Ehh, blog writing is too much pressure and work for me, so if anyone was still checking this you can stop, cause I'm not even going to pretend to update anymore. Samahani.

In summary, I've just been doing nice things in pretty places with lovely people. I'll be back in the states next month and you can ask for elaboration then.

I have been good at posting a lot of pictures, though. Those tell my stories better than I could anyway.

Thanks, see y'all in a few weeks. <3

Hey! I did not forget about this or you. Everything is wonderful here and I miss you all dearly, promise. I am just too caught up in life to sit down and rehash it on here. Or, when I do have time to sit online, I waste it all on facebook like the terrible adolescent that I am. I have been slightly better at uploading pictures though, so check out flickr if you want an overview of things.

Yikes, has it really been over a month? So sorry, again, for neglecting to update. What's happened lately... hmm. I went on safari one weekend at Saadani National Park. We mostly saw giraffes ("twiga" in Swahili - isn't that a lovely word? I think it suits them perfectly). Our campsite was right on the ocean. Full moon at night, beach sunrise in the morning. I love every moment here; I won't be able to adequately describe how beautiful I find everything, but I promise to sit down and try soon.

Classes are tricky. Not so much academically difficult, just logistically. Rooms and meeting times change arbitrarily, I've dropped some and added others. As of right now I've settled on Community Based Conservation, Environmental Policy and Planning, Herpetology, Ornithology, and Swahili. That should be the final set up. I hope so, at least. The semester is about half over, after all.

Also tricky - being vegan. So, long story short, I'm not. I've been eating dishes that have eggs and milk (I discovered that I'm lactose intolerant now, to the surprise of  no one). My usual ingredient-reading neurosis is hard to entertain when I'm constantly a guest in someone else's home. I'll go back to vegan when I go back to the states. Nearly everyone here thinks being vegetarian is a joke of a lifestyle, but that's okay. I did unintentionally convince one friend here to stop eating meat. It's fairly easy avoid meat here, really - everyone loves rice and beans anyway. Teasing from his family is probably the biggest obstacle he'll face, but that seems to be the case where ever you are [sidenote: how's the veg lifestyle going back home, Ryan?]. So I think my animal-rights karma is still in balance... I might eat a few more animal products, but now there's a new Tanzanian avoiding meat for the sake of morality. At least, that's the logic I've been using to ease my terribly guilty conscious.

What else...

I spend most weekends staying at my friend Sulea's house. Living on the UDSM campus with my assigned family hasn't been all that great, but I've found my own world of people to spend time with, so it doesn't matter. With such a short amount of time here, there's no use spending it in any state or place of negativity.

Two weekends ago I spent some time in Stone Town, Zanzibar. A friend of a friend had a place we could stay for free: a wonderful apartment mixed right into the city's labyrinth of old buildings and narrow alleyways. My friend Amanda and I loved it so much we're going back this weekend. If you have a chance to stay on a beautiful island for cheap, there's really no reason not to make the most of it.

I am suddenly very aware of how much time has passed and how much more I want to do before I leave. Here's what I have tentatively planned for the upcoming weekends:

May 27th - 30th: Zanzibar

June 10th - 13th:  Udzungwa National Park (visiting a penpal!)

June 17th - 20th: Zanzibar again for the international film festival

June 24th - 27th: Tanga, to visit the Amboni cave system

July 1st - 5th: Camping and walking safari in Ngorongoro Crater

Then finals are mid July. After that I have a few weeks to kill, but I've still got to sketch out what I want to do for that time.

That's all for now. Sorry, again, for not updating for such a long time. But I have to say, you are all welcome to comment on these entries... communication is a two way street you know! Hah, I'm kidding. I know I have just been slacking. Sorry again.

Best wishes <3

Classes!

BT 379: Plant Ecology and Phytogeography
GE 247: Population Studies
GE 350: Environmental Policy and Planning
LL 273: French African Literature I
WS 202: Biology of Birds
WS 204: Community-Based Conservation and Extension
WS 312: Legislation for Wildlife Conservation

Plus one month of intensive Swahili tutoring (supposedly 3 hours a day, five days a week? It’s yet to start though, so we’ll see what actually comes of it). I’m not sure about my French class because so far it only has been empty seminar rooms and no lectures, so I must be doing something wrong there. The timetable for classes is only on “Rough Draft #3” though, meaning things are still in the air. I’ll figure it out eventually.

Classrooms here are basic, but get the job done. I’ve been spoiled at NMU with our wifi, laptops, projectors, constant supply of electricity, ceilings that keep out the rain, heh. Each class I’m taking has a lecture hour and then either a three hour lab or seminar session. So taking seven classes really isn’t much, because they only meet twice a week. UDSM turns 50 this year, and that seems to be the same amount of time since any equipment has been given to their sciences department.  Being me though, I’ve been finding the use of chalkboards endearing and the old wooden desks quaint and attractive. Some of the lecture rooms have sparrows nesting along the open windows - their calls echoing through the room in competition with the lecturer, and never failing to distract yours truly. A few other buildings are on a hill that overlooks the city and on clear days you can see out to the ocean. I dig it.

           

Snap, I’m torn on how much to write in here and which stories would actually be interesting to read.  I think for today I’ll go with one that has the most accompanying pictures. I do have stories about the start of classes and all that, but I'll put it off for a couple more days (so stay tuned, all three relatives who might still check this!)

            Somehow, despite my introversion and inability to speak Swahili, I've pulled off befriending some delightful people already. One such person is Sulea, who is a student here that I met at the beginning of last week. She helped me find my classes when I was playing the role of an obviously-bewildered foreign student the first week of school, and by Saturday I was invited to her home and completely welcomed into her family. 

            Sulea's mom's house is located in Temeke, a part of Dar es Salaam about three bus rides from campus. Walking from the last bus stop to her place, you pass chickens pecking in the nameless dirt roads, kids chasing soccer balls (stopping momentarily to practice English on the mzungu), and men and women socializing outside their shops. Reaching Sulea's mother's hair salon we duck inside and through the back door into the adjacent bungalow. Her dad has two wives and I don’t remember how many children, so to say she has a large family is an understatement. A constant shuffle of siblings and family friends wandered in and out of the rooms. Most of the background conversation through the house was carried on in Swahili, but even without understanding the statements I could pick up on inflections and it felt like the same chatter and sibling teasing I'm used to at home. Add to the mix a most adorable tiny cat who fell asleep in my lap, and I could not have felt more comfortable there.

 While I was there her younger brother Sufi (15 years old) borrowed my camera for the evening and he and his friends had a ball with it. Her older brother Sudi (20) took me for a walk through their neighborhood, showing me around and discussing all sorts of things. Her mother made me a delicious meal of ndizi and maharage – cooked beans and bananas. Sidenote, bananas taste good cooked with everything and I don't know why it took moving to Africa for me to realize this. I’ll have a food entry soon, but for now I'll say that beans and rice and fruit here are incredibly cheap and delicious and I could not be more content.

            Anyway, being that it's 90F and humid all the time here, my hair is more of a curly frizzy mess than usual. I accepted after day one that there was no getting around it, and I tend to just forget about it entirely. Walking through a salon to enter Sulea's house should have given me a heads up that it wouldn't escape conversation here though. Sure enough, after dinner I found myself in a salon chair with Sulea and her sisters giggling behind me as their mom put my hair up in curlers. After the addition of some unknown gels and oils, and the use of equipment that looked straight from the '60s, I had quite a lovely curl going. I don’t know what the intended outcome was, but her mom seemed pleased with the result.

            I've been getting texts from Sulea's siblings all week and meeting up with the older ones on campus in between classes; they're seemingly as excited with their new American friend as I am to have a new large home-away-from-home. Not that my host family isn't dear, but that Sulea’s family had a special vibe to it. Today's a holiday and classes are canceled, so her and I night try our luck with some baking today (I showed her pictures of what I eat at home and the fact that all I do is eat sweets became obvious). In a few weeks I've been invited over to help prepare a birthday dinner for their mom, and on another date to visit her dad's place in a different part of Dar, where her step-mom and other siblings live.

Unrelated, my laptop decided not to turn on for a good 24 hours the other day, but seems to be working fine now (knock on wood). There's nothing like a near-death experience to make you appreciate things when they're working, goodness gracious. I will treat you with so much more respect now, sweet little Lenovo.

Just kidding about studying abroad, I'm actually on an extended vacation paid for with student loans. 

I uploaded a lot of pictures this morning.

In seriousness though, I should probably go figure out my class schedule now or something. 

Apparently no one on my program is admitted as a student yet,

despite today being the first day of school.

Minor details, you know.

Hakuna matata

With week one coming to a close, I’m already recognizing routine and finding comfort in the pace of things. Life around this corner of Dar seems to run from 7am to 10pm. The sun rises at roughly six every day, and sets around six at night (gotta love the equator), and the predictability of that schedule is something I'm  happily adjusting to. Early afternoon showers and naps have even been worked into my day, providing a nice chance to escape the heat for a bit and repower. And it is hot, that is one adjustment I will not understate. 

                My host family is quite sweet. I live with my host mother, her son (my age but he has a dorm on campus so is only here sparingly), her live-in housekeeper (also my age, and seven months pregnant), and two other American students. My host mother and her son both speak excellent English on top of Swahili, but the housekeeper only speaks Swahili. One of the exchange students has been here for two months, and the other arrived at the same time as I did. It’s a nice mixture of people, a comfortable place to call home for the semester. 

Our place is on the fourth floor of an apartment building on campus, about a 20 minute walk from the academic buildings. It’s as comfortable as anything I could have asked for... certainly better than my apartment in Marquette last semester, ha. The only real adjustment I've had to make here is with the unpredictable running water access, and "showers" actually being a bucket of water in the bathtub for washing. But when you factor in the chorus of frogs and insects at night, exotic birdsong with the sunrise, the gorgeous trees in bloom outside my window… everything else more than makes up for the lost amenities.

This past week has been a lot of orientation trips with the kids in my program. There are four of us, and each day we've been set up with a student guide to show us around the city. So far we've visited Mlimani City, the local mall that has most any western comforts you might crave (I don't think it's a coincidence they put that first on our orientation schedule). Mwenge Market which is a hodgepodge chaotic place full of street venders, tiny shops, and artisan stands. The City Center – about an hour's drive with traffic (and oh is there ever traffic), where you find the post office, large banks, hotels, embassies, and all the business people. The fish market and a quick stop at a beach (which is where I took that picture I posted yesterday). And Kariako City Market - another maze of venders and shops. It's been a whirlwind of new experiences and each place has its own appeals, I'm thankful to have months here to really let myself get acquainted with them at my own pace. There's only so much you can soak in during quick introductory tours.

My favorite thing right now though (okay, second favorite, after the monkeys and egrets and frogs and lizards that live all over campus) is something my roommate has been taking me to each night. For the last few months she and the other students in her study abroad program have been working in Mwenge market each night teaching English classes for the wood carvers. I'm sure my description won't do it justice; it's really the most adorable thing. Everyone meets at about 7pm each weeknight, in this outdoor area behind some of their workshops. They pull up wooden benches and old chalkboards, a light bulb hangs from the sheet metal roof and the rest of the field is illuminated by starlight. Each night about dozen people come to work on their English skills, and a half dozen study abroad kids take turns teaching them. The beginner classes are for grammar and vocabulary; skills that will help them sell their carvings to tourists. My roommate teaches the advanced class though, which is an hour of English conversation and whatever subject her and her friends feel like discussing that night. Last night was the French Revolution, two nights ago was plate tectonics and the tsunami in Japan, and tonight the students said they wanted to learn more science so the topic is evolution (and living here in such an epicenter of archeological discovery, it should be fascinating to see what they already know and what's news to them). Some of the students follow along better than others, but they're all eager to learn more and just seem so grateful for these free lessons each night. I love it.

Shoot, now that I've actually sat down to write, I could just go on forever. I’ll update again soon. I haven’t even talked about food, or my host mom's politics, or Swahili, or classes, etc etc etc. Too fun. 

Hello hello! I'm here, all is well and lovely and hot and humid. I've found wifi access, but not quite the time to use it. But sometime soon I promise to post something interesting. Until then though, here's a teaser shot of the coast. It's as great as it looks. I have a lot more pictures to share, of course, and once life settles down I'll work on uploading them. <3