on my own in arusha. its a strange feeling being completely by oneself in such a strange town that i think i truthfully hated for a long time. however, my feelings of hate have since given way to acceptance and simple delight in many of the aspects i despised.
i fondly refer to arusha as the armpit of africa, not just because there is such a buildup and transfer of sweat in everyday life here, but because it is definitely the most physically unattractive city (on the whole) that i might have ever visited,strangers are seemingly rude and often make fun of me for my funny accent when trying to speak swahili and when walking down the streets i am often yelled at, followed and groped. for all these reasons, you must understand why i did not immediately fall in love with the city. volunteers would say that they liked arusha because it made everywhere else seem that much better. i think that is a terrible reason to like arusha; and when i heard this, i think it made me dislike arusha even more. however, for some reason my feelings have swayed more positively in the past week and a half. why might you ask? i actually believe since my program ended i have been much happier in arusha living like a normal backpacker in a shitty, cheap but adorably great hostel in the middle of town off the busiest street, sokoine rd. sokonie rd, before living in meru house, was probably my least favorite part of town in my least favorite town. but now i feel a solidarity towards the town and the street people that i was missing at mama's. at mama's, we were always worried about the bad things that were happening outside the gate. mama's was a sanctuary from all the cheating, lying and dirty people who we were warned would take advantage of us at any time and to think otherwise would be letting your guard down and then you would get mugged. plain and simple. but that is so not the case. yeah the town is noisy and dirty, but its strangely nice. people no longer shout mzungu as much when we walk down and if they do we just look over and smile. if someone gives us shit, we give it right back. living in town has become so fun! i love being a dirty arusha backpacker. my feet are just as dirty as they have always been, my clothes are probably dirtier, but im happier and more excited here now than i think i was at mama's. the freedom to do what we want also probably has something to do with it. (*we has been refering to me and anniken, who left me just yesterday and now im here all by myself :)) arusha and me are kinda friends now.
right now my biggest problem is going to be how to show mama that side of arusha when a dumb tour company wants to not let us go on daladalas? :)
i fondly refer to arusha as the armpit of africa, not just because there is such a buildup and transfer of sweat in everyday life here, but because it is definitely the most physically unattractive city (on the whole) that i might have ever visited,strangers are seemingly rude and often make fun of me for my funny accent when trying to speak swahili and when walking down the streets i am often yelled at, followed and groped. for all these reasons, you must understand why i did not immediately fall in love with the city. volunteers would say that they liked arusha because it made everywhere else seem that much better. i think that is a terrible reason to like arusha; and when i heard this, i think it made me dislike arusha even more. however, for some reason my feelings have swayed more positively in the past week and a half. why might you ask? i actually believe since my program ended i have been much happier in arusha living like a normal backpacker in a shitty, cheap but adorably great hostel in the middle of town off the busiest street, sokoine rd. sokonie rd, before living in meru house, was probably my least favorite part of town in my least favorite town. but now i feel a solidarity towards the town and the street people that i was missing at mama's. at mama's, we were always worried about the bad things that were happening outside the gate. mama's was a sanctuary from all the cheating, lying and dirty people who we were warned would take advantage of us at any time and to think otherwise would be letting your guard down and then you would get mugged. plain and simple. but that is so not the case. yeah the town is noisy and dirty, but its strangely nice. people no longer shout mzungu as much when we walk down and if they do we just look over and smile. if someone gives us shit, we give it right back. living in town has become so fun! i love being a dirty arusha backpacker. my feet are just as dirty as they have always been, my clothes are probably dirtier, but im happier and more excited here now than i think i was at mama's. the freedom to do what we want also probably has something to do with it. (*we has been refering to me and anniken, who left me just yesterday and now im here all by myself :)) arusha and me are kinda friends now.
right now my biggest problem is going to be how to show mama that side of arusha when a dumb tour company wants to not let us go on daladalas? :)
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