Last Week in Dar and Moving to Mwanza

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Our busy last week in Dar began on Monday with a trip to the Tanzania Gender Networking Program. On Wednesday, we visited Haki Elimu. Both are Tanzanian NGOs and were somewhat interesting, although I was definitely much more interested in one of them. On Thursday, we visited the extremely busy market in downtown called Kariakoo. There were lots of people and lots of stores. Although I did not get anything, it was an interesting experience.

Friday was the real beginning of the end of our time in Dar es Salaam. In the morning, we took our Kiswahili final. The written part consisted of 10 short answers and 5 essays. I don't think I did too poorly, but who knows. In reality, the final is only a formality because everyone gets an A. After a short break, we began the oral part of the exam. We were told that it would take 5 minutes, but I spent 20 minutes getting grilled by all 4 TAs, especially Hans, about my life ambitions and how Swahili and Africa factor into them. Riveting.

Following the exam, I patiently waited for Tshongwe to help me go to Manzese Market to do the work for Professor Rivoli. Yet he got caught up doing other things and I therefore never made it there. In good news, however, Elina graciously agreed to do the interview in my absence. She refused payment but is doing me the greatest favor possible. Yay Elina!

Friday night was the goodbye dinner. In true Tanzanian form, there were a lot of speeches, a lot of food, and a lot of gifts. The funniest moments of the night were when my Mama and Ashley Burns' Mama tried taking a picture on digital cameras. Both were hopelessly lost. Finally, Ryan's Baba took a picture while we were completely unprepared. The resulting photos are absolutely hilarious.

Saturday mostly passed without incident. The flight to Mwanza was very smooth and getting SAUT (Saint Augustine University of Tanzania) was quick and easy. The only major problem was that my room had no sink and they wouldn't let me switch rooms until Sunday. But my new room is massive - I even have a small sitting room! And the bathroom produces hot water. Now we're being spoiled.

Sunday, we took a short tour of the city. It's not very large even though it is Tanzania's second most-populous city. It differs from Dar greatly. First, it is much more laid-back. Second, it is clean. Dino, the ecology professor (the class I am taking) says that Mwanza is the cleanest city in the whole of Africa. I'm inclined to believe that. Since Mwanza sits right on Lake Victoria, there is a huge fishing industry. So part of our tour took us through the fist market. We definitely stood out. Later that night, we went to a going-away party for a priest. Lots of long speeches in Swahili that none of us understood. 😞

Finally, the schedule is beginning to straighten itself out. The way it looks now, this is the end of my trip:
Saturday, 19 July: Serengeti
Sunday, 20 July: Serengeti
Monday, 21 July: Ngorongoro Crater
Tuesday, 22 July: Lake Manyara, Arusha
Wednesday, 23 July: Mount Meru
Thursday, 24 July: Leave Arusha, go to Dar es Salaam
Friday, 25 July: Leave Dar es Salaam, go to Zanzibar
Saturday, 26 July: Leave Zanzibar, go to Dar es Salaam
Sunday, 27 July: Leave Dar es Salaam for the US

Looks to be exciting! Hope it all holds!

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Comments

[Tory]

hot water
"now we're being spoiled" haha i love you henri :)