Busy month in Bongoland

So a lot as happened in the month since my last post, including : tons of school assignments, protests and demonstrations at school, getting malaria, floods and now Christmas is upon us.

The amount of school assignments is expected considering it is now the half-way point so now comes all the papers and tests. Assignments here aren't so different, but they are different enough to make you notice. Firstly, I'm not so used to joint papers, or writing one paper for a group of people. This is done all the time here. Secondly, tests seem to always be essays style and so far I've been given a lists of questions before the test then when you get to the test you pick from that list which to write. I have not actually discovered how grading calculates how to be since I have not received any grades for my work yet, however; I do know that the grading system is different. For example 70-100 is considered an A here, this is throwing me totally off guard thinking that is isn't difficult to get a 70 which doesn't seem to be true. I'm still anxious to see exactly what kind of grades my work will get me here.

On to the demonstrations. Around the start of semester protest started for students whom had not received the student loans. How they were handled was rather interesting. When the students were walking around campus you can always hear them before seeing them, then you see other students running, and finally (if you stay around) you are greeted by students waving sticks. It apparently can turn rather violent (or from my assumptions) since people are always running from them. I heard numerous stories about students being hit with these sticks if they refused to join the strike. I happen to be at the right places at the right times and seemed to avoid all the commotion, (although I would like a better inside scoop). That was the start of the semester, and during the first strike, some students were arrested. Afterwards they protested to get the ones arrested out of custody, once that happened some students were suspended. So this month they started to demonstrate for the ones suspended which just seemed to result in expulsions. So during the days where the strikes were occurring there were no classes. Either the students or teachers didn't want to disrupt the protests or they were ran out of classes by the ones protesting. Nevertheless it was a lot of drama and no classes.

Only after the expulsions and classes resumed did I get the wonderful parasite of malaria. I'll be honest, before arriving here I was terrified of contracting malaria (especially with my history of being sick); but after being here I realized how common it actually is and because of this how easily it is tested and treated. The tests itself is a simple finger prick with results in about 30 minutes. The medication to treat malaria, in my opinion, makes you feel worse than malaria actually does! The dosage is so strong, it caused severe dizziness along with nausea and vomiting. I couldn't eat or walk around for about 3 days. Aside from that malaria feels pretty much like any other illness and was nothing compared to pneumonia that I went through before. So I preserved and according to my host mom handled it very well and was very strong. =)

Luckily for me malaria kept me inside the house all week. This was a good thing because it rained so heavily since Monday causing floods which have affected thousands of citizens. Around 5000 people have been displaced from their homes, and numerous roads and bridges have been damaged. I don't know the current statistic of the fatalities due to the floods but I know it isn't good. Many houses are completely filled with water and many streets are impassable. With so many people affected, you feel the devastation around.

With everything going and the lack of freezing weather, I had almost completely forgotten that tomorrow is Christmas Eve. It is like it has snuck up on me, and on top of all that it just doesn't feel like Christmas to me. While it is still celebrated here and many families are Christians, it lacks the obsessive and flare as Christmas is the states. The mall is decorated and I hear Christmas music playing in most places but for some reason it doesn't feel like in your face Christmas spirit.

On the music note: Tanzanians love country music especially Kenny Rogers. This I've just found a fun, interesting and surprising fact here. So to everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to you and yours! Wishing I could be around family and friends at home to celebrate during this time but instead I'll be there in spirit!

Hakuna Matata,

Kimberly

Thanksgiving away from Home

Wow, I cannot believe that today is my absolute favorite holiday and that I will not be spending it with my family and friends in the states. I will not have the traditional feast nor will I be spending the day watching my favorite sport football. However, I have so many things to be thankful for so in the true spirit of Thanksgiving I will just remember what I have instead of what I do not. I am first thankful for the opportunity to be here at all. Secondly for the loving and supportive parents who have made it possible. Thirdly, I am thankful for all of my friends back home who are keeping in touch. I am also thankful for my host family and the new friends I've made here who have made this transition smooth. Lastly, I am thankful for the technology to easily reconnect with everyone.

So since Thanksgiving is centered around food I thought I'd let you guys know what my new diet here in Dar es Salaam is. For breakfast, I usually take chai (black tea) chapatti (fried flat bread) or mandazi (similar ot dounuts). I absolutely love chapatti and mandazi, I will continue to make is when I return. For lunch, I usually have a plate of fruit or chips mayai. Chips mayai might be one of the best things ever thought of. It is chips or for us Americans, french fries cooked in a skillet with 2 eggs. I will also be making this all the time when I'm home. One of the perks about living with a host family is that I get to try all the different traditional meals such as ugali and makande. Ugali is like a stiff pourrige made from maize while makande is a mixture of beans and corn. Ugali is eaten with you hand and by itself it doesn't have a strong taste but you eat it with a variety foods and come with a sauce like baked beans of example. Also I have a patterned diet of rice, beans and meat (usually chicken, fish or beef) in a stew. I'd say this is the staple diet of most Tanzanians. These meal is also sometimes added with chips (french fries) or cooked banana. Little bit of useful information bananas when cooked no longer taste like bananas but instead more like potatoes. Aside from the traditional food there is a strong Arab and Indian influence in diet, which makes me very happy because I can find samosas, shawarma and curries which adds a little spice to my life.

Sometimes I find myself missing food (especially condiments) from home, however I haven't found a cure for this and the only fast food chain from home I've seen is Subway. That's right no KFC, which as translates to most Tanzanians haven't heard of Kentucky at all. To deal with this I remind myself that I will have American food again so for a while I can deal with missing the traditional Thanksgiving meal.

What I've found different here is definitely eating habits and table manners. Before eating, there is a bowl with a pitcher of hot water on the table to wash your hands with. Therefore, eating with your hands, is perfectly normal and not considered rude. Interestingly enough however they don't seem to lick their fingers after eating but instead wash them again. My thought process tells me to lick my fingers afterwards, I mean after all I was already eating with them. Elbows on the table seem to give you better leverage to eat with you hands. You are expected to finish your whole plate as well, although in some parts I've been told that if you finish your whole plate it means you weren't satisfied and then you get more. Sorry baby sister, slurping is done often.

In reality it wasn't that hard to get used to the diet or a less composed way of eating. When it comes down to it I'm still eating meat, a carbohydrate and vegetables for my meals so is it really all that different?

Hakuna Matata,

Kimberly

No car? No problem.

As most of you know I do not like staying in one place for long. Therefore transportation is an important part of life and it's one thing I tend to notice most about places I visit, especially now where I do not have my own ride to get anywhere that I need or want to go. Here I am relying on public transportation (or nice people with cars). When living in Kentucky I did not use public transportation, one because I had a car that I could drive and two, because it's not all that common for most people.

Here, I have to use public transport everyday and I'm actually pretty happy with it for the most part. I love daladalas, they are cheap are easily found and get you close to where you need to go. They remind me a lot of the mini-buses in South Africa especially with the amount of people packed into them and the rules of the road according to the drivers. While this is a method of public transportation, they are privately owned buses. I have seen them switch drivers and conductors on route which leads me to believe that a few people get together to buy one and then share in the profit of the day. There is always one driver (obviously) but also there is always a conductor which beckons people in and collects the fair. Once while riding a daladala a friend and I saw another one for sale in which we devised a plan that we should buy it and then I would become the driver and she the conductor and we would then have a nice little side business. Daladalas drive on a specific route which is clearly marked on the front and while there are certain stops along the way there isn't a set schedule. You cannot plan when one will come you just stand and wait but usually it does not take very long to find the next one.

Daladalas stop running after 9 and I've been advised by my family not to take one after dark anyways (about 6:30pm) so the other forms of transportation include bajijis and taxis. Bajijis are also another privately owned vehicle which looks like a motorized tricycle with a carriage to me. You can fit about three people inside and they will take you anyway for a negotiated price. The trick is to barter for a cheap price (especially being white they always try and charge more) but overall I'd rather take that than a taxi. Taxis are like taxis everywhere else, with the exception that I haven't seen a meter counter yet, so here you also negotiate prices with the drivers.

This weekend I traveled to Morogoro which is about 2-3 hours away from Dar es Salaam which gave an interesting insight into driving here and made me really think about the differences in ways people drive. One obvious difference is that they drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. This, I was already used to thanks to my stay in Cape Town but it would definitely be an adjustment to others coming here. Also I'd like to point out that while I am in Africa and it's a third world country a majority of the roads are paved. There are some that are not but even to other towns and cities there are paved roads. One big difference I've noticed is that there are a lot less stop lights and I haven't seen one stop sign but there are more speed bumps then I've even witnessed. Speed bumps are everywhere you can't get away from them! In general driving is the same except people have no problem going around you if you are in their way, too slow or for whatever reason and by whatever means.

Ok now back to the trip to Morogoro, we traveled there by tour bus which is supposed to take 2-3 hours depending on traffic so we decided to wake up and leave early Saturday morning. Everything was going very well at the station; we easily got our tickets, found the bus and were on our way until right as we were pulling out of the station. So as we were pulling out a motorcyclist stops to let us through but the truck behind him does not, he tried to go around and over the highway divide and ends up running over the motorcycle and hitting the tail end of our bus. Luckily the motorcyclist had jump off and was therefore unharmed also it did not cause a lot of damage to our bus, but none the less it caused us a great deal of time lost and we had to go back in the station to change buses. We eventually got to Morogoro in the second try without any problems. However, on the way back into Dar es Salaam we experience heavy traffic which took us about an hour just to get back into the station. Sure I've experience heavy traffic before but nothing really like this, especially with only one street light there was barely any movement for quite some time.

So sometimes I miss having a car of my own to drive and get me to where I need and want to go but public transportation has been doing just fine here and I've not run into any major problems.

Hakuna Matata,

Kimberly

My Name is Kim, not Mzungu

I've never been more aware of being white than I have here in my first month. Every time I take a walk I hear at least once "Mzungu!" Of course I realize that here I am not the norm and a very small minority, but at the same time I don't walk around yelling "black people" at home. Even if my presence is not forth right announced, I'm still being stared at. Whether I'm shopping, riding the dala-dalas, walking around campus or on the beach I stand out and the attention follows. This attention can be a range of things from both the positive and negative realms. On the negative side there's the yelling of mzungu while I'm walking by, being stared and occasionally being ripped off or overcharged. It does however work out positively as well by allowing me to meet more people. I cannot help but feel disrespected by the negative attention. Firstly, I know that I'm white, you do not need to inform me of this. Secondly, I have a name that you could ask if you so feel the need to yell at me. Thirdly, both you and I can obviously tell that I'm not from here so there is no need to stare just approach me and ask.
I believe I have now developed the minority complex and the thought that only other minorities can understand what it's truly like. I also believe this has opened my eyes to what it's like to be a minority in the states. To have a certain perspective of your "grouping" by the majority, how you are treated differently by the majority and what the majority expects from you is actually quite annoying. Almost all of the international students happen to be white, but not all of us are Americans (in fact there are only about 5), which isn't really taken into account when looking at us. Even if I have these new thoughts that only other white people understand me here, I have refused to travel in large groups in order to avoid even more attention. However, I have met two girls that I have become really close to with whom I can exchange all the new experiences both good and bad about living in Dar es Salaam. So here's my shout out to Brigitte and Conny thanks for becoming my good friends and sharing this experience!
I've found it helpful to be with a few Tanzanians for security rather than alone or with a group of other white people. I am using security in the sense of to make one more comfortable and being with and making friends with Tanzanians seem to deter the stares I get and of course the yelling of mzungu. I am thankful for being the minority in this sense because the Tanzanians that have approached have done so in order to help me out and make me feel comfortable. They realized that I'm not from here, saw that I needed help getting somewhere or the course outline and then managed to help me out as well as take the time to talk and get to know one another.
I do believe that no matter how well I get to know my surrounding or if my Kiswahili gets to a conversational level, I will still always look and be different. So my hope is to make as many good friends as I can and start to not notice some of the other things or learn to laugh it off more easily.

Hakuna Matata,
Kimberly

I know that I know nothing, but at least that is something.

It is important to accept that fact that Westernized ideals, ways of thinking and how things operate do not translate. In fact, everything may not make sense with the ways you were brought up with and as a result you can easily become frustrated. I have found it best to accept that things aren't run in the same fashion as in the states and then to take things as they come. Having patience and an easy going attitude has saved me a lot of headache this week in regards to my courses.

Here is how I've come to realize how things operate during the first weeks of the semester:
1) There are a least four drafts of the time table (schedule of courses). Zero draft comes out the weeks before lectures are scheduled to start. First draft came out this week when lectures are scheduled to begin. Second draft is due to come out Monday, and then I have yet to find out when third and final drafts will be released. Each draft comes with changes to the time table. These changes can range from what courses are being offered, what times they are taking place, how many lectures/seminars are available and the rooms that they will be held in. Have you noticed that courses are starting while these changes are still taking place? Remain calm, there's really nothing you can do about it anyways so why waste time and energy worrying too much.
2) Lectures are said to have started this past Monday, yet I have not had one actually take place. Apparently this is not uncommon and also not something to worry about. I can only assume that the reason for this is due to the changing time tables. I went to check on my courses according to the first draft with no success, neither students nor the professor showed up. It's as if everyone else knows that it is not necessary during the first week to attend lectures, or that everyone else is just as confused on what is going on and then therefore do not attend. Now I'm not explicitly saying not to attend lectures the first week because I have heard of some that do actually take place, all I'm saying is if you go to your course and no one is there don't panic and try again next time with the newer time table.
According to my time table as of today, the courses I would be taking are: African International Relations and Foreign Policy, Issues in International Law, Peace Making and Conflict Resolution, Introductory Microeconomics and African Drumming. However, after talking with the political science department today it seems that Issues in International Relations and Peace Making and Conflict Resolutions will no longer be held this semester but instead the following semester. So I will be trying to replace it with Politics of North-South Relations. Luckily, I will still be here next semester to take those courses and will still be on track with my major credits for the University of Kentucky. Now I just need to know the times and hope that they don't conflict with African Drumming or microeconomics. Maybe by next week I'll have a more solidified schedule and will actually have a class or two.
As you can see, universities don't operate as they would in the states. By now I would have already known exactly what courses are going to be offered, when I'm taking them, where they will be and would have definitely started lectures on Monday. I am not in Kentucky anymore and this is a whole new ballgame and instead of being upset about the slowness or uncertainty, I have chosen just to keep trying, relax and let things work themselves out.

Hakuna Matata,
Kimberly

Karibu Tanzania!

For those who are following me but don't know much about Tanzania I will provide a little background.

I am staying in Dar es Salaam, which is NOT the capital, Dodoma is the capital. However, it was once the capital until 1973 when it was moved to Dodoma. For it's purposes I used a map that emphasized Dar es Salaam so you can all see where I am.
Tanzania is located on the eastern coast of Africa. It's border countries are: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Dem. Rep of Congo, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. Because it lies below the equator, the coolest months are during what we in the North hemisphere see as summer, although the temperature doesn't vary a whole lot. The dry season is from June to October the then various rains from November to May.
23% of the landscape is allotted to game reserves and national parks. Here is where you'll find Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti National Park. The first Europeans were German missionaries and the German colonial period lasted until the end of the first World War when Germany was forced to give up their colonies as punishment. Afterwards Britain took it over as their colony. They gained the independence on December 9th, 1961 with Julius Nyerere as the first elected president.

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Karibu Tanzania! (Welcome to Tanzania) is the first thing I heard upon existing the plane and
that already showed great insight into a part of the culture: the culture of greetings. Tanzanians are very friendly and welcoming people which makes the exchange of greetings a very important part of the conversation. You are always expected to be greeted and welcomed before engaging in conversation with everyone you want to talk to. These greetings can usually be accompanied by a prolonged handshake. When traveling to Tanzania I suggest you learn the many ways to greet in Swahili before arriving, they are fairly easy to get a hang of and will show that you care enough to try which is very appreciated. Fortunately for those traveling without any Swahili everyone around wants to and is willing to help.
I've come to understand how little English is actually used in day-to-day life even though it is an official language. Just like English is my mother tongue, theirs is Swahili meaning how they will communicate to each and use most often. The only time I hear English at all is when they are talking to me or at the university. For the first few days of being here I was overwhelmed by this fact and felt at lost in conversations. These first days I was rather quiet, my family would be speaking to each other in Swahili and then say how they wanted to hear from me but I couldn't understand or respond to their conversations so I was feeling a little defeated. Some Tanzanians, like those driving the buses, don't know English at all. However, like I stated someone around will know English and be happy to help you out. After my family helped me out with some useful phrases I feel better equipped in getting around however, I am looking forward to starting my intense Swahili next week along with my classes to help me get around more.
What really started to make me feel at home were my tours around town with my on-site coordinator of my program and learning how to use the dala-dalas (city buses) and my weekend trip to the town of Bagamoyo. Bagamoyo is a town know for it's artists and creativity and every October there is a festival hosted by the college full of dance, singing and other various performances. In Bagamoyo we stayed in these cute little bandas right on the beach for about $12 a night then spent most of the day/night around the festival art booths. Here I got a real taste of how friendly people can be but also like everywhere there are some shady characters. One guy approached us saying that he would get us "friend price" for the show instead of tourists price, which we already noticed to be a trap but he ran ahead and bought tickets for 15,000 shillings instead of the 2,000 that they were. We immediately saw that it wasn't right when then he claimed it said 1,500 instead. But otherwise the festival was really entertaining and really helped me to feel at home.

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Here I thought I'd end this post by giving some useful details that I would have liked to have known before arriving.

1. You do not need an alarm clock when you have a rooster. Even though I'm from Kentucky never have I had a rooster within earshot in the morning, but at least I don't waste the day away sleeping.
2. Water to shower with is cold and usually found in buckets. I've become a pro a bucket showers even with my thick hair.
3. Bring toilet paper everywhere. You will find somewhere to use it but none around.
4. Prepare for swatting toilets, although they can be avoided too.
5. Plastic is almost impossible to use, especially credit cards with no PINS. Most places don't even take debit or credit.
6. Transportation to use are Dala-dalas or Bajajis. Dala-dalas are the city bus but they are this phenomenon of the private and public sector which seems to be blending in the best way for most efficient use. From what I can tell people own these buses and decided for the good of the community (or to make some money) that providing ways around town would be beneficial to all parties. Maybe we should all learn from this? Bajajis are at best what I can describe to be motorized tricycles with a seat in the back that can fit about three people. Both dala-dalas and bajajis are very cheap as well.
7. Electricity and water are not always available and usually at the most inconvenient times.
8. Also I would have loved to know how to dress before coming. Here, women mostly where skirts but always at knee length or below. I have seen for tops everything for tanks to long sleeves though. Jeans would be fine and you do see them but they are less common because of the heat that is always around and humidity that the rains can bring.
9. Insect Repellent! This I knew before coming but I figured I'd stress this point. Seriously take your malaria pills and use repellent. In Bagamoyo my feet were eaten by sand fleas without my knowledge so always always always use it!

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Hakuna Matata,
Kimberly

Preparing for Departure

I am currently only a few days away from embarking on the trip that I've not only been planning for a little over a year but also one that I have been waiting on since early childhood. My love for not only Africa but East Africa I can only assume stems from Disney's The Lion King. It seemed to only develop from there. After hearing how beautiful Swahili sounds I knew I wanted to learn it, and what better place than from where it started: Tanzania.
The preparation process is shaping up to be a bigger headache than expected. Like I've already stated, I've started this process over a year ago; my first step was to narrow down which program I'd like to use. I finally chose to go with Knowledge Exchange Institute (KEI) because of the excursions they included, the remarkable opportunity to take Swahili courses at the Kiswahili Institute and the director Eduard Mandell is extremely knowledgeable on Tanzania on the whole and the University of Dar Es Salaam in which I'll be attending. When looking for a specific program, I'd recommend to sit down and think about what you want and expect to get out of your study abroad experience and then find the match. My next step was vaccinations and a health check. I'm glad I did this process earlier because I learned that the Hepatitis A vaccination is actually a pair that must be done 6 months apart. I also chose to take the Typhoid pill instead of the shot because it last longer, one thing about the pill is you must be diligent in taking it correctly or else it would be no use. From here it was mainly the application and acceptance process. For my application I needed 12 passport size photos, after looking at Walgreens, CVS and other I started to realize this would get expensive. They all pretty much offered 2 passport photos for around $9 dollars, that's a whopping $57 for the same photo twelve times. So here is my excellent tip just ask the manager for some kind of break, the worst they can do is say no. When I asked I got the first pair for the normal $9 price than every pair after for fifty cents more! Talk about discount!
Well the application and acceptance process is followed by a long waiting period. Waiting for my malaria pills to come in by the 11months full, waiting for the invitation letter to apply for my visa, waiting for this or for that in which during this time I had a chance to learn a few things about what I'm getting myself into. So far what I'm excepting is to encounter warm and friendly people but to be aware of the traditional aspects in society.
It was all about waiting up until right now when it's crunch time and everything needs to be done and ready. Finally getting my invite from the university to apply for the visa started the ball rolling again. Plane tickets had to be purchased, visa obtained, pills to arrive, start packing and overall be ready to leave for a year.
The next and final process before departing is the dreaded packing. What all should I bring for 10 months away from all the familiarities including health care products to over-the-counter medications not to mention clothing. What I know is that I ultimately only want to bring one big suitcase and a carry-on because I don't want to lug around anymore than that. I've also decided to bring enough toiletries for my entire trip that way coming home I'll have more room in my suitcase for souvenirs. Other than that it will be light and modest clothing to adhere to the culture and weather in Tanzania.
Overall, I'm ecstatic to finally arrive and I'm very much looking forward to the next 11 months of my life. While I will miss things from home I know that I'll be returning soon enough and not to let that hold me back from experiencing all that there is to offer me.

Hakuna Matata,
Kimberly