Advertisement
Published: March 2nd 2008
Edit Blog Post
Welcome Mr. Bush
Clearly it's necessary to have giant photos of the President on all billboards. I am finally getting around to describing my past month here in Dar. It all started with the sudden announcement that George and his wife were coming to visit for a few days. I got an email from the embassy to let me know that services would not run as usual during that time, and suddenly Dar es Salaam became a very interesting place to drive around. Billboards popped up left, right, and center- thanking Mr. Bush for all of his help, welcoming him to Tanzania, and letting him know what great friends the USA and Tanzania were. Protests were scheduled and announced to the general public, so that we could plan our days and not get stuck in traffic. The streets were cleared of all of the beggars, and you could wait in relative peace and quiet at all of the stop lights. Military TANKS, secret service personnel, and various other Americans suddenly inundated Dar and prepared it to be "ready" for the President. A group of us had a baby shower scheduled at a hotel downtown, on the exact Sunday that Bush was staying there (we planned it before we knew that). We had to call and make sure
Baby Shower Group
We had the secret service take this. we'd still be allowed in... when we drove there on Sunday we had to get out at a corner street because the whole of the main street that the hotel was on was blocked off by secret servicemen. At the gates of the hotel, we had to be called in via sleeve microphone, to make sure that our "baby shower reservation" story was legit. Inside, we had to go through metal detectors. Quite an ordeal.
It all made me stop and think about how sad it must be to travel as a celebrity. George Bush did not get to see what Dar es Salaam is really like. He saw safe, clean streets, street lamps that actually worked, street signs labeling all roads that he might have been driving past during his stay (which caused me to suddenly learn the names of the roads I'd been driving for months without any labels). Bush was given an extremely warm welcome, and all of the locals were psyched to see him... but I don't think he really saw what a third world city is like. He saw what Tanzania wanted him to see as their best side. Don't worry, the exact day
he left, the billboards were already being taken down and the beggars were right back on my street corner. How's that for Tanzanian efficiency!
I've also recently had my initiation process to Tanzanian policemen. I'd always heard the stories about them stopping people (white people, women) unnecessarily, and hoping to get a bribe from them... but I'd been lucky enough to be driving around for nearly 5 months without being stopped at all! Until these past few weeks. One day I was minding my own business, and driving to the gym... when there were suddenly sirens behind me. I was just at an intersection, and there happened to be a traffic officer there, so I motioned to him to ask if I should pull over at the near or far corner of the intersection. He pointed to the far corner, so I crossed the road and pulled over. He approached my car and proceeded to ask for my license and tell me off for not pulling over the minute I heard the sirens, because that was the Vice President behind me, I should learn to use my side view mirrors better, etc. I simply listened to him on his
Make New Friends...But Keep the Old
Some of these friends are new, some are leaving. That's life here. power trip, smiled, agreed, and was let go. Phew! But as I've learned over my time here, nothing happens to me just once. So a few days later I was driving home to cook dinner for a friend, and I turned at the traffic light onto my street, just as it turned orange. There was a whole row of cars doing it, and I was right in the middle of them so I thought I'd be fine. I was wrong. I was immediately waved over by a policeman on the corner. It's almost funny looking back on it now, but this man was out for blood. He told me off for a good long time about how unsafe my driving was, because running a red light was very bad, etc. I explained that the light was not red but had just in fact turned orange. He countered by saying that he knew in his heart what he had seen. He then asked to see my registration papers and told me that my car should not be registered as white, but rather as "pearl." I told him that I did not believe that registration papers give the option of a pearl colored car, that it would either be white or gray, and my car was most certainly white. He wanted me to go into the police station with him to redo all of my registration for a pearl car. I refused. So then he went back to pestering me about this red light that I, and only I ran. He said that I could either go to the station and pay the fine, or we could go to court about it. Being that I was in a hurry and we'd already spent 15 minutes discussing the peal-like quality of my car's paint job, I sweetly asked him if I could just give him the money and have him go to the station to pay my fine. He quickly agreed to "do me the favor." I gave him some money and went home to cook. Welcome to Tanzanian traffic police.
In other Dar news, I've finally been given the rude wake up call that I live in a very transient population here. Back in Switzerland, everyone came and went basically with the school calendar, so you had a chance to prepare yourself for the goodbyes. Here, people just leave all around the clock. It's a sad thing to feel like you've finally made some good friends that you can talk to, be yourself around, and travel around with, only to have them leave so quickly! There's apparently a constant rotation of making new friends, losing them, going out to make new friends, etc. On the up side, there's always a goodbye party to go to! I've been making new friends as well in the past few weeks, but it's a sad reality that a few of my good friends of the past few months are leaving this week. I know we'll stay in touch and it's cool to have friends all over the world, but it's still a harsh reality to deal with!
Otherwise, school is going well and in 2 weeks time we have Easter holidays! I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by, and my influx of visitors is quickly approaching!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.087s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 58; dbt: 0.0539s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Rachel Mlin...
non-member comment
well hello there!
Sounds like you are having muchos fun! I can definitely relate to the transient nature of friends and living/working abroad, but it sure is worth it, isn't it? I really envy you! I miss being abroad and teaching, particularly in Thailand...not sure how much longer I will survive at this desk job. Fairly sure I remember promising myself I would NEVER get a desk job... Hope all is well with you! Can't believe you and Kimmy both speak Swahili now! Love, Rachel