Rainy Day

A mama monkey and her baby

Pulmeria

Sisal

Bouganvillea

Both today and yesterday have been quite rainy.  Now keep in mind that when I say rainy, I mean that it rained on and off for maybe a total of 4 hours each day.  Today marks only the fourth day that we have seen rain here in Tanzania.  Since it is the dry season, things haven’t been too wet around here!  We are used to practicing Swahili in our small groups outside, and the rain makes it difficult to do so, but other than that, we aren’t bothered too much by the rain.  Our Swahili professors were complaining that it was so cold today!  (I think it was probably 78 degrees).  And although the rain hasn’t affected our classes, the electricity sure has!  For the past two days, the power has gone out during out human evolution and ecology classes.  This is all fine and dandy, except for the fact that both of our professors teach via powerpoint and can’t use a projector when the power is out.  So, we have had to reschedule some classes and do some extra work in order to make up for it. 

I have a few random things I’ve been meaning to talk about, and I think I will mention them here.  First of all, the other day, we saw the hugest rat ever!  It was probably at least 8-10 inches long with a huge tail.  Apparently, they have an animal here that is a cross between a rat and a mouse.  And speaking of animals, today during our Swahili class break, we saw a whole group of monkeys outside our classroom (that’s typical) but they had a whole bunch of babies! They were adorable and we even got to see one nursing.   And the last thing I would like to mention is that Tanzanians do not have a word for “love”.  The closest thing that have is the word “like”.  I think that is the reason that many Tanzanians say “I love you” to foreigners in English.  They just don’t fully understand the meaning of love. 

Anyway, I’m sitting here writing this while I finish my dinner – a delicious plate of wali na bamia (rice and okra).  Surprisingly, I am not getting too sick of rice here.  It’s actually kind of nice to have a reliable dish that is served to you every day.  No thinking about what to eat or what to make, just eat what they give you and that’s it.  My mom was asking me what the prices were like here and so I thought I would share that with you.  Breakfast I eat in my room and I usually have cereal (I bought it at the grocery store at the mall for about $4) and a banana (I usually buy one at the cafeteria-they have a local fruit guy who comes and sells fruit for 5 cents).  Lunch is at the Kiswahili Café and typically costs about $1.50.  I typically get rice and beans or rice and okra.  Sometimes I will bring some food from the cafeteria for lunch and just eat it cold.  And then dinner is at the cafeteria and costs about 50 cents for a plate of rice and okra.  You can also get fried plantains, French fries, omeletes, and chipsi mayai (an egg omelet with French fries) at the cafeteria.  We snack on items that we buy at the Hill Park Store on campus, which has everything!  We all have peanut butter and jelly in our rooms, and I also have bread, honey, and crackers.  Yesterday I splurged and bought a yogurt at the grocery store!  Today I was talking with Jen about homestays and she said to me, “it will be so nice to live in a house…I can actually buy milk and put it in the fridge!”.  We are all very excited for homestays and are looking forward to eating some more traditional African food.  I just found out that my homestay will be with Lauren (from Beloit College) and we are in a house on the same road as our dorm.  The owner of the house is an education professor here on campus.  I am looking forward to it…only one more week until we move in!  Oh how this program is going so fast.  Tomorrow is our official one month anniversary – we will have been in Tanzania for exactly 31 days.  It’s crazy to think that I spent a month in Ecuador.  How in the world did I manage to leave after just one month?  I get so sad just thinking about having to leave now. 

We have begun to write our research proposals for our projects in the field and I am planning on addressing the effects of termites on soil properties in Tarangire Park.  Next week we are still in the dorms and will continue with our classes.  The following week we move into our homestays and finish classes.  And then the week after that is our break!  I’m still hoping to go to the Usambara Mountains during break to hike and explore some of the markets there.  I think a bunch of us want to go there together. 

Well, I had better go and study something.  I have so much to memorize between ecology, human evolution, and Swahili.  Lucky for me that 70% is an A here!  Talk to you all later.
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Erin