Our first full day of living in Africa was started by breakfast at the ACM house on campus with nearly all of the other program students. This was our first experience with an African breakfast and was definitely indicative of what was to come for future breakfasts: lots and lots of fried bread of various ingredients and shapes. Over breakfast, we were also introduced to two people who would become our friends and the equivalent of Tanzanian event planners and doers – Emanuel and Hamida, two Tanzanian students at UDSM. The first week was organized kind of like orientation week at college, with several speakers per day talking about Tanzanian customs and culture, health, safety, and everything else in between. After the speaker, we went for a tour of the campus with Emanuel and Hamida and then went for lunch at the caf. Our first lunch at the caf was rice mixed with a few stones for character-building, with mboga (two chunks of fatty meat, maybe a few chunks of boneed in) and cooked veggies. It was actually pretty delicous and a good introduction to the typical lunch and dinner cuisine. We also had our first taste of equatorial fruit and veggies, which were as delicious as hoped for. The availability of passion fruit Fanta also caused quite a stir. To give you an idea of the cost of living for students, the meal price ranges from 600 – 2000 Tzs, between .45 – $1.30. After lunch, we went back to the lecture room for a talk on safety from Emanuel Wambura, a police officer not only concerned with our safety, but with our, er, “biological needs” as he phrased it. Although the talk was more formal than informative, Wambura did give us what was to become one of our favorite catchphrases, “Trust No One”. This statement is not only applicable to safety concerns, but to our fellow group members when they do something amusing, don’t show up for a meal, etc. Immediately after the talk, Emanuel and Hamida took us to Mlimani City market, which in reality is the African version of a mall. The ‘mall’ had several clothes shops, cafes (including one called ‘Fairy Delights’), internet places, and two South African chain stores named Game and Shop Rite. After acquiring various food purchases, namely peanut butter and Konyagi (the African version of cheap hard alcohol resembling a cross between gin and rum), we headed back to the dorms. At this point, I feel it’s necessary to mention that the drinking age is 18 here in Africa and although we are not lushes, once a group of 20 or so college students gets together, it’s pretty much implied that a drink is in order after a hot day in the African sun.
Our second day in Africa started with the chirping of bull frogs and the call to prayer from the mosques, all between 3 and 5 a.m. Breakfast was a simple affair at the Kiswahili cafe, a small cafe with a fabulous view found in the basement of the Kiswahili Studies building on campus. After a lecture and getting our student ID cards, we headed to Hill Top Cafe for some lunch of ugali and kuku (chicken). Ugali is a blog made out of rice paste that is the consistency of mashed potatoes. It doesn’t taste like anything on it’s own, but is delicous once dipped in some broth. From lunch we went back for another lecture and then were cut loose for the rest of the afternoon. Most of us then proceeded to go check out the sports area on campus and play a pick-up game of ultimate frisbee. The score was tied as the sun was setting (since it’s winter below the equater, the sun sets at roughly 6 p.m.), so we called the game and headed to Hill Top for dinner. The games continued after dinner with a raucous game of “Pass the Pig” and a four-person cribbage tourney.
My third full day in Africa started off with breakfast at the Kiswahili cafe, followed by cribbage under the ‘Degree Tree’ on campus. The Degree Tree is an enormous tree that dominates the center of the academic sector of campus. There are lots of concrete tables and benches set under it’s foliage and it’s a common meeting area for classes and study parties. Since the speaker cancelled, most of us walked to the swinging trees on campus to climb around and ‘Tarzan’ it up by swinging from the vines and the swings made out of the roots of the tree. The roots grow down on these certain trees, making them sturdy and ideal ropes to swing from. It’s worth mentioning that the campus is layed out in an interesting fashion, with all the academic buildings on one side of the main thoroughfare, and the residence halls and small houses on the other side. The swinging trees are located on the bridge joining both academic and residence parts of the campus. More frisbee was played tonight and new friends were made, specifically some from Glasglow, Scotland. After dinner, most of us wound up at Hill Top to finish out the night with a beer and some games.
The next day started out similar to the rest, except without any morning lecture. So, the group decided to go with Emanuel and Hamida to Mwenge to check out the open-air market there. Once there, we were overwhelmed by the vast variety of woodcarvings, jewelry, paintings and other trinkets. After we had our fill browsing, we walked through an organic market on our way to lunch at a local restaurant where some of us, me included, sampled ‘chips mayai’, french fries cooked into fresh eggs, like a french fry omelet. From the market we went back to the campus via daladala. Daladalas are our main form of transport here in Tanzania and are oversized, rickety vans that pack in sometimes as many as 25 people in their route to certain destinations in Dar Es Salaam. After our afternoon lecture and dinner at the cafeteria, we decided to celebrate our first weekend in Dar as some Tanzanians do, with live music. After attempting to hear a live band at Makumbusho, we ended up at Mango Grove, an open-air bar with a stage and dance floor, all shrouded in trees. We ended up being very lucky as one of Tanzania’s most popular bands was playing that night! When a band came on, we all hit the dance floor with unparalled intensity and energy. As we sat down and the band stopped playing, we were informed that this band was only the opener for the main act. Once the band came on, our intensity and excitement surged as we once again took to the dance floor in full force. The band was incredible as it combined three bass guitars with four electric ones, a set of conga drums, six singers, a man on the drum set, and a series of ten dancers hyping the crowd in front of the band. Everyone that came danced, not only with members of our group, but with other Tanzanians as well. One man was particularly memorable as his cool opening line was, “Are you married?”. As we called it a night at 2:30 a.m., all of us knew that this was, by far, one of the most wonderful and exhausting nights yet.
The following day after our night out was an easy one. Our one and only event today was a late lunch at Paulina (assistant to our program director, Dr. Roberts) and her husband, Amani’s house. They had been planning this outing for a week, and it had gradually morphed from the girls learning how to cook ugali as the boys barbequed the meat on the grill, to many servants being hired to slaughter and prepare a goat that Amani had hand-selected specifically for this meal. While we were waiting for the transportation to arrive, we sat enraptured as we watched the vervet monkeys play outside of our hall. They are everywhere on campus and never fail to amuse us or command our attention as we walk around campus. The mothers have just had their babies, and they are very cute. As someone on our trip said, the locals are totally immune to these monkeys because, for them, they’re pretty much like squirrels are to us. There is also a female baboon living on campus and she is clearly the dominant one. Even the male vervets with the bright blue balls never hesitate to run when she comes near. The baboon has taken quite a liking to a certain vervet mother and her baby, as she plays with the vervet baby and they follow her around. Once we arrived at Paulina and Amani’s house, we got a tour of their house and the little guest house. Once boys turn 18, they are no longer allowed to live in the main house. Paulina didn’t explain the reasoning behind this practice, only that it was very common and that her son, when he turned of age, would be living in the guest house. The starter for the meal was goat organ soup, made out of salt, natural goat broth, and the goat organs. The soup wasn’t actually half bad, and the liver and lung that I ate tasted halfway decent once smothered in lime. The main course itself was a sight to behold as ugali, rice, chicken, goat, beef, three different sauces, plantains, okra, and various fruits were layed out. After the meal, some of us went to play with Paulina’s three children. While we were watching a herder tend his goats, I watched women from nearby homes come to get water from a muddy puddle at the base of a hill. As I watched, they bathed themselves a little with the water and after filling up a large bucket, carried the water back to their families on their heads. This incident served as one of many reminders that I, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, am not in Kansas anymore.
The next day marked our last day of our college summer vacation. So we decided to celebrate by going to the beach! Three daladala and one ferry ride later, our group plus Emanuel and Hamida arrived at an inlet on the Indian Ocean. Even though it is winter here, the weather is gorgeous, in the 80’s during the day and the 60’s at night. The day was spent lounging around on the beach, eating food, drinking local beer, reading, playing cribbage, tossing around a frisbee in the ocean, building sand castles, searching for seashells and, of course swimming. Emanuel actually didn’t know how to swim, so several of us decided to teach him how, and by the end of the day, he felt comfortable venturing into the ocean far enough where he couldn’t touch the bottom. After we were done swimming, some of us decided to have a dance party with Hamida. The men that were mixing the music came out and danced with us too! En route back to UDSM, we walked through the coast area of Dar Es Salaam eating cassava, a starchy, potato-like vegetable that is garnished with chili sauce, lime, and salt. Our last day of vacation was definitely a success as all of us went to bed tired, tan, and happy.
Next week’s update is soon to come, but from Dar es Salaam, usikumwema na kila la kheri (good night and good luck).
