The most impressive angry noises I have ever heard from a domesticated animal...

I’m pretty sure that today is the four month anniversary of when I left home. It’s crazy to think about this period of four months- in some ways it seems really short, and in others it seems like an eternity... Chris and I have so much planned for our last 7 weeks here, including trips to Malawi, Kenya and the Serengeti!

We have started our work at the Wildlife Conservation Society, and I think it’s accurate to say that our work is in full swing. I really like the experience of working in an office environment in such a different place. Each day is so hit and miss. For example, I don’t think anybody really cares when and where people show up for work. We usually come in at 9 or so, after a leisurely morning of cooking breakfast and walking the half-mile or so to the office, and it’s completely unpredictable what the situation will be when you arrive. Some days there are literally 8 or 9 people packed in the same small room- typing away on laptops, making phone calls, or just sitting staring into the distance. Other days, like today, we came in at about 9:30 or 10, thinking that we were late, and the place was literally deserted. Some days there is internet, some days there isn’t, but regardless nearly everyone’s work depends on it. I listen to peoples’conversations as they crowd around what we were told was the “compulsory” tea, about how what this office really needs is porridge, not tea. Languages go berzerk here, with some people fluent in some languages and others barely coherent with their broken English or Swahili. There is a balance of men and women in the office, though they have kind of taken on stereotypical roles within the organization. Every once in a while, someone bursts into uncontrollable laughter when they get chain mail in their email inboxes from their coworkers... and there are at least 50 large jars filled with various kinds of fish and other aquatice creatures displayed in a glass case that covers the majority of one of the walls.

In a few days we’ll be taking our projects (which include redesigning the Ruaha website, analyzing elephant conflict data, analyzing trends in prices of staple crops and bushmeat over the past several years, reorganizing the photo database, and potentially writing an article for Africa Geographic- a conservation magazing- about water diversion problems from the Great Ruaha River) back to the bush once again where the elephants roam and the hippos bellow all night long. I’m really excited to go back- our tent has been unoccupied for about a week now. The city where we are- Iringa- is really cool, but the bush is much more exhilirating.

One of my favorite things about Iringa so far has just been sitting, walking, and occcasionally running around the city and observing the surroundings. Chris and I have both developed a wild fascination with all other Westerners and our interactions with them. There are an extraordinary number of people who are clearly foreigners here- and they come in all forms. For instance, yesterday we saw a stout, middle-aged white man wearing an oversized cowboy hat standing outside of the artillery store near a large water buffalo statue. Another example, about 3 months ago, I emailed a really well known British ornithologist, he wrote back saying that he would be out of touch because he was going to chase storks for a long period of time. This same man offered us a ride home today in his large, run-down safari vehicle. We often find ourselves pretending not to notice or be particularly interested in the other westerners who we see walking around, but I think our interest is very apparent... because their interest in us is equally apparent.

Another one of my favorite things to observe are the groups of people who congregate together just to sit and have a chat. Even in Zanzibar, I often found myself wondering if groups of people like the one that I found myself with would ever interact if they were in the US. For example, one night in Zanzibar some of us went out to a little bar near where we were staying. I looked around and took note of the people we were sitting with. It was Chris (the girl), our friend Kassim (who every single person I have introduced to him has later made some comment about how intimidatingly large he is), a very introverted, quatrilingual, Zanzibari friend of ours, an old crazy man who is convinced that he is the last sultan of Zanzibar, and this rotund Arab man who was from out of town and reminded me of a Cheech and Chong-type character. Chris and I just watched as these men lit cigarettes, passed them around to one another, until they reached the Sultan man. As soon as he got a hold of the cigarette, he promptly buried it in his small potted plant that he carried with him everywhere. The rest of the men proceeded to get very angry.

My other favorite thing to observe are the animals that roam freely around the city. Every day Chris and I walk home along the one busy street near where we live. Enormous buses and all sorts of decked out safari vehicles constantly zoom past, but this activity strangely doesn’t seem to disturb large herds of cattle, goats, maybe some donkeys, lots of chickens, and many other species that wande the streets. The day before yesterday, I was walking alone and an exceptionally large herd of goats came bleating past at an impressive trot. I took note, but wasn’t that surprised. Maybe 3 more minutes into my walk, however, I came across the very distraught, angry goat who had lost its way. I’m not sure if it was ever reunited with the rest of the herd, but it made some of the most impressive angry noises I have ever heard from a domesticated animal.

Since coming here, we have heard several times that the average income for a Tanzanian person is less than a dollar a day. Chris and I have been talking about how this initally sounded absurd to us- that even in this country you would starve with that amount of money. More and more, though, we are starting to think that it might be possible. Many people here grow a lot of their food- every inch of many peoples’ yards are turned into gardens or fields. The ditches along roads are full of corn and nearly every tree around here grows edible fruits. You can buy a large cabbage in the market for about 10 cents. Yesterday we bought a large plastic bag full of tomatoes and onions and it was only about 40 cents. I think we are going to start keeping track of how much money we spend per day, to see whether we could live on a similar amount of money.

Okay. We have big plans to go to the post office and purchase a pineapple. Hope all is well in America , that summertime has finally arrived in full force, and that hail hasn’t been too big of a problem in the recent past (those pictures of the hail in MN were unbelievable!). Love.