Let The Rains Begin!

It's officially been two weeks since I arrived in Tanzania and I'm pretty settled in now. Part of me feels like I've been here for months and the other part knows full well that I don't know anything. I'm going to take pictures around the city this afternoon... I know I've said this before, but my camera is kind of obvious and I'd rather not show it off. I think I'm just going to hop on a dala-dala and hope it's not full so I can take some pictures out the window.

I guess I should elaborate on the dala-dalas. They are Tanzania's version of the "shared taxis" that are found in most developing countries. They cost about 500 Tanzanian shillings (less than 50 cents) vs. a regular taxi that costs about 5,000Tsh. Dala-dalas are basically these vans that have a few rows of very small seats and could probably fit about 15 people at max comfortably. Anyway, there is a man that hangs out the sliding door to spot people that need a lift and then he stuffs as many people as possible in the dala-dala and collect their money. Now dala-dalas have no clear routes. They have them, but there are no signs. They aren't marked in any way that would tell you where it was going so it's always an adventure, because you never know for sure which one you should take. Oh, they're also covered with pictures of Barack Obama, Bob Marley and rappers like Jay-Z and Ludacris.

I rode in one for the first time last week with my friend, Matt, who's been here for 4 months and his first comment was "Wow! This one's not too full." There were 32 people in the dala-dala (I counted) and we had to stand on the side hunched over, looking down on the people sitting below us. Now, I'm sure you'd think that any sane person would say they'd just pay the 4 extra bucks for a regular taxi, but I really love the dala-dalas.

We rode one to Makumira University this week for a music class. The dala-dala stop was a few minutes walk from The Center (where I take classes) in the opposite direction than we usually travel. We were followed by a crowd of children smiling and waving at us. I'm really not sure if they'd ever seen this many white people walking together, but regardless, they thought it was very entertaining. Don't get me wrong, it's not just children that are entertained by us. Alainna and I were walking home from the Center last weekend and we were serenaded twice as we walked down the street by random men saying "whitey-people! whitey-people!" in a sing-songy voice. They just thought we were so funny so they stood up and did a little jig as we kept walking. Anyway, back to the dala-dala. We hop in (very snugly) and this man walks up to the sliding door and pulls out his phone and starts taking our picture! Now, it's not like people here have never seen white people. There's loads of tourists here, but they never ride on dala-dalas so I think we were just a sight to see.

We made it to Makumira for our music class. I'm not actually enrolled in this class, but the professor allowed a few of us to come and learn about traditional African music. I learned drum beats and learned how to play the amadinda (like a giant xylophone) and had so much fun. It started pouring while we were in class for the first time since I got here. Let the rains begin! It has rained every day since then and I still love it. It smells so fresh and it's so cool that the sun shines while it's raining so there's usually a giant rainbow after. Amazing!

I also went to a dance class this week. Our teacher, Tina, is from Madagascar and seriously looked, sounded and acted like she came from some sort of magical land where she lived in a tree. She would explain the steps and instead of asking us if we had any questions she would say "yes yes yes no yes yes yes?" very quickly and scurry off to turn on the music. Our class was outside on a covered patio at sunset and we did all sorts of dancing from traditional African moves to yoga-esque to some distant relative of the electric slide. Anyway, we had a great time and met some new people, which is always nice.

The night life here is very exciting, but it’s unfortunate that we have to take a taxi anywhere after 6:30 which leaves us in our hotel "compound" on most week nights. Matt took us out last weekend to this place called Via Via on Thursday night and then to this place called Maasai Camp on Saturday and we had a great time, though some of our group had a bit too much fun. Anyway, Matt went back to England yesterday so we're on our own exploring the rest of the nightlife that Arusha has to offer (and daytime stuff too, for that matter). I'm sure we'll figure it out. We have so far, as everyone is so nice and helpful here. One of the guys in my program, Josh, has befriended this Tanzanian named John who wants to take us to a waterfall on the side of Mt. Meru tomorrow. It's an 8 mile hike there, so it should be interesting but I'm just glad to be getting out and seeing the beautiful landscape that surrounds Arusha.

Lessons Learned

So, a lot has happened since I posted last week and have already learned many lessons on how things work in Tanzania.

1. Hakuna Matata. I knew before I came that 'hakuna matata' was Tanzania's motto, if you will, and I assumed that this was just a phrase and not commonly used in general conversation. Totally wrong. It's used all the time, especially by the men that sell crafts on the street, and even graffitied on walls. In case you've never seen the Lion King, hakuna matata means no worries in Swahili and really does describe Tanzanian life well. Most things happen about 10 minutes after they were scheduled too. People smile all the time and greet random strangers on the street with handshakes and usually hold your hand for up to a few minutes after you shake hands. It may sound awkward to hold hands with a complete stranger, but it doesn't bother me at all. It's actually really nice that everyone is so laid-back and comfortable.

2. Hapana Asante. Now, I normally consider myself to be a pretty savvy person and can usually get by without making a complete idiot out of myself. I have no idea why it didn't occur to me that it would be a bad idea to buy something on the first afternoon I was here. I guess, in my defense, the men that sell things on the street are very smart. They approach you and say, "hey how are you?" and talk to you for a few minutes about where you're from, why you're in Tanzania (most white people are here for safaris), how long you're staying, etc. Then they teach you some Swahili phrases and casually pull out their art, craft or other object with African animals or Masai warriors on it and say the Swahili word for the picture. They go from piece to piece saying twiga (giraffe), temba (elephant), simba (lion), etc. Then they ask you to pick your favorite. This is the point where I realize they aren't just being typical Tanzanian friendly.

So the first day I arrive, I'm walking with Sarah and another girl named Alainna and a guy approaches me and then a couple others approach the other girls. There are about 5 different guys hanging out and talking to us, 2 of them showing their art work, when all of a sudden there are, no kidding, 20 guys around us all shaking hands, saying hello, and vying for our attention. I look down at Alainna and she looks completely overwhelmed and Sarah is just calmly talking to one of the guys. One of the guys explains that if we go to his shop, he'll make everyone stay outside so we go with him. I bought a bracelet made from coffee beans (for way too much, I have now learned) and we made our way through the crowd and one of the guys that was walking along with us explained that if you simply say hapana asante (no, thank you), they will leave you alone, because not only is Tanzania a very friendly place, but a very polite place and it is considered very rude to keep hassling someone who has politely said "no, thank you".

I suppose these are the main lessons I have learned since arriving and I'm sure there will be many more to come. We've been very busy these past few days and it's quite overwhelming to think of how I'll update you in one entry without writing a novel, so I'll try to condense and you can email me for further details if you are so inclined.

As part of our orientation we visited the United African American Community Center which is in a small village outside of Arusha. The community center is owned by Pete and Charlotte O’Neal, an African American couple from Kansas City that moved to Tanzania 30 years ago. Pete was (and is still, I think) a member of the Black Panther party and he and Charlotte were forced to leave the States in the early 70s for Algeria. After a few years in Algeria, they moved to Tanzania and fell in love with the relaxed, easy-going and respectful culture.

They began building the community center about 10 years ago for the youth of their community and it now includes a children’s home, classrooms, an art studio, a recording studio(!), pavilion, visitor housing, water tank and a house for the O’Neals. It was such a cool place. There was graffiti or a mural on nearly every surface outside, large statues in the grass, a dog with dreadlocks that matched Pete and Charlotte’s (I couldn’t make this up if I tried), all in this lush, green environment. So cool.

Warning: The next part of this entry may cause you to sing songs from the Lion King or have very strong urges to watch the movie immediately.

The next morning we went on a safari to Tarangire National Park about 2 hours southeast of Arusha. Tarangire has more elephants per square kilometer than anywhere in the world (aka my mother’s dream). It was incredible. I had heard that the Texas hill country looks like parts of Africa and that actually was a pretty accurate statement. However, it’s really just the hills, the grass and the streams that look like Africa. The trees and certainly the animals are way cooler here. Tarangire is also known for its huge baobab trees which are hundreds and even said to be thousands of years old. They’re also the type of tree that Rafiki from the Lion Kings lived in, in case you were wondering. Anyway, the safari was fun, yet dusty and we saw zebras, ostriches, warthogs, lions (from very far away), lots of elephants, impala and giraffes, dikdiks (the smallest species of antelope that are about the size of my cat, Bean… not Peetie), baboons, vervet monkeys, waterbuck and a lot of overly outfitted safari goers. I'm not really sure why people think it's necessary to dress entirely in khacki with large boots and hats when on safari in a vehicle or even on a walking safari for that matter, but they do. People were even dressed like this on the plane and we arrived at 10pm.

We started class on Tuesday, which I was actually very excited about. My teachers are great and very enthusiastic, though occasionally hard to understand. I really like my international law professor. He's a lawyer from Malawi and does a lot of work for the UN. I’m excited to see the way the rest of the semester unfolds and how these courses go as it’s difficult to tell right now and I’m really excited for my first photography class tomorrow.

I’m going to try to take some pictures around Arusha soon so you can have an idea of what it’s like here. The only problem is that my camera isn’t as discreet as I’d like it to be and I’m trying to avoid looking like a stupid safari-ing tourist (and being hassled). We’ll see how it goes. Also, I have a Tanzanian phone. The number is +255 788 403 204. It’s free for me to receive texts and phone calls and costs me about 10 cents to send texts and about 35 cents/minute to call. Also, here is my address if you’d like to be my penpal!

Melendy Mathis

c/o Martha Niko

P.O. Box 2771, EAC Close

Nyerere Center for Peace Research

Arusha, Tanzania

I Made It!

I made it safely to Tanzania last night with ZERO flight and baggage issues. Incredible!

I sat next to this incredible woman on the flight from Austin to Detroit. She's from Austin and was going to Tanzania too. I was completely shocked. I mean really, what are the odds? She's been to Tanzania many times so she told me all about Arusha, Zanzibar and everything else I wanted to know about what I could expect in Tanzania. It could not have worked out better. I was really upset when I boarded the plane and was feeling very unsure about this whole thing, but after talking to her I was able to remember all the things I have to look forward to here and exactly why I'm coming all this way.

It turns out that she was coming back to Tanzania this time to climb Kilimanjaro. Now, a lot of people asked me if I planned to climb it when I got here. I can now say with absolute certainty that I will not be climbing Kili on this trip (we'll save that for another East African adventure). First of all, I thought packing for 4 months in Tanzania was hard. She's here for 3 weeks and had to pack for 5 different climates because you go from Rainforest to Arctic and everything in between on Kilimanjaro. No, thank you. Second, it's really expensive. She said she spent about $1000 on equipment in Austin and then is still renting all of the "Arctic weather stuff" like sleeping bags, jackets, etc. Crazy.

Anyway, my new friend was on a later flight from Detroit to Amsterdam so I flew on that one by myself. Literally, I had my own row to spread out on which was so nice. The airport in Amsterdam is absolutely the most insane airport I've ever seen. Apparently, it's 7 miles from one end to the other so I'm very thankful I had a short (15 min) walk from one gate to the other. I met a girl from my program in Amsterdam and we get along really well. She loves music as much as I do and we get to choose our roommates so we're going to live together too.

The flight to Kilimanjaro Airport was long and I really wish we would have gotten window seats. If you every fly to Africa, get a window seat. We flew right through the Ionian Sea and over Greece. Then we went over Egypt and down through Sudan and Kenya.

It was nice and breezy and about 85 degrees when we got off the plane. We got our visas and made it through customs quickly, got our bags and were met by our driver, Tau, and one of the program directors, Ethel. It was about a 45 minute drive from the airport to Arusha, where we stayed the night at this nice hotel where I had my own room with a huge four poster bed (complete with mosquito net).

We met our resident director Martha this morning and she and Ethel brought us to our apartment. They have taken such care to plan every detail for us. The apartment restaurant has prepared a menu just for us. They've seriously covered everything. I am going to be SO spoiled this semester. Our apartment is about the size of the average 2 bedroom apartment back home, but the bedrooms are a little bigger. We're sleeping 2 to a room, so Sarah and I will have more roommates when they arrive tonight. We're in the apartment's internet cafe now. The internet is pretty fast and this apartment complex is really nice.

I am so glad to be here, but I know that I will miss home terribly. I'll try to post pictures soon so you can see this BEAUTIFUL place.