3 days to safari!!

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well colin has been keeping the countdown to safari on track, and today theres only 3 days left! ahhh so exciting. first thing wednesday morning, look out! 5 days on safari, then 4 in zanzibar lying on the beach and checking out stone town, then its home again! i can't believe we'll be home in 12 days. time sure flies when you're having fun. altho i can't say its been all fun, kinda boring back in teh village. but only one more day there so it won't be too bad.

so we've been having a good time in mwanza. jane and i went to the casino on friday night, she won 40 bucks, i lost 25. not bad i guess. but Ihave a big problem! None of the ATMs are working today! And i have very little money left. maybe i shouldn't be blowing it at the casino? hopefully they will be working by tomorrow morning, as we are heading back to teh village on the 1000 bus from the station outside of town. 2 hour bus and 45 min cab ride again. then no civilization for another 6 days or so until the safari is over and we arrive in arusha. that will be the 29th, erins birthday! the same night we fly to zanzibar and say goodbye to colin and addy.

we went out for thai food last night at the taliapia restaurant. its right on the lakeshore and costs $385US a night for a double room! ouch. but we just had supper and a few drinks which were reasonably priced. but ordering the food was probably the funniest thing ever. so we ask about the thai. there is no menu. so we figure ok the waitress will just tell us what there is. she doesn't know. so addy goes first and asks about vegetarian options. the lady doesn't know. she goes in to ask the chef, and takes like 10 mins to get back. when she comes back, she says "you can have the 31, or the 32". so of course addy asks what is 31 and 32. the waitress just responds again 31 or 32. so addy says what vegetables or something like that. no good. so she just orders some number and hopes for the best. then colin asks for green curry which the british girls had recommended to us. she has no idea what that is. so he says chicken and she says ok. then he says green curry, and she seems to understand that. maybe.... so then it gets to me. i want pad thai. i say pad thai and she looks at me like i have ten heads. so i'm like ok i want chicken. faruqua says something about cashews, i say something about peanuts and noodles, so the waitress asks if i want chicken cashew peanut noodle. finally i say "CHICKEN< PEANUT NOODLE" she seems to get the point. so then we have to say if we want it mild chili, medium chili or hot chili. i say hot chili please, and she says 'oh no, you don't want hot chili, too hot you get medium' but i insist on hot, as does colin. she procedes to ask us if we are indian, assuming that us mzungus (white people) can't handle the spice. argh!! so anyway, after a half hour and constant laughter, we get the food ordered and pray that whatever comes out is edible.

turns out to be the best food we've had here yet. i must say it was awesome. even the leftovers today were good for lunch. highly recommend the talipia for all of you people who will be spending lots of time in MWANZA, tanzania. hahaha riiiight. we're going otu to a chinese restaurant on the lakeshore tonite, should be good! we just gotta get all the good food into us before its back to rice and beans in teh village hehe. hopefully safari food will be delightful. altho losing some more weight would also be ok.

the longer we spend in tanzania the more nothing really surprises us. you can go to a store at 8am and its open, go back at 10 and its closed, open again at 1, closed at 3, open at 5. there is nothign like posting hours. the market is the same, half open, half closed, all open, all closed at any random time. so werid. the people are the same, some so nice, some not so much. we're getting really sick of being asked for money. EVERYONE and their dog asks us for money. we helped out 2 guys who were working with us with their school fees. then some man at one of hte schools came up to me and asked me to pay for his sons plane ticket to INDIA to go to school. ugh. all the kids on teh street say "mzungu! mzungu! give me money!". all the whitepeople have the same stories, 'so and so asked me for money', this person wants money for this..... it's like, do i look like i'm walking around with a big sack with a dollar sign on it?

we also had a big discussion about our time here today. we all seem to be really frustrated with our time here, and how we just seem to be looked at as money pots. i wonder if they realize how much of our own money we spent to come here, and that we wanted to actually accomplish something with our time, and not just use what little money we have.... i could go on but at the same time its been such a good experience. just to see how things run here, to see how much poverty there really is.... its so sad. and some people just need so little to keep themselves going but have no way to do it. it just feels like what we've done has had such a little impact, but i guess theres only so much one person can do in such a short time.

well i must be off, got some more suntanning and general roaming left to do. and trying to find some money so i can pay the hotel! cross your fingers for me! haha

hope everyone is well and their summers are going well. send us an email or a give us a call anytime!

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Comments

[Anna Kate]

Great stories!
Thanks Jason so much for your awesome blog. I'm laughing my head off over here at some of your stories especially the one about you and Colin breaking the bed and you almost selling Addy at the bus stop. Keep having fun!