Kizimkazi

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Hujambo!

Life in Zanzibar is going well for the most part. It seems like our systems are under attack though, as a new girl gets sick everyday. The food in Kizimkazi (the fishing village we are in till Sat) has been hard to take. I have hardly been eating a thing, but am getting used to it. The food is not bad, just really different and my stomach is not too happy. We had octopus curry the first night here. We are being beaten over the head with Kiswahili. 4 hours a day of that class then lectures on other orientation stuff for 4 more hours. But we love it! We are in "class" about 100 feet from the beach, and it is beautiful. Today in the afternoon we were sent into town for another drop off...this time we are not on a scavenger hunt, but an interviewing quest. It was great fun to wander the dirt streets trying to learn about local family life. It was hard when few (very few) people spoke or understood English. Kiswahili is going to help SO much. Oh! I have a Kiswahili name now: Layla. I really like it. It is fun to have a more culturally appropriate name. In the morning we are going snorkeling with dolphins in the morning at 6, then heading back for class in the afternoon. Then Sat we head back to Stone Town and meet our families! Yay! We move into the houses on Sunday. Oh, just FYI, I will be getting a cell phone that receives free incoming calls from anywhere. I have been told that pennytalk.com is a good thing to look into if you may want to call me. It is a lot for me to call out of Tanzania, but I can talk!

love to all!

layla

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Photos

our first boat ride
looking for dolphins, but really all that we got out of it was a bunch of seasick girls, who were all still super jet lagged and living on pweza (octopus)

Jozani
learning about traditional medicines in the forest

my room
Nuru and I shared a tent in Kizimkazi, and fell asleep listening to the waves

thumbs up!
our only common language