Shwari Kama Bahari

Zion: the Promised Land

2010-11-27T20:50:00.001-08:00

Zion Campsite in the village of Olasiti was our home for four weeks while we were in the field. We had a tent village of our own, and a mess hall where we played a lot of euchre and other card games to pass the time. Anthropology students usually went to interview every day for a couple of hours. Biology students could only visit the park every other day because we had to share a car, so we had a lot of down time. We spent a good portion of our free time hanging in the Olasiti Transit Bar, which made a small fortune on the volume of sodas we bought. When I was stuck at camp I was usually pretty bummed about not being in the park, but the days when I could go were so extraordinary!
I completely changed my research project idea once I got to the park, to better accommodate working with the rest of the group and the limited access we had. I studied elephant herbivory of baobab trees near the river and far from the river. Basically I was measuring how fat each baobab tree was and then counting up the damage from elephants. The biggest tree I measured was 20m! Several times elephants interrupted our data collection and we had to hurry back to the safety of the land rover. We became each other’s “research assistants”. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience Tarangire by exploring on foot and spending many days there to the point where I didn’t need a map to orient myself.
Some of the cooler experiences from Tarangire were seeing a group of cheetahs kill an impala, having our vehicle rammed by a buffalo, finding hippos in the river, the staggering amount of elephants, and a BIG elephant skeleton.

Into the Wild

2010-11-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

The roads were mostly pitted dirt from here on out. But in contrast the camping was the most luxurious I have ever encountered. The Nyayo staff were such great people too – they enjoyed chatting with us and were very helpful. It was fun getting to know them really well throughout the six weeks of travel and research. They cooked great meals too!
Lake Manyara and Serengeti were the parks we traveled to before our stay at Tarangire. Manyara was stunning with the huge, mirror-like expanse of the alkaline lake as backdrop to our first giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, etc. I remember how overwhelming those first encounters were – little did we know, there was so much more to come! Animals give no regard to the presence of vehicles. Often during safari elephants would brush by close enough to reach out and touch! Serengeti exceeded all the hype and expectations I had. Plains as far as you can see with no fences, people, cows . . . and unbroken herds of zebra, gazelles, wildebeest, etc. We had many exciting close encounters with lions, and even saw several lion cubs. At night we camped in the heart of the park with no fence between us and the hyenas that stalked the camp at night. The night animal sounds were simultaneously hauntingly beautiful and absolutely terrifying. Hyenas calling, constantly, and you hope that you never hear them laugh because that means they are closing in on a kill. A pride of lions roared every night and I remember hearing lots of zebras too (probably being hunted). This may be a little melodramatic, but I was always relieved when the sun rose again, affirming that I had survived another night to drink chai while watching giraffes walk by our camp.

Fall Break in the Usumbara Mountains

2010-10-11T04:35:00.000-07:00

I traveled with my intrepid friends Abby, Mat, and Noah to the Usumbara Mountains in Northern Tanzania. The first few days were spent at Irente Farm, which was also a conservation reserve, several kilometers outside of Lushoto. I could definately feel the altitude there and the weather was actually cold at night. I am not exaggerating when I say that this farm was idyllic - every morning we had coffee "plungers", cheese and fresh baked bread, "quark", fresh milk, and veggies; all of the food was from the farm. We also could hike to the rainforest from the farm, and saw colobus monkeys and many, many chameleons. One was tight-rope walking across a telephone line, obviously to impress the ladies hiding in the trees.
We took an uncomfortably cramped and hot bus ride to Amani Nature Reserve for the second half of break, and our bus was so tightly packed that we had to jump out the window to exit! The next day we hiked aimlessly through the rainforest, and ended up in this small town at the top of a mountain. We met a man there who recognized us from the bus ride the day before - "I remember you! You jumped out of the bus window!" - and he was kind enough to show us around the area, including teaching us that you can eat young cinnamon bark straight from the tree, and it tastes really good! We also picked up a pet dog, Bwana Nyama the yellow lab, and unsuccessfully tried to barter him to school children and couldn't even ditch him by throwing chapati and running into the rainforest! He turned out to be a pretty chill dog though, and accompianied us on our river excursions. He survived falling down a pretty substantial waterfall on one occasion.
The rainforest was very different from the Western Usumbaras, it was a warmer, more constant temperature and the flora and fauna were completely different. I felt like I was an ant compared to the enormous bamboo, palms, and strangler fig trees. It was an incredbly beautiful forest with a stunning diversity of insects - we found giant millipedes over eight inches long! There were monkeys everywhere too, and lots of birds although they were very difficult to find in the thick canopy. Every afternoon we went swimming in the river to cool off after our hikes. There were lots of beautiful waterfalls and crazy vines.
Now the whole group is in Arusha, trading stories from break and getting ready to go to the field. We are heading to Lake Manyara first and then Serengeti before ending up in Tarangire. As this is the last time we will be in a major city for six weeks, I have been taking advantage of a nearby coffee shop that has really good ice cream shakes and cake.

Last weekend in Dar

2010-09-27T22:33:00.001-07:00

I had a fantastic weekend to celebrate the completion of the first draft of my research proposal! Together with a group of friends I took a dhow to Sinda, an uninhabited island off the coast of Dar. Our group were the only people there the whole day. We all showed our inner biologist when checking out the tide pools. Our intrepid guide picked up brittle stars and even crabs for us to see. I have never seen so many varieties of starfish and crabs in one place! Seeking shade in some sea caves was like balm in the heat of the afternoon. After walking around the whole island we had a picnic lunch with CHEESE sandwiches. You have no idea how precious cheese is unless you are completely deprived of it for several months. The snorkeling was great too, but also I have noticed that every reef is very different from the others. This time I finally saw an octopus (Sam saw cuttlefish), many lionfish under ledges, and a sea cucumber the size of a body pillow, no joke. I am fascinated by sea cucumbers and I can’t quite place why, except perhaps just because of their oddity.
Afterwards we chilled on the south beaches and Abby and I went on an eventful walk. A Masai man was leading his herd of cows along the surf up the beach. The funniest part was we hardly blinked an eye at the appearance of cows on the beach, because animals seem to just run around everywhere in Africa.
We visited the slipway for dinner and had cheese again (pizza)! Also, the best ice cream in Dar is at the slipway, in case you are ever in the neighborhood. Sailing, marine life, beach, cheese x2 = good day.
I’m starting a list of authentic Tanzanian experiences
1. If it is a beach, it has a dead puffer fish on it. Somewhere.
2. Toilet paper is a marker of tourist hotspots.
3. Daladalas defy the concept of maximum carrying capacity (k).
4. Scheduled meeting time is more like a guideline than a rule.

I really enjoy my host family. I live with an older woman and a girl who assists her with cooking and cleaning. I enjoy talking with them because they are very expressive and they also are patient with my broken Swahili! Some of my goals for the home stay are to learn how to cook African food and to improve my Kiswahili immensely.
I visited my Kiswahili professor’s house with my class tonight. I really appreciate how far she travels to teach us after traveling to her house, because she lives almost two hours away by daladala! She has a young daughter who provided hours of entertainment, and I enjoyed talking about Tanzanian culture. I could see that her family is quite well off, but I still am amazed by how much more Americans have than Tanzanians. Even poor people in Oklahoma have more possessions and bigger homes than well-off people here. Nearly everyone has air conditioning, a fridge, and water safe to drink straight out of the tap. I feel like I have so much extra baggage with me, and even more useless stuff at home.

Zanzibar

2010-09-21T05:47:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the group trip to Zanzibar – where to begin! I enjoyed the much needed break from classes. We have only two more weeks studying at the University before moving out to the field, which means I have to write my research proposal ASAP. This was a chance to get to experience another facet of Tanzanian culture. Zanzibar’s population is nearly one hundred percent Moslem, so the dress code is very strict. I made a mistake there before the trip even began! I only realized once I was on the ferry that the shorts I was wearing are frowned on in Zanzibar. Fortunately I had a kitenge with that I could put on over my shorts, but it was just another example for me of my own foreign cultural norms that I have always taken for granted.

The ferry ride to the island was really chill. You can only imagine how many “I’m on a boat . . .” references were made. We left right at sunrise, and as the ferry cut across the water flying fish disturbed by the wake would zoom into the air! The water in the Indian Ocean is stunningly blue; I never cease to be amazed by the true intensity of the color.

We stayed at a hotel in Stone Town, the old historic section of Zanzibar. The layout of Stone Town is a maze of narrow streets, tiny shops and mosques. Exploring the winding streets reminded me a lot of Toledo, Spain. I have a dangerous affiliation for these maze-like cities because there is so much mystery hidden among the alleys. Every corner you turn presents you with new surprises and snapshots of the local people. I have a good sense of direction so I don’t get lost – except one morning when some friends and I got caught in a downpour and I would rather have not lost my way. We were taking pictures at sunrise and at the beach saw storms coming in. We headed back towards the hotel, but were not fast enough. It rained so hard that I could hardly see, and within two minutes the streets of Stone Town had transformed to rivers. Because there are no drains, all the water runs off the roofs and funnels down the streets. By the time we found the hotel, the rain had turned to drizzle and we were completely soaked. It was such an exciting adventure!

At night the boardwalk down by the harbor transforms from a peaceful little park to a food eating extravaganza. I ate so many mishikaki (skewers) and good seafood! The best was the tuna and red snapper, but I also ate octopus – suckers and everything. They also made this really good drink from freshly milked sugarcane, ginger, and lime juice. I was really overwhelmed by the atmosphere but went again the next night for Zanzibar pizza with nutella and mango. I met a local (Zanzibarian?) who was really interesting to talk to. We talked for over an hour comparing the US and Tanzania, practicing Kiswahili, and just talking about what he does for a living. He works three jobs: a cook at the food fest, his uncle’s shop, and laying cement. Unfortunately I have forgotten his name, but he was really interested in what kinds of fish we catch in the US. I had a lot of fun trying to explain in broken Swahili what a catfish is.

We met with a fisheries ecologist early one morning. I was so inspired by her lecture – she manages about five different projects, pursuing whatever she finds interesting or urgent at the time. Her projects are so cool – working to establish a pearl farming industry, studying dolphins, the effects of development-induced beach erosion on coral reefs, etc. Our group took a tour to the spice farms in the island’s interior. It was completely different from my visions of ordered rows of bushes and vines. The farm was a jumbled forest of cinnamon, cacao, coffee, black pepper, etc. trees with vanilla vines draped all over among the cardamom and ginger plants. It was a lot of fun to taste and smell all variety of spices. I learned that the Moslems use nutmeg as an aphrodisiac at ceremonial events. Their beliefs don’t allow them to drink alcohol, so instead they eat cloves of nutmeg and become drunk from the spice. After the tour we had a special meal prepared with all the good spices that we had seen that morning, plus a fruit tasting where I tried jackfruit, which tastes like a cross between pineapple and banana and looks like a diseased brain. We visited a forest with endemic red colobus monkeys at the conclusion of our day. The monkeys were quite entertaining, as they had no fear of people and thus showed no inhibition in landing on branches right above our heads or just sitting on the ground right in front of you!

The last morning of our stay we all went snorkeling on a reef by Prison Island. The fish diversity at this reef was fantastic, as were the corals and clams. These reef fish are mind-bogglingly brilliant in their coloration and weird in physiology. I feel like I posses a great secret when I explore a reef and discover the amazingly colorful world hidden beneath the ocean. Reefs make dry land seem as monotonous as black and white. On the ride back to Zanzibar our boat driver hit a gigantic ferry! We were going full steam ahead towards port, and we noticed that this large ferry was on a course intersecting with our own. As we got closer I began to think that we were definitely not going fast enough to beat it, nor were we turning enough to avoid it. At the last minute the driver slammed the boat into reverse, but it was too late. We hit the side of the ferry dead on and scraped painfully along the entire boat length. I am still baffled by the fact that in the entire ocean, we had to hit a ferry – the largest possible obstacle out there! Nobody was harmed, neither was our boat although there is now a nice long scratch in the blue hull of that ferry. Crazy.

Time to hunker down and finish my research proposal to prepare for Tarangire!

Bagamoyo and Kawe

2010-09-14T03:49:00.000-07:00

Our entire class took a trip out of Dar to Bagamoyo, a town that used to be the major port for slave exports from the African mainland to Zanzibar. There was a lot of Arabic influence, shown by the architecture of the mosque ruins, elaborate mausoleums, and existing buildings. The best part was getting to visit an archeological dig site at the end of the day. Success rate for finding artifacts is really low. I saw really cool bugs when we were walking around out in the field. There was a large praying mantis that looked just like a branch, and there were also a lot of ant lions. Those are really freaky, because when you stick a piece of grass in their “funnel” then they leap out and attack it! The long bus ride to and from Bagamoyo provided good bird watching opportunities.
Sunday I went to Kawe beach with some friends. It was sunny and hot - a perfect day to be at the beach. We crashed at this hotel that was frequented exclusively by sporty British couples and their kids. Every hotel has Masai guards, because they are all trained warriors. All the Masai carry a sword under their belt, even when they are walking around Mwenge or downtown Dar. The coolest thing we saw there was visiting fishermen who were hauling in their catch. We waded out to their boat and I got to hold the different types of sea creatures. Squid that were as long as my arm, lobsters, jellyfish, and many other types of fish unknown to me. I wasn’t slacking at the beach – I was practicing my Kiswahili and learning about culture!
Later we went to Mwenge and bought twelve mangoes to eat back at the dorm. The man selling them was taken aback by the quantity – “are you sure you want twelve?” I was able to barter them down to a good deal because we bought so many. They are sooo good if you crush them inside the skin until they are liquefied and then drink the juice from a hole in one end. Got Passionfruit too - it is so good, it tastes like perfume smells!

Wildlife

2010-09-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

This week has been a good week for wildlife watching. One of the best spots on campus has proven to be the "precipice" on the fourth floor. This week two hornbills have been hanging out in the ficus tree outside the dorm. They are beautiful birds! I also saw an enormous white vulture fly right overhead the other day, and in the evening a giant owl roosted in a nearby tree. So cool! Please excuse my abuse of the words awesome, huge, beautiful, etc. but all of these birds really are something else.
We were playing euker on the precipice and saw a baboon pick up a discarded one liter water bottle and tip it up to drink out of it!
Yesterday I went to Mikani beach with some friends. It is one of the south beaches, at a private campground that was really nice. Lots of trees and hammocks, no vendors allowed (at the free beach they come down on you in swarms). Yesterday was the muslim holiday Eid, the end of the Ramadan fast. On the ferry ride to Mikani via Kigamboni I was able to have a conversation in Swahili with a very cheery Muslim man. The bartender at the beach was also impressed that we spoke Swahili, especially when asking where the "msalani" was (it's the polite way to say "bathrooms"). He was so thrilled. "Msalani!! The white people never say msalani!"
The shells this time were the best yet! Speaking of shells, Elizabeth this story is for you:
Last time we went to the beach, my friend Linnea brought back several nice shells and left them on her desk to dry. The next morning, one of the shells was missing, and there was a thin trail of sand leading from the shell pile to the edge of the desk. She brought back a shell that had a hermit crab living in it! So we kept him as a pet for a week, and brought him back to the beach yesterday to return him to the wild. Later in the afternoon Mat found this amazing shell - I have never seen one so beautiful before! Turns out there was a hermit crab living in that one too! When we got back to campus we pulled it out with tweezers.

2010-09-06T21:36:00.001-07:00

I really have been enjoying Kiswahili class, especially when it is this intense because I feel like we progress quickly. I can now read many of the signs at bus stops (or the aphorisms written on the daladalas) and also found that campaign signs are pretty easy to read too. So I have these lines of propaganda running through my head all day . . . “Chagua Kikewe, a man of the people”, etc. We have a small class of four people so it makes for great discussion. We have interesting conversations not just in Kiswahili but also enlightening discussions about cultural differences between Tanzania and the U.S.
I enjoy walking around in my African kangas. The concept is basically like wrapping a bathtowel around your waist, except here it’s okay to wear that out in public. Here wearing clothes is all about the colorful patterns, not about shape.
In the evenings I enjoy hanging out with friends on our “balcony”, which is really just a landing for the fire escape. But it provides a great vantage point over campus and we play cards while singing to guitar or just talking.

Weekend Two

2010-09-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday is unofficially beach day, so yesterday we went to Coco Beach, the local public beach. A large reef one hundred yards offshore creates huge waves that were a blast to ride inner tubes on! I ended up swallowing a lot of seawater but the thrill of wave surfing made me definitely want to come back again. However the fact that we were wazungu caused us to be swarmed by locals trying to sell us things or just hanging out around us (that I don’t mind). Farther up the beach there are a network of lava cliffs and sea coves that were fascinating to the biology students in our group. We were also ninja-ambushed by a large blue crab. Mat found what looked like a blue rock that possibly was alive, and after prying at it with his flipflop this creature suddenly burst out of the sand, claws snapping and in the attack pose. It was shocking and at the same time really hilarious, because crabs have this burlesque intensity that makes it hard for me to take them seriously. The coves had lots of sea urchins and I saw an eel. When I envisioned Africa before this trip I never could have imagined such a beautiful coastline!
On the return from the beach we got to ride in the coolest daladala in Dar – it’s bright purple, has a big fin on the back, and has “protected by the blood of Jesus” painted on the front. I have wanted to take it ever since the first morning it passed me while I was running. When we saw it in Mwenge we literally ran cheering to the bus! I think it took the drivers off guard, but they were amused. We were waaay too excited about our ride.
Late last night half a dozen of us and Emmanuel and Hamida, two Tanzanian students that we like to hang out and travel with, took us to a club in Sinza. We didn’t actually arrive until 11:00, but the club was practically empty! I was disappointed at first because we were the only people on the dance floor, but around midnight/12:30 a whole lot of Tanzanians began to arrive. Tanzanians don’t dance at all like Americans: they use very controlled and minimalist movements because they are going for endurance – they keep dancing all night into the wee hours of the morning! We danced until 2 am . . . we can sleep in Sunday morning because the group excursion to Makumbusho (a living history museum) isn’t until early afternoon. So, yeah, Dar has some intense night life going on.

2010-09-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

Everything is bigger in Africa! Trees, bugs, animals, servings of beans and rice, etc. After class today we found a giant millipede. Walking when you have that many legs really is an art. I went with some friends to Mwenge on a photography expedition that was semi-successful. We played pool with the locals back behind the chicken cages and practiced our Kiswahili. We are also planning to have a party next week, so we had to think about what we needed to buy.
Mat and I went on a night-walk in search of bush babies that live in the trees around the ACM house. Walking back from the cafeteria after dinner we always hear them shrieking like deranged children, but never have flashlights with. Today we went prepared! The headlamp we used has an incredibly powerful light that illuminates a 180 degree radius and probably could be used on a runway to direct planes for landing. First on the night walk I saw a giant slug just slinking down the road. After being led on and taunted a bit, we did finally spot a bush baby and got a good look at it. Their eyes are eerily bright in the headlamp light.

Bartering at the Markets

2010-09-02T06:03:00.000-07:00

This week I visited Kariakoo, an enormous market close to downtown Dar that sells everything under the sun. It was recommended to me by my Kiswahili teacher as a good place to shop, and was not as touristy as Mwenge market (which is close to campus). She was right - there were incredible amounts of kangas and colorful clothing, as well as lots of produce, electronics, motorbikes, etc. The sheer volume of goods at the market was overwhelming. There were shops crammed in every corner. In some alleyways there was only room for people to walk single file, but there were clothing shops tucked in along both sides. I began to wonder: who buys all this stuff?? It seems to me like there are way more things for sale than potential buyers, and in a place where people don't have much money it seems like there wouldn't be capital to spend on things at the market. There definately are not enough tourists to turnover the inventory. We were the only wazungu that I saw at the marketplace. I bought some colorful fabric that I plan on trading with others on the trip and making kangas with it.
We also took a trip to Mwenge to practice bartering for Kiswahili class. It was fun to go out and use our practical classroom skills in the marketplace! I managed to barter a chicken down to 8,000 tsh, but unfortunately did not have a place to keep it back in the dorm . . .
I also have obtained many mystery bites on my hands that look a lot worse than they feel. We suspect that they are perhaps bug bites. Definately not mosquitos, though there are plenty of those around.
Last night a group of Mozambique students gathered outside our dorm to sing. They were really good! It was so cool to be serenaded by african music!

Weekend Adventure!

2010-08-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

Today Allison, Linnea, Mat and I took an adventure to a marine reserve on an island on the north of Dar called Mbudya. It was really exciting to set out to find this place armed only with the travel guide. After taking the daladala from Mwenge to Kundiche (against the travel guide’s advice) we rode on a bajaji to the beach. The four of us fit only when we layered up on each other’s laps, and the experience was equivalent to riding a go-kart/lawnmower. We tried to follow signs that advertised boat rides, but the road just sort of ended at this deserted beach with a couple of abandoned fishing boats. So we hopped off and commenced walking down the beach until we found this resort that called a boat over for us. The boat was this ancient speedboat that we had to wade out to, because there was no dock. Little did we know we were in for an exciting ride. Instead of going to the island, we visited fisherman so that the men driving our boat could buy fish. We had no idea why they were buying fish, but it was really cool to watch. The men take the fisherman’s bag and dump all his fish in the bottom of the boat, then sort out which they want to buy and give back the others. The fishermen are in really small boats that look like they could have been hulled out from a tree. After picking up a good haul of fish we finally arrived at the marine reserve. The island is small and there were hardly any people there. It was so quiet too! There were really cool pumice cliffs along the top edge of the beach. Lots of baobob trees as well. When we ate lunch later we found out that the fish we had brought with us that morning were used to be cooked and sold to tourists! I had no idea what kind of fish it was that I ate, but it was the best tasting fish I've ever had - caught offshore not even three hours earlier!

You can rent snorkel gear for really cheap there, so we got a couple pairs of gear. The snorkeling was fantastic! I can’t remember being anywhere with as much biodiversity as the reef here. Mat and I went out first. We saw lionfish, puffer fish and etc., sea cucumbers that were a couple of feet long, giant clams, many kinds of starfish, urchins with glowing spots on them, and Mat saw an octopus. At times the reef was so shallow that I was sucking in my stomach so as not to brush the coral! It amazes me that beneath the water there is this whole new world, so much richer than the sparse sandy islands.

Linnea and Allison went on a hike across the island that they described as “Indiana Jones style” and found tide pools filled with crabs. By late afternoon the tide started to come in, so it was impossible to hike around the lava cliffs via the beach, so we hung out at the main beach. The boat ride back was just as fun, as the driver caught some serious air on the waves. We found out on our return that you can take a daladala straight from Mwenge to Kundiche and skip the bajaji ride. Also, there are lots of boats to choose from for getting rides to the island at Kundiche. It’s a harbor where fishermen bring in their catch in the afternoon, so we saw all sorts of fish. There were even large parrotfish for sale – I didn’t know that you could eat parrotfish. People around here like to eat octopus too.

Best weekend trip yet! The travel went smoothly and the sights were great. The ocean here is incredibly beautiful, not to mention salty as well. I wonder if the Indian Ocean is saltier than other world oceans?

Pugu Hills

2010-08-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday our whole group ventured out to the Pugu Hills Nature Preserve, which took a long time to drive to, including some hairpin turns on steep dirt roads, but was definately worth it. At the top of this ridge there was a resort with a great pool where we swam and hung out. We also took a hike through the bush, and although we didn't see any wildlife the butterflies were abundant and the plants were interesting. We had great vistas of the countryside, and we looped back through the town which was an interesting experience. Many houses were made of mud daubing, I suppose because people were poorer out in the country. There were lots of cassava and pineapple fields. The kids are so adorable and friendly! As are the people. Even though they don't have a lot of material wealth, Tanzanians seem to be very happy people.
I found an amazing spider at the house! It was the size of my hand, with a bright yellow back. I think it is called an orb weaving spider.

Just like camping

2010-08-26T03:39:00.000-07:00

We finally go water back after going three days without it. I had to use buckets to haul all the water I needed for showering, washing clothes, and flushing the toilet from these big storage tanks on the ground up four flights of stairs. Flushing toilets is the worst - they take an entire bucket of water, which is sooo much effort to carry up to the 4th floor! Bucket showers actually work quite well for washing up to get clean. It was quite an adventure . . . apparently losing water is a common occurance.
One thing that really gets to me here is the way trash is treated. There is no organized city waste disposal service, no recycling. Trash ends up being thrown in creekbeds or ditches alongside neighborhoods. Even when we visited a nice neighborhood, there was trash all over. It's not like the US where our garbage gets tied up in neat little bags and toted away to a far-away landfill. We are so distanced from the reality of our waste back home. The cleanliness of the environment is not a top priority in the city. Granted I do see university workers cleaning up the litter, but in general it is a big problem. Here I feel acutely aware of the trash I throw away. I see the trash in the ditch and realize that mine probably ends up there eventually. So I try to reuse containers as much as possible.
On the lighter side, I saw a giant land snail that was as big as my hand! I can't believe that snails would ever need to get that large! Also, our group went out clubbing at Mango Garden last weekend, and a picture of us dancing ended up in one of Dar's newspapers! Kiswahili classes are going well, a little overwhelming at times but I feel like I am learning so much every day! We start research methods with Dr. Roberts today.

The start of Kiswahili classes

2010-08-24T05:22:00.000-07:00

The past weekend was absolutely fantastic; on Saturday our group visited Paulina's (the assistant dean) house and had a huge Tanzanian feast. We cooked up an entire goat, and that means everything - there was a stew that included the heart, liver, intestines, stomach, and lungs. Heart meat was actually quite good, although I will not soon forget the texture of the stomach. It was great getting to meet her family and especially to play with her children. We learned a lot about Tanzanian family life and customs, like when the children turn 17 they can no longer sleep in the main house but must sleep outside until they get a place of their own.
On Sunday we went to the beach with two Tanzanian students, Hamida and Emanuel. It was quite the adventure getting there, involving a ferry ride and then a very packed daladala ride across the island (this one was memorable because it played music and had a powerful bass). The beaches here are incredibly beautiful: white sand as far as you can see, and the ocean is so clean and blue. I found so many shells and so much coral that I was saturated with beach treasures by the end of the day.
Kiswahili class is very intense. We spend two hours in a large group and then break into small groups for another two hours. By the end I feel like I have hit a metaphorical brick wall. The learning will come faster as the class progresses, but it is hard not to feel a little overwhelmed to start. Apparently you need to be very careful when pronouncing swahili words because a lot of common words, mispronounced, turn into bad words. What a cruel trick of whoever thought up this language. I love learning new words because they are fun to say - some of my favorites are tikitimaji (watermelon), mwanamazingira (environmentalist), and kicheche (mongoose). In fact, I am contemplating choosing kicheche as my swahili name, because I am a huge fan of the mongooses (mongeese?) here.

More about the first few days in Dar, as promised

2010-08-19T01:58:00.000-07:00

The first day was stressful, because of all the new people I met, the unfamiliar campus, and strange language. It reminded me a lot of the beginning of freshman year, especially the feeling of being clueless about customs and the urge to move as a "herd". Twenty-one wazungu wandering lost around campus. Today I feel much more confident about finding my way around, as does everyone else, but the first day was difficult. The campus here is also much larger than St. Olaf's campus.
The dorms are very basic. One shower, and there is only cold water. We cannot drink the water from the sinks so we buy our own water at the store, and we need to hand wash our clothes. Also, there is no toilet paper or soap, so we provide that as well. None of the bathrooms around campus have toilet paper, and most are just holes in the ground, no toilet. Everything is open-air, but our rooms have good screens to keep out mosquitos. I never thought about the luxury of American dorms before coming here, but even the least desirable campus dorm is like the Hilton compared to here. Don't get me wrong though, I am just fine with everything. I don't mind living simply, the only thing that bothers me is that I can't recycle all the plastic bottles we go through.
The wildlife here is so great! All the flora and fauna is different from those in the U.S. I can only describe it as like being a young kid again, where everything you see is new and fascinating. My favorites are the monkeys on campus. There are several troops, must be at least a hundred monkeys total. I have been warned that they are mischevious, but so far they haven't bothered us. This morning we walked through the middle of a monkey war - pretty interesting, and I want to spend more time observing them later. I also saw a nile monitor, which is a very large lizard, while walking to Mlimani City. And the bats here are huge too. Everything is bigger in Africa!!
The radio stations like to play American music. They even played Lady GaGa the other morning (Maren, you would have been so happy)
The food is good, probably because most of it is fried, but as long as you like simple food you would like African food. Jon would be happy here.
Public transport is very exciting here. They use dalladallas, which are these small buses that are packed unbelievably efficiently with people. We fit our group of 20 plus two Dar students who were helping us and a couple other riders into one dalladalla. It doesn't feel as claustrophobic if you stick your upper body out of the window.
We have a week of orientation before we start kiswahili next monday. So right now we have most of the day free, so we explore campus - there are ficus trees all over that have large vines that you can use to climb or swing on. Just like Tarzan.
Pictures coming soon!

TANZANIA!!!

2010-08-18T23:47:00.000-07:00

I made it here last Monday, but I haven't been able to access the internet until now (we had to get student IDs to use the library). It feels good to actually be here, after months of saying "when I get to Tanzania", now I actually AM in Tanzania! It was an epic journey just to travel here.
The last night in Spain I got to watch a flamenco concert and dance in a garden beside the palace. How cool is that! But Africa awaits . . .
A word about Doha: it is the most humid place I have been in my life. I expected that the desert would be hot, but dry, but when I stepped off the plane in Qatar it was like walking into a sauna. All my plans to explore were shot when I discovered that my luggage had been sent on to Dar es Salaam, so I only had with me what I was wearing! It was just so hot there. And a bit chaotic. The taxi driver actually got lost trying to find the hotel. It was neat to see a new place, but I was very glad the next morning when we met up with the four other ACM students on my flight in the airport.
More about the first few days in Tanzania later, I have an orientation class now. After that we are free for the day. Lots of time to go exploring!

Toledo

2010-08-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Took the bullet train to Toledo, which is about 30 minutes away from Madrid. The Spanish countryside is very dry, a lot like New Mexico or Colorado, but they are green with seemingly endless olive orchards. The city of Toledo was so different from anything I have seen before! It is atop a large hill, so you have to climb many stairs to get to the city. Good walking shoes are necessary. Breakfast was churros with hot chocolate so thick it was like a sauce, but it was by far the best hot chocolate I have ever had.

The city streets of Toledo are a complete tangle with a network of twisting alleyways that at times are so narrow only one person at a time can navigate through them. All the doors are elaborate, old, and unique, which delighted me. As did the excitement of discovery in the mysterious alleyways. I visited my first cathedral, and the high arched ceilings and stained glass were so beautiful they left me breathless. I had paella, the national dish of Spain, for lunch. After thoroughly exploring the city we went down to some ruins by the river and did some exploring closer to caving. It was creepy and pigeon infested.

Back in Madrid, we visited the Sorolla museum, a Spanish artist famous for his beautiful beach paintings. The museum was actually in his house, which was cool because you could see how he lived, his actual brushes and palette, and his garden. Finally found a really good (and inexpensive) tapas restaurant near Sol, and wandered over to the palace afterwards. It is appropriately elaborate, complete with giant fountain. I love the colors and architecture of Spain, each building is its own work of art!

First day in Madrid!

2010-08-12T02:57:00.000-07:00

After traveling through time and space, I landed in Madrid this morning! It's the first time I have been across the Atlantic, but I have yet to feel any negative effects of jet-lag. And I have not even been drinking coffee. It's so exciting to be immersed in a culture where the language and food are completely new! People in Madrid speak Spanish to you first, and only reluctantly use English. I am lucky that Mat can speak fluent Spanish. I have been trying to learn and use expressions to ask for things in Spanish, which has met some success.

The hotel I am staying at has a great location. It is right across the street from the big park as well as the train station. It is right in downtown so you can walk out the front door and be in the middle of Madrid.

This city is unimaginably beautiful in architecture and layout. The streets are an insane tangle, with enormous fountains at the center of every roundabout intersection. It becomes hard to navigate because of the numerous fountains. The parks are beautiful - one building that can only be described as a glass palace, a coliseum crowning a pond, etc. One important cultural thing I learned about Spain: not much is open before 11. So that was one reason why we spent so much time exploring the park. There is also lots of art and culture in this city which I look forward to exploring more. I am planning on visiting some of the big art museums like the Renia Sophia and the Prado later, perhaps tomorrow or Saturday.

In the evening we went to the Real Jardin Botanico, which had really beautiful formal gardens and some enormous garden vegetables that I was envious of. No para comer, unfortunately. Later when we went to a tapas restaurant, I accidentally tried tripe, which tasted pretty awful! I felt very adventurous afterwards though. Another thing: it is impossible to find a place to eat before 9 pm, at least if you don't want to eat at a tourist hot spot.

one week before departure!

2010-08-04T10:50:00.000-07:00

13 days before I arrive in Tanzania, but I'm leaving in a week for Madrid! It takes two days to fly to Dar es Salaam, so I thought I might as well stop along the way to see the sights of Spain. I'm planning on spending three days touring the city, along with my friend Mat. I hope to see beautiful buildings, art, and experience Spanish culture - salsa club, maybe?

I just got home from working as a counselor and lifeguard at Skogfjorden Norwegian language village in Bemidji, MN. The transition back to "reality" was actually a little difficult - I kept having trouble using English in conversation. I'm better now, though I still cringe when I use slang like "totally" and "awesome", being made more self-conscious of my word choice after trying to speak grammatically correct Norsk at camp all summer. I'm spending my few days at home making sure I have everything I need for the next four months. That means that the first part of the week I was ferrying from one doctor's visit to the next. I expected that my life wouldn't be like this for at least another 50 years.

I was so overconfident when getting my shots, because I couldn't even feel the needle in my arm . . . but the truth is I was in much, much pain about an hour later. The plus side is that now I am armed with defense against nature stronger than bug spray or soap! It is a little hectic trying to order books, organize everything I need to bring with me, and work on research proposals in just a couple weeks, but I feel like now I'm finally reaching a point where I am ready to depart and now am just waiting in anticipation.

Now that I'm not as busy I have time to worry - I hope there is plenty of water in Tanzania, because I drink LOTS of water. Like a horse. And I hope that it is feasible to go running in Dar, at least if I could find a group that I could run with.

2010-07-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

Hey world!

My family lives in Bartlesville, Oklahoma (north of Tulsa), but I spend most of the year at St. Olaf College where I study Biology with a focus on ecology and environmental studies. Any pursuit that allows me to enjoy the outdoors and nature, and I'm on it!

On campus I am involved in student government and attempt to participate in the environmental coalition, when I find time. I play on the badminton club team, and have attempted to persuade people that badminton is actually a legitimate sport, when played at a high level. Games can get really intense, seriously! It's not like your Sunday afternoon lawn games. I dabbled in research with data gathered from a class excursion to the American deserts last spring and hope to get seriously involved in independent research at Olaf next spring.

I chose to do this program because the idea of camping in the field while devoting all my time to a research project really appealed to me. I can get a taste of what real ecologists do! I also am very interested in learning foreign languages and experiencing a foreign culture - with this program I get to learn and use Swahili in Tanzania. I have been spending my summer as a counselor teaching Norwegian language at Skogfjorden, where children learn the language through immersion. It's a lot of fun, and also pretty intense because you are expected to completely immerse yourself in the foreign language and culture - that means no english and no fast food! (but we still have pizza, because Norway actually has the highest per capita consumption of pizza in the world) I hope to learn a lot about doing research in the field as well as being able to study an ecosystem completely different from anything I have seen in the U.S.

At the moment, I am most excited about the sights - seeing urban Dar, the university, and also what Tanzania looks like outside the city. I am excited to be surrounded by completely different animals, plants, sounds, smells, and people. I can't wait to learn Swahili and use my new skills to talk with locals.