Bittersweet

I have not written in forever! The truth is life has become normal here, and I have somehow fell into a routine (oh we are such creatures of habit). I wake up a 6:15 everyday and go for a walk before chapel at 7:30. We go to work in the library from 9-1:30 getting the library books cataloged and class book sets ready for use. I spend my afternoons doing stuff on the computer for people around the college.

The whole month of September I worked on several power points. We actually did 5 power points for the DCT Bishop, no pressure or anything he’s just the BISHOP. I’ve learned to cook and actually enjoy it, especially baking brownies and banana bread. I make homemade yogurt from fresh milk delivered by a young boy from his family’s Shamba (farm). Life is simple and I enjoy reading everyday. I highly recommend the book The Secret Life of Bees which I read in two days. Occasionally we watch movies on the projector or go to town for dinner at the Dodoma hotel. Overall I have really enjoyed slowing down and getting back to the basics, and the many of the things I have neglected the past few years. Of course now I am itching for a new challenge!

Don’t get me wrong there are several wonderful moments that take my breath away reminding me that I am in a culture so very, very different from my own comfortable U.S lifestyle. Lacy and I spent one Sunday at St. John’s church in Msalato village for a thanksgiving service. It was in thanksgiving for a new wheelchair donated to a girl my age that crawled around her whole life. She had cerebral malaria at a young age; while normally this should have been cured there was not a means of doing so around the rural area in which she lives. What was so amazing was her joy in life, her smile was incredibly contagious, and her appreciation was overwhelming. It was wonderful to be apart of such a special day in this young woman’s life. Even though the family had been through so much, not just the struggle of a daughter, they welcomed us into their home. We were fed the best ugali (cornmeal stuff), and given our first traditional Gogo dish Malenda, which is made from pumpkin leaves and okra. It was so much fun eating with my hands, rolling the ugali in my palm and dipping it into the malenda, while trying to avoid a huge mess from the long gooey, gummy, sticky string that pulls up from the malenda dish after the ugali has scooped it up.

About three weeks ago on a Friday our phone was stolen out of the library. There is a saying “No good deed goes unpunished.” We were so down after that, we felt so vulnerable and angry that we were volunteering spending tons of money and someone at the college steals our phone. That same Friday, we had plans to go into town and learn to cook Chapatis and Ugali at Isaac’s house with Darius. After our phone was stolen all Lacy and I wanted to do was pout and lock ourselves in our house. Well thank god we decided that we needed to keep our commitment to Darius because it was one of the best nights I have had here. When we got there they had everything ready. They explained how to cook with charcoal. It was like we were at a real cooking class, it was so cute! After we finished making everything we all sat around and ate it with our hands out of community bowls, which is the traditional way of eating, no colonial plates or silverware. That night we went to Kelly’s house for dinner, pizza and brownies, and we had a dance party! I loved looking around the room seeing ex-pats from all over the world: U.S.A, France, Italy, New Zealand, and Tanzania singing and dancing. I thought again, this must be what heaven is like.

That Sunday I woke up at 5:30 to watch the play by play of the BAMA v. UGA game. I cheered silently so I wouldn’t wake up Lacy. Then I got back into to bed angry, couldn’t sleep so I went to the early church service to calm my nerves. That same day I got to read a passage from Acts at the cathedral. At Chapel the following Tuesday I got to read again. I really liked reading and I hope to find a Church at home where I can participate in the service.

The week before our “holiday,” we finished our power points, finished our work in the library and spent our Thursday night with Carol at the MAF compound. We were glad when Thursday finally came because that meant we were going on our trip to Victoria Falls. That Thursday we spent the afternoon relaxing at the pool, eating a yummy dinner, watching the moon rise over the Dodoma air strip, and doing some old school aerobics. We hit the road early Friday morning to head to Dar Es Salaam with Tim and Carol. The drive was long, but we stopped half way for morning tea because they packed tea and biscuits for the road. Got to love the Brits, the English can’t leave home with out their tea.

When we got to Dar it was much less intimidating then when we arrived in July. It felt so Western; I think we were in culture shock. Especially when we had lunch at SUBWAY, we almost forgot we were still in Africa. Actually the whole time we were in Dar we didn’t feel like we were still in Africa. We stayed at a nice Italian guest house with hot water and A.C., and ate dinner at a nice area called Sea Cliff which reminded me of Destin. Saturday we spent the whole day at White Sands Hotel by the pool over looking the Indian Ocean; this was a day of luxury all for the price of $2. The best part about the whole day was when we ran into the Korean guy from language, a small world even in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania! That night we had dinner at SPURS, which a South African chain, a cheesy version of Outback but not as good. We spent Sunday morning at Slipway, which is on outdoor shopping area with a market and the famous tingatinga paintings, before catching our flight to Lusaka, Zambia.

When we arrived in Lusaka, I really thought we left Africa. It is amazing how many South African chains like Shop Rite (their version of Walmart) and Spurs are present in so many cities. All the roads in Lusaka were paved by the Japanese. Talk about globalization. We stayed that evening at ChaChaCha backpackers, not exactly the nicest place but for one night and $12 I was not complaining. Lacy and I met some really cool South Africans who were working for a company called Mapit just driving around exploring the Southern and Eastern region of Africa. Ironically the South African vs. U.S.A. rugby game was on, who knew we had a national rugby team?

We spent the whole next day on a bus to Livingston. When we finally arrived we were so sick of sitting we walked all the way to Faulty Towers Hostel where we were staying the next few nights. We ate dinner at Rite Pub and Grill, which was only place we ate the rest of the trip. Our second day there we got up early to see the sunrise over the Victoria Falls, and sadly we missed it. We first went to the Zambia side and then to Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe side had a better view. Victoria Falls is absolutely one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Every step we took along the path was more and more beautiful. I loved getting sprayed with the water from the Zambezi River while being surrounded by a light show of several vivid rainbows. After viewing the falls we went to Victoria Falls hotel for tea and scones which was a perfect ending to our excursion. When we got back to Zambia we went to the Livingston museum, which I highly recommend, because it gave us a better understanding of the areas history.

The next day we got up super early for our Chobe National Park Safari. We drove to the Zambia border on the Zambezi River; this river is in the middle of 4 countries: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. Everyone gets across the border from Zambia to Botswana by boat, even tractor trailers are taken across by ferry, and we were told that there should be a bridge by 2010. When we crossed the border to Botswana we had to walk on chemicals to prevent the spread of hoof and mouth disease, I was fascinated by this. What really impressed me was Botswana’s HIV/AIDS awareness; they had billboards and condom dispensers. I was happy to see that a country with such a high HIV/AIDS population was being proactive in combating the issue.

The Safari was amazing; we were on a boat the first half of the morning on the Chobe River, which is the river that runs between the Botswana and Namibia border. We got to see a few new animals and over 30 different bird species, which started my new love for bird watching. Overall the Safari was very successful, and I especially enjoyed observing the behavior of elephants.

We spent the last few days of our holiday traveling back to Dodoma. First the long bus ride to Lusaka. Then we stayed over night at ChaChaChas again. Then flew to Dar, stayed over night, drove six hours before finally getting back to Dodoma. Traveling in Africa is a pain, and we were glad to be home.

Now I have 12 days left in Tanzania. The idea of leaving is bittersweet. We are wrapping up our projects here and beginning to make arrangements for our trip to Zanzibar. When I talked about leaving Msalato Friday with some faculty I almost cried. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here. Deciding to take 6 months off after college was one of the best decisions I could have made. I have seen and experienced things I might never have experienced. I have a couple weeks left, and I am still waiting to be enlighten with my destiny, but I have learned that not knowing is so much more fun.