My first Tanzanian weekend.

So this is several days combined:

 Phew! A lot to mention. So it has been raining often here in Arusha, but it is such a wonderful temperature here that even cool mornings feel good. The rain is extremely loud! I have absolutely loved warm rains and soaking up the smells and sounds, while I have become a fond reader of Eat, Pray, Love. I know I am a little behind, but it's never to late to read it, especially in a foreign country where not only are you experiencing new and exciting things, but also facing some of your deepest fears. 

   I know people have this idea that Africa is starving, but let me reassure you...they eat A LOT! So put eating a lot together with not getting enough exercise, and you quickly figure out that sometimes you just got to let go.

   I guess that school stuff is good too... I'm learning a lot about colonization, African religion, politics (read about Ujamaa if you're interested), and the effects colonialism has had on African society today. Most importantly, I am learning a lot about myself.

  So fun fact...

Africans LOVE long hair! My youngest host sister will play and brush my hair for a whole hour because she is so fascinated by it. My host sisters love to touch it and braid it, and can't believe that I cut it short. They ask me in almost a disappointing voice, "why would you do that?" 

  Anyways...Cool things that have happened...

We went walking on Friday to this Maasai craft store that had some awesome things in it! The art was eccentric, and they had interesting trinkets of all kinds. I spoke with the owner of the store in Swahili, and just because I spoke Swahili he said that we would get the wanafunzi ("students",  because students are fun...get it?:)) price. So prepare yourselves because I might come back with some souvenirs.

   We also went walking on Saturday to go buy towels with my host sister. Our host mama owns a clothing store in this market place, so we went to see her small shop and buy towels, except Peace did all the haggling for us... oh boy. What would we wazungus (white people) do without her. We walked a shortcut to get there, and it was very interesting to walk the back streets of Arusha.  Let me reassure you, it was very safe. I will say I have never been stared at as often as that moment though. White people are like celebrities in Africa. Some of the citizens were very friendly and would yell out of their huts "karibu wazungus!" Sometimes you just get to accept your role with a laugh.

This little man just wanted his photo taken. 

   We also did laundry today... boy is that a good arm workout. Lots of scrubbing. Lots of wringing out water. My host cousin helped in teaching us, and all I kept hearing her bark at me was "no! Like this.. no! Like this..NO! Like this!"... I would just smile and say OK. 

Loved taking this hike

   We went on a hike up in the foothills of Arusha with two of our classmates, Grant and Chris, and their host brothers, to go spot some monkeys. We went down into a dirty pond hoping to find fish, but found none. We passed this really big cool tree (not very descriptive, but imagine it being magical) that stood tall to protect the churches that were in front of them. We climbed up a hill to look out at the city of Arusha and Mount Meru. Basically, the countryside of Arusha and Tanzania is very beautiful. Long story short, we saw one monkey and a lot of luscious vegetation. 

Overlooking Arusha.  Mount Meru is in the distance.

   We passed a boarding school for boys, and if you know nothing of the education system in Tanzania, basically boys and girls go to separate boarding schools once they reach their version of high school, with no phones, no t.v., and no computers, because they need to focus. Their parents don't even get to see them until their graduation day. 

   At the top of the hill, boys were playing basketball, and at least fifty of them were playing soccer. That was my favorite part of the hike, getting to see how skilled even little boys were at soccer, and how they knew the game. 

   We sprinted (yes, sprinted) back down the hill, and we got to see Chris' and Grant's host family's Lutheran church. It was yellow and green and towered so high above the trees. The choir was practicing the hymn "It Is Well" in Swahili, and it was such an angelic moment.  Boy can they sing! We also paid respects to their small cemetery, where the boys' father/uncle and grandparents were buried. While it was a very decorated and beautiful cemetery, it also shared it's sense of grief. We also saw the oldest Anglican church in the area. 

Lutheran Church

  Sunday, we went to a Pentecostal church, and man, can those Tanzanians worship! They sing and dance loud and proud. They say amen and hallelujah to everything. The preacher yells. It's pretty stereotypical, but being there will always give you chills. A few things I thought were funny were:

   1. They had a special with two guys, both of them were dancing but one of them was singing. However, it was super obvious that the guy was lip synching, but to everyone else that was so normal! Then people started going up and putting money in the man's shirt pocket! If you didn't know better, you'd think we were at a night club, but I swear it was clean. 

   2. We also had to have handkerchiefs, because the pastor would take a towel and bless us by putting the towel on our face and placing the towel on our handkerchief, and then you would sit down and cover your face to pray with it. Similar to a rosary. Never in all my life have I seen such a thing! 

   3. Then of course we had to go up as first timers and stand in front of everyone to get prayed for, and fill out guest forms, but they were so surprised, when I told them we could read Swahili! They were so appreciative!

   4. It was also nice because they had one pastor preaching in english, and another pastor translating, but they were preaching about financial fortune, which is a topic I am not used to hearing about in a church. As if they were telling people how they should use their money to gain promotion in this life. In the pastor's words, "you put money in all the wrong things, the world will vomit it out!"

   We also got to try Tanzanian cake for the first time! Holy crap, that stuff is sugary and rich. It was our host cousin's birthday, and she turned nine. I know to a Tanzanian this isn't a huge deal, or maybe even other fellow Americans, but usually, I am used to seeing at least one gift at birthday parties, but for them, they had the power of loved ones around them as a gift. Her cake was decorated really extravagantly...or as extravagantly as a Tanzanian could make it... as Disneyland.  So when its your birthday, it's always good to go to Disneyland.

   So I suppose moral of the story... even if you, me, we, etc. forget to at times,

Eat, pray, love.

Love from Africa

Jax