Saturday, February 23, 2008

Pick your dinner from a tree...

Yesterday, as a group, we took a bus to the other end of Unguja island (about 60 km away, I believe) and stopped along the way to see seaweed farms, boat building, the fish markets, a sea turtle sanctuary, and a few other places. We passed through lots of villages, all very different- where the huts were made of bright red mud, white coral and lyme, palm-thatched roofs, or homemade cement blocks. As we were driving, though, I realized that the scenery that we were seeing could have been from a hundred years ago and I don't think it would have looked any different. There were no identifying markers that we were living in the 21st century-- that's when I started talking with another guy here (Nick- from Idaho) about how time just seems different here. At home, everything is very linear, and you do things for a reason. I feel like I always have a goal in mind at home. Here- time is more circular. People just hang out everywhere on benches, on tires, in the shade, at home, on the streets... Most people aren't going anywhere or trying to accomplish anything in particular, they're just living. It's weird how there's such a little sense of the future-- everything is about the present. Someone said to us that in Zanzibar there is no stability of the future, and I think it makes so much sense. People here die so young but live so joyously. I can't really explain it, I guess, but I'm starting to understand it...

It's also really strange to have people, especially kids, ask you for things that seem so basic. Yesterday I had kids ask me for water, for pens, for paper, for food. I was in an elementary school about a week and a half ago, and they were telling me that there is no potable water in the school. A group of German people donated a water tank for them to fill with water for the kids, but they didn't have the $250 to build a stand for it. So kids have to go home from school to get water to drink when they are thirsty. It's crazy to me because I know that where I grew up, if an entire school was without potable water and it was going to cost $250 to install it, the money would come instantly. Here, though, in the entire village nobody had even a fraction of that to spend on water. Monthly salaries are around $50-80, and like the family I am staying with, that might have to support 8 people. It's really a different world. I wish Mr. Bush would donate a little more money for kids to have water...

Also -side note- yesterday on our drive home the bus got a flat tire, so we all got out of the bus in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, but LOTS of people came, including a man with a monkey on a leash. He let us pet it and play with it- it was pretty funny to see everyone jump every time the monkey made a sudden movement. Laurie- I thought Jared might like that... :)

Today is our last day with our homestay families. To say goodbye- my family gave me this lovely pink dress and khanga and painted my hands and feet with beautiful henna. We had a reception yesterday with all of the families- I have never seen so many kids in one room. My family alone brought nine of them (3 were neighbors, the rest live with us). Later my mom is going to teach me how to cook Chipatti! I've had a really great time living with them, and I'm sad to leave, but I am SO EXCITED for the next part of our trip! We are going to another island tomorrow, and ion 2 days we're going to Dar Es Saalam for 2 weeks! THEN, we are going on safari for two days- to see hippos! I can't wait.

Well, the power is out everywhere in the city (I think this place has a generator), so I'm going home to our candlelit home. But I will send more news soon!

PS Janine- thank you for the letter- it was so great to see pictures of everyone!
PPS Bad news about the pictures- none of the internet places have a fast enough connection to upload pictures, but I will keep trying. I tried to upload one and it still hadn't loaded after about 10 minutes... Oh well.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Mambo

Hello again! It's great to hear that everyone is doing really well. Zanzibar continues to be paradise... Beaches and boats, giant clams and 2 foot long sea cucumbers.

I realized today that in the past 48 hours I have received at least 4 marriage proposals. Some of them were typical requests, such as, "Will you marry me?" While others were more demanding- "I will marry you. I will come with you to America tomorrow with Mr. Bush to get married!" Others, yet, were more round-about. For instance, "I want to tell you the story of how we got married. Will you sit with me and listen to my story," and, "take me back in your suitcase so we can get married" I think I should start keeping a journal of all of the funny one-liners that people use on us.

I'm definitely having a lesson in frugality here. The other day we went to the beach on our day off. I thought I was going to buy 3 mangoes for 1000 Tsh to share with everyone (note $1=1200 Tsh), but the man I bought them from gave me two extras... so 5 mangoes for less than a dollar. It's insane! But it's also really unbelievable to see some of the poverty... Even though the mangoes were literally dimes, many families can't afford them. I think it's giving us all a really new perspective on the distribution of wealth in this world.

Well, class in 5 minutes, gotta go. Happy Birthday, Laurie-- I hope it was a good one!

I also wanted to tell everyone that I goofed up with my phone number. I think you call this number: 011 255 0777641798. Maybe that will work for those of you who said the other one didn't. :) What an adventure. Later!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Sikukukumbuka. I'll give you ten Shillings if you can figure out what that means...

Hello again! Thanks for all the emails- it is so fantastic to hear from everyone.

Zanzibar just keeps getting better... We are all staying with our host families now (for 2 weeks) and it has been really awesome to get to know families who have lived in stone town for literally generations. My family is really ridiculous- there are 6 children, ages 15, 8, 5, 4, 2, 7 months, and two parents, so it ends up being absolute chaos in the house. My new Swahili name is Aysha-- and the youngest son runs around screaming at the top of his lungs, Eshe, Eshe, Eshe. My host mother says that he's in love with me and my sister says she thinks we should get married. I'm considering, but I'll have to consult with my parents first... to work out the dowry and everything.

Both of my host parents speak English, but we don't really speak much at home. I spend a lot of time listening and making funny faces at the little kids. They have been really good to me.

We're in the thick of school now, but it didn't take me long to realize that the experiential learning part of this program means minimal homework. We have class for 6-8 hours a day (4 hours of Swahili, 2 hours of Coastal Ecology seminars, and sometimes another 2 hour lecture- we had one on Zanzibari history and one on Islamic culture this week). I really love our Swahili classes- we have two teachers, Almasi and Bi. Asia. Bi Asia is, without a doubt, among the most jovial people I have ever met. She is basically a mother to all of us and I will be so sad when Swahili ends in a week. But she's coming on our adventure to another island in a few weeks, so that's when we'll really show her a good time.

We usually have a few hours in the middle of each day to wander the world and see the sights. Two days ago, some of us hopped on a DalaDala (minibus) for about 25 cents and went to the beach outside of Stone Town. It was SO amazing. It was low tide so we walked out probably 1/4 mile through bubble crab sand balls, then through thick mud, past the mangroves out to a little rock peninsula... And the only other people that were there were some kids having a rock fight (note: bring more toys for kids). As we walked further out into the water we all saw these bright red things in the water, so we picked one up-- it was the most beautiful, bright red, orancge, and tan, opaque starfish I have ever seen. It looked like a creature straight out of the stone age. After enough of us had cut our feet on things we couldn't see we all sat around watching the microscopic crabs scurry all over the rocks. And sunbathed... all before we went back to class.

My first introduction into the Muslim world has been really interesting. I feel like there is so much that I have always tried to understand about the religion and culture that only took me a few days to understand while living here. The calls to worship (prayer is 5 times a day) are so beautiful- the first is around 5:15 AM, but I'm usually stirring about around that time anyway. (I definitely haven't mastered sleeping in a new place yet). Yesterday we had a lecture where we talked about gender roles, polygamy, the pillars of the reilgion, etc. I'm trying really hard not to judge gender roles in this society, but there is so much that is still so foreign to me... For example, we learned that a man can divorce his wife simply by uttering 'I divorce you' in front of two people, whereas a woman can only divorce a man if she presents her case to a high court. A man may also decide within 3 months that he wants to remarry the wife he recently divorced and she must accept (he can do this up to three times before it is no longer valid). I am really interested to learn more about the religion.

Well, I have to go back to class soon... but I WILL put up pictures soon. It's just an issue of bringing cameras and cables to internet cafes... but they will come soon. I love you all! I miss you all (but not enough to come home yet)!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Neno hili lina maana gani? (What does that word mean?)

After much toil, the blog is finally back up and running. Sorry to all of you who sent emails saying it wasn't working. Let me know if there are still problems.

SO MUCH has happened in the past week and a half it is really difficult to start telling you all about it... but I'll try my best! I left Minneapolis for New York on January 31 and didn't get to Zanzibar until 11 PM February 2-- I flew from Minneapolis to JFK in New York, New YOrk to Dubai, Dubai to Nairobi, Nairobi to Kiliminjaro, Kiliminjaro to Zanzibar. It was an epic several days, but the planes that travel half way across the world are very posh. It was almost impossible to be bored (Kate- I watched the Bee Movie and HSM2 for you). THe man sitting next to me watched friends all the way across the Atlantic and Europe. It was really amusing. And I sat next to some interesting characters, too... For example, I sat next to a Chinese Kenyan man who had been living in Singapore for several years. He had a lot of questions regarding "sporks"-- apparently he was under the impression that Americans were obsessed with the spoon-fork hybrid. The trip was really good- long and exhausting, but good- and it was great to meet everyone who would be on the trip during our many, many hours of boredom in airports. :)

Zanzibar is awesome! The streets are only a few feet wide and you can't see more than 50 or so yards in front of you. It's SO easy to get lost.. It's really beautiful and the people are incredibly friendly. I was very surprised how many people speak English here- and it's not just because of American tourists. It's common to see Zanzibari peope speaking English with people from all over the world, including some other Zanzibaris. Naturally, there are english words everywhere. For example, people will say "Mambo" to you, to which you can respond, "Fresh". It would be really easy to speak English the entire time I was here, but I hope to be able to use evweryone's English to help me learn Kiswahili!

We have already gone on some amazing adventures. One of the first days we were here we geared up in our snorkels, flippers, masks and SCUBA booties and took two boats out into the Indian Ocean. We snorkeled near a shipwreck and saw amazing things-- like pufferfish. I swam with a student from the Marine Institute who taught me the names of many of the fish. After we got back in the boat they brought us to a deserted sand island, built a shelter and we ate lunch along the beach. The next day we got onto a Dala Dala (Minibus) and drove to the rural village of Kizimkazi. Along the way we stopped at a butterfly project site where they raise butterflies for educational purposes. We also stopped at Zala Park, where a boy Ramadan, who couldn't have been much more than 20 showed us many native Zanzibari species. It was really amusing-- there were cement walls to the "cages" (some as short as one or two feet) with all kinds of crazy animals that he had caught himself. He tracked down chameleons, these giant crabs, LOTS of poisonous and dangerous snakes (including Mambos and Pythons), giant lizard-things (I forgot the name), mini antelopes, monkeys, etc. He took us around to see and hold all of the animals (it was really funny to watch our academic director freak out when we held the pythons and other dangerous animals...). It was a really great way to keep the animals for educational purposes- and ot protect them. Mot of them could have easily left, but Ramadan took such good care of them that they apparently had no reason to leave. It was in the middle of the jungle- with monkeys jumping over our heads. I still chuckle when I visualize this very small man tracking down and capturing these enormous, incredibly dangerous snakes. Heh.

Kizimkazi was a really neat place as well. We went there to study Swahili intensively and to learn about marine mammals. Swahili is going okay... it's still really difficult to understand anything, but I think I am getting the hang of it. We are all really good at being polite to people. I guess for only studying for a week we are all doimg okay. On occasion we really screw up, though. For example, today in class someone confused "Kumi" (the humber 10) with "Kuma", which I will let you look up at your own disgression. :) In Kizimkazi we walked through the village in small groups assigned to things we were to find out about the village. Unfortunately, our group asked someone which way to town, and while they appeared to understand us, they pointed us toward the next town over. So after an hour or so of walking, we arrived at the next town- the OTHER Kizimkazi. It was funny, though, because when we were there we ran into the students from the marine institute that we had been snorkeling with on the beach (ufukwe) a few days earlier. They were dissecting a dolphin that had died and washed up on shore... there were dozens of men gathered around weighing pieces of the animal and jut watching. It was really cool.

We were staying right next to the beach- and taking classes ina gazebo on the oceanside. During our breaks we'd go hunting for shells or swimming in the water. Talk about amazing. It made Oberlin look pretty bad... At night we walked out into the water (low tide was at night) and found Octopi and sea cucumbers, crabs, eels, fish, jellyfish, sea horses, and tons of stuff that no one had ANY idea what it might have been. And bioluminescence will never, ever, stop being cool to me. Amazing.

The next morning we went out on a boat with people from the marine institute at 6:30 AM to see the dolphins before many tourists arrived (there was a little bit of tourism there...). We found a pod of around 60 dolphins and they let us jump in the water and swim with them (with snorkels, etc). It was amazing. You could see them playing, feeding, jumping, and could hear them... we swam with them for probably a half an hour to an hour before we came back in. The only down side of swimming in the Indian Ocean is the jellyfish- they REALLY hurt when they sting you- and they're everywhere. One girl had an allergic reaction to a sting. She had hives, couldn't stop shaking, was curled up feeling freezing cold, and she said her muscles were so tight that they were incredibly painful and she could hardly speak. It was really crazy- but there is a girl here who spent last semster living on a boat and she said it used to happen to people all of the time. We'll see... The girl is better now, but it was pretty scary.

Right now in Zanzibar (Stone TOwn) there is a big music festival called "Busara". There are TONS of people there, mostly Mzungu (european), and music from all over Africa- a big emphasis on West Africa. I can't wait to show people little video clips of the musicians singing and dancing. It's absolutely beautiful. We will go tonight for the third night in a row... Last night I met some people from Minnesota! They are living and teaching at an international school in Dar Es Saalam. One of them had spent the past several years in THailand, another had spent the last three years in Bangladesh... They said that when they go to the internaitonal school job fairs there are usually 900 jobs and only 300 people, so they can choose to go to pretty much any country that they would like. It made me really want to teach at one of those schools (DOnna-- you definitely shoul consider).

Tonight I am staying with my host family for the first time. There is a baba na mama (father and mother) and 4 dada (sisters) and 2 kaka (brothers). They are wonderful- I will tell you more about them soon. So far my Swahili is so bad that I can't really say/understand anything. Both parents speak English well, though, so hopefully I will learn Swahili fast enough to get to know the kids before the two weeks are up! :)

I hope to put pictures and videos up soon! I haven't quite figured that out yet... but I really want to make sure you all get to see them because everything looks, smells, tastes, and sounds really different here! It's absolutely wonderful. I love and miss you all- I will keep you updated on everything here! Kwa herini (good bye)! Baadaye (later)!

PS I got a cell phone-- feel free to call it. You dial 024 0777641798 (I think). I am probably 8-9 hours later than you (depending on where you are).