Today marks our first month in Tanzania. We’re settled into our homestays, getting comfortable with the language, we are masters of the choo, and some of us are even a bit disappointed when we don’t get beans for dinner. A lot has happened in this first month and it seems like forever ago we boarded that bus in Philadelphia. The following are quick reflections on my first four weeks in Tanzania.
Never have I even been somewhere where so many people know my name and yet I don’t even recognize their face. There are five of us trainees in Bigwa and we walk in three separate directions home. I’m the only one who lives down the road away from town and as I walk to and from school people will call my name like they know me. Being a foreigner in Bigwa has felt a lot like being a celebrity — people have always got their eyes on you.
My dada gave me some of her old clothes to wear for teaching (which in the first place is strange to me). They look just like the clothes all the other teachers wear, or in other words, they look just like the clothes an 80 year old woman would have worn in 1985.
I have officially decided that zebras are my favorite safari animal. Cheetas will reign supreme once again should I ever see one. Cape buffalo are also pretty kickass. Giraffes look funny.
You know those dust tornadoes in World II of Super Mario 3? The same ones in MarioKart dry dry desert. Those are totes real and way cool.
I’ve picked up on the lazy yet sing-songy way women tend to say “haya” here, which simply means “okay,” and every time I say it my family laughs at me. Just another moment when Danielle is the entertainment for the house.
Never have I have a prettier view from my bedroom. Opening up my curtains to see a mango tree, a banana tree, red dirt and my mama’s green garden with the mountain in the background is gorgeous.
I recently saw my first coffee tree and ate my first coffee cherry. Huzzah! Funny, though, how East Africa produces so much coffee but if I want to enjoy any of the good stuff I’ve got to head back to the states.
To add to that: I’ve never looked forward to drinking instant coffee so much. My day isn’t complete without a cup of fresh, warm milk with a spoonful of sugar and a scoop of instant coffee.
People really do eat dirt here. Here in Morogoro it’s called pembe and it’s taken from the Uluguru mountain, compressed into what looks like a thick piece of brownish-red chalk, then sold at the market. People drive all the way from Dar to buy it for treating nausea.
Tanzania has huge spiders.
I had some pictures to share but they somehow didn’t make it onto my jump drive. Maybe in another two weeks.
