birthday. bus. home!

Hello all
I am finally back from my trip to Zanzibar and recovering. Our journey back was horrible, basically, but it is so so nice to get home. Our last few days at Kendwa on the beach were great, it was so nice to do nothing but lie on the beach and relax. Last Thursday we headed to Stonetown, the biggest town in Zanzibar to see the sights…. Aka to walk the streets and wander. We arrived and had a wee walk around late in the afternoon on Thursday, then grabbed some dinner from the little restaurant across from our hotel. The owner, randomly, is married to a man from Greenville north Carolina. So, he gave us all free dessert and told me to tell Dean Smith hello haha. The next morning, after a horrible nights sleep, we left for a spice tour just outside of stonetown. We went to a spice plantation, where we saw all kinds of fruits growing and then the plants that spices come from. It is amazing how disconnected we are from that in the US. The coolest two we saw were a cinnamon tree, he peeled off the bark and it was like holding a handful of cinnamon. And then the chocolate tree…. Cocoa really- he cracked open the fruit and we got to smell the cocoa beans… pretty awesome to see where they came from. We also go our mouth numbed by cloves and used lemon grass for bug spray. There was one random tree whose leaves are used to kill fungus… and needless to say the girls rubbed it on my arm. Don’t know if it was those leaves, or the sun, or my cream finally working, but it looks amazingly better haha. Pretty sweet. My goal is to not bring any fungus home with me....

From the spice plantation we went to have lunch and then to a beach and slave caves along the east shore of Zanzibar. The cave was massive and had been used to hold slaves taken off ships on their way to the slave market in stonetown. Once slave markets and slave trading was made illegal, the cave was used to hide slaves. The tunnel from the cave to the beach made it easy to bring slaves in and out to ships to sell them. Pretty crazy. Then we went to the beach for a bit, which was okay but I was pretty done with the beach by that point. We got back to stonetown and spent the afternoon wandering around and bargaining in the shops. It was ridiculous how big the rip offs were, and frustrating to know how much they were trying to rip us off. I guess most tourists don’t know what things should cost… so they just pay it. But for them to try to sell me a kanga (piece of fabric) for 12,000tsh when I got one last week in Arusha for 4,000tsh is pretty funny and frustrating at the same time. But we did some shopping and got a few things, nothing major though. Gifts for people, I have realized how dang stingy I am with my money haha. Plus, I just refused to get ripped off. I did however get a new bag, which I am obsessed with. It is a patchwork type deal from all different kitange. (yes, emma, I copied yours….) It was more than it should be, but the only one I saw and I have never seen one in Arusha, so im glad I got it.

We ate dinner that night at a huge food market. Normally the stalls are set up in a garden area right on the shore, but it is under construction. So it was just a street with stands down both sides. The tables were amazing… full of meats and breads and veggies. There was lobster, crab, shark, barracuda, all kinds of fish, squid, octopus, shrimp, chicken, beef, liver, tounge! It was amazing. I had barracuda, which was amazing actually. For dessert, I had a chocolate banana crepe which was amazzzzzing. And oddly enough we ended up sharing our table with two UNC grads, both of whom still ive in chapel hill, man what a small world huh? They knew people I knew from high school too, so that was crazy. One is in med school at UNC, so I am going to have to set bryce up…We were all pretty sure we would get sick, but we didn’t really care. We figured we had to do it…. Which we did. You cant go to stonetown and not… luckily none of us got sick, though I popped some pepto just in case. The next day we spent the day exploring and shopping some more, there really is not much to do in stonetown. Stacey and I went out early and stumbled upon the morning market. There was fish everywhere, like 6 feet long sharks, and crabs still crawling around. We went through the beef isles, and almost lost our breakfast when we saw a cow head in the process of getting its brains, literally, cut out. We wandered through the veggie and fruit markets and got hassled to buy all kinds of spices. It was pretty impressive. I found a few specific gifts I was looking for for people, so that was good, and found the painting that I would have killed for. My friend Teresa in Belfast, whom I worked in the nursing home with, has this painting from Zanzibar of a man walking down a flooded rainy street. This painting is what made me decide to start buying art in every country I went to. And while in Zanzibar, what did I see? This same painting. Only in one single shop. And though I bargained the guy down from 180k shillings to 100k, I still just couldn’t make myself do it. I wish I had. Next time. And, in truth, I would have had to go to the benki and get some pesa, then try to find my way back to his shop- which in stonetown can be so hard. So. Oh well. Whats done is done eh?

We spent the rest of my birthday piddling around, had a cute little lunch and the girls surprised me with cake, then later had the BEST freaking ice cream- truth, it prob wasn’t that great I just hadn’t had ice cream since leaving the states…., but it was mango… and very creamy which ice cream doesn’t tend to be here…. And we ate it at an expensive place on the ocean. Then Stacey and I found a little conspicuous seat on some steps and took some pictures of people walking past. It is hard to get pictures of people here, you have to ask and most of them say no. but, the people make the culture, I think, and its hard to see a town through pictures without some people… so we were rude… and did it, though no one seemed to notice or mind if they did. We got lost wandering and ended up with some kids, playing soccer and watching some little girls play cards. They let us take pictures, so I have some cool ones.

We spent the afternoon trying to book a hotel for Saturday night in Dar, only to find that everywhere was booked. I was stressed and pissed that the girls had left me alone to call every single hotel and deal with it. They came back and we just decided we would do the whole trip in one day, take the early ferry, then the bus. For my birthday dinner, we headed back to the food market, and this time I went real exotic- ok not really- and had shark, which I had never had. It wasn’t as good as I though. And I drank so much water that I was too full to have the chocolate banana crepe that I had the night before which was AMAZING. We headed back home, since we had to catch the ferry at 6am the next morning. I really wish we had had more time in stonetown, and had stayed less days at the beach, but that’s ok, you live and learn no?

Saturday morning we got the ferry bright and early…. And I got sick. I was sitting outside, alone because inside made me seasick. And I thought I was going to be sick… I was really hungry actually, not really seasick. I tried to eat the crackers I had with me, but couldn’t make myself choke them down. Katie had been outside with me but had gone in to change her pants because she had gotten soaked by a wave. I had spent the last 30 minutes feeling like death having some random man teaching me Swahili words. I had told him twice I was tired and didn’t feel good- even in Swahili, but he failed to get the message to shut up. When he finally asked me for my phone number in the states I told him no and he got made and shut up. But thank god he was there, because after my peaceful 10 minutes, I started gagging over the edge and asked him to take me to the choo. As soon as I turned and started to walk, everything went black. I didn’t faint, but I couldn’t see anything. This is a fairly familiar feeling for me, but not on a rocking ferry, holding the hand of a random zanzibarian that I don’t know… somehow he got me inside, down the stairs and to the bathroom door. I knew I was just outside the bathroom but I couldn’t see enough to get inside, so I just sat down on the floor. Finally I could see and I went in, dripping with sweat and in my broken Swahili asked him to go find Katie, whom he had been talking to, for me. Basically I said, where is my friend from Scotland… haha, and hoped that he understood I was asking him to go get her for me. He kept coming back to check on me, but Katie never came. I finally pulled it together enough to go to where Stacey and Sharon were sitting… and I managed not to get sick again. Turns out he did find Katie and tell her I was sick, but she thought he was just trying to talk to her again because he had talked her ear off too. Opps.

So. Im sick on the ferry, then we have to go straight to the bus park to try to catch a bus. Our desk friend at our hotel in stonetown had given us the number of a friend of his who would take us and help us find a hotel if we couldn’t get a bus, so we called him and he rushed us, me still feeling a bit out of it, to the bus park. Only to find out that there were no more buses. So, its 9am, we are in dar and cant get a bus til the next morning. And we are all sick. Awesome. We got our tickets for the next morning, and decided to stay at the terminal hotel in the bus park, we thought it would make our 5.45am departure on Sunday easier. The bus park in dark is terrifying, with tons of people and everyone asking you if you are going here or there and trying to sell you tickets and put you on a bus, not to mention selling you all kinds of food. So, basically, we spent the day in the hotel room, which was actually a little known gem, we had a clean room with ac and a tv- we even watched some mtv for awhile. But the day dragged and it took a lot for me to feel better- esp with a 9 hour bus ride the next day to look forward to.

But, we made it home and oh what a good feeling that is!! To be back in my bed, with a good pillow and my own sleeping bag. Priceless. We have a new roomie now, from the Netherlands, her name is janneka… or something like that. She is pretty cool, but I had a good (silent) laugh this morning as she spent 10 minutes putting on her make up and doing her hair. Oh TIA. She will be working with Stacey at cradle of love for the next month, so one week after we leave. She is nice and its cool to have another person to talk to and get to know. Plus, she lives in Amsterdam and I love that city…. So that is fun. Sharon left this morning at 6am, and it is weird that she is gone before us. It also is pretty awful that we only have 3 more weeks… school weeks, not even 3 full weeks. Where the hell did it go?? Don’t get me wrong, I am so so excited to go to Belfast, but really…. It has flown. And I really like it here.

I had classes this morning, my kids have exams starting again next Monday, which is crazy… they just had exams. The math exam was already made by another teacher, which is kinda silly since I have taught them and nothing we did since exams is on there, but okay. And I have to make the English exam. We will spend this week reviewing and catching up on what they did last week while I was away, I don’t know why I even left lesson plans, they weren’t even close to followed… but, pretty crazy, now I have something specific to teach to at least because I know what they will be tested on. The students asked me today if I will go with them to Arusha National Park on the 30th, which I have heard nothing about, but I hope that I do get to go. We have exams next week then the final week of class, so im not too sure what to, or if I even teach them the few days after the exam- it will be fun to just hang out with them. They laugh at me a lot. Today I had chalk on my bum because it just gets everywhere and every time I turned to write on the chalk board they died laughing. Luckily im a good sport, it was funny.

So. Im really looking forward to being here, teaching, the next three weeks. I have to go get a birthday cake because everyone in my fam has asked me when we will have cake, plus I am pretty anxious to take part in the Tanzania birthday tradition of feeding each person a bite. I am also headed to the tailor this week to get my clothes made, which is super exciting!! I am also going to be spending some more time at cradle of love in my down time from school, so that will be good. So all in all things are good. Still a wee bit sick, but you know, im just getting used to it.

Today i went back to the orphanage... always a good time. And Stacey and Yanneka came to my classes this morning, pretty funny to have someone watch you teach. now we are in town, getting my late birthday cake! woo hoo! so tonight i will get to do the tanzania birthday celebration. Will tell you more about it after the fact...

okay, Eat some cold stone for me, im craving it.
Xoxo
Nakupenda sana