families.  They had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli, corn, rolls, and macaroni and cheese.  And for dessert, they had probably 40 different pies!  Apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, walnut pie, cheesecake, mud pie, cherry pie.  I had mud pie and it was SOOO good.  After dinner a few went swimming in the pool or walked along the beach.  Overall, it was probably the weirdest Thanksgiving I will ever experience in my life, but it was worth it.  I only wish that I were able to be with my family on this wonderful holiday.  I hope that Thanksgiving was spectacular for all of you.  Don’t forget to be thankful for what you have.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned here in Africa, it’s that there are so many things to be thankful for that we don’t often consider.  As for me, I’d like to be thankful for the fact that I have running water, a bed, and a toilet back home in America.   

And as for Lauren, well she is grateful that she didn’t get shanked or killed last night.  All of her things got stolen last night at the beach, so today has been spent cancelling credit cards and filing police reports.  Thankfully, she didn’t have her passport with her, but almost everything else of value got stolen (credit cards, debit cards, cash, camera, phone, etc).  They even stole her shoes and underwear!  Needless to say, today was a major bummer. 

This afternoon I went shopping with Trudy and Colleen at Mwenge for some last minute gift items.  It was sooo hot!  I am sitting here sweating writing this blog.  Anyway, I’m off to play cards at the boys’ house.  Talk to you later!

Erin

Another Day In The Life [Back at the University]

So today was yet another eventful day in the life of Erin Frankson. Hah, we have so little to do right now, it’s not even funny.  This morning I woke up and ate some breakfast.  The cereal I got at the grocery store is delicious! And I even had milk with it.  It’s going to be strange trying to reintroduce my body to dairy.  Plus, my host family served us bananas with breakfast too.  Mama Frida is all worried that Lauren and I aren’t eating breakfast, but we tell her that we eat every day!  She is rarely around when we eat breakfast so most of the time she doesn’t see us.  But, as a result, we are now getting more fruit since she is convinced that we don’t want to eat “Tanzanian” food. 

At 8:30 I met Liz at the Kiswahili Café for an ecology study session.  We stayed there and studied for 3 hours before calling it quits.  Liz happily ate 5 sambusas J  Then I headed to the post office to mail some postcards and proceeded to sit under a tree and read my book before lunch.  I met Liz, Zach, and Abby for lunch at the cafeteria and had rice and peas with pineapple.  We headed separate ways after lunch and I went back to my host family’s house.  I was pretty bored out of my skull.  I ended up watching Jersey Shore on my Itunes since it was the only television show I had.  Apparently I must have downloaded it sometime when it was free on Itunes.  I colored some pictures, cleaned my room, and then braved the heat for an evening run.  It was short and I was drenched in sweat by the time I returned.  I sat in front of the fan in my room for a while just so I could cool off.  I walked over to dorm 3 and took a shower and now here I am, waiting for dinner to be served. 

I listened to music for a while and got a little homesick.  Sometimes there are just certain things like music and television that make you miss home.  I will admit though, I love having the university full of students!  It makes life so much more interesting and I actually feel like I am a part of the university now.  All of the buildings are open whereas before they were closed or abandoned and all of the dorms are completely full.  It’s nice to see so many people! 

Well, it’s off to dinner now.  I think it’s rice and beans and cabbage.  Talk to you later!

Swahili Word of the Day: Chuo kikuu [CHOO-oh kee-KOO] = university

Holy Heatstroke

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

Arusha

Yesterday we went to Mombasa, an archaeological site near Lake Eyasi.  It had huge rock formations and we got to climb all over them!  The view was pretty incredible, and we could see farmer’s fields for miles.  Apparently the rocks had been used as a stone shelter and even had the remains of some pictographs on them.  After Mombasa, we went in search of Lake Eyasi.  We wanted to get close to the lake, but ended up getting stuck in the muck!  The lake has been shrinking since the 1990’s and now it is pretty small.  We were walking on the dried up lake in order to get to the water but it ended up being too muddy to get anywhere.  We returned to camp for lunch and then took a car to a local blacksmith, where we got to see him melt old pipes and metal tools in order to make bracelets, arrows, and other metal items.  It was really neat to see him melt and mold the metal.  We walked back to camp through a scenic pathway that meandered through the marsh and wetland.  It was absolutely gorgeous! Huge trees and lots of greenery.  We had a campfire at camp, but since it was raining slightly, most of us didn’t stay out too long.

This morning we packed up our things and headed to Karatu where we ate lunch at the Guest House once again.  Lunch was a smorgasboard including spaghetti noodles, rice, potatoes, salad, veggies, meat, and bananas.  Then it was a 3 hour drive to Arusha.  We only managed to get two flat tires on the way!  While getting into Arusha, we had the cars stop at Shoprite to pick up some much needed snacks for tomorrow’s 12 hour bus ride.  And now we are safe and sound at the Outpost Hotel in Arusha.  Tonight will be the first night in a month that we have gotten to sleep in real beds!  And we also have hot showers and a tv in our room.  We watched Dora the Explorer and another series called Chase.  Oh the life.  This evening we are eating at an Italian restaurant and many of us are excited for pizza as usual! 

Adios for now, and I hope I survive tomorrow’s bus ride!

Swahili Word of the Day: Tofauti [toe-fah-oo-tee] = different

Lake Eyasi

Camp at the Crater

A view of the crater



Zebras!



Hyena eating a hippo

Today we packed up camp and headed off for Lake Eyasi.  It was chilly as usual in the morning, but we drove down into the crater for a game drive and it warmed up once the sun came out.  The crater is pretty incredible.  I love all of the mountains – it’s such a change of scenery from the rest of Africa.  Ngorogoro Crater National Park is a little different from Tarangire and Serengeti in that it has completely visible boundaries.  Whereas in the Serengeti, you could only see flat land, in the crater you can see from one end of the park to another and its boundaries are clearly delineated by the edge of the crater.  We drove around the crater all morning on safari and saw flamingoes, ostrich, wild pigs, wildebeest, zebras, cape buffalo, guinea fowl, snake eagles, and gazelles.  I was kind of game-drived out, and didn’t find the crater super exciting, but it was cool to see the animals again.  We ate our boxed lunches in the park (carrot and cheese sandwich, cucumber sticks, hard-boiled egg, fried chicken, cake, and crackers.  Then, we journeyed around the park a little more and headed off to Lake Eyasi.  It took us about two hours to get to Lake Eyasi, and the drive was quite beautiful.  Every place we go, it just keeps getting greener and greener!  We are camping at the Lake Eyasi Bush Camp and it is by far the most luxurious looking camp we have been at.  It has cute straw hut pavilions everywhere (rather than concrete ones) and is right on the edge of the swamp so there are tons of trees and foliage.  There is a great breeze flowing through camp, so hopefully that will keep away the mosquitoes (apparently they are bad here).  The temperature is much warmer than the crater and I don’t think I’ll need to bundle up in my sleeping bag tonight in order to keep warm.  Overall, this camp is very nice and it reminds me of a campsite in the states-instead of dessert bushland, we actually have trees and grass.  And plus, our tables our set up outside so we get to eat dinner outside as opposed to in a cramped pavilion.  Tomorrow we go out to see an archaeological site and to meet the local people of the village (they are of a different tribe than the Maasai).  I’ll post as soon as I can!

Erin

Swahili Word of the Day: Mwafaka [mwah-fah-kah] = aggrement (Chelsea picked the word today J )

Oldupai Gorge

Looking out into the Gorge

Walking to the archaeological site in the gorge

Sign showing Mary Leakey's camp one way and Zinj hominid site the other way

Place where Zinj (Anthropithecus Boisei) was found

Shifting Sands

Today we woke up and it was freezing outside! Luckily for us, it warmed up once the sun came out, but it was kind of crazy being able to see my breath outside.  After breakfast we drove about an hour to Oldupai Gorge, the place where the first hominids were discovered.  We visited the museum there and then walked down the path to the site where Mary Leakey’s crew first discovered the Australopithecus Boisei skull, as well as the remains of Homo Habilis.  These remains date back to over 1.75 million years ago!  Additionally, the remains of Homo erectus and Homo Sapiens have been found in the upper layers of Oldupai Gorge.  It was really neat to see the place where humans first evolved!  Dr. Bushozi gave us a lecture on the site and told us about geology and the formation of the Gorge.  It was created by faulting which happened thousands of years ago.  Additionally, water flowed through the gorge at one point and deepened the channels in the gorge. 

While we were at the gorge, I just kept thinking how much Lara would love this!  Apparently, a group from Rutgers University in New Jersey comes every summer to do excavation on the site and uncover more artifacts.  Wouldn’t it be cool to work on that research team?

After lunch we headed to shifting sands, a sand dune in the middle of the Gorge.  I never knew that college kids could have so much fun playing in sand, but we did!  We were rolling around in it, racing up the dune, and digging holes in the black sand.  We were covered from head to toe in sand by the time we were done with it, but it was nice to play for a while. 

We returned back to camp in the afternoon and hung out until dinner.  Tomorrow we leave for Lake Eyasi.  On the way, we will be going through the crater on a game drive and hope to see lots of wildlife. 

Adios!

Erin

Maasai Word of the Day: Oldupai = Sisal [a succulent plant that grows in Africa]

Laetoli

Our Campsite at the Crater



Unpacking Camp



The Laetoli Footprints (now covered in order to be preserved)

Carla with a fossil

Today we left Karatu and headed to Ngorogoro Crater, where we stopped at our campsite and dropped our stuff. The scenery is so much different here!  Tons of acacia trees, lots of green, and beautiful views of the mountains.  The air feels so much more humid compared to Tarangire.  I can already tell that my body doesn't need to drink as much water.  When we got to camp, there were several zebras roaming the campsite and chomping on grass.  It was really neat to see!  So far, the crater is much cooler and wetter than Tarangire.  Average temps are probably 60 degrees, and it has been raining off and on all day.  The clouds hang low over the mountains and it's sometimes difficult to see very far into the distance. 
After we dropped our stuff, we headed to Laetoli, the site where the first hominid footprints were found.  The footprints were made 3.6 million years ago by Australopithecus Afarensis.  3.6 million years ago, there were a series of volcanic eruptions.  It rained on the ash and the ground turned into a mud-like cement, on which the hominids walked.  Then, another volcanic eruption occured, covering the footprings and preserving them.  The footprints were discovered in the 1970's and have since been covered back up to prevent erosion and deterioration.  We also got to see where they uncovered remains of two hominid species.  Littering the ground were hundreds of fossils and bones, and it was really neat to guess what each fossil was a part of.  After seeing the Laetoli site, we headed up to the museum.  There, we ate our boxed lunches (do you know how much we have come to despise boxed lunches?).  The lunches include a butter, cucmber, tomato sandwich on white bread, a hard boiled egg, cold leftover fried chicken, a half an orange, a banana, and a little pack of cookies. We have all decided that Tanzania has a sandwich problem.  They do not understand the concept of a sandwich.  If they would just make us peanut butter and jelly we would be so much happier!
Anyway, we made our way back to the campsite and claimed our tents.  I am typing this, curled up in my sleeping bag because it is quite chilly outside.  It just poured rain and now everything is wet.  Oh how it will be so nice to finallly have a bed again...
Oh, I almost forgot another highlight of the day: finding the Tang store.  Ever since stopping in Karatu 4 weeks ago, we have been in search of powdered Tang since we found it in a store there.  However, not even the western grocery stores in Arusha have it.  So after searching everywhere, we finally returned to the Tang store in Karatu and bought some.  There were some happy students after that!
Anyway, tomorrow is Olduvai Gorge and camping at this campsite again. If I'm lucky, I'll get to post again tomorrow!
Erin
Swahili Word of the Day: Baridi [bar-ee-dee] = cold (used to describe weather, drinks, etc..)

Gibbs Farm

The chairs outside the farm

The view from the farm

Our Lunch!

The path among the coffee plants

Cabbbage and Lettuce

This morning we tore down camp, which was quite a task considering we had about 8 canvas tents plus all of the kitchen supplies, chairs, tables, mattresses, and gear.  We managed to get out of camp around 10:00 am and drove our 4 safari vehicles plus the supply truck to Karatu, about 1.5 hours away.  The drive was really pleasant and we got to drive though the mountains on a beautifully paved road.  I couldn’t believe just how green the landscape was!  The few rainstorms we had must have done wonders for the foliage in the area.  There was even green grass on the ground in some places!

We arrived at the guesthouse in Karatu, dropped our stuff, and hung out for an hour before lunch.  Colleen and I are sharing a room again (of course!) and we discovered that we had a TV in our room! We watched the end of Batman and then loaded up the cars to drive to Gibbs Farm, a tropical rainforest resort just outside of town.  It was like walking into a completely different world!  It was so lush and green, and had tons of dark green foliage.  It reminded me of the rainforest in Costa Rica.  We ate lunch at the farm and it was one of the best meals so far.  It was buffet style and they had spinach salad, cabbage, cooked carrots, beets, pasta salad with sausage, pork with chutney, mashed potatoes, yellow lentils, beans, meat pie, tomato salad, fruit salad, bread, and spinach soup.  And for dessert, they had chocolate mousse, cake, rice pudding, and best of all, rhubarb crumble.  It was so delicious!  Many of us stuffed ourselves full only because we knew we wouldn’t get a meal this good in a long time. 

After lunch, Brennan and I took a walk around the beautiful paths on the farm.  We walked through rows and rows of coffee plants, and it reminded me so much of the Christmas tree farm in our backyard at home.  The landscape looked so similar, and the way the coffee was planted in rows made me think of the pine trees at the farm back home. It really made me homesick to see all the trees and forest.  Hearing the wind in the trees made me miss fall so much! 

When Brennan and I returned to where the group was hanging out, we found out that they had already left to go on a tour of the farm.  After much searching, we finally found the group.  We got a tour of the coffee plantation, the vegetable gardens, the cactus gardens, and the traditional healing clinic.  I loved the part where we got to see and try all of the vegetables and herbs!  They grow cabbage, lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beets, turnips, celery, asparagus, beans, corn, and about a hundred other things.  It was so neat!  They use all the produce from the farm in their kitchen, where they cook meals for their guests.  After the walk, we headed back to the guest house where Colleen and I watched Spiderman.  There’s just something about having a TV available….it’s so comforting.  Normally I’m not one to watch a ton of TV, but here it’s just so nice to escape for a half an hour and not have to think about being in Tanzania. 

Dinner tonight is at our guest house and should be typical Tanzanian food: rice, French fries, beans, chicken, fruit, etc.  Then tomorrow we head to Laetoli to see the famous Laetoli footprints (the first footprints ever found, and evidence for the emergence of bipedalism in humans).  We camp overnight at the rim of the Ngorogoro Crater and then tour the crater the following day.  It’s nice to finally have a change of pace! 

That’s all for now, take care J

Erin

Swahili Word of the Day: Shamba [shahm-bah]=farm