Today was Saba Saba . Saba Saba translates as "Seven Seven," saba being the Kiswahili word for seven. Saba Saba (July 7th, get it?) is a national holiday here in Tanzania that celebrates...farmers? Something like that. All I know is that it meant that we had no class today. Barak (the program director here in Mwanza) was kind enough to tell us that Saba Saba is really just a big market for tractor parts. But when we went to the market today (a few of us, at least) we did not see any tractor parts but did see a lot of fruit and vegetables. Obviously, Pulchery needed to take some home. So she bought some sugarcane (Ashley Yeager did as well). We got in the daladala with two huge stalks of sugarcane. We walked around the ... read more

Wednesday night, I saw one of the most amazing sunsets I may ever see. The sun was setting over the lake and we began watching it from the top of a kopje (the same one we went to on the first day). We then proceeded to the lake's edge to continue watching the sunset. At the shore, we saw a man preparing his boat, which was really more like a raft, for the night. Around Lake Victoria, most of the fishing is done at night. Men usually leave as the sun sets and return in the morning at sunrise with their catch. Some will even stay out on the lake for days or weeks on end. Anyway, we watched this man depart for the night with the backdrop of a beautiful sunset. The pictures I took, ... read more

Since I'm in the class entitled "Ecology of the Great Lakes and African Savannah," I'm required to go on walks every morning at 7am...an hour and a half before class begins. Dino leads the walks. This morning, we did our first walk to the Kopje (pronounced Co-pee). Although an Afrikaans word, Kopje has been adapted in all of Africa. Anyway, the hike to the top was a lot of fun and offered spectacular views. At the top are a few boulders and only Marion and I managed to get on top of them. It was difficult, requiring us to make footholds in the rock where no footholds were. Dino nearly had a heart attack. In the end, it was a lot of upper body strength and some jumping. I can't wait to climb the next landforms! ... read more

I wrote in a previous entry about Abel, the gardener, and his cute daughter Lydia. Lydia had been deathly afraid of me and Abel and I have only greeted each other. Until yesterday. Sara and Kayli (the two LSU girls) have taken a liking to Lydia so she has slowly warmed up to me. Yesterday, however, we were like friends. It was pretty sweet. So yesterday, Sara was sitting outside talking to Abel and his wife, Fani, while Lydia was walking around doing her thing. I arrived home and decided to join in on the conversation. They know absolutely no English (we taught them "Hello" and "Goodbye") so everything was conducted in Kiswahili. This was the first full test of my Swahili speaking and listening abilities. So here is the story of their life. Abel and ... read more

Friday morning began with a test. Not a particularly hard test, but five essays kwa Kiswahili does make one think a lot. The test ended around 11 in the morning, so most of us figured that we would grab lunch before packing and heading off to Bagomoyo. There was a problem, however - the cafeterias were not yet open. So we ended up going to the Euro H Restaurant to get the only prepared food they had - rice. The drive to Bagomoyo took just over an hour. Yet, it felt much longer because there were 15 of us and the two workers packed into a private daladala with all of our backpacks. But we survived it. After arriving at our hotel, we spent the rest of the day on the beach just relaxing. It was ... read more