i'm in africa!
i left on my birthday, but on the plane ordered champagne, and the french man next to me got wine and we clinked (what little sound you can make with plastic cups). i spent a few hours in paris, just wandering around with my carry-ons (which isn't as fun as you'd think), then slept in a nook on the floor in the airport. in the ethiopian airport, i befriended an ethiopian man who was a security guard at the airport. he told me things about ethiopia and gave me his e-mail, so now i'll have a pen pal on the other side of the globe.
yesterday afternoon i arrived in tanzania and stayed in a hotel. today we came to the cross cultural solutions home base, which is basically a fort! the accomodations here are surprisingly nice. there is a shower head and running water, and only on tuesdays and fridays are there power issues, and those days i'd probably have to take a bucket shower. but the food is good, and being a vegetarian shouldn't be a problem.
today i went to a graduation of this tailoring school for girls whose families are affected with hiv and aids. they sang and danced, and a few guys rapped. there was a skit about aids and the district chairman was there and he spoke about aids. after they invited us to stay and have a soda with them.
later we went into the town down the street from us (tengeru). on the way to the market we stopped and kicked a ball around with a little boy and a little girl. today was market day, and it was packed with people selling clothes, pots, produce, etc. we were stopped numerous times by people asking for money. some gave us long stories telling us what they needed and why. others just assume we're rich and ask us for it. little kids would be really excited to see us, and say "mzungu," (white) or just smile at us and we'd say "jambo" (how's it going?). one woman stopped my friend and i and took us in each of her arms and kissed us on the our necks. she was asking for sugar and chai, but she only spoke swahili. (the language barrier is very frustrating). a little girl stopped and translated for us. we then spoke with the girl, whose name is esther, and she's 11. i asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said, "the director of the school." i was walking with my friend ryan and the people who spoke to us always asked if we were brother and sister. we would tell them we're just friends, but that's pretty weird. men and women really only are seen together if they're married or are siblings.
one man stopped us and greeted us. he knew a bit of english and kept saying, "peace, love." we were about to go, but when we went to walk back he was walking with us. we tried to piece together words saying we have to go, but he barely spoke english and we barely speak swahili. he asked us to get a coke with him, and when we said we couldn't he asked me to go alone with him to get a soda. eventually we were able to go after we said we had no money.
when we got back ryan, another girl rachel, and i, sat and practiced our swahili. i already knew all the greetings, which is a start, but we learned numbers and some other phrases. i think "i don't understand" would have been very useful today.
i suppose that's about all. i've met new people and tomorrow am going to arusha national park. monday is orientation, and tuesday my first day of work. excuse any spelling errors, but i am not going to proofread this, because it is 1:30 in the morning.