reverse culture shock

the other girls and i often go to lunch at these few cafes in arusha that most other mzungus also go visit. we frequent a handful of them and have started to go quite often now that placement is over. we saw a few days ago that there was a poster for a christmas market just outside of town. we, having absolutely nothing to do, decide to make our way there. with the help of a very friendly local woman we finally found the right daladala to get on and took it about 20 minutes outside of town just past the airport. this landed us right in the middle of nowhere east africa, but we saw a sign that signaled us down a random dirt road and we took that path. we figured it couldnt be too far and just started walking. we do lots of walking so the thought wasn't daunting or strange. we walked for a good 20 minutes and noticed a bunch of other mzungus going that way in nice big land cruisers and then one stopped and a handsome guy with an australian accent asked us if we could use a lift. we aren't the type to typically get into cars with anyone, you just can't do that here, but it seemed nice enough, however we declined and said we were enjoying the walk. 5 minutes later we were still walking and regret began to sink in. but no worries, another car pulled up just after we began to lament our decision and offered to give us a ride. thank god. it was still about another 10 minutes driving like a bat out of hell. the guy was a big time hotel developer from cape town and owns a swanky hotel here in town. he was nice enough to buy our way into the market and proceeded to spend the rest of the time at the wine and cheese bar. but i skip ahead. we pull up to gates with southern accented people taking tickets and wishing us welcome... what the fuck. well dressed white people had taken over the rugby field and suddenly we blended in. i looked around. it was so clean. everything. the grass was cut. there was grass. babies were in strollers. people wore boots and openly talked on their phones and took pictures. we were all stunned. we thought of the christmas market like the maasai market we go to where you literally are pulled into shops, constantly yelled at and promised to only receive "non-mzungu price. rafiki price" while you stare at the same beaded necklace over and over again. it was incredible. we didn't know what to do with ourselves. we were giddy. it was so strange. we spent the day walking thru small shops of boutique safari clothing, beautiful iron and wood working, face painting stations and food booths. we ate wraps with lettuce in them (!!!), drank cold white wine under umbrellas and were graced with a breath taking view of the ever shy mount meru all afternoon. we were able to again hitch a ride not back to town but back to our house! it is crazy. the people were all so nice. just so so nice. we went back today and did exactly the same thing. it was such a good weekend. it was just so strange, i feel weird that i enjoyed it so much. but arusha is a hard city to live in and this strange break from being harassed every moment and disapproving stares and constantly watching my bag and body was very much appreciated. i still cant believe we found that place... i wonder where all the people are on the day to day because because in our house, at 3 restaurants and in the mirror are basically the only places i see white people. 

zanzibar, school closings and happy thanksgiving

so much has happened since my last posting.

i got sick and had to take cipro. it sucked. however am feeling much better.

i went to zanzibar with some 3 very great ladies from canada and one from scotland.

more on zanzibar:
i arrived in zanzibar on a precision air flight only to be engulfed by the butter-consistency humidity that coats the island and met by the girls in a private dala to take us to our lodgings in kendwa - a small town on the north end of the island. it is a beautiful spot with almost no town but pristine white sand beaches. we woke up on our first morning to find sun and a well stocked buffet of mangoes, papaya and hard boiled eggs. it started to sprinkle shortly after we gorged ourself on the plenties of african breakfast cuisine, but we didn't let this deter us in one bit. the rain was warm and the ocean warmer. we spent the morning swimming in the wave-less indian ocean and getting henna on our feet from silk-draped women on the beach. we finished the afternoon off with some sun and happy hour cocktails on the dunes. not a bad first real day in paradise.
the rain was already coming down the next morning when we woke in our treehouse bungalow, but again we didn't let it get to us and sat under canopies of palm leaves and read our books on the beach for house punctuated by quick naps and dips in the ocean. in the afternoon we played volleyball on the beach with some other hotel goers and locals who had just finished a work out at the "gym" (the gym is one set of barbells and a complicated monkey bar set, it looked harder than any work out ive ever done). twas very nice. this puts us at saturday night which is the biggest party night in kendwa and the party was at our backpackers. we had a barbeque on the beach beforehand of lobster, prawns, mahi mahi and so much more fresh fresh seafood. then we danced into the night only to be woken up by perfect sun the next morning. we swam away any reminders of the night before and were having such a good time doing it, we all ended up crispy by the end of the day. it was such a nice place to stay, i even ended up meeting some other kids from the states who we just happened to have mutual friends from school! its a tiny world.
we ended up catching a shuttle to stone town that evening. im in love with stone town. it is a unesco protected historical site so everything there is so old and wonderful. one of the girls, lauren, and i spent the day planning how to walk all around the city to see everything and visit every museum we had our eyes on, but only to be contradicted when after visiting a giant catholic church that served as a main slave holding site in the past our church guide offered to show us around all day to wherever we wanted to go for only USD$10. score! im so glad we had him (elvis was his name), because much like venice was, stone town is a maze of cobblestone streets just wide enough for two to easily pass thru and where maps would be more confusion than helpful. we saw it all, painted with local artists, found spices, ate falafel and hummus, and absorbed as much of we could of the vibrant town that is stone town. we topped off the trip with a visit to the night food market, i got a rock lobster spiced pizza, which was essentially a crepe with lobster, egg, spices, and a bit of cheese, cooked to a crisp on both sides and then cut like a pizza. my favorite meal ive had in tanzania. it was so delicious!
the next morning we caught the 7am ferry from stone town to dar es salaam and drove the 10 hours back to the always rough arusha. needless to say, i would have much rather stayed.

i had my last day of school! i got back on tuesday night and went to school that following morning. it was a normal day. the kids had exams the day before so we were just going over their tests and singing songs to fill in the free time. after break one girl started singing under her breath, "no schuul tomarrow no schuul tomarrow", i corrected her and told her this was not the case. she corrected me again. i went outside and asked a teacher, she didn't know. we found the director sitting, doing nothing in his office. he had forgotten to tell us there would be no school. its funny how things work in africa. surprise last day of school! it was so sad and sweet. we walked back into the classroom after talking to the dim director and we told the kids the bad news. some started to cry and others stared with blank look then one kid, derek (the kids call him "dereki") slowly broke out in the hokey pokey, the song i taught them during my first week which has since become our unofficial class song. it was so damn cute. we danced the hokey pokey for the last fifteen minutes of school and then off on the packed bus again one more time. it was good.