I went back to Marnee and Davids room after I wrote the last blog and put some more of that yellow goop in my eye with their help and they were so grossed out. It hurt like hell and I ended up finding my visene while I was packing so I put some in, grabbed my eyeshades and called it a night.
Ive heard that malarone has been making people have really crazy dreams and I haven't really experienced that yet until last night.
I can't remember what dream I had but I remember waking up screaming and my heart was racing like crazy. It felt so real! Lily ans Jessica didn't hear me I guess but it was crazy nonetheless.
And, yes, Denice (my only avid reader from what I can tell ;) ) the meds seem to be working. I didn't take the pills because I didn't know what they were kind of sketch and I don't know what they were but just two applications of the yellow cream of death has taken the symptoms down incredibly. I stuck to wearing my glasses today and applying it three times so far and it seems to be doing okay.
I slept in today and it felt amazing! Now I want to let you know what time I qualify as sleeping in on this trip: 8:30. AM. :) the California me would die if she heard that.
So I got up, ate breakfast and we all decided to lay out by the hotels pool in the morning. David, Marco, Steven, and Andrea decided to go fishing with Soodi today but with my eye issues and a desperate need to make my back side match my front side in tanning capability, I opted to stay with the girls. Alivianna, Marnee, Selina, and Mary had a really great time laying out and getting in the pool. Around 10:30 we decided to do some drinking since we didn't have to teach today. We started with the rest of Selinas Konyagi, which is pretty much the grosest thing ever. We did Konyagi and coke with a beer. Then another beer. Then another. And another. Pretty soon it was 1 and we were drunk, tan, and starving. The hotel once again didn't make enough food for us so we finally did what we've been threatening to do for the last couple weeks: we decided to go to the hotel about a mile away for food.
We all went to our rooms to drop stuff off and some of the girls did laundry and I napped in a hammock. David came home from fishing and came with us as we went down the beach to walk toward the hotel. We were excited to get to the hotel and see an amazing huge pool with a bar in the middle of it and an amazing looking hotel. Nothing like kichanga. We couldn't imagine how much it cost to stay THERE because kichanga charges 250 dollars a night.
We walked in to find a restaurant and we saw a really nice bar area that I felt bad for walking in without clothes other than a bikini top and shorts. We sat down next to a tv that was playing the Argentina vs. Korea world cup game. The menu was amazing. And! Unlike kichanga they had EVERYTHING on their menu available. (kichanga has a menu that they put out everyday and the only thing they have on it consistenly is pasta.) we ordered a couple drinks and burgers. It was a huge burger that came with fries and a salad fiiiiilled with cucumbers. We hung out and had a really good time. Selina wanted to go to the village but we couldn't because we were all wearing bikini tops so she decided she was going to go alone and come in the dark, which I thought was stupid, but I'm not her mother so there's not much I can do.
We met up with Clara, Estella, and Yao an we left Selina with them. They told us the tide is too high for us to take the beach but we figured we'd be okay if we hurried. We were really wrong.
We were fine for the first couple minutes and we got to the first of three little coves and the water got so high it took my shorts over which I immediately regretted not putting them in my bag. The water got more and more furious and we were holding cameras and electronics high above our heads and praying we wouldn't fall. The rocks everywhere on the ground didn't help because every time we stepped on a rock we'd trip and half fall in the water. It was hilarious but also scary as I was carrying my new pride and joy of a camera.
Alivianna was ahead of us and we saw her face the ocean as a huge wave came to protect her backpack that had her journal in it, and the water basically took her over, getting both sides and splashing all over her. We finally made it home with safe electronics, bruised feet bottoms and wet clothes. Aliviannas journal was surprisingly dry and we were all exhausted.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010- Zanzibar day 23
My eye never got better.
In fact, I had tried to sleep in this morning to no avail because the swelling in my eye was so intense. I got up, ate breakfast and asked the hotel for some eye drops but they just didn't help. I took a nap out on one of the patio couches in the common area and hoped to be fine when I woke up. I wasn't.
When I woke up from a couple hour nap I checked my eye out and looked at my upper lid and there's a huge bump inside my eye way in the back where it comes in contact with my cornea when I blink. I tried to figure out what was wrong with a little web md, and I self diagnosed myself with a Chalazion, a lump caused my a clogged oil gland under the skin, and figured I should go to the clinic just to get it checked out.
Everyone is worried about me, but Jessica told me that Mohammed knows of a hospital in the michamvi pingwe village that I could go to so me, Alivianna and Mohammed went through the beach walk to the village. Alivianna joked that her journal is filled with me, David and Shannon talk and I laughed and noticed that mine is basically me, David, and Alivianna as well. We joke about being a three partner couple and it's pretty awesome.
Mohammed told us a story about how he used to be a street salesman around kichanga during the high season and told us such crazy stories about dealing with the police and many other things. It was really nice to talk to him because I haven't really this entire trip.
We arrived at the hospital and there were two women sitting outside of an empty building and a man at a house across the street walked over and greeted us. As I went in to talk to him he greeted me in swahili and asked where I wa from and why I was in Zanzibar. I told him I was a teacher of HIV and AIDS and he talked to me about that for like 10 minutes before asking me why I was there. I showed him my eye and he hardly looked and started showing me malaria tests. I immediately thought there was a miscommunication and he thought I had malaria and was going to give me a test. He then handed me a little package that said oxytetracycline hydrocortisone that I later learned is an antibiotic that I am supposed put inside my eye and he told me to go to the Duka and pick up some medicine.
We went to the duka and they gave me two little folded envelopes with a bunch of pills in them and I couldn't help but think Id be shelling put a couple thousand shillings for them. I only paid 500 shillings for two bags of antibiotics. That's less than 35 cents!!!! And I didn't be to pay for the hospital visit!
We went from the duka to mohammeds house where we found tatu and mohammeds family sitting and eating and preparing to sell some egg plants. We sat on the floor and watched his mother weigh some octopus they caught that day and talked to tatu and Mohammed about different cultural and political differences between our hometowns. Thabit came later and we had a hilarious conversation about how he is in love with tatu but she'll never love him like she loves David.
Tatu really does love David but David is gay. He hasn't told her yet, I don't think because she is very Muslim and homosexuality is really looked down upon. He told thabit and kessi because he is really close to them and they accepted him but he worried about her.
We talked for a long time until it was time for some of the people to teach.
I decided that my eye was bugging me and I couldn't wash my hands in the village so I was gonna walk home. Apparently the tide was too high to take the beach route so I had to walk the jungle-eque route which is not exactly what I wanted to do alone. The kichanga stray dog was with me and we began walking. One of the kichanga beach boys walked most of the way with me and tested my Swahili. We talked about soccer and a couple things before I got to the hotel safe and sound. I showered and put this stuff in my eye that burned like hell and then did a little cleaning up before dinner. This is the first time all trip I've been caught up on my blog and it's the end. I guess that means that I have been busy busy busy.
We have one more day before I head to the airport and I don't really know what to make of it.
On one hand I'm ecstatic to go home but on the other I am not ready to leave. I feel like there's so much more to do here and I'm not done connecting with the 13 people I'm here with. It's going to be a sad day on Saturday. :(
In fact, I had tried to sleep in this morning to no avail because the swelling in my eye was so intense. I got up, ate breakfast and asked the hotel for some eye drops but they just didn't help. I took a nap out on one of the patio couches in the common area and hoped to be fine when I woke up. I wasn't.
When I woke up from a couple hour nap I checked my eye out and looked at my upper lid and there's a huge bump inside my eye way in the back where it comes in contact with my cornea when I blink. I tried to figure out what was wrong with a little web md, and I self diagnosed myself with a Chalazion, a lump caused my a clogged oil gland under the skin, and figured I should go to the clinic just to get it checked out.
Everyone is worried about me, but Jessica told me that Mohammed knows of a hospital in the michamvi pingwe village that I could go to so me, Alivianna and Mohammed went through the beach walk to the village. Alivianna joked that her journal is filled with me, David and Shannon talk and I laughed and noticed that mine is basically me, David, and Alivianna as well. We joke about being a three partner couple and it's pretty awesome.
Mohammed told us a story about how he used to be a street salesman around kichanga during the high season and told us such crazy stories about dealing with the police and many other things. It was really nice to talk to him because I haven't really this entire trip.
We arrived at the hospital and there were two women sitting outside of an empty building and a man at a house across the street walked over and greeted us. As I went in to talk to him he greeted me in swahili and asked where I wa from and why I was in Zanzibar. I told him I was a teacher of HIV and AIDS and he talked to me about that for like 10 minutes before asking me why I was there. I showed him my eye and he hardly looked and started showing me malaria tests. I immediately thought there was a miscommunication and he thought I had malaria and was going to give me a test. He then handed me a little package that said oxytetracycline hydrocortisone that I later learned is an antibiotic that I am supposed put inside my eye and he told me to go to the Duka and pick up some medicine.
We went to the duka and they gave me two little folded envelopes with a bunch of pills in them and I couldn't help but think Id be shelling put a couple thousand shillings for them. I only paid 500 shillings for two bags of antibiotics. That's less than 35 cents!!!! And I didn't be to pay for the hospital visit!
We went from the duka to mohammeds house where we found tatu and mohammeds family sitting and eating and preparing to sell some egg plants. We sat on the floor and watched his mother weigh some octopus they caught that day and talked to tatu and Mohammed about different cultural and political differences between our hometowns. Thabit came later and we had a hilarious conversation about how he is in love with tatu but she'll never love him like she loves David.
Tatu really does love David but David is gay. He hasn't told her yet, I don't think because she is very Muslim and homosexuality is really looked down upon. He told thabit and kessi because he is really close to them and they accepted him but he worried about her.
We talked for a long time until it was time for some of the people to teach.
I decided that my eye was bugging me and I couldn't wash my hands in the village so I was gonna walk home. Apparently the tide was too high to take the beach route so I had to walk the jungle-eque route which is not exactly what I wanted to do alone. The kichanga stray dog was with me and we began walking. One of the kichanga beach boys walked most of the way with me and tested my Swahili. We talked about soccer and a couple things before I got to the hotel safe and sound. I showered and put this stuff in my eye that burned like hell and then did a little cleaning up before dinner. This is the first time all trip I've been caught up on my blog and it's the end. I guess that means that I have been busy busy busy.
We have one more day before I head to the airport and I don't really know what to make of it.
On one hand I'm ecstatic to go home but on the other I am not ready to leave. I feel like there's so much more to do here and I'm not done connecting with the 13 people I'm here with. It's going to be a sad day on Saturday. :(
Tuesday, June 15, 2010- Zanzibar day 22
Late to bed early to rise seems to be the mantra of this trip for me. I got up at 6:30 and David, Alivianna and I did some pilates on the beach before breakfast. That alone makes me want to move to the beach when I get home. We showered, ate, and got ready for my last teaching ever at michamvi pingwe with my standard 6 kids, ages 13-15. The walk was hot as hell and I kept thinking about how I juuuust wanted to change into the shorter skirt I brought for our trip that Alivianna, David, and I would take to stonetown.
The kids were fine but some of the girls were begging me for candy and it really irked me. I spent most of my time here working to make sure they know that I am not some typical white person who gives them candy to shoo them away, and who genuinely wants to talk to them, and they revert back to the begging and annoying street stuff that I cannot stand. They really put a damper on the day for me, Mary, and Estela. But we had fun having them come up with their own play or song about vvu and ukimwi (HIV and AIDS) and said our goodbyes.
I was so hungry and dehydrated after class that David, Alivianna, and my plan to walk to a dalla dalla and go to stonetown without eating was seeming like a terrible idea, especially because it had to have been a hundred degrees where we were walking. I finally stopped us at a tree and waited in the shade, snacking on the last of my American candy, a bag of skittles and waiting about 10 mins for a dalla dalla. I changed into my shorter skirt on the street while David changed out of his khakis and into some shorts, which was a lot more revealing for the road we were on than my skirt under skirt change. Davids not only an adorable gay man who knows exactly who he is, he also has no shame from what I can tell.
We hopped on a dalla dalla and took the fastest ride to Stonetown I've ever been on. It had to be close to 45 minutes. We were going so fast and dust was flying everywhere getting into my eyes like no other! This will be helpful information for later. When we got there our first mission was to find an ATM for David and Liv because they were both closely out of cash. We went to our regular ATM and it wasn't working. We tried Barclays. Not working. We tried CDM. Not working. We thought that was weird but we shrugged it off and I told them Id buy lunch if we went somewhere sit down with American food. We wandered and wandered and got lost a couple times until we saw signs for a place called the Palace restaurant. We thought we'd check it out, and I'm soooo thankful we did.
An old Indian man greeted us at the door wearing very traditional muslim head wear and a suit with a smile under a thick graying mustache. "Jambo!" he exclaimed. "Karibu!!! Welcome, welcome. Please come in." he shuffled us inside as we looked at a menu and he chatted with us about where we were from and what we were doing in Stonetown, and we drooled over their American AND Indian food options. We all agreed to sit and he came and say with us in the middle of an empty restaurant seated in the middle of a three story building that looked like it came out of a Spanish villa. He handed us the regular menus and a coffee/smoothies/ice cream menu that made us die with excitement.
Alivianna ordered a Indian chicken dish that the owner of the restaurant said,"I prefer you to have with coconut cream sauce", to which she said, " okay sure!!" David ordered a beef burger and I opted for a spaghetti and bolognaise sauce. Liv and David ordered a smoothie and an iced coffee respectively and I held out for some ice cream.
They made everything from scratch and took forever but everything was so fresh and amazing that we didn't care. Liv's cool breeze smoothie was a delicious mangoey sensation and david's iced coffee was so good it almost wasn't there when he got back from the bathroom. The food came out about an hour later it seemed but everything looked amazing. Davids burger came out first and not only was it the biggest bun Id ever seen, the meat had veggies cooked into it and it was topped with cucumber and carrots and a little but of secret sauce that was to die for. It was the most incredible burger I've ever had. Liv's food came next and tasted amazing too! Last was mine and I was expecting just a little pasta and was more looking forward to the ice cream until heaven on a plate entered my line of vision. My pasta was piled onto a huge plate with chunks of meat an tomato cooked in with a bunch of other veggies in a really spicy sauce and cheese was melted all on top. Around the sides of the plate were sliced cucumbers, my all time favorite. It's like they knew.
We opted for a quick ice cream as headed out to try an ATM. We walked all the way to an ATM on the other side of town and it was STILL broken! We began to freak out because they literally had no money and we began to see that the whole day was shot. We were sitting in our despair when one of the street sellers tried to sell David a Zanzibar t-shirt. He was so tired of telling people he literally had no money that he told the guy," if you can find us a working ATM I will buy a shirt."
This guy took us all over town to find an ATM. He led us through every village and every road in town and didn't find one. We sat down where we began the day and David shared a cigarette with him and tried to get him to give him a shirt for 2 euro. That didn't work so we parted ways and david became the cigarette distributer with the other people around and we went and bought some tea and wandered around. Suddenly we had no money, we were lost, and no ride home and we began to think of how weird it would be to beg for money so we could get a taxi home. We were starting to walk down some really sketchy roads when we saw one of our teaching partners, Tatu in the distance. We nearly jumped her when she told us she knew of a ATM that works. She brought us to it and told us that Mary and Selina were at the park where the street food is and so we went to meet up with them. We ordered some sugar cane juice and looked at our watches knowing that it was 6:30 and all the stores were closing so all the shopping we needed to do wouldn't happen.
Selina and Mary urged us to go check and see if anything was open so we went and found one amazing store that we manage to get everything we needed in and for a pretty good price! I haggled the hell out of everything and after 2 hours in the same store we met up with Jessica, Lily, Mary, Selina and the other girls who had done a spice tour and mr. Mohammed drove us back home.
On the way home my eye started to get really itchy and I thought the dirt from the dalla dalla had gotten in it, but apparently that wasn't the case that I learned later. I tried to take out my contacts and my right eye burned like hell! I headed to bed after some blog writing and hoped it would feel better in the morning.
The kids were fine but some of the girls were begging me for candy and it really irked me. I spent most of my time here working to make sure they know that I am not some typical white person who gives them candy to shoo them away, and who genuinely wants to talk to them, and they revert back to the begging and annoying street stuff that I cannot stand. They really put a damper on the day for me, Mary, and Estela. But we had fun having them come up with their own play or song about vvu and ukimwi (HIV and AIDS) and said our goodbyes.
I was so hungry and dehydrated after class that David, Alivianna, and my plan to walk to a dalla dalla and go to stonetown without eating was seeming like a terrible idea, especially because it had to have been a hundred degrees where we were walking. I finally stopped us at a tree and waited in the shade, snacking on the last of my American candy, a bag of skittles and waiting about 10 mins for a dalla dalla. I changed into my shorter skirt on the street while David changed out of his khakis and into some shorts, which was a lot more revealing for the road we were on than my skirt under skirt change. Davids not only an adorable gay man who knows exactly who he is, he also has no shame from what I can tell.
We hopped on a dalla dalla and took the fastest ride to Stonetown I've ever been on. It had to be close to 45 minutes. We were going so fast and dust was flying everywhere getting into my eyes like no other! This will be helpful information for later. When we got there our first mission was to find an ATM for David and Liv because they were both closely out of cash. We went to our regular ATM and it wasn't working. We tried Barclays. Not working. We tried CDM. Not working. We thought that was weird but we shrugged it off and I told them Id buy lunch if we went somewhere sit down with American food. We wandered and wandered and got lost a couple times until we saw signs for a place called the Palace restaurant. We thought we'd check it out, and I'm soooo thankful we did.
An old Indian man greeted us at the door wearing very traditional muslim head wear and a suit with a smile under a thick graying mustache. "Jambo!" he exclaimed. "Karibu!!! Welcome, welcome. Please come in." he shuffled us inside as we looked at a menu and he chatted with us about where we were from and what we were doing in Stonetown, and we drooled over their American AND Indian food options. We all agreed to sit and he came and say with us in the middle of an empty restaurant seated in the middle of a three story building that looked like it came out of a Spanish villa. He handed us the regular menus and a coffee/smoothies/ice cream menu that made us die with excitement.
Alivianna ordered a Indian chicken dish that the owner of the restaurant said,"I prefer you to have with coconut cream sauce", to which she said, " okay sure!!" David ordered a beef burger and I opted for a spaghetti and bolognaise sauce. Liv and David ordered a smoothie and an iced coffee respectively and I held out for some ice cream.
They made everything from scratch and took forever but everything was so fresh and amazing that we didn't care. Liv's cool breeze smoothie was a delicious mangoey sensation and david's iced coffee was so good it almost wasn't there when he got back from the bathroom. The food came out about an hour later it seemed but everything looked amazing. Davids burger came out first and not only was it the biggest bun Id ever seen, the meat had veggies cooked into it and it was topped with cucumber and carrots and a little but of secret sauce that was to die for. It was the most incredible burger I've ever had. Liv's food came next and tasted amazing too! Last was mine and I was expecting just a little pasta and was more looking forward to the ice cream until heaven on a plate entered my line of vision. My pasta was piled onto a huge plate with chunks of meat an tomato cooked in with a bunch of other veggies in a really spicy sauce and cheese was melted all on top. Around the sides of the plate were sliced cucumbers, my all time favorite. It's like they knew.
We opted for a quick ice cream as headed out to try an ATM. We walked all the way to an ATM on the other side of town and it was STILL broken! We began to freak out because they literally had no money and we began to see that the whole day was shot. We were sitting in our despair when one of the street sellers tried to sell David a Zanzibar t-shirt. He was so tired of telling people he literally had no money that he told the guy," if you can find us a working ATM I will buy a shirt."
This guy took us all over town to find an ATM. He led us through every village and every road in town and didn't find one. We sat down where we began the day and David shared a cigarette with him and tried to get him to give him a shirt for 2 euro. That didn't work so we parted ways and david became the cigarette distributer with the other people around and we went and bought some tea and wandered around. Suddenly we had no money, we were lost, and no ride home and we began to think of how weird it would be to beg for money so we could get a taxi home. We were starting to walk down some really sketchy roads when we saw one of our teaching partners, Tatu in the distance. We nearly jumped her when she told us she knew of a ATM that works. She brought us to it and told us that Mary and Selina were at the park where the street food is and so we went to meet up with them. We ordered some sugar cane juice and looked at our watches knowing that it was 6:30 and all the stores were closing so all the shopping we needed to do wouldn't happen.
Selina and Mary urged us to go check and see if anything was open so we went and found one amazing store that we manage to get everything we needed in and for a pretty good price! I haggled the hell out of everything and after 2 hours in the same store we met up with Jessica, Lily, Mary, Selina and the other girls who had done a spice tour and mr. Mohammed drove us back home.
On the way home my eye started to get really itchy and I thought the dirt from the dalla dalla had gotten in it, but apparently that wasn't the case that I learned later. I tried to take out my contacts and my right eye burned like hell! I headed to bed after some blog writing and hoped it would feel better in the morning.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010- Zanzibar day 21
Monday was the best day I've had here so far.
We woke up around 7 and did the normal breakfast and preparation for class thing. I had my post migraine scramble to make a poster that I needed for class and then we walked in the hot hot sun Michamvi for our last day with our standard 4 10-12 year olds. I was pretty bummed because they are the cutest kids in the world but the class went by easily and we played some games and had a good time with them getting photos and hugs when we left.
We walked back home and once again there was not enough food for everyone so I stuck with my crackers and nutella and ordered a coke to wash it down. Obviously I am going to be suuuuper healthy when I get home. Alivianna and David and I sat around and chatted until everyone was done with their food and the entire program group gathered in a circle to talk about the program and our last week in the village. Jessica asked us to each talk about what the most important thing we've learned so far was, and it really got me thinking hard. I realized although this program hasn't exactly been what I expected, it's taught me more than I could have ever thought about before. The first couple people brought up the obvious "I didn't think Id be able to not eat American food" kind of things that are true for everyone but not as life changing as some of the things I thought about.
David then talked about how upset he was that we hardly think about the kids or the communities outside of our teachings and how he himself and all of us never really got that connection to the village. He talked about how he wishes he could just do something or give something to them to change their poverty status and inevitably change their lives, but we just can't. Even giving them a little money or some candy is not going to change their lives.
I immediately thought about how upset I was that the program is over in a couple days. As much as I am yearning to go home and be in my bed without a mosquito net and to eat the things I want when I want them and to hug and kiss my boyfriend in person and to do the same to lis ;) none of that matters when I think of these children that walk on the beach picking shells and fishing for food or their families instead of playing and learning and being a kid. I have never wanted to make an impact more than when I see kids in my classroom not wearing shoes because they can't afford them and must wear a uniform and walk to and from school on the hot cement with no protection. Sure, shoes can always be given and money can be transferred but what really counts is this question: how can we get the entire village to lift it's head above the sinking water of poverty and despair and be able to live in an apartment like mine, or to have a laundry facility like the orphanage does on site, or to allow the children to go play and be kids instead of learning to cook and clean and take care of infants!? The answer is something I thought I'd come up with while I was here like it's so easy to figure out. Obviously there are so many things that weigh that down.
The governments corruption and devotion to strict religious affiliation often tears down the availability of social progress (for instance, we aren't allowed to teach about condoms in schools), the lack of real farm land for cash crops makes it hard to facilitate income other than tourism and when they are not in a tourist season, Zanzibar struggles to attain any kind of cash flow. Not to mention the fact that not being educated about the repercussions that come with having money and what things to look out for and to protect themselves from is not happening here.
Lily was upset about this too and we talked about how we all have so much more than the people who are here, yet people in general in the US do not want to give any of it to anyone else. It's completely false to think that this mentality is anything new, nor is it anything about just Americans thoughts and actions. The wealthiest families in Tanzania practice the same kinds of neglect of their roots when a little cash is thrown their way. Many of the Arusha people are staying in home stays with incredibly poor families but a few have the wealthiest families in the whole village and they found that the wealthier families are less willing to give of anything; food, warmth, love.... And the poorest families give all they have. That's incredibly shocking to me. Id love to know why that is. I have yet to figure that out.
When it was my turn I said I was mad at myself for not trying to establish a better connection with the village. I mean I had gone to Arusha for 3 days and knew every kids name in the house but I lived in Zanzibar for 3 weeks and don't know one. It makes me sad that I spent a majority of the time thinking about myself and not taking the time to better the situation of another persons life, although I forget that teaching the curriculum of HIV and AIDS awareness is really a great way to start.
Jessica said something that really affected me: " this is going to sound hokey but we really can't give them anything tangible except the love we have for them. Anything else we could ever give them was given to us from someone else, but only love is something you can give to them that no one else can."
That statement is not only true for here in Zanzibar but also in my life as a whole. Money, food, clothes, candy.... All of that you get from somewhere else. There's nothing in the world as pure and original as the gift of your own love to someone.
That was our focus for the afternoon. We'd finished teaching but decided to go to pingwe to have some fun arts and crafts time with the kids. I had a lot of paper and fun things to donate and David had some markers so all of us headed to the village where no children were around. We spread the word to a couple and all the sudden we were swarmed with children on every side wanting to draw and color and play an dance with us. We didn't have enough pens because so many kids came to play but we had a lot of fun with them. We gave them these stickers that I was literally mobbed for but overall everything was fun and something that they never get to do. I hope they think back at the day they got paper just to color with and are excited about the memory someday.
I just noticed that while typing on the iPhone some of my grammar and spelling gets changed without my conscious knowledge so I'm sorry if things are spelled wrong. I'll change it all when I get to my computer.
Anyway. I learned my first child's name in the village. Salama is a 10 year old girl from my michamvi school standard 4 class who has the brightest smile and calls me Shannonii. While we were drawing she drew a flower that said "I love you shannonii" and each of the other people in my group on each petal in english. The girl can hardly speak the language yet she says she loves me. It made my whole trip.
We woke up around 7 and did the normal breakfast and preparation for class thing. I had my post migraine scramble to make a poster that I needed for class and then we walked in the hot hot sun Michamvi for our last day with our standard 4 10-12 year olds. I was pretty bummed because they are the cutest kids in the world but the class went by easily and we played some games and had a good time with them getting photos and hugs when we left.
We walked back home and once again there was not enough food for everyone so I stuck with my crackers and nutella and ordered a coke to wash it down. Obviously I am going to be suuuuper healthy when I get home. Alivianna and David and I sat around and chatted until everyone was done with their food and the entire program group gathered in a circle to talk about the program and our last week in the village. Jessica asked us to each talk about what the most important thing we've learned so far was, and it really got me thinking hard. I realized although this program hasn't exactly been what I expected, it's taught me more than I could have ever thought about before. The first couple people brought up the obvious "I didn't think Id be able to not eat American food" kind of things that are true for everyone but not as life changing as some of the things I thought about.
David then talked about how upset he was that we hardly think about the kids or the communities outside of our teachings and how he himself and all of us never really got that connection to the village. He talked about how he wishes he could just do something or give something to them to change their poverty status and inevitably change their lives, but we just can't. Even giving them a little money or some candy is not going to change their lives.
I immediately thought about how upset I was that the program is over in a couple days. As much as I am yearning to go home and be in my bed without a mosquito net and to eat the things I want when I want them and to hug and kiss my boyfriend in person and to do the same to lis ;) none of that matters when I think of these children that walk on the beach picking shells and fishing for food or their families instead of playing and learning and being a kid. I have never wanted to make an impact more than when I see kids in my classroom not wearing shoes because they can't afford them and must wear a uniform and walk to and from school on the hot cement with no protection. Sure, shoes can always be given and money can be transferred but what really counts is this question: how can we get the entire village to lift it's head above the sinking water of poverty and despair and be able to live in an apartment like mine, or to have a laundry facility like the orphanage does on site, or to allow the children to go play and be kids instead of learning to cook and clean and take care of infants!? The answer is something I thought I'd come up with while I was here like it's so easy to figure out. Obviously there are so many things that weigh that down.
The governments corruption and devotion to strict religious affiliation often tears down the availability of social progress (for instance, we aren't allowed to teach about condoms in schools), the lack of real farm land for cash crops makes it hard to facilitate income other than tourism and when they are not in a tourist season, Zanzibar struggles to attain any kind of cash flow. Not to mention the fact that not being educated about the repercussions that come with having money and what things to look out for and to protect themselves from is not happening here.
Lily was upset about this too and we talked about how we all have so much more than the people who are here, yet people in general in the US do not want to give any of it to anyone else. It's completely false to think that this mentality is anything new, nor is it anything about just Americans thoughts and actions. The wealthiest families in Tanzania practice the same kinds of neglect of their roots when a little cash is thrown their way. Many of the Arusha people are staying in home stays with incredibly poor families but a few have the wealthiest families in the whole village and they found that the wealthier families are less willing to give of anything; food, warmth, love.... And the poorest families give all they have. That's incredibly shocking to me. Id love to know why that is. I have yet to figure that out.
When it was my turn I said I was mad at myself for not trying to establish a better connection with the village. I mean I had gone to Arusha for 3 days and knew every kids name in the house but I lived in Zanzibar for 3 weeks and don't know one. It makes me sad that I spent a majority of the time thinking about myself and not taking the time to better the situation of another persons life, although I forget that teaching the curriculum of HIV and AIDS awareness is really a great way to start.
Jessica said something that really affected me: " this is going to sound hokey but we really can't give them anything tangible except the love we have for them. Anything else we could ever give them was given to us from someone else, but only love is something you can give to them that no one else can."
That statement is not only true for here in Zanzibar but also in my life as a whole. Money, food, clothes, candy.... All of that you get from somewhere else. There's nothing in the world as pure and original as the gift of your own love to someone.
That was our focus for the afternoon. We'd finished teaching but decided to go to pingwe to have some fun arts and crafts time with the kids. I had a lot of paper and fun things to donate and David had some markers so all of us headed to the village where no children were around. We spread the word to a couple and all the sudden we were swarmed with children on every side wanting to draw and color and play an dance with us. We didn't have enough pens because so many kids came to play but we had a lot of fun with them. We gave them these stickers that I was literally mobbed for but overall everything was fun and something that they never get to do. I hope they think back at the day they got paper just to color with and are excited about the memory someday.
I just noticed that while typing on the iPhone some of my grammar and spelling gets changed without my conscious knowledge so I'm sorry if things are spelled wrong. I'll change it all when I get to my computer.
Anyway. I learned my first child's name in the village. Salama is a 10 year old girl from my michamvi school standard 4 class who has the brightest smile and calls me Shannonii. While we were drawing she drew a flower that said "I love you shannonii" and each of the other people in my group on each petal in english. The girl can hardly speak the language yet she says she loves me. It made my whole trip.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010- Arusha Day 4/ Zanzibar day 20
We woke up later than the rest of this trip and packed our bags to head to the site with John around 9. He was late so we finished off most of our food and waited around. John nearly gave me a heart attack when he said he would be running really late but by some miracle he made it there and we piled all of the arusha girls stuff into their safari land rover and we piled all 6 of us into a three seat backseat. We made it to the airport with just enough time to order a quick sandwich and get huddled onto the plane for another tiny plane ride back to Zanzibar. I fell asleep as soon as the plane took off and didn't wake up until we hit the ground in Zanzibar.
We called the girls taxi contact and got food while we waited. He showed up and we took our to go order and ate in the van kn the 2 hour ride back from the airport to the kichanga hotel. We chatted with the driver and heard all about his family and his driving life and all of that. I got a migraine on the way home which wasn't helped by the humid weather and extreme mile of bumpy road to get to the hotel. I nearly puked in the car but held it together until we got out.
I saw alivianna immediately and ran and hugged her saying I was so excited to see her after being with 5 other girls the whole weekend. Liv said she had a surprise for me and I saw David come up and saw that they had shaved his head into a Mohawk. Haha. It looks amazing and it makes his dancing that much more FIERCE. ;)
David and I did laundry together and I recounted the weekend with them and they did the same. Apparently they went to tatus cousins wedding and had a really crazy time. We ate dinner and I was supposed to work on some posters we used we teach first thing in the morning but my migraine never subsided so I headed to bed ( apparently talking in my sleep) and trying to wake up unhurt in the head.
We called the girls taxi contact and got food while we waited. He showed up and we took our to go order and ate in the van kn the 2 hour ride back from the airport to the kichanga hotel. We chatted with the driver and heard all about his family and his driving life and all of that. I got a migraine on the way home which wasn't helped by the humid weather and extreme mile of bumpy road to get to the hotel. I nearly puked in the car but held it together until we got out.
I saw alivianna immediately and ran and hugged her saying I was so excited to see her after being with 5 other girls the whole weekend. Liv said she had a surprise for me and I saw David come up and saw that they had shaved his head into a Mohawk. Haha. It looks amazing and it makes his dancing that much more FIERCE. ;)
David and I did laundry together and I recounted the weekend with them and they did the same. Apparently they went to tatus cousins wedding and had a really crazy time. We ate dinner and I was supposed to work on some posters we used we teach first thing in the morning but my migraine never subsided so I headed to bed ( apparently talking in my sleep) and trying to wake up unhurt in the head.
Saturday, June 12, 2010- Arusha day 3
Waking up in arusha is amazing because the weather is just like LA. It's freezing in the morning and warm in the afternoon, so after using a couple of my premoistened bath towels I was off to the second day of the safari in a great mood.
We headed toward the crater at Ngorongoro and it was so hazy that we couldn't see anything. Saba stopped and had us get out to take pictures next to the crater but all you can see is some fog and trees and it was freezing trying to get put of the car. We continued driving and we all pretty much fell asleep on the way down into the crater where all the animals are. Pretty soon we saw a couple zebra and the day officially began. I ended up smashing the screen of my iPhone on the ground when it fell out of the safari car on one of my stops so it's cracked but thankfully still functional. I think I get my update when I get home though so maybe it's good timing.
We saw a million animals on the second day too. More baboons and giraffes and buffaloes and elephants, but also zebras, a cheetah, warthogs, hyenas, monkeys, hippos, and of course a bunch of lions. It was so cool to just see them all so close to the car. We drove around all day and then made the trek back to Arusha for our last night there.
We ended up staying in mt meru inn, another hostel that we weren't planning on staying in instead of going to the site, which made me really upset because I just wanted to see the kids one more time before we left. The girls were adamant about the hostel though so we got our stuff got a room for the six of us with 3 twin beds to share, awesome!!! Not!
I showered and we ran to dinner and I realized I had lost my camera. I freaked out for all of 10 minutes until one of the arusha people had the safari guys phone number and he came back to bring it to me. It hasn't left my side since. We had dinner at this place that served American food which we were all really excited about. I ordered a cheeseburger and French fries with a vanilla shake that was amazing although the shake tasted just like slimfast. We ate with the arusha people who took the other safari car and tried to talk to them a bit but didn't go out like Marnee and I had planned that night because we were sontired and the food was so heavy on our little malnourished stomachs. We went back to the room and crashed pretty hard.
We headed toward the crater at Ngorongoro and it was so hazy that we couldn't see anything. Saba stopped and had us get out to take pictures next to the crater but all you can see is some fog and trees and it was freezing trying to get put of the car. We continued driving and we all pretty much fell asleep on the way down into the crater where all the animals are. Pretty soon we saw a couple zebra and the day officially began. I ended up smashing the screen of my iPhone on the ground when it fell out of the safari car on one of my stops so it's cracked but thankfully still functional. I think I get my update when I get home though so maybe it's good timing.
We saw a million animals on the second day too. More baboons and giraffes and buffaloes and elephants, but also zebras, a cheetah, warthogs, hyenas, monkeys, hippos, and of course a bunch of lions. It was so cool to just see them all so close to the car. We drove around all day and then made the trek back to Arusha for our last night there.
We ended up staying in mt meru inn, another hostel that we weren't planning on staying in instead of going to the site, which made me really upset because I just wanted to see the kids one more time before we left. The girls were adamant about the hostel though so we got our stuff got a room for the six of us with 3 twin beds to share, awesome!!! Not!
I showered and we ran to dinner and I realized I had lost my camera. I freaked out for all of 10 minutes until one of the arusha people had the safari guys phone number and he came back to bring it to me. It hasn't left my side since. We had dinner at this place that served American food which we were all really excited about. I ordered a cheeseburger and French fries with a vanilla shake that was amazing although the shake tasted just like slimfast. We ate with the arusha people who took the other safari car and tried to talk to them a bit but didn't go out like Marnee and I had planned that night because we were sontired and the food was so heavy on our little malnourished stomachs. We went back to the room and crashed pretty hard.
Friday, June 11,2010- Arusha Day 2
We woke up super early thanks to the chickens that stayed in our mud hut and the dogs that were locked in some box barking all morning. We got up, packed, and got ready to start our 2 day 1 night safari. We drove down to the first grocery store, like. Legit grocery store since I have gotten here and we bought all of our food for the next two days. I grabbed my staple peanut butter and jelly with raisin bread and some crackers and candy to keep myself sane while in a car for two days. I found some iced tea too which was amazing.
We then hopped in the vehicles and got ready to leave. The six of us were in one car and the other arusha people had another car that we pretty much followed the whole time.
This was the first time we met Saba, our safari driver. Saba also means seven in Swahili, just in case you were interested. We start our super long drive, about 3 hours, and we finally get to the national animal park and we drive around and the animal adventure finally begins! We saw pretty much everything you can think of on Friday. Tons of baboons, elephants everywhere, giraffes right next to our car, and wildabeasts and buffalo galore. We stopped at this hot springs in the middle of the national park and got out to take pictures. Marnee got out and threw her hands into the water and scalded her hands because she wasn't listening to know that we were at a HOT springs. We got back in the car and would stand up in the car with the open roof and we just had a good time taking 9 hours to get through a huge animal park. Saba ended up falling in love with me, or so he said after he said " you are very beautiful" and would totally molest my leg before I smacked him off me and told him I had a husband. He's super nice but me and my fake husband have a bond.
We made it to a hostel that Marnee and I had the most amazing experience at. After dinner were we had the most amazing chipsi mayai of my life with a beer, we came back to this hostel where we all shared single bedrooms and Saba of course thought it would be funny to offer to stay with me in my room. Thankfully I had marnee with me so we picked our room which had the name "Australia" on the door, each or was a region of the planet, including Mars.
Our room looked like a normal hostel room minus the malaria nets we so desperately needed. The bathroom had a cho and shower in the same place and smelled so awful we decided to just skip the shower and pee with the door open. We had cockroaches and grasshoppers as guests in our room, not to mention the crickets chirping and the Sean Paul dance party outside our one window and the world cup games around the back of our room. Marnee and I laughed for literally 30 minutes before we went to bed.
We then hopped in the vehicles and got ready to leave. The six of us were in one car and the other arusha people had another car that we pretty much followed the whole time.
This was the first time we met Saba, our safari driver. Saba also means seven in Swahili, just in case you were interested. We start our super long drive, about 3 hours, and we finally get to the national animal park and we drive around and the animal adventure finally begins! We saw pretty much everything you can think of on Friday. Tons of baboons, elephants everywhere, giraffes right next to our car, and wildabeasts and buffalo galore. We stopped at this hot springs in the middle of the national park and got out to take pictures. Marnee got out and threw her hands into the water and scalded her hands because she wasn't listening to know that we were at a HOT springs. We got back in the car and would stand up in the car with the open roof and we just had a good time taking 9 hours to get through a huge animal park. Saba ended up falling in love with me, or so he said after he said " you are very beautiful" and would totally molest my leg before I smacked him off me and told him I had a husband. He's super nice but me and my fake husband have a bond.
We made it to a hostel that Marnee and I had the most amazing experience at. After dinner were we had the most amazing chipsi mayai of my life with a beer, we came back to this hostel where we all shared single bedrooms and Saba of course thought it would be funny to offer to stay with me in my room. Thankfully I had marnee with me so we picked our room which had the name "Australia" on the door, each or was a region of the planet, including Mars.
Our room looked like a normal hostel room minus the malaria nets we so desperately needed. The bathroom had a cho and shower in the same place and smelled so awful we decided to just skip the shower and pee with the door open. We had cockroaches and grasshoppers as guests in our room, not to mention the crickets chirping and the Sean Paul dance party outside our one window and the world cup games around the back of our room. Marnee and I laughed for literally 30 minutes before we went to bed.
Thursday, June 10, 2010- Zanzibar/Arusha day 17/1
We woke up early in the morning to get ready to go to the safari and to Arusha to the main site of One Heart Source, the orphanage in Arusha. Me, Marnee, Kristie, Yao, Clara, and Estela had breakfast and packed our bags and headed out in the most rain we'd ever seen since we've been here. We piled into Mohammeds car and took the longest airport drive we've ever had because of the rain. We got to the airport, and took a long ass time to get our luggage through (African time takes forever to do anything) and before we knew it we were on the tiniest plane in the world to go on the hour long flight to Arusha.
The plane we flew on through fly540 was a 12 seat plane where the first seat group is directly behind the pilot and the assistant. We flew over the water and after a quick nap we were in arusha!
I was so excited to get off the plane and even more excited to be wearing my sweatshirt and being completely comfortable for the first time since I had been out of LA. We waited around for our car getting hounded by taxi driver after taxi driver and I finally decided to call John and find out where he was. We found out he had been waiting for us at the departure gate and not the arrivals. We finally found him and got introduced to another girl that was on the metevez program starting next week and then we headed into a big van and heading to the site.
We drove past bunches of sunflowers and corn rows and the amazing views of Africa that I imagined when I got here. We landed at a huge road where we walked into the site and I was taken aback at what we saw. As we walked in this huge red gate with the one heart source logo on it and a tiny door on the left hand side that we slid through with all of our stuff. As we slid through the door we saw a huge stretch of land that was amazing. The whole front part of the site had a series of mud huts and chicken coops, and as we panned back we saw a huge stretch of farm land and a big house in the back which we learned was the orphanage house.
John showed us around after dropping our stuff off in our room for the night and we saw the community firepit for the staff, the chicken coop they were making. The showers and chos ( bathroom) that were literally little huts outside and a hole in the ground covered by sheets for privacy. We got to see all of these little gardens that they cook their own vegetables in and John told us about the plans to build some sustainability things on site to get them a bunch of energy. They're looking for a grant to get wind power through wind mills that would allow them to have energy at the house without wasting a bunch of it. We went to the big house at the back and saw the first look at the orphanage house. We walked up and there were kids running amok and people chasing after them talking in crazy Swahili that I hadn't ever heard. We took our shoes off and left them in the cubby holes out front and got a tour of the house.
When you first walk in there's a big open area that was obviously under construction and people were taking paint off the wall to repaint it. To the left there was a door to a room that housed the staff and another room down the hall that was the staff office which had a painting of Bob Marley on the wall and some of his lyrics in rasta colors. Then on the back wall is a kids room with a bunch of bunk beds for the young kids and a back room with a laundry facility that was a literal washer and drier, brand new, for the kids to get their clothes washed. The kitchen is to the right of that is a huge room were they were setting up a brand new stove and painting when we came in. The cabinet was filled with freshly picked vegetables and fruits and one of the mamas in the house was making pasta for us.
The other side of the house had three or four different rooms with bunk beds or cribs for the little ones. We were ready to help out and John gave us a task of clearing some brush. We took some hoes and pick axes and got to it until our lunch was ready. Suddenly cars pulled up piled with 20 people to a car and we realized it was all of the arusha volunteers. They had a three day weekend too so they were all hanging out at the site until they got dropped off at their perspective locations. A lot of them were going to Zanzibar so they asked us some questions about life there and pretty soon they left and we went in to eat lunch. They made us some amazing pasta and we talked to the volunteers that were left about the site and the program.
Pretty soon the kids were playing out in the sandbox and we got to go play with them. Clara found John's guitar and took it out to play and sing. She's got an amazing voice and I was upset I didn't know that earlier. We could have been writing music and stuff from the beginning. The kids loved it and we got a chance to bond with the kids we came here for, which is all I had wanted to do.
I immediately found the love of my entire life in Bahati. She is a just-turned-4 year old with the sassiest personality and loves to be the center of attention. She clung to me from the get go and never really let go. I love her more than words can say. We played together in the sandbox along with Ima and Baracka ( who i learned was a really abused child and that he has just started talking again. He didn't have a last name so the family at OHS picked Obama for his last name. That's right. Baracka Obama.) and his twin brother. We played in the sand and giggled and danced and broke up fights and I immediately realized that I should have been in arusha the whole time. I mentally packed my bags for next summer when I hope I can come back and be a mama in the house.
We talked to the other girls volunteering who stayed behind and heard all about their home stays and their life in arusha. Apparently there's a lot more witchcraft and crazy things happening here in the non-Muslim part of the world. A girl was telling me that people were moved out of their homestays because of prostitution and apparently one persons homestay family had an excorcism on the front lawn. Crazy!
The people there seem to have a really weird sense of reality. Apparently the teaching partners asked her in all seriousness how japan had flipped over. ( apparently they heard about it on the radio). They also said that they heard our president on their radio talking about how the reason the US is so wealthy and full of technology is because any intelligent person is locked in a room and forced to work on technology. Crazy!
The most interesting thing they said was after she told them she didn't believe in witchcraft: " well, what do you do in America when a person is just walking down the street and turns into a butterfly?". Like that's an everyday occurrence.
We had dinner with the watoto ( children) and then spent the next couple hours playing incessantly with these amazing kids that I seriously can't stop thinking about. We played games and talked and even taught them a little about animals because they were going to the animal park on Saturday. We finally put the kids to bed and Bahati cried and clung to me because she didn't want to go. I nearly died.
We headed to our mud hut and fell asleep pretty much immediately.
The plane we flew on through fly540 was a 12 seat plane where the first seat group is directly behind the pilot and the assistant. We flew over the water and after a quick nap we were in arusha!
I was so excited to get off the plane and even more excited to be wearing my sweatshirt and being completely comfortable for the first time since I had been out of LA. We waited around for our car getting hounded by taxi driver after taxi driver and I finally decided to call John and find out where he was. We found out he had been waiting for us at the departure gate and not the arrivals. We finally found him and got introduced to another girl that was on the metevez program starting next week and then we headed into a big van and heading to the site.
We drove past bunches of sunflowers and corn rows and the amazing views of Africa that I imagined when I got here. We landed at a huge road where we walked into the site and I was taken aback at what we saw. As we walked in this huge red gate with the one heart source logo on it and a tiny door on the left hand side that we slid through with all of our stuff. As we slid through the door we saw a huge stretch of land that was amazing. The whole front part of the site had a series of mud huts and chicken coops, and as we panned back we saw a huge stretch of farm land and a big house in the back which we learned was the orphanage house.
John showed us around after dropping our stuff off in our room for the night and we saw the community firepit for the staff, the chicken coop they were making. The showers and chos ( bathroom) that were literally little huts outside and a hole in the ground covered by sheets for privacy. We got to see all of these little gardens that they cook their own vegetables in and John told us about the plans to build some sustainability things on site to get them a bunch of energy. They're looking for a grant to get wind power through wind mills that would allow them to have energy at the house without wasting a bunch of it. We went to the big house at the back and saw the first look at the orphanage house. We walked up and there were kids running amok and people chasing after them talking in crazy Swahili that I hadn't ever heard. We took our shoes off and left them in the cubby holes out front and got a tour of the house.
When you first walk in there's a big open area that was obviously under construction and people were taking paint off the wall to repaint it. To the left there was a door to a room that housed the staff and another room down the hall that was the staff office which had a painting of Bob Marley on the wall and some of his lyrics in rasta colors. Then on the back wall is a kids room with a bunch of bunk beds for the young kids and a back room with a laundry facility that was a literal washer and drier, brand new, for the kids to get their clothes washed. The kitchen is to the right of that is a huge room were they were setting up a brand new stove and painting when we came in. The cabinet was filled with freshly picked vegetables and fruits and one of the mamas in the house was making pasta for us.
The other side of the house had three or four different rooms with bunk beds or cribs for the little ones. We were ready to help out and John gave us a task of clearing some brush. We took some hoes and pick axes and got to it until our lunch was ready. Suddenly cars pulled up piled with 20 people to a car and we realized it was all of the arusha volunteers. They had a three day weekend too so they were all hanging out at the site until they got dropped off at their perspective locations. A lot of them were going to Zanzibar so they asked us some questions about life there and pretty soon they left and we went in to eat lunch. They made us some amazing pasta and we talked to the volunteers that were left about the site and the program.
Pretty soon the kids were playing out in the sandbox and we got to go play with them. Clara found John's guitar and took it out to play and sing. She's got an amazing voice and I was upset I didn't know that earlier. We could have been writing music and stuff from the beginning. The kids loved it and we got a chance to bond with the kids we came here for, which is all I had wanted to do.
I immediately found the love of my entire life in Bahati. She is a just-turned-4 year old with the sassiest personality and loves to be the center of attention. She clung to me from the get go and never really let go. I love her more than words can say. We played together in the sandbox along with Ima and Baracka ( who i learned was a really abused child and that he has just started talking again. He didn't have a last name so the family at OHS picked Obama for his last name. That's right. Baracka Obama.) and his twin brother. We played in the sand and giggled and danced and broke up fights and I immediately realized that I should have been in arusha the whole time. I mentally packed my bags for next summer when I hope I can come back and be a mama in the house.
We talked to the other girls volunteering who stayed behind and heard all about their home stays and their life in arusha. Apparently there's a lot more witchcraft and crazy things happening here in the non-Muslim part of the world. A girl was telling me that people were moved out of their homestays because of prostitution and apparently one persons homestay family had an excorcism on the front lawn. Crazy!
The people there seem to have a really weird sense of reality. Apparently the teaching partners asked her in all seriousness how japan had flipped over. ( apparently they heard about it on the radio). They also said that they heard our president on their radio talking about how the reason the US is so wealthy and full of technology is because any intelligent person is locked in a room and forced to work on technology. Crazy!
The most interesting thing they said was after she told them she didn't believe in witchcraft: " well, what do you do in America when a person is just walking down the street and turns into a butterfly?". Like that's an everyday occurrence.
We had dinner with the watoto ( children) and then spent the next couple hours playing incessantly with these amazing kids that I seriously can't stop thinking about. We played games and talked and even taught them a little about animals because they were going to the animal park on Saturday. We finally put the kids to bed and Bahati cried and clung to me because she didn't want to go. I nearly died.
We headed to our mud hut and fell asleep pretty much immediately.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010- Zanzibar day 16
Wesnesday was a crazy day. We hadn't had a day off in almost 2 weeks so David and I decided that we would be taking the day to go to Stonetown and get a couple things for my trip this weekend, but we really wanted to try to sleep I'm since we hadn't done that yet since we got here.
As I was trying to close my eyes and pray to sleep past 8, David walks in the room and wakes me up telling me the other girls who were going to stonetown were leaving by 8:45. So i got up, showered, and got ready for the day. We came to breakfast only to find out that the girls had gotten a taxi for four people and not 6, so David and I were screwed out of a ride. Shitty, we decide to make the best of it though and went to the hotel reception desk and asked for a taxi. The guy at the desk said," we don't have taxi to stonetown today. " and tried to explain that they had all their cars filled by "guests" when the only other people in the hotel are one couple who had already been picked up.
I told them I had no problem calling another taxi company, which got them moving. They told me to wait 10 mins and there would be a car that would take us to stonetown for 6,000 shillings.
45 minutes later this huge bus show up and tries to take me and David to stonetown. We ask him how much for the van and he says 60,000 shillings!!! That's about 58 US dollars! We told him he had to be crazy, tried to haggle, but got nowhere. We finally told him we were just going to walk and he offered to drive us to the Dalla dalla pick up. We shelled out a couple thousand shillings for him and he dropped us off on a road where we began to walk to a dalla dalla pickup. While we were waiting we saw Tabit and Kessi outside of Soodis house and asked them to come. About an hour later a dalla dalla showed up to pick us up.
The ride to stonetown took FOREVER! They made a thousand stops, one extra long one to pick up huge bundles of sticks and put them off the roof. We finally got to stonetown and it was almost 12:15. Once we got out, we had to find a ATM so I could get some shillings. We walked all over and finally found one that took a MasterCard, and then we were off. Walking down the streets I eyed some nutella in a store and bought it immediately along with some peanut butter for me and alivianna. We walked to the next store and David saw suitcases that he needed. His apparently had broken so he got one for a good price which ended up being awesome because we carried all of our crap in the suitcase all day. Tabit refused to let David carry his suitcase so we felt bad pretty much all day.
We then walked around and found a store that David had seen amazing paintings in before. I wasn't really in the painting buying business until we got to this store. They had amazing paintings and so different than the others. After befriending the store clerks and telling them our life stories, we got them to lower their prices significantly and I got two huge paintings for about 60,000, the price of the van ride.
We then met up with the girls, had some gelato and got to head around to get the girls some paintings. I haggled for some new sunglasses since mine broke ( my bargaining skills are excellent, I won't lie) and then helped Marnee get her painting down.
Afterward, we let the girls get back in their plush taxi and we headed to the market to get some fruit and bread and head home. The market was basically closed when we got there so we got some bananas and mango for aliviana, and David was scammed into buying passion fruit, and we waited about an hour for a bus.
Finally the bus showed up and we all squeezed into a bus that was already filled to capacity. They pushed me into the back with Tabit and two of the fattest men ive ever seen. I was literally squished up to the back of the other seat. David and kessi were shoved up front and a little girl was thrown on david's lap. We had an amazingly long ride home.
We drove literally 100 feet and a policeman stopped us. Pretty soon our bus driver was being arrested for being a repeat offender of having too many people in the car. We didn't know what to do but 45 mins later another guy got in and drove another hundred feet and stopped. ANOTHER 45 mins go by and we are greeted by our original driver and kessi said he narrowly escaped jail.
As hilarious as that is, picture this happening while tabit is blaring Michael Jackson on my iPod and these Swedish girls are glaring at me. Hilarious.
So we finally get going and we stop again and David and kessi are yelling to give money to them. Unsure of what's going on I told them no! Finally I realized they stopped the whole bus for me to get bread, I died laughing. About 3 hours later we had to take a walk on the beach in the Rain for us to get back to the hotel while kessi carried our now really heavy suitcase the whole way above his head. We had wet clothes and tired bodies at dinner but I packed my bags for arusha and headed to bed.
As I was trying to close my eyes and pray to sleep past 8, David walks in the room and wakes me up telling me the other girls who were going to stonetown were leaving by 8:45. So i got up, showered, and got ready for the day. We came to breakfast only to find out that the girls had gotten a taxi for four people and not 6, so David and I were screwed out of a ride. Shitty, we decide to make the best of it though and went to the hotel reception desk and asked for a taxi. The guy at the desk said," we don't have taxi to stonetown today. " and tried to explain that they had all their cars filled by "guests" when the only other people in the hotel are one couple who had already been picked up.
I told them I had no problem calling another taxi company, which got them moving. They told me to wait 10 mins and there would be a car that would take us to stonetown for 6,000 shillings.
45 minutes later this huge bus show up and tries to take me and David to stonetown. We ask him how much for the van and he says 60,000 shillings!!! That's about 58 US dollars! We told him he had to be crazy, tried to haggle, but got nowhere. We finally told him we were just going to walk and he offered to drive us to the Dalla dalla pick up. We shelled out a couple thousand shillings for him and he dropped us off on a road where we began to walk to a dalla dalla pickup. While we were waiting we saw Tabit and Kessi outside of Soodis house and asked them to come. About an hour later a dalla dalla showed up to pick us up.
The ride to stonetown took FOREVER! They made a thousand stops, one extra long one to pick up huge bundles of sticks and put them off the roof. We finally got to stonetown and it was almost 12:15. Once we got out, we had to find a ATM so I could get some shillings. We walked all over and finally found one that took a MasterCard, and then we were off. Walking down the streets I eyed some nutella in a store and bought it immediately along with some peanut butter for me and alivianna. We walked to the next store and David saw suitcases that he needed. His apparently had broken so he got one for a good price which ended up being awesome because we carried all of our crap in the suitcase all day. Tabit refused to let David carry his suitcase so we felt bad pretty much all day.
We then walked around and found a store that David had seen amazing paintings in before. I wasn't really in the painting buying business until we got to this store. They had amazing paintings and so different than the others. After befriending the store clerks and telling them our life stories, we got them to lower their prices significantly and I got two huge paintings for about 60,000, the price of the van ride.
We then met up with the girls, had some gelato and got to head around to get the girls some paintings. I haggled for some new sunglasses since mine broke ( my bargaining skills are excellent, I won't lie) and then helped Marnee get her painting down.
Afterward, we let the girls get back in their plush taxi and we headed to the market to get some fruit and bread and head home. The market was basically closed when we got there so we got some bananas and mango for aliviana, and David was scammed into buying passion fruit, and we waited about an hour for a bus.
Finally the bus showed up and we all squeezed into a bus that was already filled to capacity. They pushed me into the back with Tabit and two of the fattest men ive ever seen. I was literally squished up to the back of the other seat. David and kessi were shoved up front and a little girl was thrown on david's lap. We had an amazingly long ride home.
We drove literally 100 feet and a policeman stopped us. Pretty soon our bus driver was being arrested for being a repeat offender of having too many people in the car. We didn't know what to do but 45 mins later another guy got in and drove another hundred feet and stopped. ANOTHER 45 mins go by and we are greeted by our original driver and kessi said he narrowly escaped jail.
As hilarious as that is, picture this happening while tabit is blaring Michael Jackson on my iPod and these Swedish girls are glaring at me. Hilarious.
So we finally get going and we stop again and David and kessi are yelling to give money to them. Unsure of what's going on I told them no! Finally I realized they stopped the whole bus for me to get bread, I died laughing. About 3 hours later we had to take a walk on the beach in the Rain for us to get back to the hotel while kessi carried our now really heavy suitcase the whole way above his head. We had wet clothes and tired bodies at dinner but I packed my bags for arusha and headed to bed.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Tuesday June 8,2010- Zanzibar day 15
Another bright and early day for us.
We started the same sequence of events as Monday, only we were teaching standard 6 this time which were 13-15 year olds. It went fairly the same as yesterday only the kids were less on task and a little harder to keep the attention of, plus Mary, Estela, Kessi and I have taught every day since our snorkling trip last Wednesday, besides the planning day Estela and i took so we were drained of everything we had.
We walked back and I for the fourth day in a row had missed te availability of lunch and was too tired to be angry about it. I just closed my eyes and waited for them to tell me something else had arrived and yearning for my day off tomorrow. I daydreamed about how skinny Id be when I got home, and how good Id look in my swimsuit. But that daydream also had montages of me eating a whole cows worth of filet mignon and artichokes. Oh my god, and cucumbers. What I wouldn't do for a cucumber right now.
I digress.
We ended up getting some more pasta which I was completely content with. We heard at lunch that we would not really be having a day off tomorrow because the women from the village who ditched us 3 times had decided they wanted to be taught on wednesday and I nearly lost my mind. Id be fine with it if half of the groups had not had a wonderful day off today with sleeping in and rest. Besides, I'm nearly out of money and I leave for Arusha on thursday and need to get to an ATM before that. Besides I would have to change my day around for 5 minutes of penis talk to women who obviously already know what the penis does. We bargained with the group who stayed home today to do it for us tomorrow an they obliged so thankfully I think I will be having my day off tomorrow.
I'm planning on finding some nutella and crackers to keep me occupied while here without food.
I'm excited to go to arusha and see the orphanage this weekend. Me, Kristie, Clara, Yao, Estela and Marnee are also going on a safari which I feel like I can't miss since I'm in fricken Africa. I can't wait to be at the orphanage most of all though.
We started the same sequence of events as Monday, only we were teaching standard 6 this time which were 13-15 year olds. It went fairly the same as yesterday only the kids were less on task and a little harder to keep the attention of, plus Mary, Estela, Kessi and I have taught every day since our snorkling trip last Wednesday, besides the planning day Estela and i took so we were drained of everything we had.
We walked back and I for the fourth day in a row had missed te availability of lunch and was too tired to be angry about it. I just closed my eyes and waited for them to tell me something else had arrived and yearning for my day off tomorrow. I daydreamed about how skinny Id be when I got home, and how good Id look in my swimsuit. But that daydream also had montages of me eating a whole cows worth of filet mignon and artichokes. Oh my god, and cucumbers. What I wouldn't do for a cucumber right now.
I digress.
We ended up getting some more pasta which I was completely content with. We heard at lunch that we would not really be having a day off tomorrow because the women from the village who ditched us 3 times had decided they wanted to be taught on wednesday and I nearly lost my mind. Id be fine with it if half of the groups had not had a wonderful day off today with sleeping in and rest. Besides, I'm nearly out of money and I leave for Arusha on thursday and need to get to an ATM before that. Besides I would have to change my day around for 5 minutes of penis talk to women who obviously already know what the penis does. We bargained with the group who stayed home today to do it for us tomorrow an they obliged so thankfully I think I will be having my day off tomorrow.
I'm planning on finding some nutella and crackers to keep me occupied while here without food.
I'm excited to go to arusha and see the orphanage this weekend. Me, Kristie, Clara, Yao, Estela and Marnee are also going on a safari which I feel like I can't miss since I'm in fricken Africa. I can't wait to be at the orphanage most of all though.
Monday, June 7, 2010- Zanzibar day 14
Monday was an early rise. We had to be up by 6:30 to eat and be in the village early to teach our first day at michamvi school. Our group was really excited and we got ready fast and headed to the school. We all separated and we found our standard 4 kids all sitting quietly waiting for us. They were adorable, polite, and well behaved. Unlike most 10-12 year olds I know at home. They had the biggest smiles and loved listening and participating.
We started the day with a test to see what they already knew about HIV and aids, and then went into the intro and progression sections we have done so many times. The kids loved participating so we played a couple games and sang some songs with them to keep them interested. When we came back from recess, they sang us a song in English welcoming us to their school and saying they were so happy we were there. I nearly cried.
I taught the puberty lesson which led to a lot of questions about pubic hair and boys puberty which I thought was funny. After that we came home for lunch with the teaching partners and things started to get out of control. There are about 15 of us normally that eat at kichanga and when the teaching partners come it's more like 21 or so. I feel like the kitchen knows this but refuses to make enough food.
Not to mention all of us take sparing amounts of food to make sure everybody gets some but the teaching partners don't know the concept of conservation. They pile their plates with rice and beans and sure enough every lunch time at least 5 of us go without food.
It's a mild annoyance until it happens everyday. I haven't been able to get lunch the last three days and counting. It's usually me, Aliviana, Selina, and Lily and Jessica. And then we treck over to the kitchen and they have to make us more food. Every day. I Dont really get why they don't just make more.
So Monday I had to wait a good hour for food but they ended up bringing us some pasta which made me ecstatic.
We did some work and soon enough it was dinner time and we had some pretty nice food selections again; fish rice and fruit and veggies. I was so excited I lost all my energy and went to bed fairly early.
When Lily and I headed to bed we saw this long centipede-looking bug crawling out of our room; the same bug that was on my bed two nights before and the one that had bit Jessica the night before. We had a miraculous killing spree with this thing. It was like a zombie. Always coming back alive. Once lily finally squished it she saw it was still moving. I've watched enough zombie movies to know you have to cut the head off to kill it so that's what I did. And then flipped a stool over and smooshed the rest of it for good measure.
We went to bed heroes of the room.
We started the day with a test to see what they already knew about HIV and aids, and then went into the intro and progression sections we have done so many times. The kids loved participating so we played a couple games and sang some songs with them to keep them interested. When we came back from recess, they sang us a song in English welcoming us to their school and saying they were so happy we were there. I nearly cried.
I taught the puberty lesson which led to a lot of questions about pubic hair and boys puberty which I thought was funny. After that we came home for lunch with the teaching partners and things started to get out of control. There are about 15 of us normally that eat at kichanga and when the teaching partners come it's more like 21 or so. I feel like the kitchen knows this but refuses to make enough food.
Not to mention all of us take sparing amounts of food to make sure everybody gets some but the teaching partners don't know the concept of conservation. They pile their plates with rice and beans and sure enough every lunch time at least 5 of us go without food.
It's a mild annoyance until it happens everyday. I haven't been able to get lunch the last three days and counting. It's usually me, Aliviana, Selina, and Lily and Jessica. And then we treck over to the kitchen and they have to make us more food. Every day. I Dont really get why they don't just make more.
So Monday I had to wait a good hour for food but they ended up bringing us some pasta which made me ecstatic.
We did some work and soon enough it was dinner time and we had some pretty nice food selections again; fish rice and fruit and veggies. I was so excited I lost all my energy and went to bed fairly early.
When Lily and I headed to bed we saw this long centipede-looking bug crawling out of our room; the same bug that was on my bed two nights before and the one that had bit Jessica the night before. We had a miraculous killing spree with this thing. It was like a zombie. Always coming back alive. Once lily finally squished it she saw it was still moving. I've watched enough zombie movies to know you have to cut the head off to kill it so that's what I did. And then flipped a stool over and smooshed the rest of it for good measure.
We went to bed heroes of the room.
Sunday, June 6,2010-Zanzibar day 13
Sunday was our last teaching at the village before we went to the schools to finally do what we came here to do. Teach the kids in the schools!
We did some prepping for school teachings and I found out Id be teaching standard 4, which are kids ages 9-12. I was really excited to teach the youngest group and came up with a bunch of fun games to play with them.
We were supposed to finish teaching the women of michamvi pingue today and then found out that they had a wedding and might not show, so Estela and I stayed and put everything together for our lesson on Monday the whole time the other groups were gone. We "laminated" our posters and signs with tape so we could keep them for the rest of the trip and colored, glued, drew and pasted.
When everyone came home we realized it was almost dark and time for dinner. Were finally having better food, partially because I think they are embarrassed to feed us so terribly with the other guests around, and partially because we've been complaining, but I am happy nonetheless.
I talked to a woman who was staying at the hotel with her family. She had been traveling with her family for the better part of a year and ths was their last stop before going home and they were having nothing but problems with the place. She told me to stand up for myself especially if I've been getting sick, and the next thing I hear, they've cancelled the next 8 days of their stay here and went somewhere else.
That's a little insight into our living arrangements although I still feel awful complaining. I just don't like to be sick when I have a full day of teaching.
We did some prepping for school teachings and I found out Id be teaching standard 4, which are kids ages 9-12. I was really excited to teach the youngest group and came up with a bunch of fun games to play with them.
We were supposed to finish teaching the women of michamvi pingue today and then found out that they had a wedding and might not show, so Estela and I stayed and put everything together for our lesson on Monday the whole time the other groups were gone. We "laminated" our posters and signs with tape so we could keep them for the rest of the trip and colored, glued, drew and pasted.
When everyone came home we realized it was almost dark and time for dinner. Were finally having better food, partially because I think they are embarrassed to feed us so terribly with the other guests around, and partially because we've been complaining, but I am happy nonetheless.
I talked to a woman who was staying at the hotel with her family. She had been traveling with her family for the better part of a year and ths was their last stop before going home and they were having nothing but problems with the place. She told me to stand up for myself especially if I've been getting sick, and the next thing I hear, they've cancelled the next 8 days of their stay here and went somewhere else.
That's a little insight into our living arrangements although I still feel awful complaining. I just don't like to be sick when I have a full day of teaching.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday June 5,2010- Zanzibar day 12
Saturday pretty much went the same way as Friday, only I had to just teach the wen so I showed up an hour and a half or so later than the rest of them. I caught up on laundry, because I hadn't done any in forever! We walked over by beach again as I prayed that the women would actually show up.
They eventually did, late, and we began to reteach the intro. The energy with the women was amazing and sething I hadn't seem yet. They would repeat everything Kesi said and would ask a lot of really insightful questions. After the intro a woman said," the reason we ask a lot of questions is because AIDS is a disaster and we want to know everything about however we can stop it. If you had a testing right now we would all go and test."
it felt amazing to hear something so powerful and important coming from them and we told them how wonderful that was and that we'd be sending them a mobile testing unit. Before we knew it we were done and the women thanked us again an we were on our way back home to eat.
To our surprise, the menu had changed from our original rice an beans to an array of vegetables, chips (fries), and grilled fish. Fillets! We were in such awe we didn't know what to do. The food was absolutely amazing and they promised to change up the menu for us for dinner from now on now that the hotel is actually open for guests and not just us.
Needles to say we all slept well Saturday night.
They eventually did, late, and we began to reteach the intro. The energy with the women was amazing and sething I hadn't seem yet. They would repeat everything Kesi said and would ask a lot of really insightful questions. After the intro a woman said," the reason we ask a lot of questions is because AIDS is a disaster and we want to know everything about however we can stop it. If you had a testing right now we would all go and test."
it felt amazing to hear something so powerful and important coming from them and we told them how wonderful that was and that we'd be sending them a mobile testing unit. Before we knew it we were done and the women thanked us again an we were on our way back home to eat.
To our surprise, the menu had changed from our original rice an beans to an array of vegetables, chips (fries), and grilled fish. Fillets! We were in such awe we didn't know what to do. The food was absolutely amazing and they promised to change up the menu for us for dinner from now on now that the hotel is actually open for guests and not just us.
Needles to say we all slept well Saturday night.
Friday, June 4, 2010- Zanzibar Day 11
Today was our first day teaching in the new village, Michamvi Pingue. We all woke up and had our normal tea and bread breakfast ( that is starting to make me physically sick every time I eat it now) and did some lesson planning until lunch where we had rice and beans, the same thing we've had for lunch and dinner every day for the last 5 meals. We dressed an walked on the beach because the tide was low enough and finally arrived at the village after a hot and miserable walk about an hour later.
The village would be taught separating men and women so we were supposed to do the whole intro and progression group twice in one day. It was about an hour and a half long, so teaching it twice did not sound fun.
The men were all fairly young for the first time and I felt like they all got more out of our lesson than anyone else so far. They asked a lot of questions and really followed the material well. As soon as we were done we learned that the women weren't coming because they were preparing for a wedding that would take place this weekend.
So we only had to do our topic once, which was nice, and then we were finished around 4:30 pm.
We stuck around the village to eat some chipsimayai instead of rice and beans. We had to wait a really long time since there was only one man in the village who make it so we found a little lounge a few blocks away that had a bunch of comfy chairs and a huge full bar where a lot of people promptly began drinking.
I had gone from having a pretty terrible cold to having a stomach illness, and was not about to play the fate of drinking before eating a substantial meal. We sat and talked for a while before liv, David and I went to go check on the food with Jessica and lily. We went an sat at the table they prepared for us and suddenly three little kids who were maybe 3 years old at the latest, called out "jambo!" to us. I played a game with them like hide and seek and we did a couple little follow the leader games while we waited for dinner.
I fell in love with this little girl in a white flowy dress with her shaved head and pierced ears. She would hug me and then squeal so loud and run away I would die laughing every time. The little boy with her in a yellow shirt would grab my hand and lead me all over the village with him. This is when Jessica laughed and joked," this is when Shannon is going to steal a little kid!" and I totally would have, had I had the chance. ;) kidding, of course.
Dinner was blah but it wasn't rice so we were happy. We then went over and had some drinks and hung out in the lounge. We were the only people there so the bartenders loved us and were giving us free shots. Pretty soon it was dark and the tide was too high to walk in so we had to take the road in the pitch black. I came home and called Tony, and at about 1am I realized that I had not put any deet on ad my legs were basically eatten alive by Mosquitos and learned the hard way that I should go to sleep.
The village would be taught separating men and women so we were supposed to do the whole intro and progression group twice in one day. It was about an hour and a half long, so teaching it twice did not sound fun.
The men were all fairly young for the first time and I felt like they all got more out of our lesson than anyone else so far. They asked a lot of questions and really followed the material well. As soon as we were done we learned that the women weren't coming because they were preparing for a wedding that would take place this weekend.
So we only had to do our topic once, which was nice, and then we were finished around 4:30 pm.
We stuck around the village to eat some chipsimayai instead of rice and beans. We had to wait a really long time since there was only one man in the village who make it so we found a little lounge a few blocks away that had a bunch of comfy chairs and a huge full bar where a lot of people promptly began drinking.
I had gone from having a pretty terrible cold to having a stomach illness, and was not about to play the fate of drinking before eating a substantial meal. We sat and talked for a while before liv, David and I went to go check on the food with Jessica and lily. We went an sat at the table they prepared for us and suddenly three little kids who were maybe 3 years old at the latest, called out "jambo!" to us. I played a game with them like hide and seek and we did a couple little follow the leader games while we waited for dinner.
I fell in love with this little girl in a white flowy dress with her shaved head and pierced ears. She would hug me and then squeal so loud and run away I would die laughing every time. The little boy with her in a yellow shirt would grab my hand and lead me all over the village with him. This is when Jessica laughed and joked," this is when Shannon is going to steal a little kid!" and I totally would have, had I had the chance. ;) kidding, of course.
Dinner was blah but it wasn't rice so we were happy. We then went over and had some drinks and hung out in the lounge. We were the only people there so the bartenders loved us and were giving us free shots. Pretty soon it was dark and the tide was too high to walk in so we had to take the road in the pitch black. I came home and called Tony, and at about 1am I realized that I had not put any deet on ad my legs were basically eatten alive by Mosquitos and learned the hard way that I should go to sleep.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010- Zanzibar day 10
I woke up this morning feeling like shit. My throat was swollen shut and my lymph nodes were the size of golf balls. I knew it was not going to be a good day. At breakfast I found that I wasn't teaching today so I asked if I could stay at the hotel and rest, which I did. I slept most of the day and caught up with some blogging and went to bed at 9:30 filled with nyquil and rice.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Wednesday June 2,2010- Zanzibar day 9
Today was our only day off this week and we ad decided that's group of us would go snorkeling and see another beach on the island called paje. Me, Marnee, David, Mary, Liv, Marco, Andrea, Selina, and Steven woke up and waited for Soodi to come pick us up. Everything in Zanzibar runs a little slow so a 10am pick up time was actually 11:00. We all scurried down to the beach and saw a boat out about 200 feet in the ocean that we had to walk to. Being that our beach is filled with sea urchins, it was a daunting task.
Once the screaming and wading was done, we finally reached a little speed boat that will take us to snorkle. We sped off on the only day that was cloudy and cold here so far and picked out masks and flippers for the snorkle experience. We landed somewhere really close to our hotel but farrrr out into the ocean where Soodi said the starfish were. We all hopped out of the boat an looked into the water and saw hundred of multicolored starfish everywhere. We held them as they stuck to our hands and we took pictures and then let them go and hopped back into the boat to go to some corals to see some fish.
Once we got to our second destination we all swam all over and checked out the fish. There were a lot of angel fish and some pretty little blue fish running around. We saw baby octopus and many other cute little fish before it got too cold to stay in the water.
We got in the boat and headed back just in time for lunch. We finished lunch and went to walk to find a dalla dalla to take us to paje. It took about an hour but finally we piled into an already full dalla dalla and continued down the road picking up people as we went. I talked about being surprised that we fit 20 people in a dalla dalla before but this trip was different. We had at least 30 people inside and even people hanging from the back and on the roof.
We finally made it to paje and got out to get some food and more importantly something to drink. We found the only hotel that was open and ordered some drinks. I stuck with the bacardi and coke with no ice as we lounged around for a while.
We had a little tiff with the group ice everyoe was hungry and was trying to figure out what to eat, so we separated and the girls, me Marnee, Liv, Mary, and Selina ate a really good meal at the hotel restaurant. We had chicken stir fry, some glasses of wine, and a banana chocolate crepe and each of us paid a little less than an 10 American dollars.
Mr. Mohammed picked us up and we got home and were ready for bed.
Once the screaming and wading was done, we finally reached a little speed boat that will take us to snorkle. We sped off on the only day that was cloudy and cold here so far and picked out masks and flippers for the snorkle experience. We landed somewhere really close to our hotel but farrrr out into the ocean where Soodi said the starfish were. We all hopped out of the boat an looked into the water and saw hundred of multicolored starfish everywhere. We held them as they stuck to our hands and we took pictures and then let them go and hopped back into the boat to go to some corals to see some fish.
Once we got to our second destination we all swam all over and checked out the fish. There were a lot of angel fish and some pretty little blue fish running around. We saw baby octopus and many other cute little fish before it got too cold to stay in the water.
We got in the boat and headed back just in time for lunch. We finished lunch and went to walk to find a dalla dalla to take us to paje. It took about an hour but finally we piled into an already full dalla dalla and continued down the road picking up people as we went. I talked about being surprised that we fit 20 people in a dalla dalla before but this trip was different. We had at least 30 people inside and even people hanging from the back and on the roof.
We finally made it to paje and got out to get some food and more importantly something to drink. We found the only hotel that was open and ordered some drinks. I stuck with the bacardi and coke with no ice as we lounged around for a while.
We had a little tiff with the group ice everyoe was hungry and was trying to figure out what to eat, so we separated and the girls, me Marnee, Liv, Mary, and Selina ate a really good meal at the hotel restaurant. We had chicken stir fry, some glasses of wine, and a banana chocolate crepe and each of us paid a little less than an 10 American dollars.
Mr. Mohammed picked us up and we got home and were ready for bed.
Tuesday June 1, 2010-Zanzibar day 8
Tuesday started super early with David and I doing a little pilates. It felt so good that David and I were feeling so alive after that a lot of the group is gonna get up tomorrow morning and do it.
We got breakfast and I got to talk to Tony about his long weekend with the boys and girls of kickball. I wish I could have gone but community teachings in Michamvi seem to take precedence. We lesson planned a little and I chatted with liv marnee and David. We talked little more and I read some Chelsea Handler before walking to the village for the second community teaching. Once again I had gone first and we did both the intro section and the progression of HIV and aids and then I had the task of discussing male reproductive health when we separated the males and females. I taught the parts of the penis and their function to a group of mamas who giggled incessantly. Once I was finished we waited and walked back in the pitch black all of those crazy miles.
I'm finding I'm not hungry. I think it's because I am tired of the food and I'm not feeling very well. I almost didn't eat dinner but gagged down some rice because we were planning on snorkeling on our day off and I didn't want to be malnourished.
On another note, I got a really terrible sunburn yesterday. It's just looks awful. I am browner than i've ever been on the front side but the back of my legs are red they just don't hurt which I think is silly. I can't wait to see how dark I am when I come home.
Tomorrow is our only day off for the week so were going snorkeling and going to another beach on the island called paje.
We got breakfast and I got to talk to Tony about his long weekend with the boys and girls of kickball. I wish I could have gone but community teachings in Michamvi seem to take precedence. We lesson planned a little and I chatted with liv marnee and David. We talked little more and I read some Chelsea Handler before walking to the village for the second community teaching. Once again I had gone first and we did both the intro section and the progression of HIV and aids and then I had the task of discussing male reproductive health when we separated the males and females. I taught the parts of the penis and their function to a group of mamas who giggled incessantly. Once I was finished we waited and walked back in the pitch black all of those crazy miles.
I'm finding I'm not hungry. I think it's because I am tired of the food and I'm not feeling very well. I almost didn't eat dinner but gagged down some rice because we were planning on snorkeling on our day off and I didn't want to be malnourished.
On another note, I got a really terrible sunburn yesterday. It's just looks awful. I am browner than i've ever been on the front side but the back of my legs are red they just don't hurt which I think is silly. I can't wait to see how dark I am when I come home.
Tomorrow is our only day off for the week so were going snorkeling and going to another beach on the island called paje.
Monday May 31, 2010- Zanzibar day 7
It's been a whole week already and I can't belies how fast time is passing!
Today was the first day of community teaching but we didn't have to be there until 4pm so we decided to go lay out on the beach and study our stuff for a while. After about an hour jess and lily took up about a mile down the beach to this ceramic walkway where we could walk to a softer area of the beach. It was more like a wadig pool and lookedike the scene of a Victorias secret bikini shoot. We took some photos and then came back to the hotel for lunch and headed to the Michamvi village school where the community was supposed to meet us. The walk seems to get longer everytime we do it. I'm guesstimating it's a 3 mile walk just getting there.
We showed up at 4 o'clock and no one was there. We waited an hour and no one came. We decided to come to them and set up an impromptu classroom on a dirty wall where their water spikets were to teach. I was worried no one would come but 30 or so people came to listen which made us really excited. My group was the only group to go and we did our introduction once again and had a really great lesson with the community. They all seemed interested and asked a lot of questions.
We then ate and I promptly went to sleep. I think I'm getting a cold sp I'm trying to rest and sleep as much as possible.
Today was the first day of community teaching but we didn't have to be there until 4pm so we decided to go lay out on the beach and study our stuff for a while. After about an hour jess and lily took up about a mile down the beach to this ceramic walkway where we could walk to a softer area of the beach. It was more like a wadig pool and lookedike the scene of a Victorias secret bikini shoot. We took some photos and then came back to the hotel for lunch and headed to the Michamvi village school where the community was supposed to meet us. The walk seems to get longer everytime we do it. I'm guesstimating it's a 3 mile walk just getting there.
We showed up at 4 o'clock and no one was there. We waited an hour and no one came. We decided to come to them and set up an impromptu classroom on a dirty wall where their water spikets were to teach. I was worried no one would come but 30 or so people came to listen which made us really excited. My group was the only group to go and we did our introduction once again and had a really great lesson with the community. They all seemed interested and asked a lot of questions.
We then ate and I promptly went to sleep. I think I'm getting a cold sp I'm trying to rest and sleep as much as possible.
Sunday May 30th 2010- Zanzibar day 6
Sunday was lesson planning day for monday and the rest of the week so we spent all day with our teaching partners practicing. I took a nap and missed lunch and aliviana had to repay my visit to her back and come get me. After dinner we were all wide awake and played cards for a while and talked late into the night with lily David marnee and liv.
Saturday May 29th, 2010 - Zanzibar day 6 stonetown
After about 4 hours of sleep we were up at chai (breakfast) and ready to start the day. After a little of the bread and tea, we piled into zanzibars idea of a bus called a Dalla dalla, which was more like the bed of a truk with a ceiling. The drive to stonetown tool about an hour and a half in a regular car but would take an extra hour in the dalla dalla just because we'd make stops to pick people up. We had 15 people with us and we ended picking up at least 5 or 6 more people sp 20 or so people piled into a bus the size of a truck bed. Some of our people got really motion sick from our group but it was better after we got off.
We walked around for a bit and I purhased some sunglasses for aliviana and we had a dish called chipsimayai that was basically eggs and french fries. We were all huddled in this big group of 15 people walking through the tiny streets and stopping every five seconds and it didn't take long for the frustration to set in. Not only was it annoying because were all white people and when they see a hoard of mzungus they Jack up their prices, but also it takes forever to do anything.
We finally managed to get to a white person restaurant to ge some much needed recognizeable food. The place was a little Italian place that had really great pizza and gelato. Liv and I shared a pizza topped with veggies and I got a mandarin And vanilla gelato thatwas fabulous.
We all finally separated and me and aliviana went through a bunch of shops and piled up some stuff an perused. Everything wA pretty much the same wherever you went. Sculptures, paintings, and decorations. We bought a couple things but really just spent some time talking tithe locals. Pretty soon it was time to meet back up and we met at this really pretty park that had a perfect view of the sunset. They do a street fair with food there so we tried some of zanzibars most famous foods. The sugarcane juice was made by hand by cranking this machine with sugarcane and adding lime. It was amazing and thirst quenching. We were told by jess to try the Zanzibar pizza and it was amazing. It was made with a litle dough, some veggies, and your choice of chicken or beef and a little mayo with a cracked egg and it was grilled on this pan untilit was cut in tiny little pieces. It tasted like a really good eggroll. They also had dessert ones so we had one with nutella and bananas and chocolate that was the best. I'm still craving that one 3 days later.
We all met up with mr. Mohammed and went to a concert that was celebrating the anniversary of a local radio station. It was supposed to be a battle of the bands type thing with djs an Tanzanias biggest performers. It was pretty boring and unfulfilling so liv, me, David, marnee and Marco made a beeline for the bar and found that it was a Full Bar with mixed drinks! The excitement never left my face as I ordered bacardi and cokes with no ice all night. We all talked to the locals about why we were here and got some people interested in getting tested. We left around 11:45 and didn't get home until 1 am and immediately passed out.
We walked around for a bit and I purhased some sunglasses for aliviana and we had a dish called chipsimayai that was basically eggs and french fries. We were all huddled in this big group of 15 people walking through the tiny streets and stopping every five seconds and it didn't take long for the frustration to set in. Not only was it annoying because were all white people and when they see a hoard of mzungus they Jack up their prices, but also it takes forever to do anything.
We finally managed to get to a white person restaurant to ge some much needed recognizeable food. The place was a little Italian place that had really great pizza and gelato. Liv and I shared a pizza topped with veggies and I got a mandarin And vanilla gelato thatwas fabulous.
We all finally separated and me and aliviana went through a bunch of shops and piled up some stuff an perused. Everything wA pretty much the same wherever you went. Sculptures, paintings, and decorations. We bought a couple things but really just spent some time talking tithe locals. Pretty soon it was time to meet back up and we met at this really pretty park that had a perfect view of the sunset. They do a street fair with food there so we tried some of zanzibars most famous foods. The sugarcane juice was made by hand by cranking this machine with sugarcane and adding lime. It was amazing and thirst quenching. We were told by jess to try the Zanzibar pizza and it was amazing. It was made with a litle dough, some veggies, and your choice of chicken or beef and a little mayo with a cracked egg and it was grilled on this pan untilit was cut in tiny little pieces. It tasted like a really good eggroll. They also had dessert ones so we had one with nutella and bananas and chocolate that was the best. I'm still craving that one 3 days later.
We all met up with mr. Mohammed and went to a concert that was celebrating the anniversary of a local radio station. It was supposed to be a battle of the bands type thing with djs an Tanzanias biggest performers. It was pretty boring and unfulfilling so liv, me, David, marnee and Marco made a beeline for the bar and found that it was a Full Bar with mixed drinks! The excitement never left my face as I ordered bacardi and cokes with no ice all night. We all talked to the locals about why we were here and got some people interested in getting tested. We left around 11:45 and didn't get home until 1 am and immediately passed out.
Friday, May 28, 2010- Zanzibar day 5
Not much has happened here today.
We woke up, ate breakfast, and had a long and strenuous Swahili lesson with lily and then talked statistics of HIV and aids with Jessica on a global level. It was just a reinforcement to me of how tragic the situation is here and how necessary it was for me to do my part to change it.
We ate lunch, ugali and beans, and I sat down to write with aliviana. We get along really well and I think we will be good friends by the end of this thing.
The evening proved to be pretty eventful after the last time I wrote. After lunch and a little journal writing we all went to the village to meet te people we'd be teaching. The walk was nice and we arrived to find once again that the shayha was once again not there. He had taken his people to the mosque. We traveled all the way to the other side of the village and met a lot of the mamas and their babies. They were all so exicited to hear us say "shikamoo" which is a formal way of saying hello to them. We went to the edge of town where the coast was and say a little rock island about 150 feet out that had a white round house on it. It was really beautiful. We later found out the owners of our hotel were starting a restaurant at that little house.
We walked back to
the village to see everyone sitting around waiting for the town meeting. The leader of the village spoke and we stood for all roses but I could hardly understand what he said. We introduced ourselves down the line and when I did, I said," Jina langu ni Shannon" and the whole part of town sitting to my right in unison said," shannnnnnnon" in a very cult-like fashion. We all laughed really hard and later I asked Tabit why they did that and they said it was because " it is very good name. Good to say."
I thanked him like I had any part in naming me and we head off o the duka and bought some much neede sugar in the form of soda and cookies. Once again the children followed us in hoards and begged for candy. Normally I would totally oblige them but when they travel in packs of 30 it's hard to not start a riot. I always feel terrible but its something to deal with I guess. Mary had bought a handful of candy and the kids attacked and mobbed her, so I stuck with a coca cola. We played with the kids for a long time.
There was this one little boy who I fell in love with immediately. He had on some basketball shorts and a red hoodie and had te chubbiest cheeks I've ever seen. He walked with why I thought was a really silly gait until I realized when he got closer that he was severely bow legged. He could hardly walk and everyone would just blow past him as he tried to walk and it broke my heart.
When we walke out of the village all of the children followers and wanted to walk with us. The little bow legged boy tried to follow us for a long time but eventually gave up. I so badly wante to carry him but he was scared of us and I had no idea how he would get back.
We walked home ate dinner and got ready to go to a discotec that soodi, jess and lilys friend told us about. I talked to Tony and he said " don't get killed" in that very fatherly tone when he was serious. I told him I wouldn't and that we be with the group. He then said," don't shake it too fast!" when I joked and said Id shake it reeeeally slow, he told me not to do that either, but to instead "just shake it medium". I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how to do that. ;)
we all hopped into cars and headed out to the discotec. I imagined a rundown building with a bunch of lights and a discoball but when we got there it was a little open garage like area with a bar in the back playing music hideously loud. No bouncer or anything just a walk in. It ended up being a very interesting night. From really disgusting warm beer, terrible tanzanian music ( I can tell what's good an bad Tanzanian music by now!) and inappropriate dancing and neck licking fromthe Massa security guards who creepily followed the group there, we had an interesting time. Take that and mix in a little bar fight that no one really broke up and my first hover over a hole to pee experience and Id say it was a successful night at my first tanzanian disco.
We all piled into cars, some of us much drinker than others, or me. And finally got home around 1 am. Me Jessica and lily day outside Mary David Selina and marnees room and had a really great talk about why were were all here until like 5 am. It's nice that all of us really just want to help.
Tomorrow was going to be an early day as we needed to be in stonetown by 9 am.
We woke up, ate breakfast, and had a long and strenuous Swahili lesson with lily and then talked statistics of HIV and aids with Jessica on a global level. It was just a reinforcement to me of how tragic the situation is here and how necessary it was for me to do my part to change it.
We ate lunch, ugali and beans, and I sat down to write with aliviana. We get along really well and I think we will be good friends by the end of this thing.
The evening proved to be pretty eventful after the last time I wrote. After lunch and a little journal writing we all went to the village to meet te people we'd be teaching. The walk was nice and we arrived to find once again that the shayha was once again not there. He had taken his people to the mosque. We traveled all the way to the other side of the village and met a lot of the mamas and their babies. They were all so exicited to hear us say "shikamoo" which is a formal way of saying hello to them. We went to the edge of town where the coast was and say a little rock island about 150 feet out that had a white round house on it. It was really beautiful. We later found out the owners of our hotel were starting a restaurant at that little house.
We walked back to
the village to see everyone sitting around waiting for the town meeting. The leader of the village spoke and we stood for all roses but I could hardly understand what he said. We introduced ourselves down the line and when I did, I said," Jina langu ni Shannon" and the whole part of town sitting to my right in unison said," shannnnnnnon" in a very cult-like fashion. We all laughed really hard and later I asked Tabit why they did that and they said it was because " it is very good name. Good to say."
I thanked him like I had any part in naming me and we head off o the duka and bought some much neede sugar in the form of soda and cookies. Once again the children followed us in hoards and begged for candy. Normally I would totally oblige them but when they travel in packs of 30 it's hard to not start a riot. I always feel terrible but its something to deal with I guess. Mary had bought a handful of candy and the kids attacked and mobbed her, so I stuck with a coca cola. We played with the kids for a long time.
There was this one little boy who I fell in love with immediately. He had on some basketball shorts and a red hoodie and had te chubbiest cheeks I've ever seen. He walked with why I thought was a really silly gait until I realized when he got closer that he was severely bow legged. He could hardly walk and everyone would just blow past him as he tried to walk and it broke my heart.
When we walke out of the village all of the children followers and wanted to walk with us. The little bow legged boy tried to follow us for a long time but eventually gave up. I so badly wante to carry him but he was scared of us and I had no idea how he would get back.
We walked home ate dinner and got ready to go to a discotec that soodi, jess and lilys friend told us about. I talked to Tony and he said " don't get killed" in that very fatherly tone when he was serious. I told him I wouldn't and that we be with the group. He then said," don't shake it too fast!" when I joked and said Id shake it reeeeally slow, he told me not to do that either, but to instead "just shake it medium". I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how to do that. ;)
we all hopped into cars and headed out to the discotec. I imagined a rundown building with a bunch of lights and a discoball but when we got there it was a little open garage like area with a bar in the back playing music hideously loud. No bouncer or anything just a walk in. It ended up being a very interesting night. From really disgusting warm beer, terrible tanzanian music ( I can tell what's good an bad Tanzanian music by now!) and inappropriate dancing and neck licking fromthe Massa security guards who creepily followed the group there, we had an interesting time. Take that and mix in a little bar fight that no one really broke up and my first hover over a hole to pee experience and Id say it was a successful night at my first tanzanian disco.
We all piled into cars, some of us much drinker than others, or me. And finally got home around 1 am. Me Jessica and lily day outside Mary David Selina and marnees room and had a really great talk about why were were all here until like 5 am. It's nice that all of us really just want to help.
Tomorrow was going to be an early day as we needed to be in stonetown by 9 am.
Thursday May 27, 2010- Zanzibar day 4
I woke up at 5:30 and wanted to go running with the guys at 6 but I heard a little rain and figured the boys would duck out. It turns out I was right, but I went down to the beach to do a litle pilates on the shore.
The rain came and went but I stayed out for a while and listened to a little A Fine Frenzy doing some pilates and taking amazing sunrise photos while lightly getting rained on. I love rain like this: warm and light.
One of the security guards came by to chat with me. After the formalities we began talking about my iPhone. I played some music for him and showed him how to take a picture. He was really fascinated by it. He also took my camera and began to take pictures including one of me. I thanked him for chatting and went back up to get ready for breakfast and our first day of teaching.
We had our usual tea and bread breakfast and began te long walk to the school in the village where we'd be teaching. I got about a mile out and realized I had forgotten the posters and had to run all the way back and get them. I saw another security gard on the way back and said he should wait for me. I ran to the posters and back and he was there where I left him grinning with a "Jambo" when I arrived. We talked and I found out he was also 22 years old and his name wa julius. He lived in kilamonjaro but worked here half the year. His English was very good and we talked in both kiingreza (English) and kiswahili. We finally caught back up with the group and made it to the school prepared for teaching.
My group was first and we'd be presenting the introduction to the program and HIV and AIDS as well as the progression of HIV and AIDS in the body. We found out after we got there that the teachers thought that it wa just a meeting for us to meet them for 2 hours so we all had to cut our presentations down to one section and for us we did the introduction.
We did really well. It was smoothsnd concrete and the teachers asked us so many questions! They were reallythankful to learn this stuff from us despite all the questions they gave. After my group was done I went to the prep room where I found the rest of the group and two litle girls playing with them. One was 5 years old and the other one was 3. They were playing with Estella and mary when I got there so I went to say hi. "jambo!" I said. The littlest one went screaming and crying and running away and I felt terrible! I figured she wasn't used to seeing someone as white as me.
Just as quickly as I was out, I was back in her good graces again and before I knew it she was sleeping in my arms. I almost cried at the cuteness but held it together just in time for her to jump down to go grab food somewhere.
Once they went to play the rest of the teachig partners and all of us not teaching began to let loose and dance around. Tabit said he dances like Michael Jackson and I went in and got my phone and played a little "Bad" for him. He didn't seem to recognize that one but once I put on thriller, he began to dance like crazy along with david.
Soon we were all in a circle, dancing and messing around. Tabit and Tatu climbed a tree and we all took photos with our groups and began bonding. The teachers thanked us all at the end and said they were reallyexcited for us to teach their students. It was hot and humid and every part of our bodies were drenche in sweat, but we walked further into town to go to a Duka to pick up some food and calling cards. The walk was blazing and we were walking up this huge paved road. To our left a boy no older than 14 was walking triumphantly dragging somethig behind him. I couldn't figure out what it was until he was right next to me and everyone was shrieking in disgust. It was a dead monkey!!!! I didn't believe it until I saw the little monkey like hands dragging behind the boy. Our Swahili partners told us that they use monkey meat for dog food.
When we got to the village we were surrounded by hundreds of children it seemed. All about 2 years old to 5, they saw us walkig and immediately walked with us grabbing out hands as we walked. They wanted to take pictures and would scream with glee when we showed them the reflection. They've hardly ever seen themselves on camera before so it was a really new and exciting experience for them! They were adorable. There was one crazy little boy who kept showing everyone his penis ( he had to be no older than 3) and was trying to throw huge rocks in his pants.
We got our contraband and were drenched through our clothes on the walk back. Me, Marnee, Mary and David hauled ass so we could get back as fast as possible.We chatted about a lot of things; drugs, sex, and rock and roll. I'm only sort of kidding. It was interestig to see the different things people have done compared to myself. We talked about our boyfriends and David told us he feels uncomfortable talking openly about his sexuality in this culture because is so forbidden to be gay here, but he seems to really know himself and how to handle it which is really great.
We got home and crashed on the couches to regain some composure. After a quick lunch we put our suits on and jumped in the ocean. The tide was so high that we kept losing our shoes as we walked on the beach and the wind was crazy too. The waves were big for the first time since Id been here and it was so fun to just feel cool and hang out.
Aliviana and I were swimming when a huge wave knocked me into her and I smacked her right in the head, causing her to lose her glasses. I felt terrible but promised Id buy her new ones in stonetown. We got out showered and hung out in my room for a while. Pretty soon aliviana came in and we chatted until dinner.
Dinner was once again rice with soupy sauce this time with really gross little fish that looked like anchovys. I headed back to the room and talked to Tony. I was so excited to hear from him! I found out we lost our kickball game (surprise surprise!) and that his and lis' soccer team sound good! We chatted until we were caught up and I headed to bed.
The rain came and went but I stayed out for a while and listened to a little A Fine Frenzy doing some pilates and taking amazing sunrise photos while lightly getting rained on. I love rain like this: warm and light.
One of the security guards came by to chat with me. After the formalities we began talking about my iPhone. I played some music for him and showed him how to take a picture. He was really fascinated by it. He also took my camera and began to take pictures including one of me. I thanked him for chatting and went back up to get ready for breakfast and our first day of teaching.
We had our usual tea and bread breakfast and began te long walk to the school in the village where we'd be teaching. I got about a mile out and realized I had forgotten the posters and had to run all the way back and get them. I saw another security gard on the way back and said he should wait for me. I ran to the posters and back and he was there where I left him grinning with a "Jambo" when I arrived. We talked and I found out he was also 22 years old and his name wa julius. He lived in kilamonjaro but worked here half the year. His English was very good and we talked in both kiingreza (English) and kiswahili. We finally caught back up with the group and made it to the school prepared for teaching.
My group was first and we'd be presenting the introduction to the program and HIV and AIDS as well as the progression of HIV and AIDS in the body. We found out after we got there that the teachers thought that it wa just a meeting for us to meet them for 2 hours so we all had to cut our presentations down to one section and for us we did the introduction.
We did really well. It was smoothsnd concrete and the teachers asked us so many questions! They were reallythankful to learn this stuff from us despite all the questions they gave. After my group was done I went to the prep room where I found the rest of the group and two litle girls playing with them. One was 5 years old and the other one was 3. They were playing with Estella and mary when I got there so I went to say hi. "jambo!" I said. The littlest one went screaming and crying and running away and I felt terrible! I figured she wasn't used to seeing someone as white as me.
Just as quickly as I was out, I was back in her good graces again and before I knew it she was sleeping in my arms. I almost cried at the cuteness but held it together just in time for her to jump down to go grab food somewhere.
Once they went to play the rest of the teachig partners and all of us not teaching began to let loose and dance around. Tabit said he dances like Michael Jackson and I went in and got my phone and played a little "Bad" for him. He didn't seem to recognize that one but once I put on thriller, he began to dance like crazy along with david.
Soon we were all in a circle, dancing and messing around. Tabit and Tatu climbed a tree and we all took photos with our groups and began bonding. The teachers thanked us all at the end and said they were reallyexcited for us to teach their students. It was hot and humid and every part of our bodies were drenche in sweat, but we walked further into town to go to a Duka to pick up some food and calling cards. The walk was blazing and we were walking up this huge paved road. To our left a boy no older than 14 was walking triumphantly dragging somethig behind him. I couldn't figure out what it was until he was right next to me and everyone was shrieking in disgust. It was a dead monkey!!!! I didn't believe it until I saw the little monkey like hands dragging behind the boy. Our Swahili partners told us that they use monkey meat for dog food.
When we got to the village we were surrounded by hundreds of children it seemed. All about 2 years old to 5, they saw us walkig and immediately walked with us grabbing out hands as we walked. They wanted to take pictures and would scream with glee when we showed them the reflection. They've hardly ever seen themselves on camera before so it was a really new and exciting experience for them! They were adorable. There was one crazy little boy who kept showing everyone his penis ( he had to be no older than 3) and was trying to throw huge rocks in his pants.
We got our contraband and were drenched through our clothes on the walk back. Me, Marnee, Mary and David hauled ass so we could get back as fast as possible.We chatted about a lot of things; drugs, sex, and rock and roll. I'm only sort of kidding. It was interestig to see the different things people have done compared to myself. We talked about our boyfriends and David told us he feels uncomfortable talking openly about his sexuality in this culture because is so forbidden to be gay here, but he seems to really know himself and how to handle it which is really great.
We got home and crashed on the couches to regain some composure. After a quick lunch we put our suits on and jumped in the ocean. The tide was so high that we kept losing our shoes as we walked on the beach and the wind was crazy too. The waves were big for the first time since Id been here and it was so fun to just feel cool and hang out.
Aliviana and I were swimming when a huge wave knocked me into her and I smacked her right in the head, causing her to lose her glasses. I felt terrible but promised Id buy her new ones in stonetown. We got out showered and hung out in my room for a while. Pretty soon aliviana came in and we chatted until dinner.
Dinner was once again rice with soupy sauce this time with really gross little fish that looked like anchovys. I headed back to the room and talked to Tony. I was so excited to hear from him! I found out we lost our kickball game (surprise surprise!) and that his and lis' soccer team sound good! We chatted until we were caught up and I headed to bed.
Wednesday May 26, 2010- Zanzibar day 3
I overslept the running again and made myself a promise that Id be up to do it tomorrow morning. We got up slowly and headed to breakfast where again there was a shortage of food. I joked that the hotel must think we were doing survivor eliminations and people were being voted off the island.
We ate watever we had and got ready for our new lesson groups. My new group was Estella and Mary with Kesi as our Swahili partner. We work really well together and kesi was a very good translator. We were preparing for tomorrow which was the first time we'd be teaching and we would be teaching the teachers of the school we would be working with once school started up again. Kesi said that we would be teaching the teachers he had when he was in school which I thought was funny. About 3 hours in,we were all starving again and wanted to eat desperately. While writing in our journals Clara was writing about what she did and didn't miss from home, and I thought that was a great idea. So I'll start with the things I don't miss, some of themsurprising me:
What I don't miss:
-facebook/Internet
-constantly checking my iPhone.
-coffee, all that much.
-my blow dryer
-makeup.
-driving
-traffic
-billboards, ads, etc.
-television. At all.
I'm sure I'll think of more later.
What I do miss:
- my parents
-my boyfriends Tony and Lis.
- my brother
- friends. All of them.
- non-humid weather
-sweets (desserts and candy)
- ice. Oh god how I miss ice.
-cold drinks
-cold ANYTHING
-Tony
- eating fruits and vegetables regularly.
- not being bit by bugs.
- did I mention Tony? :(
I tried to call him the other day and was so excited I got through to him but I lost him pretty quickly. Anyway, enough sap. We had lunch finally and it was ugali and beans.afterward we did our teaching presentation and it went really well. I like kesi. He is the most organized and on task of all of the teaching partners and is really funny an loves teaching me Swahili.
We had the opportunity to go to the village for the first time since we've been here and not many people felt prepared for the next day so they didn't go but me, Mary and David went with lily and Jessica. We took a short cut through this very crazy rainforest looking trail. These walks were supervised by the "Massa" security guards. They all wear very culturally significant clothing; a red blue and white striped cloth that wraps around their waist and then goes up over their left shoulder. Their shoes are made of tire and they carry a small sword in a sheath on their hip. They're very nice and like to talk to the Americans. My walk lasted a good half hour an suddenly we began to see people and goats and little shops they call "dukas" where you can by anything from fruit and fresh fish to calling cards.
We went all they way to town to meet the Shayha, whos the village leader, but he was nowhere to be found. We went to the center of the village where a bunch of guys were playing soccer. Friends of Jessica and lily told us they want us to play on Sunday so I'm excited about that.
Mr. Mohammed caught us a huge fish and seasoned it for dinner. It was the best fish I've ever had. I am not sure if that's because I'm practically starving here or if it was amazing but regardless it was good. We then went and bout some bananas and hot sauce for dinner and headed back down the trail before it got too dark.
Along the way we saw so many cute kids who wanted to walk with us but it was getting dark so we couldn't let them. I thought about how I hoped we could hang out with some kids soon because not only arethey the reason I'm here but I just desperately want to meet them all.
We got home and had been served rice meat and our fish from mr. Mohammed. The hot sauce was the perfect touch to liven things up. We chatted a little and headed to bed to make some posters for tomorrow and crash.
We ate watever we had and got ready for our new lesson groups. My new group was Estella and Mary with Kesi as our Swahili partner. We work really well together and kesi was a very good translator. We were preparing for tomorrow which was the first time we'd be teaching and we would be teaching the teachers of the school we would be working with once school started up again. Kesi said that we would be teaching the teachers he had when he was in school which I thought was funny. About 3 hours in,we were all starving again and wanted to eat desperately. While writing in our journals Clara was writing about what she did and didn't miss from home, and I thought that was a great idea. So I'll start with the things I don't miss, some of themsurprising me:
What I don't miss:
-facebook/Internet
-constantly checking my iPhone.
-coffee, all that much.
-my blow dryer
-makeup.
-driving
-traffic
-billboards, ads, etc.
-television. At all.
I'm sure I'll think of more later.
What I do miss:
- my parents
-my boyfriends Tony and Lis.
- my brother
- friends. All of them.
- non-humid weather
-sweets (desserts and candy)
- ice. Oh god how I miss ice.
-cold drinks
-cold ANYTHING
-Tony
- eating fruits and vegetables regularly.
- not being bit by bugs.
- did I mention Tony? :(
I tried to call him the other day and was so excited I got through to him but I lost him pretty quickly. Anyway, enough sap. We had lunch finally and it was ugali and beans.afterward we did our teaching presentation and it went really well. I like kesi. He is the most organized and on task of all of the teaching partners and is really funny an loves teaching me Swahili.
We had the opportunity to go to the village for the first time since we've been here and not many people felt prepared for the next day so they didn't go but me, Mary and David went with lily and Jessica. We took a short cut through this very crazy rainforest looking trail. These walks were supervised by the "Massa" security guards. They all wear very culturally significant clothing; a red blue and white striped cloth that wraps around their waist and then goes up over their left shoulder. Their shoes are made of tire and they carry a small sword in a sheath on their hip. They're very nice and like to talk to the Americans. My walk lasted a good half hour an suddenly we began to see people and goats and little shops they call "dukas" where you can by anything from fruit and fresh fish to calling cards.
We went all they way to town to meet the Shayha, whos the village leader, but he was nowhere to be found. We went to the center of the village where a bunch of guys were playing soccer. Friends of Jessica and lily told us they want us to play on Sunday so I'm excited about that.
Mr. Mohammed caught us a huge fish and seasoned it for dinner. It was the best fish I've ever had. I am not sure if that's because I'm practically starving here or if it was amazing but regardless it was good. We then went and bout some bananas and hot sauce for dinner and headed back down the trail before it got too dark.
Along the way we saw so many cute kids who wanted to walk with us but it was getting dark so we couldn't let them. I thought about how I hoped we could hang out with some kids soon because not only arethey the reason I'm here but I just desperately want to meet them all.
We got home and had been served rice meat and our fish from mr. Mohammed. The hot sauce was the perfect touch to liven things up. We chatted a little and headed to bed to make some posters for tomorrow and crash.
Tuesday May 25, 2010- Zanzibar day 2
I woke up t 7 am ready to start the day fully rested for the first time in a while. I was planning on getting up an hour before to go run on the beach with some of the boys but decided thy 60 minutes was of better use to me in bed. Now I feel like a human being again. I did all of my unpacking and headed to the common area for breakfast. I already
had heard that the chai (tea) they served us for breakfast was amazing. The breakfast served every morning is a type of fried bread cut into triangles and tea. The bread tastes just like an old fashioned donut, only breadier. It's very good, but once asinine teres no sort of protein and fruits or vegetables in our diet so the energy level a couple hours after breakfast is pretty nonexistent.
Once we were done with breakfast, we waited to hear when we'd do our next mock teaching. Lily told us we'd be doing it after lunch and until then we'd be helping the hotel staff with some labor. We had a choice of machete-ing the grass, gardening, or painting. Aliviana and I jumped at the painting project immediately, followed by Kristie, Estella, Clara, and Yao. We worked along with the hotel workers who loved to talk to us and about us in Swahili because we hardly understand it. The phrase to say,"what's up?" or " how's it going?" is "Mambo!" or "Mambo vipi?" to which we are to reply, "poa" or "cool". But there are about 50 different Swahili greetings though so they like to switch it up to confuse us.
We painted 4 houses or bungalows with a red dirt/water based paint. A couple hours later we were splattered and exhausted and headed to lunch. We had some time to kill so for the first time, we all went down to swim in the ocean. The sand s as white as snow here and the water is a color I've never seen in real life. It is the lightest turquoise and when stepping into it you can see your feet crystal clear. The minute I stepped into it's path I felt the warmest consistency of sand and sea that I have ever felt. It felt like bathwater, only salt based. I ran all the way in and dunked my head only to look at the surrounding area in complete awe of where I am.
We all talked about our weekend plans and how we wanted to snorkle and see things around the island. After a while of lounging we heade up for lunch, which was my first experience is ugali. Ugali is a cornstarch and water based thing that kind of looks like a mix between rice and mashed potatoes. It was served with some kind of meat in a watery gravy sauce. The reactions of the Americans to the ugali is quite mixed. It's fairly tasteless as it is basically just a filler food but it doesn't taste bad. A lot of peope have resorted to not eating lunch or dinner when ugali is around but my philosophy is that when I am given food, which isn't that often, I will eat it.
We ate and got ready for our training session. Ours was the first presentation and went fairly well. We ended up teaching or watching others teach for about 4 hours. Once we were done with that, we had a couple hours of free time before dinner so we went back to the bungalows and me, David, an Marnee chatted and tried to get the energy up to go see the soccer game that was taking place down on the beach. We managed to catch a couple minutes of the game before sundown and all I could think was," Tony would totally love playing out here." it's incredibly beautiful.
We came up and the Mosquitos were out in full force. I feel like it doesn't matter how much bug spray you put on, they'll still bite you. These little effers were attacking my legs like no other. Getting up my first day I already had 20 bites. I went inside until dinner and then headed for the common area where everyone was hoping for rice and beans instead of ugali. Everyone was pleasently surprised at dinner to have rice and beans, but there were hardly enough beans to feed all of us. When I looked around, I didn't see Aliviana. I asked around and found out she was still napping in her room. After a few half attempt of people saying someone should go get her, it rained. I decided Id go get her and then I could enjoy the rain for a while. She was grateful that I came to get her and when we came back they had brought fish for her to eat.
It had been a long day so when I came back to my room I could hardly write in my journal so I hit the hay fairly quickly after a quick shower.
had heard that the chai (tea) they served us for breakfast was amazing. The breakfast served every morning is a type of fried bread cut into triangles and tea. The bread tastes just like an old fashioned donut, only breadier. It's very good, but once asinine teres no sort of protein and fruits or vegetables in our diet so the energy level a couple hours after breakfast is pretty nonexistent.
Once we were done with breakfast, we waited to hear when we'd do our next mock teaching. Lily told us we'd be doing it after lunch and until then we'd be helping the hotel staff with some labor. We had a choice of machete-ing the grass, gardening, or painting. Aliviana and I jumped at the painting project immediately, followed by Kristie, Estella, Clara, and Yao. We worked along with the hotel workers who loved to talk to us and about us in Swahili because we hardly understand it. The phrase to say,"what's up?" or " how's it going?" is "Mambo!" or "Mambo vipi?" to which we are to reply, "poa" or "cool". But there are about 50 different Swahili greetings though so they like to switch it up to confuse us.
We painted 4 houses or bungalows with a red dirt/water based paint. A couple hours later we were splattered and exhausted and headed to lunch. We had some time to kill so for the first time, we all went down to swim in the ocean. The sand s as white as snow here and the water is a color I've never seen in real life. It is the lightest turquoise and when stepping into it you can see your feet crystal clear. The minute I stepped into it's path I felt the warmest consistency of sand and sea that I have ever felt. It felt like bathwater, only salt based. I ran all the way in and dunked my head only to look at the surrounding area in complete awe of where I am.
We all talked about our weekend plans and how we wanted to snorkle and see things around the island. After a while of lounging we heade up for lunch, which was my first experience is ugali. Ugali is a cornstarch and water based thing that kind of looks like a mix between rice and mashed potatoes. It was served with some kind of meat in a watery gravy sauce. The reactions of the Americans to the ugali is quite mixed. It's fairly tasteless as it is basically just a filler food but it doesn't taste bad. A lot of peope have resorted to not eating lunch or dinner when ugali is around but my philosophy is that when I am given food, which isn't that often, I will eat it.
We ate and got ready for our training session. Ours was the first presentation and went fairly well. We ended up teaching or watching others teach for about 4 hours. Once we were done with that, we had a couple hours of free time before dinner so we went back to the bungalows and me, David, an Marnee chatted and tried to get the energy up to go see the soccer game that was taking place down on the beach. We managed to catch a couple minutes of the game before sundown and all I could think was," Tony would totally love playing out here." it's incredibly beautiful.
We came up and the Mosquitos were out in full force. I feel like it doesn't matter how much bug spray you put on, they'll still bite you. These little effers were attacking my legs like no other. Getting up my first day I already had 20 bites. I went inside until dinner and then headed for the common area where everyone was hoping for rice and beans instead of ugali. Everyone was pleasently surprised at dinner to have rice and beans, but there were hardly enough beans to feed all of us. When I looked around, I didn't see Aliviana. I asked around and found out she was still napping in her room. After a few half attempt of people saying someone should go get her, it rained. I decided Id go get her and then I could enjoy the rain for a while. She was grateful that I came to get her and when we came back they had brought fish for her to eat.
It had been a long day so when I came back to my room I could hardly write in my journal so I hit the hay fairly quickly after a quick shower.
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