Karibu Moshi

We have arrived safely in Moshi! Our bus got in around 5 pm last night and we were greeted by our Moshi liason at the hectic bus station. She is the leader of the Visions in Action (VIA) volunteer program here, and while we are not officially part of the program, she has been kind enough embrace us as if we were. She met up with looking as if she had just left her New York City appartment, wearing her Soho shirt and Ray Ban shades. She proceeded to demonstrate her own stylized version of Swahili with phrases such as "hodies" when speaking to the volunteers (generally in Tanzanian culture one says "hodi" before entering someone's home, sort of an alternative to knocking). She has a rather colorful vocabulary in both languages.

The bus station is a 5 minute drive to our house, which is an easy walk without our mountains of luggage. The house is wonderful. We have a large fenced in yard that is big enough to toss a frisbee around in and two friendly dogs (Max is thrilled). When the morning haze clears, we can see Kilimanjaro from our window, adding extra incentive to climb Kili if we didn't have enough already. The house is one story, filled with four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. During the day there is a woman who cleans and takes care of the house, and at night we have a guard.

We were constantly questioning the roommates on how to use things as we made dinner last night. One of them was telling us how to use the propane stove in case the power when out. Literally as she said that, the power went out. It works quite nicely. Apparently the power goes out every friday night and one other random night.

All in all we are extremely happy with the set up and the other housemates here. We look forward to meeting up with the VIA leader tomorrow to discuss volunteer placements. Also, we have a potential lead on where we can teach frisbee.

Love,
Zahra and Max

Zanzibar Safari

Our adventure started the time we got out of the taxi the port. The port is a hub-bub of activity with people fighting for our attention to buy ferry tickets, or take a taxi. In Tanzania white people are referred to as mzungu, or more loosely "open wallet". At the port this effect is magnified with the number of wazungu traveling to Zanzibar. It was a bit exhausing, but a few Swahili words, mainly "no", got us through with limited trouble. Packed like sardines we were crowded into the ferry, where we found a nice rail spot. The 2 hour ride was highlighted by views of Dar es Salaam from the harbor, and a brief whale spotting. Arriving in Zanzibar we were once again met with "friendly" taxi drivers. Our hotel sent a driver who rescued us from the shark tank and brought us across the island with detourts to see various members of his family.

Our temporary home was located on Zanzibar's eastern coast in village of Bwejuu. Like everywhere on the island the beaches here were beatiful, but the best part of the trip was meeting the Bwejuu residents.

Finding dinner the first night was quite an ordeal. Unbeknownst to us, protocal for dining out requires one to make arrangements earlier in the day. This is because they catch the fish daily, and in addition it was Eid (the celebration concluding the month of Ramadan). This village threw an especially large carnival-like party, that lasted for the four days when we were there. Most places closed early in order to take part. We went to an inn next door at 7pm for dinner, to find it dark and empty. We were directed down the street to a small local establishment. It was pitch black outside and the one piece of advice Karim uncle gave us was 'Do not walk around at night by yourselves in an unfamiliar place, especially on the beach". Oh well. Eventually we made it (with the help of a zanzibari), to find ourselves as the only customers and the three person staff drunk. Our waiter who indroduced himself as Harry, like Harry Potter, amused us thoroughly with his comments on island life -- again polepole. To elaborate, he told us the story of the tortoise and the hare, where zanzibaris are like the tortoise. We let with stomaches full of fresh crab and calamari and high spirits.

This was ony the beginning of our adventures as we met some of our Bwejuu neighbors, including a German inn owner who had studied swahili and africana studies in college, a helpful young villager who took us to the festival, and our rastafarian friend, Ibrahim.

On our second day touring the village, we followed signs to an inn off the water called Miza wa Miza. While peeking around the bungalows, we ran into the owner Ibrahim. Immediately we were struck by this truely fascinating character. Having grown up in the village, his talents include music, organic farming, construction, and progressive thinking on how to help his fellow villagers. Two months ago he started an organic garden and after a month or two of talking about the benefits of this farm (which uses local seaweed and compost as fertilizer), he enlisted the help of 10 women from the village. Already there are huge eggplants (which we ate the next day for dinner) among other fruits and vegetables. He was clearly a man of action and it was inspring. When Max mentioned the potential for solar water heating, he immediately started asking questions, wanting to know more. And he invited Max to stay there for two months and help him build such a system (next visit?).

Later that day, we met one of our neighbors from the village who offered to take us to the Eid celebration. Of course we jumped on the offer. We actually ended going to the party twice. First, it was early, around 6. At this time, the festival was dominated by children all dressed up in new clothes. All the girls were wearing shiny, puffy dresses, had painted finger nails, and lots of make up. Kiosks of candy and toys were set up. And when we returned later that evening, those same kiosks were then selling dinner food and beer. There was also a disco party set up in the middle and everyone was dancing. It was riveting. Everyone was so happy and so warm to us, it was impossible not to reflect on how special an experience it truely was.

During our third and final full day in Bwejuu we wondered the beach for quite a while, before returning to visit our rafiki pya (new friend) Ibrahim, whom we enlisted to cook us dinner. He made a fantastic spread (not unlike what we had eaten the previous evening) with whole fried fish, vegitables in coconut sauce (from his garden), and rice. He sat with us after our meal and we chatted about a variety of topics, from rasta beliefs to african history, for several hours. If any of you ever find your way to Zanzibar, you really must stay with him. ---- Once again, Miza wa Miza, Bwejuu Village, Ibrahim -----

After only three days, we found it difficult to leave Bwejuu, as we had grown quite fond of the people, the food, the beach, and the cows wandering the streets. Alas, we left Wednesday morning and spent the remainder of the day in historic Stone Town. It was nice. We liked Bwejuu better. In all fairness, Stone town has great history and we hear it has a lively night life.

Now we are back in Dar es Salaam, where the traffic is a lot worse (we only saw a car or two a day in Bwejuu) and the people are more city-like. Our swahili is progressing polepole. We are beginning to make our final arrangements for our trip to Moshi...

Kwa heri,
Z & M


PS - Check out a couple of pictures from the trip on Flickr (see right sidebar)

asubuhi nzuri (good morning)

Reporting live from the Movenpik hotel.

We have found that people really like the TV reality show Big Brother Africa. This is where people from all over the continent are selected to live in a house covered in cameras, with no outside contact. They must complete tasks (like building a stage and performing on it, on making a meal representing their country) every day and only after the task is completed, do they get food. There is 24/7 coverage, and you can tune whenever you want to a particular station. Anyways, I kind of feel like our lives have been a bit like that. Every day we have one big task, and then we are granted food. So much food.

Tuesday's task: navigating the streets of Dar on our own. After checking in, we made 3 excursions around town. We didn't really have a purpose...just wandered. And then after an hour, we would retreat to the hotel. We serendipitously found my father, just as we were about to give up on finding food (it is currently the month of ramadan and a lot of places are closed for lunch), and he helped us find a sandwich (see rewarded with food for trying! though on big brother, if you fail, you don't get food...). Then, to top off a whole morning of walking, we went on another long walk with Karim uncle along the seaside. It was peaceful and beautiful.

Wednesday's task: Visiting the marketplace with Bertha (Zahra's "godmother"). The marketplace is not like any other place in town we had yet visited. It was swimming in people (and supposedly it was emptier because of ramadan) and under a tented area, people had piles and piles of fresh fruit, vegetables, rice...There were even crates of fresh chickens that they would slaughter for you right then and there. We did not stay long enough to see someone get a chicken.

Thursday's task: Ordering food and picking up a taxi on our own. We went into town bright and early with Salim uncle. We walked to Karims/bapas and left, soon there after, with Karim for the medical university, where he works. He took us through a new part of town for us, western Upanga. The university was empty; classes do not start for another week. But Karim is off-loaded with work. We toured the campus, got an inside peak into the library, and ate at one of the cafeterias. While Karim ran some errands, we killed time by walking around the nearby hospital compound. Then, around 1, we left for home...but little did we know it would be a 3 hour execursion, back to the market and down many streets whose names I can not remember.

We left Karim in search of a taxi. We were practicing exactly what we were going to say to the taxi driver, and our meager attempts at haggling in swahili. But turns out we didn't really need to bargain. The taxi driver volunteered the price we were aiming for: easy kabisa!

Friday (today): Our task is to buy ferry tickets for Zanzibar...

Besides walking, we have been doing a lot of eating goat, strange fruits, spicy lasanga (we actually have eaten italian food twice) and drinking lots of Tusker beer.

Plus, we are constantly surprised by random sites on the street. The other day we saw a guy where a red sox champion t-shirt and a yankees hat....never would you see that in the US.

---While Zahra was writing what you see above, and I started talking to a guy in the computer room. He commented on my red sox shirt, and after a while he realized that his girlfriend is of one of the girls who we'll be staying with in Moshi. Crazy world! He says the place we're staying at in Moshi is really nice. So that's good.

Anyway, as you can tell all is well here and we can't wait to hear from you guys!

-Zahra and Max

We're Here!

Hi Friends, we made it!

After a long, but smooth journey we've arrived in Dar es Salaam. Our first few days have been very exciting and we have much to report.

Rafik (literally friend in Swahili, but also Zahra's dad) picked us up at the airport at about 10:00 pm local time with his taxi driver friend, Chonongo. A short ride later we arrived at Salim's house (Zahra's uncle and our gracious host), where he was throwing a party for his friend Sofiya's birthday. This party, which had been put together with only three days notice, was complete with DJ, flashing lights, delicious meats from Salim's butchery: mishtaki (a skewer of meat, where, if you are lucky, you get a magical piece that is purely fat aka beef bacon) and sausage, and plenty of drunk 30, 40, 50, and 60 something year-olds dancing ferociously. It was quite the way to arrive. We ended up staying up until 3 am, but the older, truer partiers made it until 6 am!

Here's a picture of Zahra hiding behind a tropical plant.

Our first full day consisted of a walking tour of Dar's city center guided by Rafik. Highlights from this trip included eating at the KT Shop, which has Tanzania's best samosas and tea, visiting several of the beautiful hotels with high rise waterfront views, and drinking fresh coconut milk on the street (Literally people have piles of coconuts on the street that they cut up in front of you. With a few slashes of a very large and sharp knife, a small hole is cut at the top of the coconut which you can drink the milk out of. When you finish, they cut a larger hole, as well as scoop out the coconut 'meat'). Following our tour of city center, we visited another one of Zahra's uncles and grandfather at their home. Here Karim Uncle taught us a very important lesson about going "polepole" or slowly around tanzania. As he says, "We may go slowly, but we still make progress". This coming from a man who has a PhD in mathematics and has attended or taught at just about every major university you can think of. Our day wrapped up with a couple of beers at the local outdoor bar, and a feast of delicious Indian cuisine.

Yesterday was our first day on our own and we used it to recover from jet lag, waking up at 1 pm. We were made cheese on toast (an instant favorite) by Salim's worker Hadithi (splg?). She only talks to us in Swahili...and major confusion ensued. But we sorted out that even though it was afternoon, we still wanted breakfast. We then ventured out of the house 10 minutes away to Slipway, a nice small market place (think outdoor strip mall meets craft fair) near Salim's. Hightlights from this trip included seeing Kanga's (East African serong-type fabrics) with images of Barak Obama and Michael Jackson printed on them (now you all know what you're getting for gifts).

So yeah, that's what we've been up to. We are currently writing you from a YMCA in the city center this morning. Plans for this afternoon...tbd.

Hope all is well wherever you may be,

-Zahra and Max

PS - We couldn't figure out how to post pictures today.
PPS - If you're wondering about the weather, it's gorgeous.

The Flight that Never Ends

After many weeks, days and hours of waiting...we are finally off for Tanzania. But before we can really rejoice in the fact that we are finally free, we have to over come the two days of marathon flying; it is supposed to be 26 hours from gate to gate.

I, for one, am fully ready to spend the next 26 hours watching airline movies. I only hope the selection is good, because nothing is worse on a long flight than crying babies and a terrible movie selection.

kwa heri (goodbye) and see you on the other side.