I had the best day. You know when you imagine your trip overseas and you can see it all in your head and when you get there it's still great, but it rains or you struggle with the system? Well today was the day I pictured. Perfect.
I got up early and had breakfast at the hostel and was out by 8.30 on my way to the Acropolis (yay). Metro was a piece of cake and I arrived at the Acropolis before 9am. It was more than amazing, it was awesome in it's original meaning. And arriving early was a blessing as it turned out because by 9.30 the place was packed, I got photos with no other people in them but I doubt anyone later was that lucky. I spent about 40 minutes in raptures looking at the Parthanon and the Erechtheion (always my favourite) and because I was early and there were no crowds at one point I was in a corner and there was no one there so... I touched it. Then took a picture of where I touched so I'll never forget!
I left there and had a wander through the winding alleys and backstreets, all very pretty. I was quite happily lost when I rounded a corner and found Hadrian's Arch! It was very sudden. When you buy a ticket to the Acropolis you get tickets to the other ancient sites so went in and saw the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which must have been huge, there are only big pillars left now! Then one of those great travel moments. There was a girl who came in behind me to look as well so I suggested we swap cameras and get some pictures. We got chatting and decided to head around the corner to see the Stadium. Kirsi (I'm guessing the spelling) wasvisiting from Finland and staying with a friend, leaving tonight, and wanted to see the Acropolis and the National Archaelogical Museum. We headed to the Acropolis, through the beautiful suburb Plaka, and decided that since I wanted to see the museum and had already seen the Acropolis we'd meet in half an hour. I explored the Ancient Agora which was beautiful, I could really imagine all the people wandering the area and shopping! And I walked part of the Panathenian Way! Thrilling.
Kirsi and I met up, deciphered the map, and headed towards the museum. It was fun to have someone to share the experience with. We stopped for lunch at a little turkish restaurant and ordered about six dishes to share! We got this weird baked cheese thing which is apparently a local dish. It was quite nice but too much cheese in one thing, I think cheese should generally be an accompanied thing, not the thing thing. Except that organic cheddar. That was the Thing. Mmm. I got a pizza dish, so big that I took most of it with me... that's dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow sorted!
The Museum was amazing, I saw the statue of Zeus or Poseidon and the boy riding the horse and lots of Egyptian sculptures, frescos from Santorini... I honestly cannot describe seeing all the stuff. It was great. And somehow Kirsi and I had a similar approach - read the big signs, look at the big stuff and the things that seem interesting but don't feel bad when you think "Great another vase room, I think I'll skip it" so we had a lot of fun.
Then we went to the metro, she gave me her map and got the train to her stop while I walked back to my hostel. Never to be in touch again.
A lovely day all told. My hostel has free internet so I'm likely to be on here all the time. Oh and I've booked Istanbul and Thessaloniki! Thungerbirds are go!
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Sunday, 28 September 2008
Catie loves stuff...
I love Doha airport and coffee and internet and ugly little crystal statues of puffin birds and souvenirs of places I've never actually been.
I have a 16 hours layover in Doha airport. It's fun. I think I forgot to mention I changed my flight to be a week earlier, I figured I"d rather be travelling alone in Europe than Tanzania. So originally I had a ten hour layover here, painful but could cope. To get this flight I had to take a 16 hour layover. It's cool. I can't even see the light at the end of the tunnel and I've been here for 9 hours. I just spent two hours wandering around duty free staring at ornate jewellery and overpriced everything. Bought coffee. Not awake now, but have weird sort of energy, you know how it is. So I'm inflicting my craziness on you because I have found free internet. I think. It hasn't made me pay for it so it must be free. Right? My muffin was blueberry with no blueberries in it. Ha... I met a nice British couple on the plane who let me hang with them for three hours till their flight and Tom went to buy some snacks but it took him ages because there was a german lady at the front of the queue repeating "What is blueberry? But what is blueberry?" And no one knew the answer so she just went on repeating herself. Love airports!
I'm going to post this and not force more sleep-deprived Catie on you all, but I do love you all. Sleeplessness is better than alcohol, everything is a bit too bright though. And the airport is freezing! I'm wearing a merino jumper and my sweater! I guess it's to compensate for outside being so hot, but it's pretty uncomfortable. Ok, really posting now.
I have a 16 hours layover in Doha airport. It's fun. I think I forgot to mention I changed my flight to be a week earlier, I figured I"d rather be travelling alone in Europe than Tanzania. So originally I had a ten hour layover here, painful but could cope. To get this flight I had to take a 16 hour layover. It's cool. I can't even see the light at the end of the tunnel and I've been here for 9 hours. I just spent two hours wandering around duty free staring at ornate jewellery and overpriced everything. Bought coffee. Not awake now, but have weird sort of energy, you know how it is. So I'm inflicting my craziness on you because I have found free internet. I think. It hasn't made me pay for it so it must be free. Right? My muffin was blueberry with no blueberries in it. Ha... I met a nice British couple on the plane who let me hang with them for three hours till their flight and Tom went to buy some snacks but it took him ages because there was a german lady at the front of the queue repeating "What is blueberry? But what is blueberry?" And no one knew the answer so she just went on repeating herself. Love airports!
I'm going to post this and not force more sleep-deprived Catie on you all, but I do love you all. Sleeplessness is better than alcohol, everything is a bit too bright though. And the airport is freezing! I'm wearing a merino jumper and my sweater! I guess it's to compensate for outside being so hot, but it's pretty uncomfortable. Ok, really posting now.
Friday, 26 September 2008
Stone Town rocks (get the pun? Get it? harharhar)
When did I update? Tuesday? Right... Wednesday was another bright sunny day, except for the hour it rained. But that was painless enough, I even enjoyed it a bit! I did manage to get sunburned - unintentionally. I sat outside reading and the shade moved. So that was fun too :) Actually the biggest news for me was that the place I stayed had a laundry service. My clothes are so clean and pretty... it made me very very happy. So that was Wednesday, rain, sun, sunburn, laundry... And a beautiful sunset which I took way too many pictures of.
Thursday I was up early again, camp threw my body clock out because we were also in bed before ten and up by 7.30 so now I'm in that routine, and every couple of days I have to have a really early morning, 5am or so, and I shift a bit further left... now it's bed by 9 up at 6. Well almost. Anyway, bus left at ten for Stone Town and I was dreading it a little because I had a really bad experience on Monday with some jerk wanting me to buy him a cocacola, he got quite rude. But it turns out that jerks are jerks everywhere and actually Stone Town is beautiful and the people are all very lovely and welcoming. I spent Thursday afternoon exploring the city. It's reasonably old and full of alleys and lanes so walking is ideal, and the whole place is pretty compact. It would only take about an hour to walk around the whole town! But I spent three hours meandering and looking at museums. There's the Museum of Natural History, one room full of photos, clay models and stuffed animals. Kind of creepy, a little sad, but worth it just to see a dodo skeleton! The Peace Museum, which is in the guide book, has recently closed but it's a pretty building anyway. Saw the Old Fort but it's under some kind of repair and you can't get in so really I just saw a big old wall. That's right next to the confidently named Muesum of Wonders, which was pretty decent if slightly overzealously named.
I changed guest house too when I returned, a better area I think and a better price, so I had to get used to the new location so the walk was good for that!
Then today was the spice tour - a must for Zanzibar apparently. It was quite interesting to drive around the different spice farms and collect stuff, though I left it all there because I couldn't take it to Europe with me. Cinnamon was cool, it's just bark! Who knew... And then we tried lots of local fruits, it was fun. Jack fruit tastes kind of like pineapple, there's malay apples and bitter orange and other stuff I forget. And then lunch, really yummy, full of all the spices we'd seen!
You know I think this is probably quite a boring post to read. I had fun doing this stuff, but none of it's that exciting to read. Not like killing chickens and being kidnapped by buses. Oh! I know... I was walking back to the hotel yesterday and a policeman started chatting with me. Locals often start talking to tourists and usually they want something but I thought oh a policeman, I've been well trained by my mother that this man is only here to help. So when he asked where I was staying I told him, which I normally wouldn't do. Next thing he says "I think I would like to visit you today." Oops. So I told him that unfortunately my husband and I were going out for dinner and we were on a pice tour all day tomorrow so it was not a good idea. Quick thinking/lying.
There's your Africa' a crazy place story for the day :)
Tomorrow I fly to Greece, with a 16 hour layover in Doha of all places. Apparently they'll put me up in a hotel but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much! I've got 4 hours to kill in Dar too so I'm meeting up with Musa, the language school guy we met on our first day here and I'll pass my sim car to him for one of the volunteers and see if he's keen to drive me around for half a day! Then it's on to colder climes. It's so hot here I think this might be the first time in my life I'm looking forwar to cold weather!
So I'll see you in Greece!
Thursday I was up early again, camp threw my body clock out because we were also in bed before ten and up by 7.30 so now I'm in that routine, and every couple of days I have to have a really early morning, 5am or so, and I shift a bit further left... now it's bed by 9 up at 6. Well almost. Anyway, bus left at ten for Stone Town and I was dreading it a little because I had a really bad experience on Monday with some jerk wanting me to buy him a cocacola, he got quite rude. But it turns out that jerks are jerks everywhere and actually Stone Town is beautiful and the people are all very lovely and welcoming. I spent Thursday afternoon exploring the city. It's reasonably old and full of alleys and lanes so walking is ideal, and the whole place is pretty compact. It would only take about an hour to walk around the whole town! But I spent three hours meandering and looking at museums. There's the Museum of Natural History, one room full of photos, clay models and stuffed animals. Kind of creepy, a little sad, but worth it just to see a dodo skeleton! The Peace Museum, which is in the guide book, has recently closed but it's a pretty building anyway. Saw the Old Fort but it's under some kind of repair and you can't get in so really I just saw a big old wall. That's right next to the confidently named Muesum of Wonders, which was pretty decent if slightly overzealously named.
I changed guest house too when I returned, a better area I think and a better price, so I had to get used to the new location so the walk was good for that!
Then today was the spice tour - a must for Zanzibar apparently. It was quite interesting to drive around the different spice farms and collect stuff, though I left it all there because I couldn't take it to Europe with me. Cinnamon was cool, it's just bark! Who knew... And then we tried lots of local fruits, it was fun. Jack fruit tastes kind of like pineapple, there's malay apples and bitter orange and other stuff I forget. And then lunch, really yummy, full of all the spices we'd seen!
You know I think this is probably quite a boring post to read. I had fun doing this stuff, but none of it's that exciting to read. Not like killing chickens and being kidnapped by buses. Oh! I know... I was walking back to the hotel yesterday and a policeman started chatting with me. Locals often start talking to tourists and usually they want something but I thought oh a policeman, I've been well trained by my mother that this man is only here to help. So when he asked where I was staying I told him, which I normally wouldn't do. Next thing he says "I think I would like to visit you today." Oops. So I told him that unfortunately my husband and I were going out for dinner and we were on a pice tour all day tomorrow so it was not a good idea. Quick thinking/lying.
There's your Africa' a crazy place story for the day :)
Tomorrow I fly to Greece, with a 16 hour layover in Doha of all places. Apparently they'll put me up in a hotel but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much! I've got 4 hours to kill in Dar too so I'm meeting up with Musa, the language school guy we met on our first day here and I'll pass my sim car to him for one of the volunteers and see if he's keen to drive me around for half a day! Then it's on to colder climes. It's so hot here I think this might be the first time in my life I'm looking forwar to cold weather!
So I'll see you in Greece!
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
Heaven is called Kendwa and it's a little pricey.
Wow Catie, an update so soon? Don't you have better things to do? Like lie on a beach and get sunburned? Well yes, I do. But I love you so much (and my nose is so mad at the sun) that I thought I'd write anyway.
So Sunday was in Lushoto, went to a proper African market. It was exactly like you think it wil be! Colourful, noisy, exciting, beautiful. And then to church, pretty much the same as the market but with music instead of noise! Then the lunch I already told you about...
So Mouddy (the guide who served an awful lunch) told me that to get to Dar es Salaam all I had to do was wait outside my hostel at 6am for the express bus to Dar. So at 5.50am I'm walking down a steep dark path thinking "What the hell are you doing? It's still dark! You won't even recognise the bus or know where its's going and why would they stop anyway? And who else is out at this time? Only murderers. You didn't even bring your bread gun!" [Author's note: if you don't get it watch Eddie Izzard The Definite Article and all will make sense until you throw up from laughing so hard] But you know what? It worked! I got kidnapped by a bus at 6am going where I wanted to go! And I do mean kidnapped, bus screeches, three guys jump, bag gets thrown and I'm standing beside the driver in a moving bus before I can think to say "Dar es Salaam?"
Anyway... 7 hours of bus, half an hour of taxi (who ripped me off dammit) and two hours of ferry later and I'm in Zanzibar! Stone Town is beautiful, although full of scum. Worse than Arusha. At least in Arusha they are asking about something specific, you say no, they go away (ok, it takes eight nos and a road crossing but they do go away!) In Stone Town they just follow you trying to find out where you are going and what you are doing and no matter what you say they keep harrassing you. A bit scary, but once I got to my hostel it was fine.
So I stayed one night in Stone Town and today headed for heaven, a village caled Kendwa where I'm staying at the Kendwa Rocks resort right on the beach. It's beautiful and only expensive because everywhere else I've been has been so cheap! It's still nothing compared to what Europe will be, so I'm probably well prepared for that now. Lots of Europeans around, which is sort of comforting. It's nice not to stand out so much. Hey and the bartender called me "mzuri sana" (very pretty) and I hadn't even bought a drink... maybe he's been sampling his own wares!
So I'm happy and healthy, although being surrounded by tanned people is messing with my head about whether I should actively try to change my pastiness. Actually I've got a bit of colour, but it's not exactly even! I have the most extreme t-shirt and jandal tan, and then pale pale everywhere else :P Anyway, I'm trying to resist the tan pressure - remember Catie, they'll all be gross and leathery when they're old!
Anyway, it's lunchtime! Hope to hear from you all soon! Or that you'll hear from me soon... Whichever.
So Sunday was in Lushoto, went to a proper African market. It was exactly like you think it wil be! Colourful, noisy, exciting, beautiful. And then to church, pretty much the same as the market but with music instead of noise! Then the lunch I already told you about...
So Mouddy (the guide who served an awful lunch) told me that to get to Dar es Salaam all I had to do was wait outside my hostel at 6am for the express bus to Dar. So at 5.50am I'm walking down a steep dark path thinking "What the hell are you doing? It's still dark! You won't even recognise the bus or know where its's going and why would they stop anyway? And who else is out at this time? Only murderers. You didn't even bring your bread gun!" [Author's note: if you don't get it watch Eddie Izzard The Definite Article and all will make sense until you throw up from laughing so hard] But you know what? It worked! I got kidnapped by a bus at 6am going where I wanted to go! And I do mean kidnapped, bus screeches, three guys jump, bag gets thrown and I'm standing beside the driver in a moving bus before I can think to say "Dar es Salaam?"
Anyway... 7 hours of bus, half an hour of taxi (who ripped me off dammit) and two hours of ferry later and I'm in Zanzibar! Stone Town is beautiful, although full of scum. Worse than Arusha. At least in Arusha they are asking about something specific, you say no, they go away (ok, it takes eight nos and a road crossing but they do go away!) In Stone Town they just follow you trying to find out where you are going and what you are doing and no matter what you say they keep harrassing you. A bit scary, but once I got to my hostel it was fine.
So I stayed one night in Stone Town and today headed for heaven, a village caled Kendwa where I'm staying at the Kendwa Rocks resort right on the beach. It's beautiful and only expensive because everywhere else I've been has been so cheap! It's still nothing compared to what Europe will be, so I'm probably well prepared for that now. Lots of Europeans around, which is sort of comforting. It's nice not to stand out so much. Hey and the bartender called me "mzuri sana" (very pretty) and I hadn't even bought a drink... maybe he's been sampling his own wares!
So I'm happy and healthy, although being surrounded by tanned people is messing with my head about whether I should actively try to change my pastiness. Actually I've got a bit of colour, but it's not exactly even! I have the most extreme t-shirt and jandal tan, and then pale pale everywhere else :P Anyway, I'm trying to resist the tan pressure - remember Catie, they'll all be gross and leathery when they're old!
Anyway, it's lunchtime! Hope to hear from you all soon! Or that you'll hear from me soon... Whichever.
Sunday, 21 September 2008
Things I forgot to say
In Arusha we saw a hair salon with a sign saying 'hair and beauty - the blood of jesus christ'
There are monkeys living outside my guest house! I'm stoked! Better than TV.
There are monkeys living outside my guest house! I'm stoked! Better than TV.
Beautiful Lushoto
weirdly this computer has no shift button ability and i'm sick of hitting caps lock tostart sentences, so you'll all have to live with the rather unfortunate lack.
so i updated thursday about safari and look, pictures [exclamation mark]
in order we have, mike, me, our guide dearson and jen in lake manyara national park. then the elephant, see the white bit [question mark] that's the side of the jeep, they were very close. then it's the lioness sleeping under our jeep, those are the spare tyres on the back. and finally me in front of the hippo pool, that grey smudge in the lake is a flotilla of hippos cooling off.
so
friday we left early at 6am, jen and mike headed to dar es salaam after seeing me safely on my bus to lushoto. it wasn't the worst ride ever, but it did win most uncomfortable seats. but seven hours later i was safely in lushoto being chased by touts. the lodge i chose is gorgeous, warm, welcoming and completely empty. it's weird being the only person for the staff to chase but nice to pay dorm fees for a big room to myself and my own bathroom.
i was just pumzika pumzika [relax] friday afternoon and a guy came up to talk to me. he's been sent by his boss to find out if i was interested in doing a hike this weekend. i'd already planned to do a little one locally but he offered for about NZ40 to take me on a five hour hike including lunch. sounded like a plan to me so after having him vouched for by the lodge i booked it. that saw me up at 7 saturday to chat to mum and have breakfast before leaving at about 8.30 for my adventure. i'll confess that about an hour into the hike i regretted the decision since it was steeply uphill and i was having to take an embarassing number of breaks. it evened out eventually and from the top down it was spectacular. this area is so green and lush, walking to a rainforest and learning about the local traditions and medicines [a root to help pregnancy and a leaf which is the local viagra among other things] was wonderful. lunch was cheese and bread made locally, utterly delicious and the irente viewpoint was one of the most beautiful plaes i've been. you can see very far, all the towns and villages i passed on my way to lushoto.
once back at the lodge i was very sore, and almost heartbroken to discover no hot water, but i struggled through. my legs are still yelling at me today but i think it was worth it. my guide mouddy invited me to lunch at his house today, a lovely gesture but in practice one of the worst meals of my life. traditional ugali, a kind of flour porridge, which i don't mind [it's just flavourless really] but served with these tiny dried fish in some kind of sauce - unfortunately it activated my gag reflex. i spent the whole time eating plain ugali and pretending to dip it in the sauce. still, nice to visit someone's home and his 2 yr old daughter is adorable.
tomorrow is another early morning to catch the express bus to dar es salaam, opefully i'll be in zanzibar by about 3pm. can't wait, beaches and relaxing for 4 days.
Thursday, 18 September 2008
No photos
Hey, just a quick one to say I'll try to add photos from Lushoto or Zanzibar, my flash drive is broken and I'm transferring my photos to cd so I've had a mission to solve that! I'll look into that and probably spend some money :) it's all good. I think I must have done something bad recently, karma's out to get me! You'd think building a house for a doctor would balance stuff like that out a bit... Nevermind, I'll feed the hungry or something! Hope everything is being exactly how it should be for you anyway!
Lions and zebras and 'phants, oh my!
So it's been four days since my last confession... And what an eventful four days! I've had so much fun, I can't type fast enough to tell it all!
Sunday we just explored the city in the morning, wandered around to get our bearings and found a nice place for lunch. At Stiggy's we'd seen a flier for the cinema and noted eagerly that Tanzania is so delightfully behind the times that The Dark Knight was still playing! So our first full day in the city and we went to an American movie. Still, it was an excellent film. Then back to Stiggy's for dinner, where I think we're headed tonight as well. Their menu is too good, we have to try as much as possible!
Actually, Sunday afternoon sonething even more exciting happened! We found a place that does laundry!!! For only 14000 shillings we all got our dirtiest most horrible clothing cleaned. It was a magical magical day. Picked up Monday afternoon and I almost proposed to the nice lady when my cream trousers were back to their original colour! Yeah... showers get more exciting after camping too. It's good, small thrills.
The place we're staying is cheap, which is pretty much it's only redeeming factor. Clean too I suppose, but so noisy! The mosque starts at 5, people start talking and thumping at about 5.20... It's lucky we're going to bed early or we'd be dead by now :P Hopefully Lushoto (my next stop) will be quieter :)
Monday we headed to the Rwandan War Crimes Tribunal, you hand in your passport and camera to a nice man with a gun and then wait outside a door that says "closed session" for an hour before going for lunch and planning to return. Actually the others went back, and got in for abot twenty minutes, but I had to go fix the safari that I so skillfully messed up! When I emailed Sunny Safaris (awesomest company ever) I said Tuesday the 17th and Wednesday the 18th. The cleverer amongst you will realise that Tuesday was in fact the 16th. So I went in and asked very nicely if we could change it and they said sure absolutely. Easy as pie.
So we did in fact go on safari on Tuesday and it was AMAZING! We saw pretty much everything you can hope for! Tuesday we headed for Lake Manyara, leaving around 9, got to the town about 11:30 and had lunch (Safari company provides a cook, a really good cook!) before heading to the park at abot 12.30. Basically a safari you drive around the paths in a forest or plain looking for animals. I figured the animals would be quite far away and we'd all wish we had more zoom on our cameras - not so! The first animals we found were baboons just hanging out right beside the road! Baboons are cool, the males are big and they show off their teeth a lot, they all groom each other too, really pedantically going row by row.
If I described in detail all the encounters you'd be reading for days so I'll give you a few highlights and a list of all the animals we saw (if I can remember them all).
Day one: Giraffes up close, they were my favourites. They all look so gangly and awkward, like a 13 year old who's all limb, but they move so gracefully! And they look funny when they sit!
We were heading back to camp later in the day when Jen said "Oh, stop!" and right next to the path there were two elephants! They were so close, and so chilled out just wandering along the road, we got some amazing pictures!
Day two: Wednesday we headed to Ngorongoro crater, which our guide informed us is mis-named, it's really a caldera, which is basically a collapsed volcano full of animals! We saw heaps of zebras - the punks of the animal world with their mohawk and crazy make up. Lots of pregnant females too! We saw two cheetah, but very far away so once again made use of my excellent binoculars. But the absolute highlight? Driving along we came across a lion and a lioness just lying in the sun beside the road, so we parked and started taking pictures, got some really great ones too. Suddenly the female gets up and starts walking, to have a nap in the shade of our jeep, and the male joins her a few minutes later! We have some great pictures of course, but our guide scared us a little when he started saying, quietly bt urgently, "Close the windows please. Please close the windows." At the time there was a lion tale through one of them but we obliged as quickly as possible. Apparently lions won't hunt people, but females are especially curious and they're known to put their paws up on the window and look in to see what's going on!
We saw, in no particular order: baboons, black faced monkeys, samango (?) monkeys, zebras, wildebeests, hartebeests, elephants, lions, cheetahs, a serval cat, jackals, gazelle, dik-diks, impala, hippos (boring mostly cos they don't move much), buffalo, ostriches and heaps of other birds that I can't remember all the names of.
I hope you all start planning your safari, with Sunny Safaris, because it was so completely amazing! Our guide Dearson (the only son with five older sisters, much wanted by his parents I wold guess) was so knowledgeable, and he's starting his own company soon which I think will be a huge success! I'm going to have to sit down and write out all the stuff we saw and learned so I can bore you all later. Those were the highlights but there were no low points, seeing those animals in the wild is the best experience I've had yet.
I'm going to try to post photos now, but if it fails then blame the computer or the connection!
Sunday we just explored the city in the morning, wandered around to get our bearings and found a nice place for lunch. At Stiggy's we'd seen a flier for the cinema and noted eagerly that Tanzania is so delightfully behind the times that The Dark Knight was still playing! So our first full day in the city and we went to an American movie. Still, it was an excellent film. Then back to Stiggy's for dinner, where I think we're headed tonight as well. Their menu is too good, we have to try as much as possible!
Actually, Sunday afternoon sonething even more exciting happened! We found a place that does laundry!!! For only 14000 shillings we all got our dirtiest most horrible clothing cleaned. It was a magical magical day. Picked up Monday afternoon and I almost proposed to the nice lady when my cream trousers were back to their original colour! Yeah... showers get more exciting after camping too. It's good, small thrills.
The place we're staying is cheap, which is pretty much it's only redeeming factor. Clean too I suppose, but so noisy! The mosque starts at 5, people start talking and thumping at about 5.20... It's lucky we're going to bed early or we'd be dead by now :P Hopefully Lushoto (my next stop) will be quieter :)
Monday we headed to the Rwandan War Crimes Tribunal, you hand in your passport and camera to a nice man with a gun and then wait outside a door that says "closed session" for an hour before going for lunch and planning to return. Actually the others went back, and got in for abot twenty minutes, but I had to go fix the safari that I so skillfully messed up! When I emailed Sunny Safaris (awesomest company ever) I said Tuesday the 17th and Wednesday the 18th. The cleverer amongst you will realise that Tuesday was in fact the 16th. So I went in and asked very nicely if we could change it and they said sure absolutely. Easy as pie.
So we did in fact go on safari on Tuesday and it was AMAZING! We saw pretty much everything you can hope for! Tuesday we headed for Lake Manyara, leaving around 9, got to the town about 11:30 and had lunch (Safari company provides a cook, a really good cook!) before heading to the park at abot 12.30. Basically a safari you drive around the paths in a forest or plain looking for animals. I figured the animals would be quite far away and we'd all wish we had more zoom on our cameras - not so! The first animals we found were baboons just hanging out right beside the road! Baboons are cool, the males are big and they show off their teeth a lot, they all groom each other too, really pedantically going row by row.
If I described in detail all the encounters you'd be reading for days so I'll give you a few highlights and a list of all the animals we saw (if I can remember them all).
Day one: Giraffes up close, they were my favourites. They all look so gangly and awkward, like a 13 year old who's all limb, but they move so gracefully! And they look funny when they sit!
We were heading back to camp later in the day when Jen said "Oh, stop!" and right next to the path there were two elephants! They were so close, and so chilled out just wandering along the road, we got some amazing pictures!
Day two: Wednesday we headed to Ngorongoro crater, which our guide informed us is mis-named, it's really a caldera, which is basically a collapsed volcano full of animals! We saw heaps of zebras - the punks of the animal world with their mohawk and crazy make up. Lots of pregnant females too! We saw two cheetah, but very far away so once again made use of my excellent binoculars. But the absolute highlight? Driving along we came across a lion and a lioness just lying in the sun beside the road, so we parked and started taking pictures, got some really great ones too. Suddenly the female gets up and starts walking, to have a nap in the shade of our jeep, and the male joins her a few minutes later! We have some great pictures of course, but our guide scared us a little when he started saying, quietly bt urgently, "Close the windows please. Please close the windows." At the time there was a lion tale through one of them but we obliged as quickly as possible. Apparently lions won't hunt people, but females are especially curious and they're known to put their paws up on the window and look in to see what's going on!
We saw, in no particular order: baboons, black faced monkeys, samango (?) monkeys, zebras, wildebeests, hartebeests, elephants, lions, cheetahs, a serval cat, jackals, gazelle, dik-diks, impala, hippos (boring mostly cos they don't move much), buffalo, ostriches and heaps of other birds that I can't remember all the names of.
I hope you all start planning your safari, with Sunny Safaris, because it was so completely amazing! Our guide Dearson (the only son with five older sisters, much wanted by his parents I wold guess) was so knowledgeable, and he's starting his own company soon which I think will be a huge success! I'm going to have to sit down and write out all the stuff we saw and learned so I can bore you all later. Those were the highlights but there were no low points, seeing those animals in the wild is the best experience I've had yet.
I'm going to try to post photos now, but if it fails then blame the computer or the connection!
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Arusha and bus adventures!
Look, only two days and another update. You really are spoilt by me you know! It's Arusha - civilization! It's kind of weird to be somewhere so built up, and to see other mzungus everywhere we go! Singida was really just a big village, Arusha is a proper city. Today I had coffee. Real coffee, it was the best coffee I've had in 9 weeks!
So Saturday morning, bright and early at 5am we were up to finish preparing for our long bus ride. Picked up at 5.30, bus at 6, left at 6.30. The novelty wore off after about 12 minutes. Actually it wasn't that bad. Very squished, and every half hour the bus stopped to let more people on so eventually we had 100 people on a 60 seat bus, all crammed in the aisle. Weirdest experience for me? I leaned my head back and felt someone touch my head and jolted forward. In the crowd I assumed it was an accident, but when it happened three more times I realised that one of the women in the aisle (don't know which one) was patting my hair! It happened at the school with the kids because they don't get hair like ours, that's smooth. I just didn't expect a grown woman to have the same fascination! So I leaned forward for a while, which was fine because there wasn't room for three sets of shoulders across the back of the seat and it gave the others a chance to lean back for a while.
Generally uneventful for the first 4 hours. Jen had bought us a great array of snacks from Singida so I ate for much of the trip or slept. I can sleep anywhere, thank goodness - 5 hours sleep is not enough for me to function on! We stopped about halfway along, around 11, and got to pay Tsh100 for the scummiest toilets I've ever seen! Not cleaned in a while, squat style, manual flush (tap and bucket method) and then no running water to clean hands! Thank goodness for hand sanitizer or I'd have felt really yuck!
The adventure began half an hour later when we heard a big bang. I said "Was that a tire?" But
since the driver kept going we figured not. Until five minutes later there was a really big bang and we stopped. Our tire looked like it had been attacked by a machete! And it had damaged the wheel next to it too. My education in bus wheels is now complete. Buses have six wheels, on on each side at the front and two on each side at the back. This is important for balance because a bus is tall and heavy. We blew the outside back right tire. They remover the inside back left tire and put it on the outside back right, and they left the inside right tire because it wasn't completely blown. Bad decision? We thought so. Forty minutes later we were off again, having impressed the locals who expected us to panic and make a lot of noise. Of course the problem couldn't be solved that easily so an hour later we heard another bang, inside right tire went kamikaze. So we drove another fifteen minutes got to a rest stop and spent about an hour and a half waiting while all tires were replace or fixed or something. It was the hottest part of the day so very painful, most of it's quite a blur actually, a blur of sweaty uncomfortable waiting and waiting and waiting. Finally we got on our way again, made it to Arusha for about 4.30 and headed to the rooms we booked.
We booked at the William's Inn, but since our Lonely Planet was published the price had gone up heaps so we decided to find somewhere new. That made me happy anyway, the place was clean but there was no hot water, none of the bathroom doors closed properly and the sign above the stairs said "Men and women of moral turpitude are not welcome in the rooms." A) I wanted to steal the sign, b) two days ago I couldn't have used the word turpitude in a sentence and c) I spent all evening worrying there would be interviews and stonings! Also, the mosquito nets had holes in them and we all got eaten alive! Malaria here we come!
So we got up super early this morning, had breakfast and headed out to check other places. WE found one nearby which was okay but kind of a bad vibe around the area so we went to look elsewhere and found an excellent place near the market. A better area, the place is clean though quite tatty, they have hot water and it seems all good :) We're here two nights, maybe Wednesday night too after our safari, we've yet to work that out exactly.
So that's it :) We had an awesome meal last night at an Aussie guy's place called Stiggy's. It's a proper restaurant, I have fried mushrooms with a cheese sauce, a burger and chips amd most excitingly, a gin and tonic! The best G&T I've ever had! Arusha rocks - except all the touts. We get followed lots by people wanting to book us in safaris, sell us souvenirs etc. It's annoying, but they're not threatening or anything so we feel safe enough.
Anyway, maybe more later in the week. Tomorrow we're off to the Rwandan Genocide trial among other things!
So Saturday morning, bright and early at 5am we were up to finish preparing for our long bus ride. Picked up at 5.30, bus at 6, left at 6.30. The novelty wore off after about 12 minutes. Actually it wasn't that bad. Very squished, and every half hour the bus stopped to let more people on so eventually we had 100 people on a 60 seat bus, all crammed in the aisle. Weirdest experience for me? I leaned my head back and felt someone touch my head and jolted forward. In the crowd I assumed it was an accident, but when it happened three more times I realised that one of the women in the aisle (don't know which one) was patting my hair! It happened at the school with the kids because they don't get hair like ours, that's smooth. I just didn't expect a grown woman to have the same fascination! So I leaned forward for a while, which was fine because there wasn't room for three sets of shoulders across the back of the seat and it gave the others a chance to lean back for a while.
Generally uneventful for the first 4 hours. Jen had bought us a great array of snacks from Singida so I ate for much of the trip or slept. I can sleep anywhere, thank goodness - 5 hours sleep is not enough for me to function on! We stopped about halfway along, around 11, and got to pay Tsh100 for the scummiest toilets I've ever seen! Not cleaned in a while, squat style, manual flush (tap and bucket method) and then no running water to clean hands! Thank goodness for hand sanitizer or I'd have felt really yuck!
The adventure began half an hour later when we heard a big bang. I said "Was that a tire?" But
since the driver kept going we figured not. Until five minutes later there was a really big bang and we stopped. Our tire looked like it had been attacked by a machete! And it had damaged the wheel next to it too. My education in bus wheels is now complete. Buses have six wheels, on on each side at the front and two on each side at the back. This is important for balance because a bus is tall and heavy. We blew the outside back right tire. They remover the inside back left tire and put it on the outside back right, and they left the inside right tire because it wasn't completely blown. Bad decision? We thought so. Forty minutes later we were off again, having impressed the locals who expected us to panic and make a lot of noise. Of course the problem couldn't be solved that easily so an hour later we heard another bang, inside right tire went kamikaze. So we drove another fifteen minutes got to a rest stop and spent about an hour and a half waiting while all tires were replace or fixed or something. It was the hottest part of the day so very painful, most of it's quite a blur actually, a blur of sweaty uncomfortable waiting and waiting and waiting. Finally we got on our way again, made it to Arusha for about 4.30 and headed to the rooms we booked.
We booked at the William's Inn, but since our Lonely Planet was published the price had gone up heaps so we decided to find somewhere new. That made me happy anyway, the place was clean but there was no hot water, none of the bathroom doors closed properly and the sign above the stairs said "Men and women of moral turpitude are not welcome in the rooms." A) I wanted to steal the sign, b) two days ago I couldn't have used the word turpitude in a sentence and c) I spent all evening worrying there would be interviews and stonings! Also, the mosquito nets had holes in them and we all got eaten alive! Malaria here we come!
So we got up super early this morning, had breakfast and headed out to check other places. WE found one nearby which was okay but kind of a bad vibe around the area so we went to look elsewhere and found an excellent place near the market. A better area, the place is clean though quite tatty, they have hot water and it seems all good :) We're here two nights, maybe Wednesday night too after our safari, we've yet to work that out exactly.
So that's it :) We had an awesome meal last night at an Aussie guy's place called Stiggy's. It's a proper restaurant, I have fried mushrooms with a cheese sauce, a burger and chips amd most excitingly, a gin and tonic! The best G&T I've ever had! Arusha rocks - except all the touts. We get followed lots by people wanting to book us in safaris, sell us souvenirs etc. It's annoying, but they're not threatening or anything so we feel safe enough.
Anyway, maybe more later in the week. Tomorrow we're off to the Rwandan Genocide trial among other things!
Saturday, 13 September 2008
Last week in Mvae!
So it's been an eventful week! Our last week in camp, which is so unbelievable. I spent most of the week thinking that I was ready to go but when Thursday rolled around I almost cried!
But we'll start at the beginning... From our camp we can see this giant rock, it looks reasonably close and the last lot of volunteers walked there. Being an adventurous and competitive bunch we decided to do the same! So we got up early (considering Sunday is lie-in day this was a major sacrifice for all of us) and were off at a good pace by 8.30am! Our wee group included the five volunteers, Mr Brown (God of a man), his sons Olman and Daniel, Issa and his ridiculously annoying brother Hamisi and the vice-Chairman Rama. The weather was lovely, and the morning isn't too hot so it was a really lovely walk/hike. Two hours saw us to the bottom of the hill, in a town with some kind of name (I'm sure it had one).They charged us Tsh5000 to pass through and asked us to help them finish building their primary school. It's definitely a worthwhile project but I can't promise anyone support until I make it through my trip without sinking myself into debt!
So we continued with our adventure, which now consisted of clambering up tree filled slopes and over giant rocks. I'm sorry to say I quit halfway and sat down until Mr Brown came along to cajole me and carry my bag - sometimes I just revert to being six years old again! It was all worth it once we reached the top anyway! The view was phenomenal and with my binoculars (thanks Richard) we could see the camp! As an aside, Jordi, who is Dutch, think binoculars is a really weird word. We picnicked on top of the rock, and all the Muslimsc tore into the bread despite it being Ramadan! I asked Mr Brown and he said "They are not good Muslims, sometimes they do not care about God." I wouldn't have wanted to go hungry after that hike either :P We hung out for about two hours, I managed to not get sunburnt, and got some amazing photos! I'll try to post some photos in a couple days from Arusha.
We headed home, via a wind powered well! Unfortunately there was no wind so we got to watch fifty people not get water. Sort of depressing. Anyway, home was MUCH more painful than there, especially since the Tanzanians with us obviously have a lot more stamina. Hamisi (he of the annoyingness) kept running back and forth yelling "Keti choka? Choka?" ("Catie tired? Tired?") To which I would have liked to reply in unreportable language, but I couldn't waste the breath. I'm exaggerating slightly here, most of the walk was fine and it was really only the last hour which was that painful. But home we got, and after a wash I felt awesome! We were all early to bed after that!
Monday was just work as usual. Painting ceilings is pretty boring really. I think I finished early. Why am I even writing about such a boring day? Aidan, head teacher, came for dinner. Exciting? Not really. I apologise profusely for the dullness of my update.
Tuesday was better! There was only enough painting for all of us in the morning, after lunch the boys kept painting while I dug! I impressed all the fundis that day, even Venance who only addresses me as "mwanamke" (woman). Mr Brown told me to get teh boys to help but I said I was tough, so I got to it! There are little courtyards in our house which need the floor lowered so that in the rainy season the house doesn't flood. It's a matter of breaking the dirt up with a hoe and then carying it out with buckets. Quite hard work, especially by yourself and I was proud of myself for working as hard as I did. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have worked that hard if there weren't people plastering within eyeshot! You know how having witnesses makes you work harder :) Oh and that evening we ate our chicken from Joyce as well as a rooster we bought from a wee girl. I stayed well clear of the killing this time! Alex killed one while Mr Jumanne killed the other. Mr Jumanne was quite upset last time when we didn't let him kill one because as a Muslim he can't eat non-halal meat. He got pretty cheeky about it too, trying to take the rooster away from Jordi. This time we let him kill the little chicken, which had about as much meat as a pigeon, and he was satisfied. Fried chicken and chips - better than KFC!
Wednesday was more digging, but with help this time. Jordi, Jen and I dug out the whole space in about three hours and then spent another hour moving the dirt we moved from where we moved it to to the hole it came out of in the first place about two months ago. That's about quadruple handling, not hugely efficient!
That afternoon we had a guy come in who had been in a car accident three days previous. I may not have mentioned that people think we are all doctors with cures for everything. Actually, toi demonstrate, a funny story (although not with a funny ending). Mr Jumanne called Mike over to talk to him and the first thing he did was point to his private parts and say "What is this? What is this?" Can you picture a skinny guy in a Muslim cap and too big clothes? It was pretty hilarious. So Mike says, hesitantly as no good can come from this conversation, "A penis."
"No! This, this!" Pointing further under.
"Testicles?"
"Testykells"
Turns out his friend has swollen testicles. He told him to go to the doctor because there was nothing we could do, while the rest of us made rude jokes and laughed a lot. The guy came back later and showed Alex a piece of paper he had already had from the doctor which said he had all sorts of bad symptoms and diagnosed him with a long word we didn't know, maybe some kind of cancer. The stupidest part is that apparently this guy is rich enough to get treatment but he obviously decided the wazungu could help instead. Idiot. Better to try a witch doctor!
Anyway, Wednesday this car accident guy showed up with two massive cuts on his arm and a bump on his head. Mike dealt with the cuts with some suture strips from our massive first aid kit, but the real worry was that after three days he was still feeling dizzy and nauseous. We told him to rest and see a doctor if it got worse or wasn't better in a couple days, all in pigeon Swahili and phrases from our phrase book. I hope he listens, some people think if they see us they have no need for a doctor. Anne Marie, who was a nurse, cleaned out a big cut on a guy's thumb one week and told him to see a doctor. He came back a week later and it was horribly infected, so she cleaned it again and told him he had to go to the doctor. About a month later, after we had arrived, he showed up at the fence and his thumb was three times the size it should be, completely black and looked sort of hard. Basically it has died and if it's not cut off it could carry on up his arm. Anne Marie was so mad, it is expensive for them to see the doctor but he's going to lose his livelihood if he loses his arm. A lot more expensive.
So the moral is we're not doctors but they think we are.
Thursday was my camp day so I did washing for two hours. Hand washing sucks, I don't recommend it. But at least everything I own is clean now! Did my chores, talked to people, hung out. Basically just waited for cheza cheza!
It was much like last time, we got called out by the women and they dance for and with us, then we were expected to do something from our culture. I did my mihimihi (traditional Maori introduction), which went well although they didn't really get it! I forgot only one word, manga for mountain. I stutter on the m and made something up - mlata I believe. Nobody else would have known but I felt like a bit of a ditz since I practiced heaps! Then more dancing etc. and back to camp where we served pombe, the local made beer, to the women. One of them got really really drunk (I think she'd started earlier) and assaulted me! Okay not quite, but it was gross anyway. They kiss on the neck here, twice like in France but the neck not the cheek and since they're usually wet kisses I tend to resist a bit because then you usually just get a hug. You know the phrase resistance is futile (for all you closet trekkies)? Yeah... Not only did I get neck kisses, I got gripped around the back of my neck like I was saving her from drowning while she sand the Tanzanian national anthem and attempted to kiss me every five seconds. I got kissed on the neck, cheek, shoulder. Oh, and she grabbed my breast, I think accidentally, but she didn't let go right away so who knows. There's a lady who should avoid the drink! I felt really dirty for a while afterward, but I don't think I'm traumatised long-term!
That night was really really great. There were none of the problems of last cheza cheza, where people got too drunk and aggressive. The Chairman was apparently really upset that things went wrong so while everyone got let in at first at about 8.30, after we'd eaten and when things were starting, every single person got kicked out and then selectively let back in. It was weird because no one told us what was happening but cool because everyone was very well behaved. A few great moments for me were dancing with Mwange, the deaf boy, and then with Salimu, who asked me to marry him (I have such a crush, I'd have considered it if he weren't already married! Okay not really, but he is a great guy.) Anna, our chai lady, has a brother Joseph who is very smart and has excellent English. five weeks ago he asked for support because he needs Tsh25000 to take his end of year exams and can only earn about half that. We couldn't give money at the time and we intended to buy chickens from him to help, but that plan never came together. Because it was our last night and there are no more volunteers I decided that there could be no bad consequences from giving him some of the money. So my good deed of the day was giving him Tsh15000 which is not a lot of money for me, but you could see that it made such a difference to him, he was stoked! He blessed me and my family and my country so I think you're almost all included there :P We had a wonderful night and everyone was out by about midnight! To bed, to sleep badly, and be up early the next day.
And so today. Up before 8, thank goodness I packed already because that would have sucked. Try to ignore all the asking for stuff from people. Mr Jumanne got the remainder of the beer from cheza chezaq, which should have satisfied him but he had his heart set on my boots! A heart I was happy to break I'm afraid. Don't get me wrong, the people here are friendly and open and welcoming, but there is a real culture of asking for stuff. Jumanne has asked twice already for my boots, I said no of course because I need them. Today I was banging the dust off them and he came up, help out his hands and said "Thank you". Playing dumb I replied "For what?"
"Shoesi" Then the explanation no, they're mine, I need them, no, I need them. The reply to each of these was the expected "I wanti." Finally I said "I don't care" and walked away. And considered tipping out all of his beer. But I didn't. See what a nice person I am? Instead Mike and I gave away every single giveawayable (new word) thing in camp so he couldn't have them. He has gotten so many gifts from us and previous volunteers, we just handed stuff over the fence to the kids and women out there. One cool moment, kids always yell "Chupa" at our fence because they want bottles and there's one girl especially who is there every morning, obviously very poor, usually with her baby sister on her back. Jumanne kept pointing at the one bottle we had left because he wanted it for his friend but while Mike distracted him I gave the bottle straight over the fence to this young girl. Her thanks meant a lot, especially knowing that Mr Jumanne would never say thank you! Yeah... we're not nice people. But we have fun!
So tomorrow a long bus ride to Arusha, Tuesday a safari and so on... I'll keep you all updated, maybe more than once a week! For now time for a shower then dinner, with speeches galore! Mr Makyao, the HAPA guy who runs the volunteer side, loves to make speeches and to make other people make speeches so it'll be a long night full of people who are sad but thankful.
I am sad to be leaving, but thankful for the friends I've made and the experiences I've had. cue applause.
But we'll start at the beginning... From our camp we can see this giant rock, it looks reasonably close and the last lot of volunteers walked there. Being an adventurous and competitive bunch we decided to do the same! So we got up early (considering Sunday is lie-in day this was a major sacrifice for all of us) and were off at a good pace by 8.30am! Our wee group included the five volunteers, Mr Brown (God of a man), his sons Olman and Daniel, Issa and his ridiculously annoying brother Hamisi and the vice-Chairman Rama. The weather was lovely, and the morning isn't too hot so it was a really lovely walk/hike. Two hours saw us to the bottom of the hill, in a town with some kind of name (I'm sure it had one).They charged us Tsh5000 to pass through and asked us to help them finish building their primary school. It's definitely a worthwhile project but I can't promise anyone support until I make it through my trip without sinking myself into debt!
So we continued with our adventure, which now consisted of clambering up tree filled slopes and over giant rocks. I'm sorry to say I quit halfway and sat down until Mr Brown came along to cajole me and carry my bag - sometimes I just revert to being six years old again! It was all worth it once we reached the top anyway! The view was phenomenal and with my binoculars (thanks Richard) we could see the camp! As an aside, Jordi, who is Dutch, think binoculars is a really weird word. We picnicked on top of the rock, and all the Muslimsc tore into the bread despite it being Ramadan! I asked Mr Brown and he said "They are not good Muslims, sometimes they do not care about God." I wouldn't have wanted to go hungry after that hike either :P We hung out for about two hours, I managed to not get sunburnt, and got some amazing photos! I'll try to post some photos in a couple days from Arusha.
We headed home, via a wind powered well! Unfortunately there was no wind so we got to watch fifty people not get water. Sort of depressing. Anyway, home was MUCH more painful than there, especially since the Tanzanians with us obviously have a lot more stamina. Hamisi (he of the annoyingness) kept running back and forth yelling "Keti choka? Choka?" ("Catie tired? Tired?") To which I would have liked to reply in unreportable language, but I couldn't waste the breath. I'm exaggerating slightly here, most of the walk was fine and it was really only the last hour which was that painful. But home we got, and after a wash I felt awesome! We were all early to bed after that!
Monday was just work as usual. Painting ceilings is pretty boring really. I think I finished early. Why am I even writing about such a boring day? Aidan, head teacher, came for dinner. Exciting? Not really. I apologise profusely for the dullness of my update.
Tuesday was better! There was only enough painting for all of us in the morning, after lunch the boys kept painting while I dug! I impressed all the fundis that day, even Venance who only addresses me as "mwanamke" (woman). Mr Brown told me to get teh boys to help but I said I was tough, so I got to it! There are little courtyards in our house which need the floor lowered so that in the rainy season the house doesn't flood. It's a matter of breaking the dirt up with a hoe and then carying it out with buckets. Quite hard work, especially by yourself and I was proud of myself for working as hard as I did. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have worked that hard if there weren't people plastering within eyeshot! You know how having witnesses makes you work harder :) Oh and that evening we ate our chicken from Joyce as well as a rooster we bought from a wee girl. I stayed well clear of the killing this time! Alex killed one while Mr Jumanne killed the other. Mr Jumanne was quite upset last time when we didn't let him kill one because as a Muslim he can't eat non-halal meat. He got pretty cheeky about it too, trying to take the rooster away from Jordi. This time we let him kill the little chicken, which had about as much meat as a pigeon, and he was satisfied. Fried chicken and chips - better than KFC!
Wednesday was more digging, but with help this time. Jordi, Jen and I dug out the whole space in about three hours and then spent another hour moving the dirt we moved from where we moved it to to the hole it came out of in the first place about two months ago. That's about quadruple handling, not hugely efficient!
That afternoon we had a guy come in who had been in a car accident three days previous. I may not have mentioned that people think we are all doctors with cures for everything. Actually, toi demonstrate, a funny story (although not with a funny ending). Mr Jumanne called Mike over to talk to him and the first thing he did was point to his private parts and say "What is this? What is this?" Can you picture a skinny guy in a Muslim cap and too big clothes? It was pretty hilarious. So Mike says, hesitantly as no good can come from this conversation, "A penis."
"No! This, this!" Pointing further under.
"Testicles?"
"Testykells"
Turns out his friend has swollen testicles. He told him to go to the doctor because there was nothing we could do, while the rest of us made rude jokes and laughed a lot. The guy came back later and showed Alex a piece of paper he had already had from the doctor which said he had all sorts of bad symptoms and diagnosed him with a long word we didn't know, maybe some kind of cancer. The stupidest part is that apparently this guy is rich enough to get treatment but he obviously decided the wazungu could help instead. Idiot. Better to try a witch doctor!
Anyway, Wednesday this car accident guy showed up with two massive cuts on his arm and a bump on his head. Mike dealt with the cuts with some suture strips from our massive first aid kit, but the real worry was that after three days he was still feeling dizzy and nauseous. We told him to rest and see a doctor if it got worse or wasn't better in a couple days, all in pigeon Swahili and phrases from our phrase book. I hope he listens, some people think if they see us they have no need for a doctor. Anne Marie, who was a nurse, cleaned out a big cut on a guy's thumb one week and told him to see a doctor. He came back a week later and it was horribly infected, so she cleaned it again and told him he had to go to the doctor. About a month later, after we had arrived, he showed up at the fence and his thumb was three times the size it should be, completely black and looked sort of hard. Basically it has died and if it's not cut off it could carry on up his arm. Anne Marie was so mad, it is expensive for them to see the doctor but he's going to lose his livelihood if he loses his arm. A lot more expensive.
So the moral is we're not doctors but they think we are.
Thursday was my camp day so I did washing for two hours. Hand washing sucks, I don't recommend it. But at least everything I own is clean now! Did my chores, talked to people, hung out. Basically just waited for cheza cheza!
It was much like last time, we got called out by the women and they dance for and with us, then we were expected to do something from our culture. I did my mihimihi (traditional Maori introduction), which went well although they didn't really get it! I forgot only one word, manga for mountain. I stutter on the m and made something up - mlata I believe. Nobody else would have known but I felt like a bit of a ditz since I practiced heaps! Then more dancing etc. and back to camp where we served pombe, the local made beer, to the women. One of them got really really drunk (I think she'd started earlier) and assaulted me! Okay not quite, but it was gross anyway. They kiss on the neck here, twice like in France but the neck not the cheek and since they're usually wet kisses I tend to resist a bit because then you usually just get a hug. You know the phrase resistance is futile (for all you closet trekkies)? Yeah... Not only did I get neck kisses, I got gripped around the back of my neck like I was saving her from drowning while she sand the Tanzanian national anthem and attempted to kiss me every five seconds. I got kissed on the neck, cheek, shoulder. Oh, and she grabbed my breast, I think accidentally, but she didn't let go right away so who knows. There's a lady who should avoid the drink! I felt really dirty for a while afterward, but I don't think I'm traumatised long-term!
That night was really really great. There were none of the problems of last cheza cheza, where people got too drunk and aggressive. The Chairman was apparently really upset that things went wrong so while everyone got let in at first at about 8.30, after we'd eaten and when things were starting, every single person got kicked out and then selectively let back in. It was weird because no one told us what was happening but cool because everyone was very well behaved. A few great moments for me were dancing with Mwange, the deaf boy, and then with Salimu, who asked me to marry him (I have such a crush, I'd have considered it if he weren't already married! Okay not really, but he is a great guy.) Anna, our chai lady, has a brother Joseph who is very smart and has excellent English. five weeks ago he asked for support because he needs Tsh25000 to take his end of year exams and can only earn about half that. We couldn't give money at the time and we intended to buy chickens from him to help, but that plan never came together. Because it was our last night and there are no more volunteers I decided that there could be no bad consequences from giving him some of the money. So my good deed of the day was giving him Tsh15000 which is not a lot of money for me, but you could see that it made such a difference to him, he was stoked! He blessed me and my family and my country so I think you're almost all included there :P We had a wonderful night and everyone was out by about midnight! To bed, to sleep badly, and be up early the next day.
And so today. Up before 8, thank goodness I packed already because that would have sucked. Try to ignore all the asking for stuff from people. Mr Jumanne got the remainder of the beer from cheza chezaq, which should have satisfied him but he had his heart set on my boots! A heart I was happy to break I'm afraid. Don't get me wrong, the people here are friendly and open and welcoming, but there is a real culture of asking for stuff. Jumanne has asked twice already for my boots, I said no of course because I need them. Today I was banging the dust off them and he came up, help out his hands and said "Thank you". Playing dumb I replied "For what?"
"Shoesi" Then the explanation no, they're mine, I need them, no, I need them. The reply to each of these was the expected "I wanti." Finally I said "I don't care" and walked away. And considered tipping out all of his beer. But I didn't. See what a nice person I am? Instead Mike and I gave away every single giveawayable (new word) thing in camp so he couldn't have them. He has gotten so many gifts from us and previous volunteers, we just handed stuff over the fence to the kids and women out there. One cool moment, kids always yell "Chupa" at our fence because they want bottles and there's one girl especially who is there every morning, obviously very poor, usually with her baby sister on her back. Jumanne kept pointing at the one bottle we had left because he wanted it for his friend but while Mike distracted him I gave the bottle straight over the fence to this young girl. Her thanks meant a lot, especially knowing that Mr Jumanne would never say thank you! Yeah... we're not nice people. But we have fun!
So tomorrow a long bus ride to Arusha, Tuesday a safari and so on... I'll keep you all updated, maybe more than once a week! For now time for a shower then dinner, with speeches galore! Mr Makyao, the HAPA guy who runs the volunteer side, loves to make speeches and to make other people make speeches so it'll be a long night full of people who are sad but thankful.
I am sad to be leaving, but thankful for the friends I've made and the experiences I've had. cue applause.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Almost done!
It's a sad weekend, our last return to Mvae is tomorrow, our last shopping trip. It's so sad to be leaving! That said I did book our safari today (fastest $US365 I ever spent!) so we're all very excited to be going as well. And having seen Jane, Anne Marie and Mike all go a little crazy in their last two weeks I think 7 weeks was a good length of time, 10 would be awesome but I might never be the same :P
So last weekend I signed up for facebook, at the request of all those here who have it and wanted to keep in touch. I agree, it's easier etc. etc. but I already regret it. Why would people I haven't spoken to since intermediate want to be friends with me? Or more importantly, why would I be friends with them? This has nothing to do with Africa, just a small gripe since I have limited time and they're wasting it :P Friends and family are welcome, and there are definitely a few people I'd love to reconnect with but if I ever have more than 100 friends someone please destroy my computer!
Back to the country I'm in... The week was eventful mostly because I was sick for Monday and Tuesday, and then so weak on Wednesday I couldn't work! So it's been a lazy week for me :P I'm fully recovered now, no drugs required, so kein problem. Today was a really great day on site, everyone was in a good mood and feeling playful, we were singing motown hits (Sugar, oh honey honey... I still remember all the words to that) while the fundis played war games with blocks of wood as guns - some boys never grow up!
Thursday we had our last day at school. The kids have exams next week so we spent an hour correcting their exams, very painful stuff! Examples of sentences:
All of us used to watch the footbal World Championship through the television last month.
She was too weak to eat herself.
We laughed a lot at the second one!!! After we ran through such examples of English sentences we got to the fun stuff! Jen and I made a wordfind for the kids with questions like "Where does Catie come from?" and the answers (New Zealand if you couldn't remember) hidden in the grid. I did an example question and you should have heard the gasp when the word Mvae was found in the grid - suddenly they got it! It was a lot of fun, and then Jordi broke out the balloons!!! The kids went nuts! These are 12 and 13 year olds who were so excited by balloons, we got a lot of joy from them. So that's it, no more teaching. We enjoyed it so much, I think we learned a lot too!
Wednesday was my night for cooking and we invited the chai ladies over for dinner to thank them. It was a really lovely night, Anna brought her baby and Joyce brought her grandson Davidi over so we got to play with the kids all night. The only downside for me was the attitude of the local men. We have had two dinner parties previously, both times only those invited showed up. On this occasion our guard, Jumanne, just sat down at the table and expected to be served as did Issa and his brother. Usually we're happy to feed them, when they're invited. I was so mad! There is no respect for women in this country. Although we're always aware of that, it's very hard when it's so clearly rubbed in our faces. It turns out that I'm not actually a nice person - sorry Mum, all that better to be nice than to be right? I gave Mr Jumanne the same size serving as five year old Davidi and because we were out of forks the boys ate with spoons. Oh the horrible pleasure I got in being so bitter. It really was a nice night with the women, and we managed to nicely ignore the men for a lot of it.
I think that's about all my news... I guess I'll see you again next week!
So last weekend I signed up for facebook, at the request of all those here who have it and wanted to keep in touch. I agree, it's easier etc. etc. but I already regret it. Why would people I haven't spoken to since intermediate want to be friends with me? Or more importantly, why would I be friends with them? This has nothing to do with Africa, just a small gripe since I have limited time and they're wasting it :P Friends and family are welcome, and there are definitely a few people I'd love to reconnect with but if I ever have more than 100 friends someone please destroy my computer!
Back to the country I'm in... The week was eventful mostly because I was sick for Monday and Tuesday, and then so weak on Wednesday I couldn't work! So it's been a lazy week for me :P I'm fully recovered now, no drugs required, so kein problem. Today was a really great day on site, everyone was in a good mood and feeling playful, we were singing motown hits (Sugar, oh honey honey... I still remember all the words to that) while the fundis played war games with blocks of wood as guns - some boys never grow up!
Thursday we had our last day at school. The kids have exams next week so we spent an hour correcting their exams, very painful stuff! Examples of sentences:
All of us used to watch the footbal World Championship through the television last month.
She was too weak to eat herself.
We laughed a lot at the second one!!! After we ran through such examples of English sentences we got to the fun stuff! Jen and I made a wordfind for the kids with questions like "Where does Catie come from?" and the answers (New Zealand if you couldn't remember) hidden in the grid. I did an example question and you should have heard the gasp when the word Mvae was found in the grid - suddenly they got it! It was a lot of fun, and then Jordi broke out the balloons!!! The kids went nuts! These are 12 and 13 year olds who were so excited by balloons, we got a lot of joy from them. So that's it, no more teaching. We enjoyed it so much, I think we learned a lot too!
Wednesday was my night for cooking and we invited the chai ladies over for dinner to thank them. It was a really lovely night, Anna brought her baby and Joyce brought her grandson Davidi over so we got to play with the kids all night. The only downside for me was the attitude of the local men. We have had two dinner parties previously, both times only those invited showed up. On this occasion our guard, Jumanne, just sat down at the table and expected to be served as did Issa and his brother. Usually we're happy to feed them, when they're invited. I was so mad! There is no respect for women in this country. Although we're always aware of that, it's very hard when it's so clearly rubbed in our faces. It turns out that I'm not actually a nice person - sorry Mum, all that better to be nice than to be right? I gave Mr Jumanne the same size serving as five year old Davidi and because we were out of forks the boys ate with spoons. Oh the horrible pleasure I got in being so bitter. It really was a nice night with the women, and we managed to nicely ignore the men for a lot of it.
I think that's about all my news... I guess I'll see you again next week!
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