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.