Skin Diving in Bawe

---

Hello everyone! We are in the midst of a location change once again. We moved out of our homestays this morning back into the Mawani Inn, a small hotel across the street from the office. We have two "ISP planning" free days to be here, then we are heading to Dar Es Salaam on Wednesday for 10 days on the mainland. A week of lectures and then a three day safari. We were planning to camp for the safari, but there is a bad elephant in the park that likes to rip open tents, so we are staying in a lodge. Probably a good choice!

On Saturday we went back out to the sandbar (this time for class), but we ended up not doing anything academic, and laid in the sun and went swimming. The tide was much higher this time, and the waves were crashing over one end of the sandbar from both sides, so they would make huge crashes into each other in the middle. The water was about a foot deep there over pure white sand, so it was great to play in! We had a blast, but many of the girls got really burned. I was good about sunscreen! After playing on the sandbar for a few hours, we took the boat over to near Bawe island. It is a small private island near the sandbar, and is HOPEFULLY where I will be stationed for my research for a month at the end of the semester. I am still waiting for the board of directors on Arusha to give me permission to be there. Fingers crossed! Anyway, we went over near the island to snorkel over a reef and shipwreck! The wreck was really cool, and it was great skin diving practice. I have found a few good snorkel buddies that snorkel the same way I do, so that makes it really fun. It is amazing that so many of these girls have never even snorkeled before.

I gave my host family their gifts, a WA state book to Rose, and scarves to my cousin Efha and my grandmother. Rose LOVED the book, and has looked through it at least 15 times already. She dreams of coming to America, and I told her if she ever makes it to give me a call.

Last week, I went to the huge market Darijani to go shopping by myself. I wore my African mumu-like bag dress and my headscarf, and no one bothered me at all. It was so nice to be able to dissolve into the crowd and not get picked out like a tourist as much. I bought some fabric to have made into a fancy dress for Eid, the end of Ramadan celebration. We will be on Pemba island for that, and we are also going to celebrate the naming of one of the local SIT employee's daughter. His name is Said, and he is basically our food and transportation escort. He is wonderful. Last week, his wife had a baby girl, and we will be giving the family a sacrificial goat on Pemba for the naming ceremony. We needed fancy clothes for this, so I got the most gaudy fun thing I could find: aqua teal wavy fabric with sequins!!! I am totally in love with this fabric! I took it to a tailor and am having a dress made for me. It will be done tomorrow, and I cannot wait to see it. I also went back to Darijani yesterday with my friend Kate, and we were both successful with our purchases. I wanted to get another mumu dress so that I could have it taken in before heading to Dar, and she was looking for some toe rings for her host mother. We wandered the streets and stalls for about 2 hours ( I also acquired another beautiful scarf) and had a blast. It is so fun that we know our way through the maze of Stone Town now. The biggest problem we are all facing is buying stuff that we want to take home, and having to deal with storage for the next three months!

Last Friday was our final for Swahili. It is amazing how much we learned in three weeks. I did very well on my written exam, and fine on the oral. We have another oral exam at the end of the semester. Seriously, this Swahili class was like 2 years worth of Spanish material. They pounded it in. Now it is time to practice!

---