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Published: April 12th 2009
Hey eveyone! Happy Easter!
Hope you're all ok. I've been a busy bee this week so I'd better get started!!!
To be honest, my week started off pretty quietly. Monday we went to Coco Beach, the hotel and beach resort and sunbathed all day (got a nice top-up to my tan!) Monday night we all went out for a chinese because Matt was leaving Tuesday and I was leaving Wednesday. After driving around for about 20 minutes in the taxi trying to find the place (the taxi driver insisted he knew where he was going!) we sat down and ordered our food...I had sesame chicken and noodles 😊 It was probably one of the first meals there that I properly enjoyed but I was stuffed after!!! Anyway when the bill came they had added on all kinds of taxes and extra charges to our bill...fair enough VAT but we were asked to pay a "container charge" whatever that was and something else which made my 21 cedi bill come to 26 cedis!!! Ok fair enough thats only 13 quid but it was the cheek that they thought they could exploit us because we were white! Anyway we made a
big fuss and got some of the charges knocked off!
Tuesday and Wednesday were lazy days. Matt left Tuesday night which left 4 of us in the compound so needless to say it was really quiet. I don't know whether it was spending so much time not doing much or with time to think but I started to become really homesick. The thought of not being able to see my family and friends for another 10 months is really starting to hit home and I found myself in tears a few times.
This didn't get better when I left Ghana on Wednesday night. I'm sure that much time on your own isn't good for you and I was feeling like an emotional wreck...I spoke to my parents when I was at the airport in Accra and it was all I could do not to start sobbing and begging for them to book me on the Heathrow flight, not one 6 hours in the opposite direction! Anyway the flight to Jo'burg was actually quite good, although the food was horrible! lol! I arrived in Jo'burg at 7am and had nearly 8 hours to wait for my connection to Dar
es Salaam so I found a quiet spot and took a nap for 3 hours! I then got some food and talked to Naz and Steve on the internet (which set me off crying again!) I must have looked like a right idiot sitting in the middle of Johannesburg airport, crying like a baby!
My flight to Dar was interesting...there was a prisoner onboard being escorted by 4 armed police officers! I don't know what he'd done but he looked pretty rough and it must have been pretty serious getting deported back to Tanzania! The flight itself was ok but I had a few more homesick episodes, which had the two gentlemen next to me asking me if I was ok! I had already arranged a taxi to take me from the airport to my motel in Dar and surprisingly everything went smoothly! The hotel was nice for the price I paid for it and it had a nice powerful fan that I actually had to turn down in the middle of the night because I was cold! (I'm not used to that feeling!). Being on my own again was not good and I made the decision to look
into coming home early as I don't think I'm going to manage the full 10 months feeling like this!
I flew from Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar the next day in a tiny 12 seater plane! It was a bit of a hassle though...first the same taxi driver I had the previous night tried to charge me $10 instead of the $5 he charged me the other way...anyway I told him he was being rediculous and it wasn't even a $5 journey (I hate being exploited!) and just walked off! The check-in desk didn't open til an hour before my flight so I had to wait for 45 mins in the departure lounge. Check-in went smoothly and everything but (and I know this is probably just my frame of mind at the moment) everyone seemed to have someone with them...whether it was a parent, or friend, or partner, or even kids...I was the only one who had to figure everything out by myself, who had to sit on their own for 2 hours etc...it just wasn't fun!
Kassim, the program manager met me at the airport and drove me back to the Work the World house. This house
is absolute luxury compared to what we had in Ghana (and it seems like a palace compared to the academy!) I'm sharing a room with a girl called Becky and there is another girl coming tomorrow. We have an en-suite bathroom with a pretty powerful shower and a toilet you can flush everytime you've been WITH toilet paper!!! I met all the people in the house and they all seem super nice! It will be nice to have girls around after being in Ghana with just lads...I know I'm usually "one of the lads" but it gets tedious sometimes! i think the only thing I'm going to miss is not being able to watch the football as no-one has even mentioned it here yet so I don't think they're that bothered! But I guess the season finishes in a few weeks anyway so I won't be missing that much!
That afternoon most of the people in the house were going to the monkey sanctury to see the red colobus monkeys that only livein Zanzibar. I was pretty tired but I decided to go along with them to get to know them a bit better and socialise (and because Naz
told me I had to go!). I'm really glad I did because the monkeys were awesome and we got so close to them! I gave one of them a stick which they all then proceded to fight over! After the monkey sanctury we went walking throught the mangroves which was really strange...the tide was coming in so we had to hurry up because apparently when it was high tide, the water came over the bridges. It was really cool though and out guide was telling us that the mangroves are one of the only trees that can live in salt water because they can filter out the salt which then covers their leaves!
We then decided that since we were there, we'd go to the turtle sanctury as well! This was awesome. You can feed and touch the turtles and you can even swim with them if you bring a swimsuit, although none of us did! At the sanctury they save turtles caught in fisherman's nets or injured turtles and keep them at the sanctury until they're ready to go back into the sea. It was a really good day and I think I got to see more wildlife
in my first day in Zanzibar than I did in 4 and a half weeks in Ghana!!! Although I did have a brilliant time and the guys here are lovely, it is tainted a bit because I don't have someone I know or care about to share it with. I'm sure when I get to know my housemates a bit better that I will feel a bit better about it but I still can't get rid of the lump in my throat that threatens to overwhelm me when I think about home.
I got an early night Friday night and Saturday was a lazy day on the beach, although it wasn't even sunny! The hotel across the road from the house has its own beach and swimming pool and we can use it for free which is good! In the evening I went with 4 of my housemates to the night market. This is a mini market on the beach in Stone Town that serves all sorts of local food cheaply that you can try! It was amazing to see all these kebabs on sticks and people making omlettes and pancakes and I think I may have had one
of the best meals of my life there (A mixture of beef and shark kebabs...and chips!) I'm a bit gutted cos I managed to lose a bit of weight through not eating in Ghana but I'm just going to put it all back on here!!! After eating we went to a bar/restaurant called Mercury's (named after Freddie who was born on Zanzibar). We were hoping to have a sing along to a few Queen tracks but because it is easter weekend they had a live local band. They were still really good but it was difficult to have a conversation because it was so loud. All in all it was a good night though!
So thats my week! Its had a few ups, and a few downs. All my ups though seem to be a little bit tainted with homesickness and I can't enjoy them as much. I will see how the next couple of weeks go but I think that if I continue to feel like this then I will look at cutting my trip short. People say that traveling helps you to learn new things about yourself and I have learnt that I am at my happiest when I'm surrounded by my family and friends, something I think I took for granted before!
So on that note I'm going to say I miss you all very very much (and I think you know I'm being sincere)
And I HOPE to see you all soon!
Lots of love
Jane xxx
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Naz
non-member comment
Big hug from me to you :-)
Hi Jane I"m soo proud of you, you seem to be doing very well and I know its hard when you travel on your own and sometimes you just wish you had some1 to share your experiences with. But yet again it seems your meeting new friends which I'm sure you will keep in touch with (well the ones you like) and you will have connection with them. Keep in there chick and take in all the memories and write them down. And I'm pleased you did as I requested and went to see the monkeys but I didnt mean you to make them fight lol!!! I do wish I was with you and I miss you too. Naz xxxxxxxx