Mambo?

When you are in a new place, five normal days’ worth of things happen in one day, and it is impossible to try and remember everything while still experiencing each moment. I can say so much, but really there are no words. All eight of us are here now, although there are still two bags missing (not mine thank goodness). Being in a new place with a bunch of other American students is such a bizarre experience! When I think about it, I have managed to go to a lot of the world, but rarely do I go with anyone else. Who would have thought that the part of studying abroad that takes the most adjusting is the part where I am around the people that are most familiar to me? They are all very nice, though, and I am having a lot of fun with them. I think maybe we wouldn’t all necessarily have naturally ended up in the same social groups (which is good I guess because I get that at home), but when you put us all together it is pretty cool. I think my struggle is just that I have a pretty good grasp on how I go about exploring new places and meeting new people, and all of a sudden I am doing it with seven others. And I am the oldest! I am never the oldest! That will take a bit of getting used to…

So much has happened, but it started off with a pretty funny story. While Melendy, Alaina, and I were waiting for everyone else to arrive, we decided to explore a little and time how long it would take us to walk to school in the mornings. Now remember, I am not used to traveling with others, and I have a pretty good idea of what to expect or to expect the unexpected. So I didn’t even think to suggest that they not buy anything or take their money out on the street.

We made it one block before someone came up and started asking us to buy his paintings (we stand out here). Everyone is really friendly and polite here, so I talked to people but didn’t buy anything. I looked back, though, and the other two girls were buying things! All of a sudden like 15 guys are around us. We were with them for 45 minutes! Some of them took us to their store, they all introduced themselves, it was crazy. We couldn’t get away. Two of them came all the way to school with us. I didn’t buy anything and I’m really glad because now I am pretty well established as someone that will live here for a while and not a tourist.

It was an interesting experience but the great thing was that we met so many people that I now see every day. After not buying things at all, despite people asking everyday, I am now known as a student and not someone who will buy things (I mean, I really don’t have the money…and if I have some left at the end of the semester I will buy stuff). So there are people on the street that walk with me and hang out and look out for us and stuff. That is the best part of Arusha so far. The general population is extremely friendly and manners are expected. Strangers say hello on the street and ask how you are doing, introduce themselves, and shake your hand. There is a lot of touching too, which is actually wonderful. When you shake hands you often hold hands for the whole conversation or hold the person’s shoulder with your other hand. I have learned so much Swahili already because people on the street really want to teach me. And when you ask someone for directions or a suggestion of where to go, they usually take you all the way there!

The poverty here is intense and I think that it will take a little while for me to really realize how deep it runs. It’s interesting to watch the other students I’m with interact with things here and have opinions about things. As most of you know, I’m fairly opinionated in terms of where economic disparities come from. At first I cringed when people expressed opinions that were different from mine or said things that I thought were completely…wrong? But like, I just try to remember that everyone is at different places in their educations and they deserve to get to where they are going in terms of figuring things out without me trying to do it for them. We will see how classes go ☺


Other cool things we have done:
-Our school is awesome. It is actually just one classroom in this renovated house that the old Arusha equivalent to a governor used to live in. It’s not the Nyerere Center for Peace Research. It’s beautiful.
-We visited a center (I forget the name) in a village outside of Arusha. It was started and is run by Peter and Charlotte O’Neal, two black Americans that fled the US and went to Algeria when the police were after the black panthers in the 70s. They have been in Tanzania for 30+ years and have built this community center over time. Now it is home to 17 children, it is a school, hosts cultural programs, and is really an all around amazing place.
-Today we went on a safari. It was amazing. It's also pretty goofy to see safari tourists. Their outfits are pretty unnecessary.
-Oh! Five of us went on a group run at 7:30 the other morning. Five white kids running down the streets of Arusha drew a lot of attention. It was good because I’m afraid I won’t get enough physical activity, and I think most people thought it was funny, but we turned around when it seemed like maybe we were in a part of town where people weren’t so into it.


Things I miss the most:
-SAM COOKE. I know I still have him, but I haven’t had as much time to listen to music and so far I don’t have any equally obsessed friends here like back home.
-Dancing…I need to teach someone here because I will most definitely go insane.
-Family and friends of course! Although, so far I’ve done pretty well.


Other stuff (I could go on all day but I won’t):
-It is so interesting to see who is afraid of what. People are so afraid of things! I am so thankful for my travel experience, Mom’s tendency to do things that may look risky to outsiders (like letting us go on the roof as kids or accidentally lighting campsites on fire with gasoline), and the way my Peace Studies professors don’t baby us or let us get away with being too naïve. I truly think that if you are smart about things then however significant any possible dangers may be, they are much fewer than most people think. It is just funny to watch what makes the other people on the program nervous because most of us are pretty different.
-I sleep under a mosquito net that I have to tuck into my mattress every night, then remember that I have to get into it, un-tuck part of it, shimmy under, realize I left my book and glasses outside, reach for them without making a gap in the net, and finally re-tuck it. Then I can’t extend my body without my head or feet being smooshed. I actually really like it though.
-Even though I feel a lot more free here in the way that property boundaries are (people aren’t so territorial I guess…plus all the land is owned by the government and they lease it out), I also am very restricted because I stand out so much (I’m white). I can’t really go out past sunset at 6:30-ish unless I am in a cab.
-People are much slower here, and everyone and everything is late. It’s great, though, because there is so much of what people in the States would call “loitering”.
-I realized very quickly that any attempt to show anyone in Arusha or anyone on my program “who I am” was in vain. We all have so much to share, but I have just been trying to listen a lot. I’ll be here for four months so I’m sure I’ll get to know people well and them me.



I hope everyone is well at home, I miss you all!