Arrived!

---

I have arrived at the university of dar es salaam. it is beautiful, i am living in a dormroom on the fifth floor of one of the halls with a perfect personal porch that i see now will act as a wonderful refuge. there is a monkey (a baboon) outside of the window right now from the internet center near my dorm. i have been watching all the monkeys and cats on campus. they have such personality! scratching...much like the squirrels i adore back in new york. cats with one eyes, nobody likes them but i love to watch them from my little porch.
the group of us, ten americans, went into dar yesterday. its farther from the university than i thought. it took about 50 minutes on the dalla dalla, the small busses that take you anywhere for less than 50 cents. we saw the indian ocean and walked around the fish market. i would love to film the fish market and all the beautiful wood, handcarved boats. some with triangular sails. some that are make-shift catermarans. i would love to identify all of the fish there. i recognized some...baracuda, red snapper, tuna. i was exhaused though so the long walking really did me in. i had to wake up yesterday at about 1 am EST to start the day after only getting in at 11 at night. ive made so many misktakes so far. put salt in my coffee. electrocuted myself (but not badly so dont worry mom and dad) because we have to stick a pen into the socket in order for the adaptors to fit. today we had 5 hours of swahili lessons. i am seeing that it is an incredibly crucial part of my education and for enjoying life here. not nearly as many people as i thought would speak english. i have never been in a place where i felt so alienated by the english. though i think that uncomfortability is good for me and motivating to learn swahili. i cant believe some peole visit here now knowing any. wish for me to learn quickly! it is so beauitful i dont know how i wouldnt. the greatings last a long time and i wish we took greeting people as seriously as they do here. after class, i went to the town near the university, it takes about 5-10 min on the dalla dalla. five of us went to a wonderful market, i guess it is pretty famous for its woodwork and cloths. i bought a handcarved wood chess set to play with the people here because we have some down time and i need something entertaining to relax me. ive also wanted to pick up chess again. it was about 7 dollars US. then i got a cloth for about 2 dollars to hang as my walls are pretty bare. its been a busy two days and will only get more busy, but i hope to keep this blog going since internet is close. take care all! kwa heri (goodbye)

---

Photos

room
view of my room

Comments

[limagao]

Cats with one eye???
Laura am trying to enjoy this trip with you. Sometimes am not able to read the whole blog but I get interseting bits and pieces. I have a farm cat with a 'bent neck' which sometimes is creepy. So I wonder how much creepier this one without an eye could be. I wouldn't be suprised if someone caused it, very 'anti-animals' out there. Keep writting, I'm reading and waiting for the pics.