A new life in Zanzibar, a different life henceforth

---

Hi everybody. This will be the final post on this blog for my semester abroad. I'm going to keep it active so you and others can look at it and the pics. Yet it will also stay alive because I will continue to post on it. Likely when I travel, this will be the place where I update yall but I also might do a couple Lancaster editions too (plenty of adventures there too ya know). As always, thanks so much for reading. Hope that you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Hope you've tried to picture me in the wonderful places and wacky adventures that I've described. Hope that you've learned a little something something about the world. And I hope that you'll tell me when I get home that you actually read this because that would mean the world to me.

Yesterday, I officially completed me semester when I finished my Swahili final. Oral exam, 15 minutes long, easy as cake, no problems. I was quite pleased with it, not only because I didn't fail but because my Swahili teacher was pleased with how far I had come since the Feburary midterm. Its true. After Pemba (where I had my second homestay) and Muungoni (my home for 3 weeks in April) I feel that I was able to communicate pretty effectively. Well, I still can't say anything super intelligent or sound like I know what I'm talking about. Most of my sentences are basic and are probably riddled with mistakes. That's okay though. After three months, I'm able to speak Swahili better than Espanol after five years. Geez.

So I posted pictures of Muungoni village, it should give you an idea of what the village is like. Modest limestone houses, one paved road, two general stores, about 15 local healers, one doctor, and lots of mosques and madrasas. Very nice people, very loud kids, and some interesting adventures living quite a different lifestyle.

It’s a fun little village, if you stay for long enough. A couple times I played soccer with some teenagers in the forest. Lots of fun, although they were pretty good, a bunch of them had shoes on while I didn't, and the occasional injury. One time I kicked a root, another time I tried to do a fake but instead sort of stumbled over the flat soccer ball and hurt one of my ankles a bit. A couple of cuts, a scraped up knee, a swollen left foot, and some of the dirtiest feet ever but whatever, sifi.

Also learned some new games. First one is called karum (or something like that, pronounced care-um, maybe one of yall can help me figure out English name). Played on a flat wooden board with four holes in the corner, it’s a little comparable to pool. Instead of balls, its with small wooden chips that slide across the board. You flick the big chip (like the cue ball) and try to hit your color chip (like solids or stripes) into the hole. Simple except that flicking is a tad difficult and you can't move around the board to get the best shot, you can only stay on your side of the board. Also difficult when you're surrounded by all these villagers starring at you, lotsa pressure right? I was pretty bad at first, partly because I was still trying to learn how to flick well but also because they didn't explain rules (that’s not uncommon though, no one has ever explained rules to me here). But I won the game a couple times and then everybody starts yelling that a mzunugu won. Nothing beats it.

I loved the kids in Muungoni. They were so much fun. I'd walk down the street everyday and I'd get so many hellos from them. A couple times I'd even hear 'shikamoo' from them, which literally means 'I kiss your feet', a greeting usually reserved for elders.

I didn't use my camera a lot when other people were around me, I tried to blend in (or at least not stand out too much). But when I did take pictures of kids, it was hilarious. I would ask them if I could take a picture and usually they would just look at me confused. So I would pull my camera out and they would always get scarred. Still not sure why, but after a little convincing, they would let me take their picture. The best part of all this was showing them the picture of themselves on the LCD screen. They'd see it and just go nuts, start screaming and huge smiles. It made me feel a little bad, knowing that they've probably never seen themselves outside of a mirror. At least it made them happy, I guess that’s whats important, not what I think.

What else. So my time at Muungoni has extended beyond the village. I now have a friend whose a night guard at a hotel here in Stone Town. Every time I pass him we say hi to each other. I couldn't remember him from the village (I met so many people, remember) but he sure does remember me and now we're friends. Good times.

Speaking of friends, made a really good friend in Muungoni. His name is Ramadan, he's twenty too, a Muungoni villagers, and can speak English. He's the reason it was possible for me to do my project. Without his translation, there would be no details in my paper. He was incredible. Also really funny and amusing and open-minded. In general, just wonderful to be around. Maggie and I loved him.

In Zanzibar, there are a ton of different ways to say that there are no problems or that I have no problems. So when Maggie and I were about to leave Muungoni, I heard something from him that I hadn't heard in three months: nina shida, which translates to 'I have a problem' because we were leaving. Super sad to go but actually, I've seen him three times since I left Muungoni (been back to Muungoni/Zala Park twice and he came to see me and Maggie present our projects.)

Oh, yeah. Presentations, right. So everybody had to give a 30 minute presentation of their project. Well, I decided to go big or go home (and I'm not quite ready to go home just yet) and bring in some medicinal plants and traditional medicines so people could see what I studied. Came back to Stone Town with a large bag full of medicinal plants. My presentation went well, although I was a little nervous because I was winging it and Ramadan and Mohammed (my main advisor and my 'father' in Muungoni) were there. Obviously, I didn't want to say anything wrong or sound insensitive. I think I did well.

Anyways, I demonstrated many different medicines off to the other students, which is a little insensitive in itself because they weren't sick. Yet it was informative and more interesting than just me talking the whole time in front of a powerpoint. So I showed off some medicines that I talked about in my paper. Demonstrated the nyungu, the medicine for the flu, by boiling many different types of leaves in water and inhaling the steam. Also, a medicine for stomach aches; got some roots from a species of tree and put them in water, added a little bit of salt and taa-daa.

Can't wait to get back home and can't wait for yall to get sick. Doctor Yussuf is ready to help you. Make you some medicine with some stuff from your backyard. Haha not yet, I'm still in training, not a real local healer yet yall. Also, don't know that the plants they use here in Z'bar are the same ones in Maryland or Lanc Lanc. But I'll find out, oh yes I will, and make everybody better. Promise.

So that's all for now. Last blog post for now, but I think I already said that. Keep me posted on what is new, I need to know what I've missed. Like I know I've missed some juicy stories, so let me in on them. Also, need to know how awesome your lives have been without me haha hopefully not. I definitely want to find time for everybody, to catch up, remember what their face looks like, exchange memories of the past 3 months, ect.

Coming home is so bittersweet. Can't think of something else that sounds so great and horrible at the same time. But 'coming home' is very different than 'coming home to friends and family' and I'm excited about that very much. I think people are such an important determiner of where I go and what I do, and I come home because I love you guys and gals a ton.

Thanks for reading about my life in Zanzibar and Tanzania. I didn't come here knowing what I would learn and I don't think I'm returning fully understanding what I have learned. Don't even know how this experience has changed me. Hopefully not that much. I've grown and learned and experienced and matured a lot, but I'm still returning as Tyler Plante and nobody else. Excited for my next chapter in my life, hope you'll be a part of it. Take care. Salama.

---

Photos

A moth
Some kids found a moth in Zala Park and showing it to me couldn't wait until after I was done shaving

Muungoni
One of the major dirt paths of Muungoni. When it rains, the street turns into a river of mud. Stubbed my toes many times along this road, inflicted much pain unto me.

Sunsets
uhhh, does this even need a caption???

Zala Park
This is my front yard, you can see my little white house in the background