The beginning

Moshi, Tanzania

Mambo! It is day 4 for me in Tanzania and I finally managed to get internet so I could start this blog. So much has happened already that I hardly know where to start, so I will start at the beginning...

Despite the fact that I felt I had plenty of time to pack the morning before I left, I wouldn't be a Cormier if things went smoothly. I had to set up my kindle again because my dad sent mine back into Amazon, couldn't find the iPod I was going to take so settled on a different one and just barely had time to upload my songs, and don't even get me started on my meds. I left the medication until the last day because I suppose I needed more excitement in my life. My Dad was angry with me the night before because I hadn't picked anything up yet (was supposed to start my Malaria meds a week before) and I kind of laughed about it, but I definitely didn't understand the seriousness of the situation. After a last minute scramble to get everything packed I ran out to the pharmacy to pick everything up while my iPod synced. Once we got on the road I realized that I had completely forgotten my medication for typhoid. We stopped by the pharmacy again on the way and as the pharmacist was handing me the pills in between two cold packs he said, "You know these have to stay refridgerated right?" Well obviously I did not and that would be why people generally take these pills before they leave. There wasn't much else I could do so I grabbed the cold packs and hoped for a fridge on the plane.

After my sister dropped me off at the airport, a sobbing mess, I spent the next 2 hours or so in the airport trying to remember why I was doing this again.

I got on the plane to London and found out that storing meds in the fridge is illegal, so the flight attendant gave me a bag of ice which, save a few hours of it spent in Denise's fridge, I would be burdened with for the next 40 hours or so. I landed in London and despite running on about 2 hours of sleep, had the greatest layover of my life. I had no idea where to go so I just hopped on the tube to the stop I was meeting Denise at for lunch and decided I would wander around there until then. By chance the guy beside me had what looked like a backpacker's pack, so I asked him if he was travelling also. He had literally just arrived from Kenya where he had been volunteering with the peace corps. It was the craziest coincidence ever that I just happened to be volunteering at the country next door. He ended up hanging out with me until I met Denise and we went to check out Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and went to the National Gallery (the leaking bag of ice came with me everywhere). The paintings were amazing and I couldn't believe how beautiful London was.

After lunch with Denise and a few of hours of downloading books on my Kindle (did you know there are literally thousands you can get for free?), I was back to the airport. Going through customs I put everything in a bin to go through the X-Ray including my leaking bag of ice. They pulled it to the side into the pile of items to be searched. As I waited at the end of the counter, I watched about four or five customs officers standing around examining and smelling my bag. It was clear they were gravely concerned over what it might be. After I explained everything to them, pretty well convinced them that this wasn't some sort of biohazard, and agreed to throw out the ice and get a fresh bag after, they let me through customs. Despite the fact that I had two hours at this point until my flight left, the day wouldn't be complete without me hearing the last call for my flight over the intercom and having to run to make my flight.

Nine hours, a fresh bag of ice, and another 3 hour night sleep later, we landed at the Dar Es Salaam airport in Tanzania at 6:30AM. At customs we filled out these elaborate forms that I painstakingly read over to ensure that nothing would cause me not to obtain my visa. It turns out finger prints and $50 US is really all you need to get into the country. They didn't even read the form and the customs officer just asked me what flight I was on and then waved me through.

When I walked towards the door out of the airport I immediately saw a man standing outside holding a sign with my name on it. Considering I was entirely by myself in a third world country where I didn't speak the language, I don't think I am exagerrating when I say I think that was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. He drove me in a cab through the Dar Es Salaam rush hour to the bus station. Maybe I was over-reacting but this was the first time I was legitimately terrified. Driving in, there was literally a swarm of men gathering around the car and yelling things in Swahili. My driver called over the next person who was to help me get my ticket and put me on the bus. Now some people might think it seems silly to hire a man soely to escort you to a bus and help you purchase your ticket; these people have never been to Dar Es Salaam.

At this point I was starting to get extremely worried about my typhoid medication. My bag of ice contained much more water than ice and I still had a 10 hour bus ride ahead of me. On top of this, it was only as yet about 7:30AM and Dar Es Salaam was HOT: very very HOT. I informed my bus escort of the issue and then stood there dumbly and watched him arguing in Swahili with about 10 other people that were surrounding us (these people followed us around basically until I got on the bus). He informed me that he would put me on the VIP bus and that it had a fridge that I could put my meds in. We went to exchange money and then headed to the bus. Just before we reached the bus he stopped. At this point the group has grown and they were all crowded around us so that I had to hold onto my backpack so no one could get in it. My escort was still wearing my backpack and standing in the middle of the crowd while the entire group starting arguing and screaming at eachother in Swahili. This is the second time I was legitimately terrified.

As things started to die down I checked in with my guide and he told me they were arguing about who got to take me to the bus. I think one of the most difficult things about going to this area is the fact that the colour of your skin puts you in a position where everyone knows you are a tourist and assumes you have a lot of money which they deserve to have. I started to kind of feel like a piece of meat. Anyways the guy they hired to escort me turned out to to be a really nice guy and he helped me get my ticket and find a good seat on the bus. We locked my backpack in the compartment below and he showed me the specific person I should ask for to open it. The fridge it turned out was essentially a cooler that was built into the bus. It might have been useful as a fridge if it had ice in it. It didn't. So we insulated the bag as best we could to conserve the remaining ice, put it in the "fridge" and my guide headed out. I was lucky enough to have a university educated man next to me, so he spoke English. He also knew an insane amount of knowledge about the country so he was my tour guide on the 10 hour trip to Moshi.

As the bus pulled out of the station, one of the men who had followed us around, and the only one who had come with us when I exchanged my money, was still on the bus. He came over to me and informed me that I would need to pay 40,000 Tsh (about $27 CDN) for security of my bag below. I started looking for the man who was supposed to be unlocking the compartment but I couldn't see him. He told me he owned the bus and that I had to pay. I kept asking why my guide hadn't mentioned it and eventually, half laughing, asked why the bag security should cost more than my bus ticket. He smiled back but kept asking for money, now starting to lower his price. I am not going to lie, there was definitely a part of me that was worried he would get angry and go down and throw my bag in the street but I stood firm and finally when he came up and said "fine 5,000Tsh", I finally just shook my head and turned away. He hopped off the bus at the next corner. I told my neighbour I think I just survived my first swindle attempt. He said I passed.

I started to understand how difficult it could be to travel in Africa for a long time, especially by yourself. You just have to be "On" all the time. You have to be paying attention to your bag, you have to question everything because a lot of people lie, prices are never set so you have to negotiate; even a trip downtown to get a pair of pants can leave you confused and wondering how much less a local would pay for the same item. You have to learn a lot very quickly.

Travelling by bus from one end to the other of Tanzania certainly gives you a taste of the country. Pretty much every house I saw was made of mud brick or scrap wood and tin or palm leaf roof. The majority of them would scarcely qualify as a children's fort in North America and you could see that families with small children were living there. Along the sides of the road were women dressed in traditional dress carrying buckets and baskets on their heads. I don't think I saw one animal that didn't look like it was about to keel over from starvation. At one bus stop there was a man waiting there just holding two chickens by their feet. It was completely surreal that these were actual people carrying on their lives.

As I suspected when I first got on, I was right not to drink very much water. We got two bathroom breaks in 10 hours. The first of which was at a stop that had sinks, but no taps or running water. I didn't even make it into the stall. I decided to wait. The next one had a sink and soap which was very exciting. When I got into the stall there was no toilet paper but there was a dirty old bucket next to the toilet half filled with water with a bowl in it. I didn't want to know what that was for.

After buying some cashews off the side of the road and then having a minor panick attack thinking I was going to get typhoid, I stuck to my protein bars for the rest of the trip. By the time I arrived in Moshi I had had a total of about 6 hours of sleep in the previous 50 hours, hadn't eaten anything but a few protein bars since the plane ride, was kind of overwhelmed by everything I going up, and I was having a pretty intense freak out about the fact that my typhoid meds were probably toast and I was going to get typhoid from the cashews. I don't think I made the best first impression. As I was getting off the bus someone yelled in my ear, "Taxi!" No I don't want a damn taxi. Then the girl in front of me yelled, "Taxi?" No! "Your name isn't Cathy?" Oh, wait yes. We got my bags and headed to the house of the family I was staying with. I think I essentially went "fridge", then put my meds in the fridge, then said "shower", and immediately went to take a shower. When I turned on the shower it looked like the water was just spilling down the sides because the shower head was falling apart. I reached up to grab the top and pull it together and I can't say for sure because it has never happened to me before, but I am quite sure I was electrocuted.

They had waited for me to eat dinner so we sat down and ate when I got out of the shower. I met the other girl staying with them named Anna, who was from Germany. She probably said three words to me. She didn't really speak English.

I wasn't feeling the most optimistic about my trip by the time I went to bed that night, but the next day in the hot African sun with the birds chirping it was hard to feel anything but excited. We had our orientation and I met some of the other girls working withh the organization. Every single one of them is German so it could get a bit awkward when they just started having a conversation in German, but they were really nice girls and they generally went out of their way to speak English around me. I got a phone and my sister was the first one to text me. Best text I ever got. It felt like it had been years since I last saw her.

So much more has happened since then but I don't want to go on forever. The food here is amazing especially the food made by my house mother, Yasmin. It is kind of a joke that people told me to enjoy Western meals while I could. I have never eaten so well in my life. Everything I eat is made from scratch. The girls who I originally thought were Yasmin's daughters are actually maids. I think it is quite common here in Tanzania because electricity is so shoddy that everything has to be done by hand. Power is not sufficient for the whole city so they do rolling blackouts in order to meet demand. Even the wealthy Tanzanian's can't rely on washing machines or dish washers because there just isn't enough power. There is no A/C so everything is open to the outdoors. Bugs and animals just come as they please. On my first night a cockroach the size of my fist flew in the door and landed on the wall beside me. It is going to be hard to have a bug phobia here. One night I was talking to Yasmin and I saw a gekko just crawling across the living room wall. That is how it is, nature just comes and goes as it pleases.

One last thing to say before I go: This was the first day of my placement at the Chapakazi Children's centre. The kids were insanely cute but they wore me out after only four hours of work. The teachers had a schedule but they were really flexible with letting me teach and try out my own things. The kids are 3-5 years old so we worked on letters, addition, subtraction, and shapes. I taught them ring-around-the-rosy,which I immediately regretted when I realized that the game can go on forever (Imagine playing that game over and over in 40 degree weather). I finally managed to sneak away and find a seat in the shade and they proceeded to literally jump on me and on eachother as they fought to get a seat beside me. Hopefully my stamina will improve because it is round 2 tomorrow.

More to come. I love all of you and miss you already!