Sorry this is so long! I've journaled a lot lately, and here are some notes from my journal:
Night 1:
I stepped off the plane in Kilimanjaro airport into a muggy, dark climate. I then walked into the airport and picked up my visitor's declaration, signed it and turned it in to the counter. I then walked up to an old conveyor belt that was baggage claim and grabbed my suitcase. The largest bug I've ever seen crawled over my foot at this point btw. I walked outside to a line of mostly Tanzanian men holding signs with names on them. Ibrah, my host, held a sign with my name on it and wore a yellow tee shirt that said, Navy Pier Chicago with a matching Chicago baseball cap. We loaded my things into a small old car and drove off. Tanzania is dark. The road to Moshi is about a 45 minute drive. I could see a million stars over grassy plains. Along the road, walked women in hand made wraps and men with their thumbs out for a ride. In the distance what looked like huge clouds, was what Ibra told me Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was about 9 pm TZ time and people were sitting on porches lit by purple lights. Some of these porches might have been bars. I've only seen a little bit of Moshi from the car, but I did see people sitting outside talking and relaxing on porches under straw top roofs. We pulled into a narrow driveway behind a large metal gate. The guard, a Masaai man named Steve, opened the gate for us. Salama (sister) he says. He is wearing a long, flowy, red plaid Masaai cloak. Ibra then introduces me to Eva, a beautiful 25 year old woman with braids pulled back in a pony tail, dark skin, and a green blue floral wrap who lives here as the cook. However, Steve and Eva don't act like staff but like family. After moving into my room, where I'm writing in my journal now (to be put online later) from underneath a mosquito net. We then went to part of the house across the courtyard (seperate from my room and bathroom). We sat around a small, old TV and watched a nollywood movie (nigerian). The same movie could be heard in the distance being blasted by another tv. On the dining table was a ton of food. A bowl of cucumber, tomato and onion salad. A bowl of potatos. A tray of weird colored orange slices, huge avocado slices, apple slices and bananas. There was also a bowl of a TZ dish, I forget the name of that had plantains, some sort of meat (I didn't ask) veggies and some sort of sauce. P.S. There is currently what I think is a very loud, screaming cat, or two. Hopefully not a large cat. And lots of little flies on me. (a little later) As I was writing this just now, the power went out-but don't worry that's common, and I have a very bright flash light. TZ smells like dirt. So far at this “hostel”, really more just a house on a dirt road surrounded by other houses with families and chickens, I'm the only mzungu (westerner. In my room or anywhere in the house, you can hear everything. The windows rarely have glass on them but instead are just barred with metal. I'm curious to see TZ in the morning.
Day 1:
Today I woke up to roosters crowing. For B-Fast we had these fried rice ball-things called vitumbua (I think), TZ chai made with coffee and eggs. We ate while EATV played music videos in the background. All were east African except a Nicki Minaj video for “Massive Attack,” that popped up. “Why is she naked?!” asked Ibrah—my host, who runs the house but makes me uncomfortable and when we're in town and he speaks in Swahili never lets me know what's going on, which frustrates me. I think this just might exemplify some patriarchy in TZ already. When we left the house for the first time down the dirt road, I saw women in beautiful wraps walking down the street gracefully with huge baskets on their heads filled with everything from laundry to bananas. Kids strolled down the street in uniforms some as young as I would say 4 or 5. Kids are a lot freer here and are also really cute. There are passion fruit trees all down the street as well. I met Mama Mrema today, who runs WEECE, my organization, and is my supervisor. She is very motherly. We had a funny conversation today about dinosaurs. She had no idea what they were! They don't teach kids about dinosaurs here, which was funny to me. I met the girls at WEECE who are ages 14-23 today as well. They weren't able to go to secondary school either for health reasons, money reasons, etc. They were making necklaces and one, Dorotea, gave me hers. They were amazed by me because they couldn't figure out if I was Bongo (Tanzanian) or Mzungu (American). In the hand my hair gave me away as not being Bongo. :( There are way less Mzungus here than I thought. It is rare to see a non-Tanzanian in Moshi. The girls really like me so far or are just amused by my mzungu ways-- one or the other. They all wear orange skirts and white tucked in blouses. Most have short hair and think mine is too long. At WEECE, wear I am working, there is no bathroom...just a whole in the ground. It's in private though. Things move very slowly. If you want something to be done, you just have to do it. The pace is slow, and I wish there was more guidance sometimes, but that's just not how things are done in Tanzania.
I've been spending a lot of time with Eva, from the kitchen, we go for walks in our muddy neighborhood and teach other English and Swahili. Later today, two little kids came over from next door, Zahara and Em, I'd say they were like 4 and 6. But I don't know because they kept lying to me. We played around a lot, but then they ran into my room and were amazed by my fan. Had they never seen a fan before? This kind of depressed me, as I had a fan, was still complaining of the heat, and this is the cold season in TZ.
More about our house:
In our house there is very little lighting. A small bulb hangs in the living area and 1 in the “kitchen”, which is a tiny room with a small sink, table and gas tank thing that Eva cooks over. No oven. The fridge is in the living room.
Day 2:
Today I really wish that I was staying with more Mzungus. I feel alone and even a little scared in my house. Even though I'm getting a more real experience, it isn't safe to walk around at night, There's even a guard, I don't really have anyone to talk to, and I'm unhappy with my host. This morning, I was awoken by roosters and a Muslim call to prayer at 5am. This by the way isn't a reason I'm unhappy with my housing. I might move into a volunteer hostel with a lot more Mzungus sometime soon. Currently, I'm sitting in a coffee shop I found wandering around called Killi Java. Killi Java is owned and ran by Indians (from India) who have lived here since colonization. From Killi Java I have an amazing view of Kilimanjaro! There are only mzungus here. I hate that I'm here right now. I've only been here 3 days, and I'm already seeking mzungus (and wifi). Although, it has been nice finding other mzungus who are doing similar things to me. Beggers though, have only come up to me when I've been with white people. My skin color is an advantage here, as weird as that sounds. I don't know this city at all though and streets aren't really marked, so it is comforting to find English speakers for help when I'm lost. Oooo Today, I rode the Dalladalla to work. Dalladallas (sp?) are basically astro vans that are very old and are used as buses. They are terrifying! Everyone piles into dalldalla and tries to hold on and not fall out (there aren't really windows). Bongos (Tanzanians) are also crazy drivers, so that's fun. On one dalldalla today, I had to stand smushed between a few people, not wearing deoderent obviously, and a small baby (matoto) in green and yellow African fabric from head to toe who held onto my wrist and laughed at me. He was probably 4 or 5 months old, and he could tell what a mess I was in the dalla dalla.
I can't go online a lot, so hopefully this is a good update for now!