A wise man once told me, “The wisest of men all have moustaches,” and since I was saying that to myself in the mirror it has to be true. Needless to say, I’ve got a wicked nice moustache going on right now. Moustaches and Tanzania, gotta have it.

The weekend has come and gone and I’ve entered my second week.

We spent Friday at the orphanage where Hayley and I helped Kate with a leadership training class with the kids. After an introduction where we had the kids list off the qualifications that leaders shared we went into different activities and games that were meant to be fun and informative for the kids. We started off with a lovely game of Simon Says, and I got to be the Simon. After not playing the game for a long time it was definitely harder than I remembered to give out commands, and at one point I just told them to say hello over and over again until I could think of something new to go with. In the end it was Christina who came out the champion. We moved outside after that and we introduced a game that originally was called Mingle, but quickly turned into being called Mango by the kids. Basically, everyone was told to “mingle” and walk around until the person leading it yelled out a number and the kids had to get into a group of whatever the number was. I felt like a mother duckling walking around to the say the least, because the kids all would slowly creep behind me or Hayley until the heard the number, and then regardless of what it was they would grab onto me or Hayley and scream and cheer…until they realized they didn’t have the right number and would start pushing kids out so they wouldn’t lose. All the while, I just stood there and let them figure it out, and in the end I always found myself to be the last man standing.

The kids didn’t know what mingle meant and thought we were saying mango, so they would walk around and act like they were eating mangos the entire time. That is how the game came to be called mango, and I remember seeing Benny marching around with big high steps and swinging his arms while taking huge bites out of an invisible mango and being so proud of himself for it and I was just cracking up.

We did a few more games with them, one in which they had to use scraps of paper and only materials that we gave them to build a nest for an egg that I dropped later on in the hopes that the nest would protect the egg from cracking. As we all know though, no egg is safe from the outstretched arm of Kyle, and they all broke. The kids weren’t sad though, more excited actually, and ran to the fire pit and started cooking all the egg yolks and made scrambled eggs. Then we had them do an obstacle course blindfolded and one of the other kids had to lead them through it, and afterwards we had them sit around and discuss everything we had done that day so that they could get the lessons from it.

All in all it was a really good day though, and I think the kids took a lot out of the lessons that Kate prepared for them.

Saturday we drove two hours to Arusha to go to a place called Shanga for a fancy lunch and a heritage center that they had there. I quietly sang to myself as we got in the van, “Arusha, Jamaica, oh I wanna take ya...” Except for the occasional gas station or row of shops the countryside was mainly just farmland. What was more amazing about it was the fact that the acres and acres of farmland that seemed to be everywhere was entirely worked by hand. There were no tractors or plows and the people were out there working it all themselves. Pretty remarkable.  Now I feel guilty for not wanting to mow the yard. My Dad’s reading this and briefly nodding his head like I’m actually going to mow it when I get home, but slowly realization is washing over him and he’s now shaking his head and laughing because he realizes that I’m not actually going to and I was only getting his hopes up so I could crush them immediately. J

…don’t cancel my return flight, please.  

Anywho, we arrived at Shanga and it was straight out of Alice and Wonderland. There was a large field with a tree offset the middle of it with a cushioned cage hanging from one of the limbs and lanterns around it. There were couches and tables set up all around for people to relax it and we were given champagne once we sat down. We had a three-course meal prepared for us: carrot stew to start, followed by samosas, a salad and barbeque main meal, followed by dessert and coffee at the end. It was all very good, and we were seated under a fancy hut like building while monkeys were scurried around and tried to steal food from the other tables and the waiters threw rocks at them to get them away. We were then given a tour of the area and found out that Shanga is actually an establishment for disabled people to find work recycling old glass bottles, tires, and fabric. The workers were all either mentally disabled, deaf, or mute and they took the crushed glass and melted it down to make glass beads for jewelry, vases and cups, plates, and what have you’s and what have you nots. They also spun their own fabric and designed their own clothes for sale and there was a shop that sold everything they made. The footpaths and grounds throughout the whole place were broken glass mixed with gravel (or vice versa, if that makes it seem safer) and from all of the trees hung the glass beads that they made, and walls of some of the huts were just glass bottles strung together. It was pretty surreal finding a place like that and not something I expected before I arrived. It was also neat the fact that the whole operation was run by the disabled and served as a place for them to find work and make a living.

                        …seriously, don’t cancel my flight

Because we spent so much time at Shanga, it got too late for us to head over to the heritage center like we had originally intended, so instead we went to a market in the center of the town that everyone called the Masai Market.

…almost had a panic attack while we were there, but then I kept my composure. You gotta keep your composure. 

It was very overwhelming being there because it was just rows of shops and it was non-stop all the shop owners trying to usher you into their stores to look at what they had. Once you walked out of one another owner was there saying hello and trying to bring you into their store, and some of the times when you were in there they made it very difficult for you to leave. A rule of thumb Theresa told us before going in there though was, “Whatever price they give you, try and go down to half that,” because they immediately raise the price because you are Mazungu (white person). I was only planning on just walking around and seeing what all they had because I wasn’t planning on buying souvenirs this early in the trip, but I realized after the first few shops that everything in each of them was exactly the same. So, every time I got ushered into a new shop it was all the same thing that I saw in the last, but because they were so persistent in getting you in there I felt like I had to go in only to have to explain again why I didn’t want to buy anything. By the end of it I just had to go stand by the car because it was too overwhelming, but at least I got my first taste of what it was like so I won’t be as shocked the next time I go.

They kept trying to sell me a spear? The reasoning behind it, “None of you Americans have spears.” Touché sir.

Had a bit of a language barrier incident the other day too.

Hayley and I were on a dalladalla heading back from the orphanage and it quickly became apparent that the conductor did not speak any English, and was not in a good mood. The language barrier became apparent after he asked me for the fare and I told him that we had paid the other conductor, so I just looked away and considered the matter closed. He tapped me again a minute later with his hand out and kept gesturing that we still owed him money. I kept telling him we had paid, but he really didn’t get what I was saying so I just kept pointing at his friend until the guy finally turned around and asked him, at which point he turned back to me and said something else and everyone else in the dalladalla laughed…except me, because I missed the joke.

The conductor was angry the entire time and I could tell that much because he was yelling about something and using angry hand movements, but hand gestures aside it became truly apparent when a local lady in a red dress next to me said, “He’s angry.” I asked about what and she just laughed and said, “Everything,” which gave me a little chuckle. It was tough though sitting there and neither of us had any idea what either was saying and I just kind of had to laugh about it. Somebody on the bus had to tell the guy when we needed to get off because my English just wasn’t going to cut it.

I did trade Hayley for a Canadian two-dollar coin, a twoonie, if you will, because I figured when is a better time to amount my fortune of foreign currency that I won’t ever get to use than here in Tanzania. Cool coin though. I’m going to try and trade currency with all the people who come and stay at the house in the future so at the end of this I kind of have proof of all the different cultures I got to live with. I’m running low on ones though, don’t really want to start trading 20’s so I might just have to do it the old American way and politely ask for things. 

So far, I’ve read two books and going into a third. I read 50 Shades of Grey (meh) an the first book in the Game of Thrones series (awesome) and I’m starting into the second book already. When you have no television or Internet, why not read, and it’s been nice actually being able to. 

I’ve been having cravings for bacon lately…the good news is, unlike my Dr. Pepper cravings, I can go to a butcher and get a slab of pig and cut my own if it really comes down to it. I’ll keep ya posted on if I acquire bacon at any point, and at least now you’ll know how that came to pass.

So, my first full week in Tanzania has finally come to a close and already I’m having a great time.

On Sunday I went on something called “Hashing,” where a group meets every two weeks and goes on a hike together. The group is primarily composed of white people who live in the local area, but they are from all around the world. There were French, Spanish, Dutch, white Africans (I know, threw me off too), Canadians, and people from all over taking part. Hashing is basically, every two weeks the group meets, and the person who is leading the hike goes out before everyone else gets there and drops handfuls of flour along a trail that they create. At each fork in the trail they make a big X, or hash (hence the hashing) on the ground and you have to decide which way the trail goes by seeing if there is flour along the path you choose. And then at the end of the hike there are coolers of beer and food for everyone to sit around and enjoy and talk. The local beer is not bad at all either, I had one called Serengeti. The scenery was beautiful though, we walked through farms where locals were out in the fields working and then down into a river basin where a bunch of cows and goats were being herded and all the while the mountains and Kiliminjaro were in the background.

In total the hike was about 6.4km, so I’m told. And yes, I have to learn the metric system since apparently the U.S. is the only place that doesn’t use it. Everything is in liters, Celsius, and kilometers down here. So, when I was told it was 22 degrees outside you can imagine how shocked I was at first. 

I was in the office Monday morning and into the afternoon before we went back to the house for lunch. The office is about a 30 minute walk from the house and we go through downtown Moshi to get to it, and I’ll say the first Swahili I had to learn was “Hapana Asante” which means “No thank you,” because everyone tries selling something to you as you walk through town. I did hear my first ever Muslim call to prayer on the way to the office too, since half the population here is Muslim.

We went to the orphanage though for the first time and I got to meet the kids and they are AWESOME. I was nervous when I first got there because I didn’t know what to expect, but they walked right up to me and introduced themselves very formally and politely. They were all smiles and energetic and after they saw me pull out a bag of Dum Dums they were even more so. At one point I used the word “y’all” when talking to Mwenda, one of the older kids, and he just stared at me dumbfounded. I forget not everyone says it, as a matter of fact, for the first time in my life I’m surrounded by people who never use it so that’s weird. We spent the afternoon with them and read and played in the yard and it was just a neat and humbling how excited they were over a new person and a few new toys they got from sponsors. I gave out a lot of high fives because hip kids deserve high fives. They also said pizza was their favorite food, but they never get it…you know what I’m getting at Mellow Mushroom. Mail it.

The food here, which will surprise my Mom, is actually really good. Each morning we usually have passion fruit (which is my new favorite fruit), avocado, eggs with green peppers and onions, and fresh whole grain bread with peanut butter and jelly. The coffee here is probably the best I’ve ever had. Lunch and dinner are usually local dishes, if I could remember the names I’d tell you, but it’s usually a lot of corn based things, rice, chicken, spinach, and salads. We’ve had banana stew a couple nights and one night we had Mexican, which was a surprise, but it was fresh salsa and beans with tortillas. It’s all very good and there isn’t anything I haven’t liked.

The two Canadian girls I live with, Hayley and Kate, are very nice and fun to live with, but I do feel bad at times when I talk about Chik-Fil-A and Zaxby’s and they have no idea what I’m talking about. They don’t say aboot, which is peculiar.

Cold showers are not as bad as I thought either, especially when it’s 90 degrees and humid outside. And not having air conditioning…. I’ll get used to it. I haven’t been sleeping that well lately though, just because I’m still adjusting to the time zone shift and I keep waking up throughout the night and only sleeping a few hours at a time. Oh, well.

One of the most surprising things that I’ve seen down here are the stars and how I didn’t think before I left that there would be different constellations than from back home. I haven’t seen the big dipper at all since I’ve been here, and you know what, I kind of miss the big guy, I took it for granted and now I’m sorry. You can see so many stars out here, especially out near the orphanage where there aren’t many lights around at all.

I rode a daladala for the first time, that was a cultural experience right there. Daladala’s are their form of busses here, and they’re basically just vans that stuff as many people inside of them as possible. While they’re driving down the road a person hangs out the window and yells out where the bus is heading, and if anyone on the side of the road waves them down they will pull over quickly, stuff them into the van, and be off again in a matter of seconds. Personal space isn’t as respected here as it is back home, so it’s not uncommon for people to be almost sitting in your lap when it’s really packed in tight. Before I actually rode a daladala I had no idea what to expect and was nervous about getting on one, but now I realize there’s actually a system and order to the entire operation, and it wasn’t as bad as I previously thought.   

Still haven’t ridden a lion…one day.

Swahili…let me tell you about Swahili. For some reason I keep wanting to speak Spanish to the locals instead of Swahili, and I don’t really know why. Every time I’m about to try and practice Swahili with them all that pops into my head are Spanish phrases and they just don’t know what any of them mean. Also, when I actually do speak Swahili it sounds Japanese to me, so every now and then at the end of a sentence I’ll quietly say, “Hi” (picture an Asian person saying it and it’ll make sense) to myself. I get a chuckle out of it. AND since I can’t speak Swahili, whenever a conversation is taking place in Swahili around me I make up my own conversation of what they’re saying in my head. I really get a kick out of that, too. I’m learning slowly though, I have lessons about twice a week with Ema and he helps me with a lot of the vocab and phrases.

Sorry for the long post, but it’s only because everything is new right now so I feel like I have a lot to tell. I don’t really know who I’m apologizing to specifically though, I guess it’s more of a general apology. It’s just out there. I don’t actually mean it, if we’re being honest here. 

…send Dr. Pepper

Have no fear, I'm here.
I've made it to Tanzania after a long and sort of grueling flight. The first leg to Amsterdam was pretty bad because the guy sitting next to me didn't speak English very well and so I didn't really know how to make the hand gesture for peeing so what can you do. I did watch four movies though so can't complain. The second leg of the flight though was awesome because I got an entire row in the very back of the plane to myself so I just laid down and tried to sleep for most of it. I would have slept better if this little kid an aisle over didn't keep grabbing my toes.I watched Meet the Parents at one point though, and they actually edited out the bomb on a plane scene at the end which I guess is appropriate. Enough about the flight though.

When I got off the plane at about 8:30pm local time it was still 80 degrees outside and just as humid as it was in Georgia. The airport was essentially just one runway and we walked down stairs that pulled up to the plane doors. No problems going through customs, I paid my entrance and filled out the paper work and that was that. The Make a Difference Now organization had a driver pick me up at the airport with a sign with my name on it so that was neat because that's never happened before.

They drive on the left side of the road here, and from the looks of it they have no traffic laws, stop signs, or stop lights. We were flying down the road and passing vehicles left and right and at one point I swear I saw a lion on the side of the road that looked suspiciously like a donkey. I got to the house in one piece though and it's very nice and I have my own room, but I am sleeping on a bunk bed. There's no air conditioning, but I do have a fan. There is no hot water though, but the cold showers are actually refreshing.
It's all very beautiful here and I'll talk more about it later, but seeing as how I've only been here less than a day I don't feel like I can talk about it. So, that's it for now.

They don't have Dr. Pepper here btw....