Too many people to meet!

Today was our first day starting to meet everyone. We went to Faraja with Makoti first and met Salwa (intern here for 7 months) and all the Faraja staff. Everyone’s really nice but a lot of them don’t speak english very well so a lot of translating happens. We also met Franki and Norbert who are local volunteers we’ll be working with. Franki is really funny and excited for me to “teach him slang” in english.

We walked to a local school that Faraja works with and met the teachers and children. All of them stand and salute to you when you walk in the room and it’s really funny. They also started yelling out english words at us and laughed when we tried to speak Swahili to introduce ourselves. I’m learning a few words a day but it’s still hard to remember them all.

We walked to the market to charge our internet stick up as well, which made me EXTREMELY happy. Franki works part time there so it was done really fast. I got a few pictures of the market but a lot of Tanzanians don’t like their picture taken so it’s a little awkward to pull out a camera in a crowd… Sucks for me because I want pictures of everything!!!

We also went to Chamwino school and the Faraja Home Based Care for youth with HIV in the Chamwino area. It’s a slum in Tanzania and the school takes in street children that arent sent to school by their families so that they can get a basic education and go on to secondary school. Everyone is super nice and tries to speak english to us as much as they can. We’re going to meet the girl’s group a little later and talk to Jelena and the other volunteers about the programs we’re starting tomorrow.

It’s a lot to take in and I miss home but once we get really busy it will make the time fly.

This is my view walking to work every day!! Gonna climb those soon!!

Me in front of the YCI Office

Downtown Morogoro

Some shops we passed by on the way to Chamwino

Homestay Family

We arrived at our homestay on Saturday afternoon, which sucked because I was sick the entire day. The altitude has been completely throwing me off… Mama and Baba Ashraf are always teaching us new words now and actually over feed us. Robert and Ashi are their two sons. We also have a Baba (live-in house maid that does all the cooking and cleaning) named Sophia. Our room is small but we unpacked and organized all our things so we’re feeling much more at home now.

Our house is on Kilakala and the office is less than 5 minutes away, which is awesome for us. We also live right next to the mountains and once the jetlag if worn off and I’m feeling better we’re going to climb it on a weekend trip. There are apparently beautiful waterfalls and it’s an awesome view. In our house there’s also another family living behind us and the roofs have space between them and the walls so Mama Ash yells to them a lot and they laugh. The squat toilets are NOOOTTT FFUUNNNN but we’re getting used to them.

I’m much more home sick than I expected to be but the whole weekend we just sat around and watched tv and walked around the neighbourhood with Baisa (family friend), plus I’ve felt horrible, so I think that’s why. We also went to Church with Baisa and his friend translated the sermon to me so I understood. We met the pastor and had to introduce ourselves infront of the church and everything :P. So far so good, but I miss everyone tooooooooooooo much,

Robert on the left and Ashi on the right

Me and Linda

My room and my stuff :)

Our calendar and my picture Marshal drew me :)

Our living room / where we eat 

There are some pictures of our house, our street and Robert and Ashraf. Ashi is 11 and Robert is 18. They’re shy but they try to teach us as many words as possible.

So far so good – I really want to start working now!!

Dar Es Salaam

Karibu (welcome) !!! There’s going to be a few different posts at once because we didn’t have internet until we got to Morogoro, But here’s the first day’s events!

We got to Dar Es Salaam on Wednesday at around 8:30 and then the customs battle began. They herd you into a line then take your passport and money for your visa but the guy didn’t know we wanted a business visa as well, then we almost didn’t get them. Finally they fingured out we had the money for both and we waited another hour for the rest of our documents (not enjoyable in the humid airport).

After we waited for Mike and Miranda’s plane to land (took another 2 hours for them to get out of customs) I went to the hotel in Cheryl’s car and the others took a bus. Our hotel is The Daisy, which SOUNDS nice and pretty…. It’s not. :P The rooms and the hotel itself are cool but there are cockroaches everywherrrrrrrre… Despite our efforts to protect ourselves from them Heather woke up in the morning with one INSIDE her mosquito net just chilling in the corner. We assumed when they cleaned the room today it would be gone but we came back and it was still there and now there’s cockroach juice al over her mosquito net from us killing it :)

Thursday was spent in orientation part 1; we learned about the culture, how our homestays and allowance will work, and had a swahili lesson. I learned quite a few more words that I’m going to need to practise because I already forgot a lot of them :P. We got an awesome breakfast at the hotel before leaving (manjo juice, eggs, toast, and other fruit) then took a Bajaj to the YCI office. Lunch was a fruit salad with mango, avacado and banana, a vegetable salad, fish (delicioussss but had the bones in it) and rice. Now we’re at the hotel waiting for dinner. We’re going to a restaurant (in a Bajaj again… they’re awesome little weird covered trycicle things that weave in and out of traffic!!)

Enjoy the pictures!

Kwaherini !!!!

 Linda and Miranda at breakfast

The cockroach that attacked heather... this is inside her net :P

Mike looking very knowledgeable so early in the morning 

Our Bajaj driver on our way to the office

This is the results of the Bajaj rides and my leg being pressed up against the bars on the seats while we drive through the deepest potholes you're ever going to see in your life.... hurtssssss.

Beach!!!

Our final night in Darl es Salaam was spent at the Beach on the Indian Ocean! There were a group of Masai at the gate guarding it (they’re used a lot as security because they’re known to be fierce) and they spoke a little English then we all went to the water and walked around. The sand is really white and cool and Mike jumped in the water before we found out it wasn’t a good place to swim in from all the engine grease that comes from the harbor on the other side of the bay. I collected a few shells and we were greeted by everyone that passed us. Mako also made a new Cat friend that the people at the beach call Alex, and we all got to try some African beers. I had Kilimanjaro, Linda had Safari, and Mike had Tusker – they all think it’s strong beer but it’s only maximum 4.5%. Linda and Mako laughed when we told them in Canada that’s a LIGHT beer. As the sun set we ordered dinner and had reeeeally good Samaki na Wali (fish and rice), and watched a few shooting stars, GIANT fruit bats that I couldn’t get pictures of, and chatted about canada and tanzanian culture. It was a good way to spend our last day in Dar and I can’t wait to go back and see the reefs and Stone Town in Zanzibar.

 Mako trying to be a Bajaj driver... Not the best idea :P

 The beach!!!

 Mike jumping in the water, which we later found out he shouldnt have :P

 Mako playing in the water

 Miranda, Linda and Heather at the beach :)

 Maranda and Linda again

 Mike with Alex the cat.... all he wanted was cuddles and Mike wouldn't cuddle him

 Mako cuddled him instead :)

 Miranda and Heathe

Me!

Still Alive!!! :P

We didn't have internet for a few days and we'll have a constant access to it on Saturday... that's when all the details will come and the pictures. I'm over my jet lag finally and we're learning and seeing a tonnnnn of stuff. IT's such a beautiful country.

Sorry for all the suspense!!! :D

Zurich and Flights

So i have a video log for this leg of the trip but i'm going to have to post that later since my computer is being stupid... SO the flights went pretty well. We RAN through the airport in Chicago to make our connection to go to Zurich and had to leave the airport to get back into the international terminal, which was stupid stupid stupid. And our flight wasnt leaving for an extra hour that we didn't plan on.

So after all the rush we got in to Swiss Air - our flight was 8 hours and we ended up getting a yummy dinner at night and breakfast in the morning. You can see the Alps from the air and i got awesome pictures of them in the clouds. We landed and got our Zuricards to get on the trains and buses for free, then had to take a cab to our hotel after heather forgot which one it was :P ... our room is cute and little and right next to a train station so we showered since we smelled from being on the plane for so long then took off to the city.

The highlights without being too detailed were we visited a few old churches like Grossemunster and St. Peter's (oldest church in Zurich), walked the canal, walked through Nideldorf (shopping district thats full of twisting alleys and cute little shops that we had coffee in), and went to the art museum. We also ate at Blindekuh for dinner and took a bus through the city to get there. It's a restaurant set in a converted church thats run by the blind so we ate in TOTAL darkness. The point is to experience what it would be like to be blind. We had to feel where our food was on our plates with our hands then once u find it u have to try to stab it with your fork and then get it into your mouth and it's a challenge and a half. Heather had lamb and i had fish and it was delicious. We had a blast and shared a dessert together that ended in heather covered in chocolate mousse and our fingers dipped into everythinggggg. Plus our over tired-ness had us hallucinating in the dark :P

I'm going to post pictures in another post so sit tight an i'll have the videos up as soon as i can....

Byeeeeee

Packed :) [This post is for you, Garnet!!]

SOMEONE was complaining that I hadnt posted in a while, SO here it is.
I'm completely packed now.... I think..... I have a weird feeling that I'm probably forgetting something somehow, even though I used my packing list for everything. I'm at the point where I'm stressing about it but not enough to unpack and repack for the 4th time. :P

My awesommmmmme friend Kevin was kind enough to give me his camera to borrow for my Africa trip so I'll have my great video camera and a great still picture camera now. Expect a LOT of pictures (if not on here then on my facebook).

I'm also getting pretty nervous and excited now... only 2 days left before I leave and I can't really believe that it's that close. I've been having a lot of teary-eyed moments with people now and that's probably the only part that sucks. Note to everyone who hasnt said goodbye to me officially yet = DO NOT start crying because you'll start me going again!!!!

Anyways, I'll try to remember to blog on Monday before I get on the planes and after that get ready for the pictures!! First stop, Zurich :D!!!!