An Easter without the Easter bunny

Apparently this blog has stayed in hiding for a while. It's been finished, but I guess it never actually posted.

I don't think I've ever had an Easter before this one without a chocolate bunny or dying Easter eggs, but I think I wouldn't mind keeping it this way. Even though I know that the eggs we use in America are symbollic, I'm convinced that most people are rather unaware of their symbolism and they do a better job of masking the meaning of Easter than reminding us of the new life that it's supposed to represent. Tanzania doesn't decorate for Easter, in fact, if you aren't a practicing Christian, it would be easy to not even realize that it's a day different from any other, except that a lot of stores are closed and there's no school, but even then Tanzania seems to make up a lot of holidays that get workers out of work and students out of schoo. I've even heard some people refer to their holidays as, 'just another day wasted'. But even in the stores that are intended for the Wazungu travelers, they don't sell special Easter candy or decorations, or any more eggs than usual. Instead the Christians here spend their days off going to church for hours at a time and several times a day. In fact, I'm not sure that some of them even leave church during the weekend. Friday through monday I fell asleep around midnight to music being sung in the nearby chapel. I'm not sure what time it ended or if it ended at all because it had already begun before I had gotten myself out of bed.

I spent all four days of the Easter holiday (they also celebrated the day after Easter) going to prisons and villages. Saturday I went to a village with a teacher where I met his father, his four mama's and his 26 brothers and sisters. We had to take a DahlaDahla to get there, and it was at this point that I realized that I can never say that I've been on the worst DahlaDahla in Morogoro because everytime I get in another one there are either more people than I've ever seen in one car (last time I counted 30 and that was excluding the people who were hanging out the window that I couldn't see) or the car is in worse condition than the last. It makes you reevaluate your standards of 'crowded' and 'disfuctional' really fast. When I climbed into the front seat of this DahlaDahla I tried to plop myself down on the seat while holding a huge bag of bananas and another bag as the entire seat just sort of flopped backwards. Luckily there were people in the back to catch us and hold us up during the trip. The dashboard was completely missing: no vents, no radio or airconditioning controls, the spedometer was broken (but who needs one anyway) and the blinker was broken, but they don't use them here, so that was no big deal. And we only had to stop and reattach the bike that fell out once and stop to fill the tires once along the way, AND we never ran out of gas so I guess it wasn't to bad.

When we got there, we met his father who was sitting by the road waiting for a DahlaDahla to take him to town to buy food for his family. Then we met a whole lot of brothers. I don't remember any of their names, but they were very friendly. His mother was very welcoming. We sat and talked for a long time, and she served us boiled goat milk and then a lunch of rice and boiled potatoes in tomato and butter sauce. She also made me some huge earings (I didn't know how to say that I don't wear earrings, but they'll make a nice souvineer), a bracelette that I really did like, and they gave me one of their awesome little stools that they sit on because I love sitting on them so much. The trip back was much more taveler friendly as we had a mostly functioning seat and didn't have to stop to reattach anything or anyone who fell out on the way, except there was a lady carrying a chicken that was stuffed inside a plastic sack and had to have been dying of a heat-stroke it wouldn't stop freeking out.

The next day we went to the youth prison. I can't really say much about this day as I really didn't enjoy much of it. I would have had a great time, except I think either the DahlaDahla ride the day before or the weight of the huge earrings had given me the worst pain in my neck, or perhaps I just slept on it wrong, so I spent the entire day with the worst headache ever. And the church was built from cement and essentially had no windows and a metal roof which cooked in the sun. Even the teachers who came with us and who rarely sweat were dripping in sweat and feeling pretty terrible. Once the service was over and we went outside where there was at least a little breeze we all began to feel better. I don't remember much after that except eating some food and going home to sleep.

I woke up the next day, still with some pain in my neck, but the headache had ceased, so I decided that I could deal with the pain and I'd go for another adventure. Once again, this was an experience that made me realize the weight of words. I don't know how many times I've come back from a village visit and said, "this one was definitely my favorite!", only to go to another one a few days later and say the same thing. Each one is different (even after having been to 25 or so, I still think each one is unique). The roads started out looking pretty interesting and how we made it there and back without a flat tire I don't know, but we did. After we got there, we were served Chai and Chipatis (and they were the best chipatis I've had yet). Then the Maasai men cooked some goat over a fire. Not only is the meat better when it's over the fire than boiled, but it's Really good when the Maasai cook it. The women aren't allowed to eat meat like this, only the meat they boil, but I always get to be the 'honorary man' and enjoy the meat with them. I almost don't even mind the liver when it's been put over the fire...I don't know if I would go as far as to say I really enjoyed it, but it was alright. This church doesn't have a building designated for worship, so the church conducted it's service outside under a tree, an amarula tree at that, and much to my liking. The amarulas are used for making a special alcohol here that is almost like a Bailey's Irish cream and is very good. PH joked that if I ate enough of the falling amarulos that I'd get drunk. I didn't feel drunk but the pain in my neck went away for quite a while. Three of the teachers came with us for this trip and we had lots of fun. They went camera happy that day so I have lots of pictures posted on facebook if you want to take a look, though I know most of you have.

By the end of the Easter Holiday, Nimechoka Sana! (I had tired very much). I came back and on Tuesday I took the entire day just to rest. I tried to read a book, but I couldn't. I think I laid in bed almost the entire day, except I cleaned my room some for when Lindsey comes, and did some laundry for my trip to Dodoma today.

Yesterday, I spent the morning working on my Visa and Student Permit. I'm still sitting here waiting to see if they will come and take me away or if they've got things cleared up. There was sort of a small misunderstanding about how things work. Apparently in Tanzania there is a law, and then there is sort of this alternative around the law. PH knew what was going on and there shouldn't have been any trouble renewing my permit which would have been the 'alternative' route, but still sufficient to keep me here with no trouble and still legally. But when you're a citizen here, sometimes you don't know about all of the loop holes that you would as a traveler. So another person trying to take care of things and not realizing the validity of the alternative sort of made my waters a little more messy by bringing it to the attention of the immigration office that I have overstayed my Visa even though I have not overstayed my permit. PH isn't concerned about it and is quite certain that between his own connections and the Bishop and another gentleman with high power here that all of this will disappear soon. So, I'm sort of waiting here hoping that they come to bring me all my documents before I head to Dodoma. If not, I'll either push of my travels off until tomorrow, or use Dodoma as a hideout. PH just keeps smiling and saying, "In the worst case scenario you'll get to see John a lot sooner than you had anticipated, and I guess that wouldn't be such a bad alternative for either of you." You have to know PH to appreciate his humor in the way he says it. But if he's not worried, then I'm not either.

Anyway, besides trying to figure that out and plan a trip to Dodoma, I decided that I should use the day to get some practical use of my Swahili because I don't have class anymore. So after buying my bus ticket, I jumped on another DahlaDahla into town. No real intentions, so I walked toward the market, bought some of the little bananas from an elderly women sitting along side the road, then continued toward the center of the market. I don' t know what it is about the market, but I really like it. It's way better than any shopping mall in the U.S.. I wandered around, checked out fabric cuz that's what I do but I didn't buy any, then went to see if there was any interesting foods I needed to try. I didn't find anything I haven't yet tried, but I saw this neat looking board thingy that is carved and decorated pretty nicely. I could tell it was something for cooking, like a cutting board but for something special. It didn't much matter to me, I just wanted an excuse to have a conversation with someone. So I bargained with the Mama and it was cheap, like $5 and worth the conversation, so I took it. Then I started walking and everyone was looking at me like I was an mzungu carrying this strange thing that I certainly wouldn't know how to use. A few people said in Swahili, "Wajua kutumia hiyo?" (Do you know how to use that?). I didn't even know what in the heck it was, let alone how to use it. So I just shrugged smiled and said, "Hapana lakini hamna shida. Ninapenda tu." (No, but it's no problem. I just like it). And we both laughed. Then another guy started yelling at me to ask me if I needed coconuts. I said, "Asante. Sihitaji" (Thanks. I don't need them). But then he tried to tell me I had a board to cut coconuts, so I must need cocunuts too. I didn' t understand him the first time, but he finally explained to me that I this mysterious thing I had bought was just a special tool for cutting coconuts. Oh Good, I bought something tool to help me eat the one food in the world that I don't like at all, unless it's in the form of a pina colada being served on the beach by a really tan cabana boy. So right now my coconut board is making a good door stop so that my door doesn't slam shut in the wind and wake up the little girl living next door.

I think I should back my bags now that my laundry has dried and get ready for a great weekend in Dodoma. I can't wait for fresh grown coffee, pizza, and whatever else the mamas whip up in the kitchen. But I won't be gone to Dodoma too long. Perhaps I'll make it back in time to welcome the May Term group here.

Karibu Sana Tanzania Wasichana!

P.S. Lindsey, I hope you don't mind having pets in your room. It's only a gecco, a small millipede, and a few spiders, but they only come out every once in a while to great me. They're still pretty shy, but the millipede is warming up to me. Just be careful not to sit in the chair without checking first or you might smash him between the frame and the cushion. And please don't try to catch my gecco. I know you like to, but he has a very nice tail that I would hate to see fall off.

Well, I believe that the rainy season has officially begun!! It has managed to rain here at the school for the past eight days in a row I believe, maybe even more, which has seemed to help the mosquito population flourish. But luckily my Malarone hasn't failed me yet, and I've been faithful about taking it every morning and haven't missed a day yet. But as far as the rain, it seems to like us here more than anywhere else because you don't have to drive very far to find some very dry land. So, I've partially not written in a while because the Internet has been sketchy the last several days, but also because I've been busy just enjoying being here and enjoying things that I haven't had much time to enjoy in the last several years, mainly reading a good book that doesn't have anything to do with science.

A professor told me before I came that my experience here would sort of be like a 'u' as it is anytime you travel. When I come I'll be infatuated, then I'll start feeling like everything is the same and loose some enjoyment (even feel some depression perhaps), and then probably right before I leave I will come back to the high side and not want to leave. I guess that's normal for travelers and probably a bit of what I have experienced, but I'm glad to say that with six weeks still remaining that I can say that my last two weeks here have been the best and I think they will only continue to get better. There were about two or three weeks where I began to feel like my time here was getting long and I really wouldn't mind being able to go home for a weekend and then come back. But now every morning when I get up and go to take my malaria meds, I see how few are left and I wonder how my time has gone by so fast. I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't some way I can make this trip last longer, but the only option PH can think of is to marry me off. So, I guess I'm still planning to come home in May.

Yesterday I finished my Swahili lessons and was able to make it all the way through both books. Certainly doesn't mean I'm fluent, as I still need plenty of time to process and certainly can't understand the speakers who speak at a normal speed. I think that a lot of my increased enjoyment has been largely due to the fact that I have finally reached a point where I can actually have conversations with people and am getting better at understanding what's going on, especially in the villages. Sometimes they still talk way too fast and I have to ask them to slow down, especially the women because fewer of them are educated and they don' t understand how hard it is to learn a new language, but it's getting easier. Also, I have been spending a lot more time with a girl who is here from Germany to volunteer in the kindergarten. I appreciate that she is more interested in hanging out with the Tanzanians than with the other Wazungu so we have been able to do a lot of things with the teachers here and some of the friends she has met here, even if it's just walking to their home to visit them for an hour or watching a movie together, it's still better than always just being in a group of white people. So many of the white people here from both America and Germany spend all of their time just hanging out with each other and I get frustrated because I certainly didn't travel this far just to meet more Americans. Neither of us much enjoy going to town in big groups of Wazungu because no one is much interested in just talking to the people in the market or using the opportunity to practice their Swahili or even just experiencing life here for what it is. I often go and don't even care if I buy the thing I went there to get or not. I try to just enjoy the experience for what it is. It's interesting because I often observe that the people who complain the most about the way things are here are the ones who resist the people the most. They don't have much interest in getting to know the Tanzanians, but they are awfully good at complaining about the way they do things. sometimes I feel like people only come here to 'help' because they think it's the noble thing to do, to sacrifice a luxurious life to help in the 3rd world. But the one's who actually care about getting to know the people and who come because they truly care about human beings are the ones who are the most content, they aren't just here to change everything. You probably think I'm being little to hard on some of the Wazungu in the way I blog, but you hear things that just leave your heart unsettled. Like the otherday when I was sitting at lunch with a German couple, the husband who is a pastor and the wife who is a doctor. The mamas in the kitchen had been late getting lunch ready because an expected group of pastors came to meet with PH, but they all showed up much sooner than expected and then they were expecting food. The German man was getting a little cranked off about his wait and was asking why it was taking so long. I tried to explain to him the misunderstanding so that he wouldn't be mad at the mamas who had done nothing wrong. Then, within certain hearing distance of the visiting pastors, he started saying how unacceptable it was to show up like that...just kind of going off the handle. I calmly asked him to stop talking about it because they can most certainly hear him (he's German and LOUD!!) . Then he said, "I don't care, I hope they hear. It's not acceptable and they need to learn." I was terribly angry, so I just stood up and looked at him and said, "Well I care, and I don't want that kind of attitude reflected on me." And I left. There's not harsh feelings, and I try to remind myself that God uses people of all kinds. Even if I wouldn't choose them, God does, and I need to respect that.

On a brighter side of the Germans, Anna, who is volunteering here, is about the same age as me and I guess we must look pretty similar too because many of the Tanzanians ask us if we are twins. I think we're the exact same size and shape, same hair and eye color, same height even both have the same scar on our right wrists. K, I don't think we really look that much alike, but to the Tanzanians, as long as we are both white and have about the same age, they think you're twins. Anyway, she and I have been trying to do something almost everyday, whether it be go to town to buy cloth, or to buy fruit, or to watch movies with the Tanzanian teachers, or to go and visit some of the friends she has made here, or ask the mamas to teach us to cook or sew. The other day we went to visit a girl she met in by the mountains whose family is Islamic. They moved here from Dar after her father finished studying in London. They were very welcoming, as everyone here seems to be. We plan to go back and try to learn some more about Islam because we didn't have much time as we needed to walk back before dark, but hopefully we'll get a chance to ask her some questions. I can tell even in just the last two weeks of getting out and doing things with Anna that my Swahili has improved greatly, so I hope we can continue to do that. We've made plans with the mama's in the kitchen to learn how to cook chapatis too, so we're pretty excited about that!! Hopefully I'll be able to make them when I get home, but with that much hot oil, I'll probably start them on fire (just ask Katie and Lindsey what happens when I try to cook! They really shouldn't make glass pans with plastic lids...)

Today, we spent the Good Friday worshiping at a prison nearby. As always, I greatly enjoyed it. After the service, we had a flat tire on the truck (surprise, surprise! I think that's like number 9 out of 20 some trips we've made to villages), but I didn't mind because while they were fixing it and taking care of some other business I was able to make friends with about ten children there who belong to some of the workers at the prison. Beings that I'm not very good with kids I really don't know what to say after I've asked them there name and age and about school, but today I decided to use the opportunity to learn some more Swahili and teach them English as many of them know some, but are always eager to learn more. So we played a game of saying the name of something. I'd say a Swahili name or phrase and they would try to tell me the English and vise versa. By the time a finished I had at least 7 children hanging onto me as they escorted me to the house where we ate our first meal. Yep, there was more than one meal! Apparently there was a bit of confusion about who would be cooking for us today, so in attempts not to offend anyone, we ate at the first house, then found out there was food at the next. So, three plates of rice and beans later, I was quite full.

I'm excited for tomorrow because it was supposed to be a down day to rest and I was going to climb the mountain again, but then I was invited to go with one of the teachers here to his home village to meet his family. I guess it's a short trip so we'll leave in the morning and return in the early afternoon I think, but who knows, I guess I'll find out when it happens. He's Maasai so I never really know what to expect but it will be interesting no matter what. Then Sunday we will visit the youth prison, Monday another village, Tuesday I will renew my Visa, and then hopefully be jumping on a bus to Dodoma to go and stay with Audrey and Paul for a week or longer, or until they get tired of me. After that the Wartburg girls will come, including Lindsey McKinley :) I'm arranging for the two of us to be able to volunteer at Faraja which is an NGO here that is doing AIDS work here in Morogoro. We have a few other missions like making soccer nets for the goals here at the school, maybe sleeping over in a village for a few nights, and things like that, but I have a feeling that my last six weeks here are going to fly by faster than I want them to. Whenever I think about how quickly I'm going to go home, I start missing it...and I haven't even left yet! I guess that's a sign of a really great experience.

On a last note, we had a pretty fun experience with some ants the other day. Before I came here my sister-in-law saw a show on T.V. about the siafru ants here in East Africa and then told my mom and I think they were both a little freaked out by it. I'd heard of them before I came, but obviously never seen them. When the rains come, as they have recently, these ants have to move to higher ground and they do so in packs of more than 20 million I think (google it, I think that's right though), and boy oh boy did those ants come out the other day. These aren't' just normal ants that will sting you and cause a burning sensation, they actually lock their jaws into you and don't let go. When you pull them off, their heads stay in your skin and they break in two. (John, I think this is the same kind that you and Paul had the contest with to see who could withstand the pain the longest?). Anyhow, they are crazy and they were absolutely everywhere, even climbing up the back of someones dormatory. There have been reports of crippled people being eaten alive by these ants when they invade a home; their like little carnavours. But the best part was that we found a tarantula the same night and caught it in a bottle. We didn't know where to release it, so we decided to see what would happen if we put it in the middle of these ants. As soon as it landed in the ants, it's legs were covered and it tried to run away, but the ants had already engulfed it. Then there were thousands of ants covering this entire tarantula and within minutes it was dead. We came back about 45 minutes later and there was the biggest swarm of ants where this tarantula had been that I could never even have imagined it. I would guess something like 1/2 million to a million ants just crawling in the huge heap of ants all trying to consume a piece of this thing. It was amazing! I felt a little sorry for the tarantula but we were just speeding up the circle of life.

K, well Happy Easter!!