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Okay, I'm ignoring the trips thing I made, it doesnt let me add more to it, once I've published it...so here, I@m going to continue where I have left off from my last post. Some of it may be detailed, and some not. I have 11 pages of writing in my notebook...sooo....yeah. This will probably be really long, so sorry.
It is May 20th, 11:13 AM here in Iringa, Tanzania. (about 2:13 AM I think in America...)
Day 2 continued (May9)-after the train ride. (this is still in England...)
Got off the train onto New Street on Birmingham. Its a huge station like Euston (we have a problem) is!! New Street is a lot like 16th street mall in Denver, but bigger, and more chaotic it seems, and with less street muscians (sad) although I get my fill of those in the tube stations. The silly thing about New STreet is, it has Subway restrtaunts on every block!!!! Why!?!?!!? I had to walk about 10-15 minutes uptown from New Street to get to Hatters hostel, but on the way I missed my turn and ended up in Victoria's Square. I'm not sure what it is, but there was a gorgeous building and fountains there, lots of tourists around. Anyway, once I found the right way, I walked past St. Pauls Square, which is right before my turn to get to the hostel. Again, there is a gorgeous church there, and the courtyard was very green. I'm not sure if its famous for something, I'll look it up sometime, or my england friendscan tell me.
I was very impressed by this hostel!! It was so nice, MUCH MUCH nicer than Acacia (which is a fitting name, I learned the trees here in Tanzania are called Acacias! hahaha awesome). Anyway, they had a full kitchen area, a tv lounge, a nintendo lounge, a dining area (seperate from the kitchen) a back garden and an internet cafe (with good computers...) and the front desk worker...was a very very sexy brit about my age. He gave me a map and told me how to get to Symphony Hall (which is a ten minute walk...) so I could see Brian May. And I had an 8 bed dorm room to myself...it was quite nice. some girl came in late at night, slept and then left early in the mornng, but otherwise, I was completley alone in this room. And, the beds were comfy (unlike Acacia). After the Brian May concert, I was too jazzed up to sleep, so I played MArio Kart for a while and talked on the phone, and finally fell asleep pretty late.
Brian May concert!!!
I left the hostel around 6:30 Pm to walk to Symphony Hall. My walk took me off the main streets and into canal areas (that may have been residential?) the walk way was red brick, and it was rather pretty. I met a british couple walking the opposite way with a dog. I socialized with the dog and them for a bit (she happened to be a huge Queen fan! but had no idea Brian was playing because they had just gotten back from a holiday (vacation to americans...) and she asked me a little about Colorado) and then we went our seperate ways. It's been quite difficult to put my feelings about the concert into words. Incredibly surreal is the only word I can find for it (more so weeks post concert than at the actual concert for some reason). Vintage Trouble opened up for them, and they were A GREAT live band. They are a blues rock group, which is right up my alley. THey played this certain song, that i don't remember the name of, but the singer introduced it by saying that you must speak up for whatever you believe in, regardless of what it is, but be sure to say something! he had a whole speech about it, but that was the gist of it. I really liked that song, and I need to find it for my Ipod. I agreed, which is way I got involved in activism with CAA. Veganism (even vegetarianism) is an important step for minimizing our damage to the environment, our health, people in 3rd world countries and doing away with animal cruelty.
Anyway, after them, Kerry Ellis came on stage first. She looked very elegant in a beautiful flowing green gown, she kind of looked like a butterfly to me. She ended up having many costume changes throughout the show. Then Brian walked out with his Red Special, and my heart jumped in my throat, and it was difficult to breathe!! I was finally seeing him live, something I thought would never happen. And I was sitting so close, so that was a bonus. See, I don't regard Brian ike most people regard celebrites (omg, there is a huge celebrity over there, omg omg omg and people get obsessed). some people think thats how I am, but the relationship I have with Brian is really just extreme respect for what he does. His music (and Queens music) just hits an emotional button with my soul that no other band has accomplished. And he and I share MANY of the same views on life. He speaks out (very loudly I might add) about animal rights issues, he never had a problem with drugs or alcohol, and he's one of the hardest workers I've ever heard of. He wants everyone to be happy, and really stays well connected with his fans, and finds time in his day to talk to them or email them back (he has emailed me back several times!) I really respect that as a fan.
Anyway, the concert lasted for about an hour and a half, and they played MANY songs that I truly love, especially my two favorites, Last Horizon and Somebody to Love (in succession I may add!!) I always thought I would cry if I heard Last Horizon live (it hits the emotional button that I was talking about pretty hard, I think its a beautiful peice of music) but I didn't, I was too happy to cry. I just closed my eyes and let the solos flow through me. he also had the disco ball going during that song, and that affect makes it all the more surreal. i have video of this if you want to see it when I get back, in fact, I took videos of most of the concert! They won't be posted online, but they are for my memories. Anyway, I saw 2 guys my age there!! they were sitting far away so I didnt talk to them...but damn, there goes an opportunity to meet a husband... :P. Once i got back to the hostel, the whole expereince felt like a dream. Did what I just see really happen??
update: a week post concert, the events and songs are always running through my mind, amd I become instantly happy when I think about it. It keeps me calm, espcially on the bus ride from Dar es Salaam to Iringa (i was one of 3 mzungos (white people) on it...and I was scared shitless. I have had Dangerland stuck in my head since the concert (which is fine with me..the guitar in that song is great maybe thats why its soooo vivid in my head). Anytime I feel homesick in camp here or just nervous about anything, I pop on the Brian May/ Kerry Ellis Anthems album and calm myself down, or Brian's back to the light album, or just random Queen songs.
Day 3: May 10
I woke up early in Birmingham and walked around the jewllery quarter area. No wonder it's called that, its mostly all jewlery stores!! I walked back to New Street after checking out and people watched for a couple hours and explored the shops. It was very busy, but it seemed to be all locals B-ham-ites running around instead of tourists. Channel 4 ( the main channel in Britain I guess) was filming a segment on What you may not know about the healthcare system. they wanted me on it (they wanted an american's view...haha) but I chicked out. However, the girl I talked to, she seemed not much older than me, was really really nice. We talked for a while about healthcare differences in our countries and some political stuff. I left B Ham around 1 pm and slept for a bit on the train. (i was really tired that morning for some reason!) Onvce I got back to London at the acacia hostel, I set out walking on Old Brompton Road to find the vegan restraunt, I never found it, but I found tons of ethnic places, a couple pubs and ended up walking through many residental neighborhoods, and schools. there were lots of school children running around, and they were all riding these cool scooters! like razors in america, but they had 2 wheels on the back instead of one. The south kensington area is REALLY ritzy, so all the apartments had their own large, private courtyard. I ate at a little cafe I found, where I got purple soup...hehe weird. it was good though. the service took FOREVER though, and I was really concerned about getting back to the hostel so I could get to WWRY in time. I posted a lot about WWRY and the dominon theater on facebook, so I'm not going to repeate it here (I have to pay to use this internet) and I don't remember what I did after the show that night...sad.
Day 4: May 11
woke up really late and mostly just spent the day reorganizing my luggage (since no one else but the irishman was in my room, so I didnt disturb anyone) I talked to him rather extensively that day. He is a pretty cool guy. I also walked the other way on Brompton road and around other streets, and founds LOADS of cheap, vegan friendly restraunts, grocery stores (gonna buy some crumpets when I get back to take home!!!) and book shops. I also spent about 3 hours at the history museum down the street. the paleontology exhibits were sweet. At night, everyone in my room was asleep by 9:30 pm, so I sat ni the lobby until midnight and talked extensively with the indian receptionist (a different one than who checked me in, he spoke perfect english). he was very well travelled and he was very curious about the TZ project. He was cool, I liked him and wish I had kept in touch with him.
Day 5: May 12
I woke up early today and ate breakfast with the irishman. I had crumpets for breakfast! Then I checked out and walked around for 6 hours! I also described this on fb, so I'm not going to write about it much here. I took A TON of pictures this day, over 100!!! so i'm excited for everyone to see them. I left for the airport after I got back, and I mostly slept on the plane to Africa. Missed breakfast again, haha.
Day 6: May 13
Arrived in Dar at 7 am. I had to get a travel visa in the airport and the process was surprisingly easy and fast! I had NO PROBLEM at all, which was totally wonderful. The airport is EXTREMELY SMALL which I also was not expecting. The entire airport was probably the size of the lobby in terminal 5 in heathrow airport (for you londoners...) nd probably as big as one side of the security area in DIA (for you Coloradoans). so that was really interesting to walk into. and I did not have to go through a customs process, which I had to do when I entered the UK (god that sucked...) I was picked up by a cab driver, Mr Kanji, that works for the project. He spoke mostly perfect english, and he took me to jambo inn. Again, I described everything about the roads and jambo inn, so I won't do it here. Dar is SOOOOO HOT AND HUMID!! almost unbearable. And iringa is chilly! and Pawaga is a dry heat! every area is different weather...haha. Will see what chogela is tomorrow (may 21)
Day 7 May 14
The time change messed me up, I thought my britain phone wouldnt reset to TZ time, so I set the alarm for 5 am, Britain time, which would be 7 am TZ time, but my phone DID convert so I accidently really woke up at 5 AM, got all ready, showered and everything and went down to eat...hahaha oops. So i just went back to bed and woke up again at 7:10, ate breakfast and Kanji picked me up at 8 am to take me to the bus station. the bus station is crazy! its like a huge market, and people harrass you to buy things. I didnt know the swahili word for no yet (hapana) so I just shook my head, and they moved on to somoene else. the women were carrying baskets on their heads!! without assiting with their hands!! it was crazy, I didnt know they still did that in Africa. They were doing it in the villages too. I was really nervous still, but luckily i was seated behind a nice young British couple from Bath that overheard me talking about the TZ project to someone else on the plane. They were curious about it. They were moving to Iringa for 3 years! He bought me a water bottle. I felt comfortable if I was around them. I was seated next to a Tz local who didnt seem to speak english. The bus ride provided you with movies to watch (its an 8 hour trip from Dar to Iringa....) However, the movies were african soap operas. They were hilarious. One movie was about a women who had a bed wetting problem, so it broke up all her marriages, but evenutally in the end she was cured. and the other was about a GIGANTIC bitch of a women who just strung men along, made them believe she loved them, slept with them and then left. the movie ended with her accepting a proposal from a guy, getting ready for the wedding, and then not going. he found her later at their house, not dressed and he was like, dude, why werent you at the church? and she goes, oh, were we supposed to go to a church today? and it ended with her laughing in his face and him crying...oh man it was so terrible. and it was all in swahili with english subtitles. we also watched african music videos. when I wasnt paying attention to these crazy movies, I was staring out the window at the countryside rolling by. ITS GORGEOUS in TZ. i took many pictures and video. its so green and mountainous!! I was met at the Iringa bus station by Devin, a vegetarian grad student volunteer from Iowa that got in a couple days before me, Rowland, our safari driver, Julius and Felisto (2 translators) although all 3 of them speak perfect english. They took me to the inn in Iringa that we are staying at, where I met Kylie (an elephant researcher from Australia and Rachel from Canada, although rachel left the next day. So I have been working with Kylie and Devin this whole time. Both of them are REALLY well travelled, nearly fluent in swahili and they have been EVERYWHERE in East Africa... I was quite intimidated when I met them, but have beomce really comfortable with them as the week has gone on. I have learned a lot from them. I ate my first meal with them, rice, beans and this spinach like stuff. oh man it was so good!!! (this is what I end up having every day in camp though...haha). I feel overwhlemed by everything I have experienced thusfar...
Day 8: May 15
Woke up early and ate bread, tea and a larabar for breakfast. while waiting for julius to fix our super shitty landrover, devin and kyliee walked me around iringa to show me different places that they go. this town is rather pretty, its in the hills so the climate is completely different than Dar...also, here they really celebrate Obama (since he is part Kenyan...) There were a lot of people working and milling aruond, the atmosphere here is really relaxed. No one is hurried at all, they just get their shit done and all is well. I like it. we went to the market to buy groceries! Its huge! and its all local fruit, veggies and rice they sell there. However, I don't know if its organic...this place was pretty clean too! it was fun to walk around. the sellers were really nice people as well. after this, we drove to camp and we got there at dusk so I couldnt get the full sense of what it looked like.. We are in the pawaga camp,( bush camp) this week taking villages on safaris and doing post interviews. We sat around and talked for a long while and then went to bed. The other residents at this camp are a dog named Rafiki (means friend in swahili)...he turned out to be REALLY badly behaved, but I love him anyway. Nesta, a 23 year old cook from a nearby village, who doesnt speak much english besides Thank you. Regardless, through out the the week I have become good friends with her. A couple times in camp it has been just me and her, so we talk as best we can, but mostly just show each other pictures.. I'll write more about that later. There is also a nightwatchman named Freddy, who is pretty neat. Julius and Rowland also stay in the camp with us. They have been helping me out a lot with my swahili.
Day 9: May 16:
saw the gorgeous sunrise from the tent. the mountains here are in the east, so the sun rises over the mountains. It was Devin's day to do safari so I hung out in the camp with Nesta and Kylie. I chose this day to do ALL my laundry. Nesta and 2 village school children ( REgina and Eileen) ended up all helping me!! it was wonderful and I wish I had my camera on me to get a picture. Laundry consists of putting some washing powder in river water in a bucket and putting 'rinse; river water in another bucket. you scrub the clothes with your hands and then just dunk it in the rinse water, then hang it up on the clothesline. These local Africans were much better at it than I was...haha. My clothes ended up taking up the whole line! Oops, but it wont be like that again, as I'm only wearing about 3 outfits while I'm here and packing away the england clothes. (By the way, I WAY overpacked....half of this stuff I dont need!!!!) Meals consist of Chipati in the morning with jam and tea/coffee. Chipati is just like pita bread in the states. I watched nesta make it, its really simple! Its just flour, salt and water, flattened into dough and cooked on a skillet in oil. but its delicious! lunch and dinner consists of rice and beans and some other side, like sauteed vegetables, potates, or cabbage (made really interestingly, it tasted cool, I dont know what she did...) and some spices. We are living on somebodys farm here, so we are among corn, watermelon and papaya, so our fruit comes from these fields. Oh, there are also peanuts here, and they taste very different from america!! apparently they dry them out in America, I did not know that...so the nuts are pink here and are moist! I just picked them off the vine and ate them. Also, the coffee here is DELICIOUS! I'm going to buy some and bring it home. I HATE cofffee in america, but here its fantastic. Its a fun and relaxing place. (here im kinda going to combine days) Nesta's cooking is delicious!
THe river we are near apparently has crocodiles in it, but I havent seen any. Althought I saw a Nile Monitor in the river!! I'm afraid to swim in it due to the crocs, but Julius frequently jumps right in! I once watched him and he saw me and yelled Karibu! (welcome) and I yelled back mamba!! (crocodile). Across the river is a very dense jungle, and in the mornings you can hear monkeys yelling in it! they are very loud, and sometimes they even wake me up! Theres also ALL KINDS of bird species (over 500 here), and their calls are unlike anything I've heard in the US. It's wonderful to listen to...don't even need my Ipod! (not like I listen to it much anyway) I'll make a species list someday, but not right now. I also saw a huge monitor in the corn, it looked lkind of like a komodo dragon...rafiki chased it into the river. it was hilarious to watch. i have lots of pictures and videos of these things. THe bugs here are terrible...there are HUGE black wasps that are just terrifying. Rowland, Nesta and Julius get a huge kick out of watching me run away screaming in fear when one flies near me. Also the bumblebees are twice as big here as they are in America. Freaking scary. THe ground is teeming with cool insects. I watched a wasp pounce on a beetle and drag it into a hole (wasps live underground here) and I also watched an army of small red ants completely swarm a caterpillar, kill it, and carry it into their hole about a foot away. It was absolutely fascinating! When I''m not watching the ground, river, or trees (lots of little tree lizards in the trees!) for wildlife, I am either playing with Rafiki or reading. Rafiki LOVES to bite and hump me...and no one else (WHY!?!?!?!) so I have a ton of scratches and bruises from him. He also likes to steal shoes, socks, and anything else he can get his mouth on. Hes such a pain in the ass, but I love him. He is the one that found the monitor in the corn!! We camp in a tent, and its usally REALLY hot at night. damn good thing I brought shorts. and I usually sleep above the sleeping bag. Although the last night I was there it was chilly!! i slept part of the night in the bag. Oddly, I have problems falling alseep in the tent, and when I finally do, I have incredibly vivid dreams...we typically go to bed around 9 or 10 pm since there arent any lights in camp, so we cant really do anything past 9 since its so dark.
I have not been putting on my ultrathon (which is recommended for Africa) because when I did, ALL THE BUGS SWARMED TO ME! and that stuff is really sticky, so they stuck to my arm. it was so annoying. so i dont use bug repellant, except for some spray sometimes, and so far i have not been bitten at all. (except for rafiki...) so yeah, if you travel, dont use ultrathon. it sucks, and even attracts the bugs I think!
I also spent the 16th trying to bone up on my swahili via dog commands and my dictionary. I'm learning some, but I ALWAYS forget it once I get into villages and come across someone to speak to. I can't retain it...its so hard. However, its only been about 6 days...The funny thing is though, my spanish is coming back really strong. and I find myself thinking in spanish or wanting to speak spanish for the swahili words I dont know. for example, Yo Quiero Chakula (I want food, but the first part is in spanish and the 2nd part is in swahili.) god its such a weird phenomenon!! and its rather frustrating. I have taken to writing needed phrases and anything the guys say to me in a notebook, and I review it many times a day...It'll get there! but right now its hard. And I really want to talk to the villagers!!
By the way, the villages don't have electricity. and there are a ton of goats, chickens and cows running around completley free range. Also dogs, but the dogs are pretty skinny sadly. their houses are made of mud bricks, and they commute to the fields everyday to work. my new favorite thing is to wave to all the village children as I pass by their villages while in the car! They love seeing mzungos and yell something, wave back and sometimes even chase after the car!! they seem very happy here. when the days work is done, they all sit around in their village center and talk to each other. some villages have big markets, where you can buy water, others are just houses. Some people dress in western clothes, some in traditional african garb (which I hope to buy while Im here and some even dress very tribally in togas and HUGE gages in their ears. Its fascinating. and all the women carry things on their heads, unassisted. I have also seen some very young looking mothers...about 14 years old. they wrap their babies on a cloth carrier on their back. i just love going into the villages and walking around, although I get stared at by everyone since I'm a muzongo. Some adults even know limited english, and will try to speak to me...our conversations dont get very far though...Rowland always needs to help me. 😊 i ran out of fresh water on the 2nd day in camp so I had to drink filtered and boiled river water...its pretty nasty, but it gets the job done! amazingly enough I have not gotten sick at all!! except for a small stomach ache on the drive from Pwaga to Iringa...don't know what that was about...
Day 10: May 17 This was my safari day! we provide the villagers with digital cameras to take photos with, and then they can buy them a couple days later during the post interviews. They love taking pictures of mzungos, and will take pictures of me doing anything, taking my field notes, taking a picture of something else, looking through my pictures and eating. Frequently they try to take it when I'm not looking, and I found some later that were like that. but If I caught them pointing the camera at me, I would do silly poses. It made them laugh The women wanted pictures with me!! None speak english, but they still tried to communicate with me. I really want to be able to talk to them. 2 days later, when we did post interviews, the men all picked pictures of the animals we saw, but the women would choose pictures of me to buy!! its quite an interesting feeling. I saved them to the project computer, so I will upload those to fb when we get our internet stick.
Anyway, the safari lasted all day. Ruaha is a HUGE National park (bigger than the serenghetti) and very green. We saw TONS of impalas, several giraffes (twiga), lots of elephants (ndovo) 3 lions (simba), lots of zebra (punda milia) including one with a semi fresh lion wound on its back leg), kudus, birds and I think that's it. I want to see a heyena! They have seeen them out there before, but not on this trip. THe lions and one elephant were about 5 feet from the car...it was nuts! and the locals loved it, as did I! I took tons of pictures, and some video. I think after seeing them in the wild, I really love giraffes. They were just so cool to watch. Luckily, I get to go on many trips like this!
Day 11 May 18th
We did post interviews within the villages today from Devins trip. I was the one writing down answers to quesitons. Julius asks them and then translates their answers for me. Devin did te pictures and Kyliee was on her safari. While waiting for or next interview subject I watched all the goats and chickens running around...there are so many! sometimes we almost run them over in the car.
Day 12 May 19th
Feeling very homesick today!!!!
More post interviews from my safari in the village I took. Most people have positive experiences, although I think they talke to their friends who have already been interviewed and aplan out what they are going to say, most of the time I think they say what they think we want to hear. But others, espcially this 15 year old boy, really thought about their answers and learned a lot. They really love buying pictures of lions, giraffes and elephants. most if not all of these villagers have NEVER been in the park before, so like me, this was their first time seeing the animals. we had lunch back at the camp and then drove into Iringa, about a 2 hour drive. We sawa a black mamba in the road!!! one of the most poisonous snakes in the world. it was pretty big too. when we got to iringa, i had my first proper shower in 4 days!! it felt fantastic and finally bought clean water!!! it was just the 3 volunteers staying the night this time, so we just sat around an talked for hours about governmental problems in the US, school differences between Australia and America, the proposed highway through the serenghetti (which will pretty much destroy the natural system there...write your senator and tell them its not okay!!!) and silly questions like if you had one more meal, what would it be? if you were stuck on a desert island and only had 5 movies to watch over and over for te rest of your life, what would they be. Questions like that. then we listened to pink floyd as we fell asleep. I'm really enjoying Kylie's and Devin's company...their travel stories are fascinating and devin is QUITE the environmentalist. We have a lot of the same views about life and both really wantt o get inot environmental and wildlife education. he was also a biology undergrad and is now doing his masters in science education. he plants to do a lot of international teaching and then spend the rest of his life in East Africa.
oh, and 2 days ago, devin and kylie were both gone on safari and post interviews, so it was just me and nesta in camp. I busted out my camera and showed her all the pictures of this trip, including england. she really enjoyed them, we also watched every concert video i took of the Brian May concert, i tried to explain to her what she was seeing, that this was mzungo music. she said that it was kupendeza, the swahili word for beautiful!! whether she was saying the music was beautiful or kerry I dont know, but I thought that was pretty cool. when julius came back he watched some too.
Today, the 20th, we are just going to get some things done around iringa before going to chogela tent to erect beehive fencing (something rachel started) which apparently is to keep the elephants out of the farms. I learned they are VERY afraid of the bees and wasps (AS AM I!! HAHA) so they won't come near the fence if there are bees around. then the next 3 days we will go into the villages to take thme on safaris and do interviews. So i should be at chogela camp for 6 days! then I will be back in iringa, then back to pawaga.
kwaheri for now! I'm sick of writing and I owe almost 3000 shillings! (only 2 dollars so thats okay). Hopefully I will post pictures the villagers took of me tomorrow.
Love and miss you all!! gonna go continue working on my swahili and get some lunch
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Aunt Laurie
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Nice to know your OK!
Thanks for all the writings! It's great to know you're doing all right and that you're having so many fascinating experiences! Stay safe, boil the heck out of that water and clean your fruit and veggies! Don't want any more tummy aches! Looking forward to more postings and seeing your pictures when you get back. Love you lots! AL