It's my first day of school at Luther and reality is hitting me. The transition has been more intense than I first realized. I guess I came home from Tanzania excited and ready to relax. Of course I missed certain things immediately like the great fruit, the random Swahili all around me, and the freedom and life I felt in Tanzania. Now that I am at school though I'm realizing I live in a bubble here. I feel isolated from people somehow, like I have a secret that I can't tell people. I just don't feel like I have words yet to describe my experience to people, and the only people who I can talk to about Tanzania, Anna and Bekah who were there, are not at Luther. Thus, I'm resigned to a slow adjustment back to the Luther world.



It's hard looking back on Tanzania. The longer I am away from the experience the more my glasses become rosy. Thinking back now I want to return right away and just spend more time there. Luther is not as I remembered it for a variety of reasons and it seems that the old saying, "the grass is always greener on the other side" is true for me. But I don't want to be that way. I know, as my journal shows, that my time in Tanzania was not always fun. At times I was frustrated, I wanted to come home, and wanted to be with friends. Now that I have left though, the frustrating becomes desired and the magical Shangri La I was returning to seems to be a regular place.



Going to Tanzania was the best experience I've ever had. I learned tolerance, humility, and gratitude all in the span of a few months. However, best does not equal always fun. Life in Tanzania is tough, tougher than here, but it still is life. People are just trying to live, support family, have fun, spend time with family and friends, and experience the world. It seems people here like to depict Tanzania and Africa as a whole as this poor, wretched place...and it is poor, at least poorer monetarily than the US, but when you're there it is just life. People enjoy what they have and they live! I hope if there is one thing I can take from the entire experience, it is the zest and zeal for life that Tanzanians demonstrate everyday.



As the cold weather and the constricting whiteness of the landscape, people, and walls set in, I hope to remember the colorful moment in my life: Tanzania. Thank you for joining me on this adventure. Asante sana rafiki yangu. Enjoy these last images from Tanzania and enjoy life.



Last Look at Tanzania

It's day four of Dar's WATER CRISIS! Yes, the big news here is that on Monday the main water pipe in Dar broke! We have been without water for four days now and it's crazy here. On Wednesday the city finally brought Magi Safi trucks to campus. These are huge petro-looking trucks that carry water. People can go fill up there 5 gallon buckets and carry their water home on their head if they can fight through the bucket crowd to get water. I think the whole event is best described by Sam who called it the great migration. It literally is like the wilderbeast migration in the Serengeti as hundreds of students descend on these trucks in a desperate rush for what we all take for granted in the states: water. The crazy part is this water isn't even "safe" by our standards. It still needs to be boiled before drinking. So, I tried to document this colorful, plastic-filled migration for all to see. By the sound of it, it's likely there will not be water for sometime, so it looks like I'll be coming home on a 5 day showering, water hiatus. I bet my family will be excited to see me in the airport! Also troubling from the whole water problem is the backup in the toliet. You can't flush when there isn't water and after 5 days on a floor with about 20 guys, you can imagine how pleasant the stench is!



Enjoy these pics of the water and other university sites and drink some tap water for me!

Dar Water Crisis



I'll be putting a few more pics up when I return home too so check back. The other news here is that Bekah left today at 3.30pm. We had a great time together seeing the country and it was fun to show my new home to someone. Now she's off to play in the land of Lord of Rings...which we all went to last night!



We had a surprise birthday party for Anna that climaxed with the 9.30pm showing of LOR. It was hilarious because we got to see the AIDS public service announcement ads, which are comedy, we had a 10 min intermission while they changed the reels, and we were able to read the sign outside the theatre that said: "In the likely event of a power outage, the generator will turn on and the movie will continue within 2 minutes. Please be patient." Fortunately, there was no outages during the incredible movie. It was fun to think I was watching it at noon Central time in the US so I probably got to see it before most Luther folk! Ha ha! Benefits of living in the Eastern Hemisphere. Well, we're off to a friends house tonight for pasta before our last day in dar tomorrow. I'm just tired now and ready to finish tying up all the loose ends.

Time is fast slipping away and the past two weeks have been nuts! I returned from London for my last week of classes. Essentially I had to do two months of work in one week. So, four papers and three tests later I was officially done with my studies at the University of Dar Es Salaam! Hoorah! It's been a fun semster, but not because of school. I'm excited to get back to the challenging, questioning, critical education I get at Luther as opposed to the memorization, no question style of teaching and learning here.



Then, only hours after my last test, I went to the Dar International Airport (slight chuckle) to pick up Bekah! Yes, it's true, my girlfriend Rebekah flew in from Singapore to spend my last two weeks with me. The anticipation was maddening as Bekah was the last one to get a VISA. I actually walked through security because I was afraid something had happened, but she was fine and we soon entered the staggering heat of Dar.



Thrusday night we experience the cafeteria and then crashed. Friday was an amazing day. We got up and headed over to Mlimani Shule where I taught all semester. It was their last day of school so all the kids were outside playing games. We met my teacher and they showed Bekah around and then they took us into this classroom. There the kids had been preparing a show for the teachers. It was a story with song and dance that taught about UKIMWI, which is AIDS in Swahili. Then, for a gift for my last day, they put on the show for Bekah and I!! It was incredible. All the kids were singing, dancing, telling stories in swahili, and acting out the ways AIDS is spread and ways to prevent it. not exactly like the golden tamran skit I did in 5th grade with Kayla Flynn, but fun none the less. It's just incredible to think these kids at the 5th grade level have to learn about AIDS. The show was incredible and as I left the school I started bawling. I'm glad Bekah was there to dry my tears but it was very difficult to say goodbye to the kids, knowing that statistically, only 1 in 3 will finish school and very few will go on to University. They are all so amazing, it just hit me how unfair underdevelopment is to the most innocent: the children. I was very thankful for my time at Mlimani and I know that I learned much more than I taught. It seems that is how it usually works though.



Mlimani Shule Performance



That night the teacher I taught with invited Bekah and I over to his house. It was so much fun! We met his wife, his newborn baby, and his sister who is in high school and is planning on being a nun! We ate a great Tanzanian meal and enjoyed a long night of conversation. Professor Sipto's sister was in love with Bekah! They talked the whole night and at the end of the evening she gave Bekah a kanga that said "We'll love you always, in good times and bad times." She showed B how to wear it and we all hugged and said goodbye after a great evening. Professor Sipto and his wife escorted us all the way back to the university, about a half hour away, and we said goodbye and thank you.



Friends at Dar





Saturday Bekah and I woke up early and headed out on a bumpy slow bus to Lushoto. Lushoto is a small town in the Mountains about 5 hours from Dar. It was the old vacation spot for German colonizers and is beautiful! We spent three days in Lushoto hiking and enjoying the cool weather and fun times at Karibuni Lodge! While there we met some great people and they all told stories about their great safaris so we thought....hey, we're halfway to Arusha, we should go on safari! So, Bekah and I headed out from Lushoto to Arusha on an even slower, bumpier, hotter, and more plastic bus than before.



Lushoto



We arrived in Arusha three hours late, booked a small room and then started the search for a safari that left the next day. We went through a list of recommended companies but no one had anything leaving the next day. Finally we went to Bobby Safaris. They offered $100 a day for our own safari which was more than we wanted but at this point it was our only option. We busted out the credit card when they said we don't take credit cards...thus began our long, extended money ordeal. I paid what I had, which wasn't much and withdrew some money from the ATM, but the ATM had a withdrawl limited so I could only take about a third out of what I needed. They said they would still let us go if we paid when we got back. I called my parents who generously put more money in my account and we crossed our fingers that things would work out. That night at our hotel two Dutch girls stopped us and said, are you going on safari tomorrow with Bobby tours? We said yes reluctantly and they said they joined our group! That was great because not only did we have fun people to go with but it was also much cheaper with more people! They were two girls in their late 20's and both were fun and energetic. We headed out on safari and had an awesome time.



The first day we headed to Lake Manyara and saw lots of elephants and monkeys. The second day we took the long drive to Serengeti and saw an amazing landscape and lions, cheetahs, and giraffees oh my! We had a great time there and saw an amazing storm forming over the Serengeti Plains. I felt like I was in the Toto song "Africa." Sure as Kilimanjaro rising about the plains of the Serengeti...I bless the rains down in Africa...gonna take a lot to take me away from you...etc. It was great! We camped in the Seregeti and the last day was spent in Ngorogoro Crater. It's a huge volcanic mountain, larger than modern day Kilimanjaro, that collapsed about 2.5 million years ago leaving a huge crater where one of the older humans was found. We cruised around the crater seeing wilderbeasts, pumba (warthogs), lions playing with their kids, a black rhino, and Masaai hearding their cattle among zebras. Very surreal. We camped over looking the crater and enjoyed our final meal with our amazing cook Roger who indulged us with Spaghetti, Banana fritters, soups and foods that made us ready to go home to diverse, fulfilling food.



Safari with B



We made it back to Arusha with exactly 8,000 Tsh...which is what we thought the room would cost. Unfortunately we got there and they only had a double room so the Dutch girls gave us a loan. Then we went to the ATM and again the withdrawl limit prevented us from getting out enough money. We went to bobby tours about $60 dollars short. They said we could pay in the morning before we left and we thanked them for their generosity. The Dutch girls then gave us another loan of 70,000 shillings which would pay the 66,000 we were told we owned as well as giving us a little money to get home with. We went to the safari company early in the morning and instead of the son greeting us as he did the night before, it was the father. We sat down, excited to pay off our debt with the 70,000 tsh. when he told us his son had made a mistake. It was actually 100,000 Tsh. We informed him we did not have any money and that there wasn't anything we could do, they told us what we owned and that's what we had. Mr. Bobby went off in a rage. He said can't a man make a mistake and that this is how it always was, we (meaning whites) were always right and they (meaning Indians) were always wrong. I about lost it. I couldn't believe he was trying to place the race card, especially since he essentially did the same thing against the Tanzanians who historically have been mistreated by the Indians in Tanzania. We were so mad that he was so short and we felt bad, but we actually didn't have the money. But, I guess I didn't feel so bad considering that I think the exchange rate he was using for Tsh to dollars was inflated. I think he ended up just fine and that the explosion of pent up racial frustration should cost him 29,000 Tsh anyways.



So, Bekah and I limped home. We had to borrow 100 schilling on the bus (ten cents)so we could get a bus back. When we finally did make it back to dar, it felt great. At home, safe, comfortable, able to access money. Saturday we went out to eat at the Euro Pub with Bre, Josh, and Mike from ACM and then we all went dancing. Yesterday, Sunday, we went to two church services and had a great send off from both. Everyone is praying for our safe travel and it was kind of sad to think the churches I had been attending, although I did not always like or agree with, were now just part of history for me.



It's weird thinking everyday this is the last this or the last that. Our week is filled with last get togethers and it will be hard to leave. I have enjoyed my stay here thoroughly. There are so many good people that have been a part of my life, that it will be difficult to say more goodbyes. I know though that even more awesome people are awaiting me at home, and so I have mixed feelings. I leave Friday night here and get home on December 20th. I don't know if I'll get a chance to blog again, but if not, thank you so much for e-mails, letters, kind words, prayers, and your interest in my travels! Your support has helped me greatly during this intense semester. It's been a wild ride, and I hope that you've been able to share some of it with me!

Pics from the trip...



Although I didn't catch the hip swinging of Bombay Dreams or the moment when my friend Eric and I (who is studying in London) found a dark alley in London to pee in after a night at the bar, I think these pics aren't bad. Check em out!



London, Bath, and Stonehedge



Nottingham



Dubai

And I'm back. I just returned about 4 hours ago from a whirlwind trip to Dubai, Nottingham, and London. It was great! I flew to Dubai and spent a day with Jyoti Grewal, a professor from Luther who is now teaching in Dubai. She was kind enough to share her apartment with Anna O (who spent 5 days in Dubai or so) and I and we had an awesome time in Dubai. The only way I can describe Dubai is the city of the future. They are extremely tolerant and it is the norm to see multi-ethnic couples. They are also filthy rich from trading and oil distribution so everything is universal there for citizens: education, health, and even housing. There are no taxes and they built a place that rivals Disney World in neatness and man-made beauty in the frickin desert! It was a very interesting place. Just unusual to see people dressed head to toe in traditional, conservative Muslim clothing while shopping for hundred dollar outfits in a four story mall. The time went quickly there and the next day I zoomed to Nottingham!



There I met up with Jacqueline Smith who goes to Luther and is spending the semester in Nottingham with about 10 other Luther kids. I hung out at their flat, went to the pub, toured the city and the college, and basically felt like I was at luther for awhile. It was very relaxing and the cool weather felt great under the black leather coat I borrowed from the flat!



I set out on Monday for London to meet up with my family, minus andrea and brian. I pulled up just as they were going out to eat and so started our vacation. We stayed in an awesome little hotel and basically spent the whole week doing mostly family stuff (chilling, eating, talking), some theatre (saw Bombay Dreams a spoof on Bollywood films, Blood Brothers dramatic musical, and Les Miserables the classic french revolution musical), and a few tourist things (the London eye, Tower of London, Bath, and Stonehedge). It's hard to encapsulate the week, but essentially it was good family time. It was an obvious shock to be surrounded by so many cars, things, and lights...but it was good. I was very ready to come back because I don't feel ready to leave TZ yet. It was a good break though and one that I think will help me appreciate TZ.



I returned without significant problems and am just trying to catch up with stuff. I'm working on pics now that will give you a better feel for the travels. I'm very excited because Bekah is coming on Thursday and will be here for two weeks. It should be awesome! I have a lot of work to do before she comes though so wish me luck!

I fought with a monkey last night. It was quite crazy. I was walking up the stairs and there on the first floor was the monkey rummaging through the trash. I tried to scare him away with a growling noise, and he just stood up and hissed back. Then I saw, attached upside down on his belly was the baby monkey! I can see what s/he wanted to fight! Well, I left it alone and it eventually left...just another day in Tanzania. I spent the rest of last night writing two papers. The most work I've done all semester I think. I had to cram it in because today I'm leaving for Dubai and then England! I'm very excited! I'll be seeing my friend and teacher Jyoti Grewal in Dubai, U.A.E. If you're wondering where that is, it's on the Southeast tip of the Arabian Peninsula, just south of Iran. It's quite aways but I figure it will be the only time in the near future I'll have a chance to go to the Middle East, so I thought I'd go! Don't worry though, Dubai is a very safe place and a very wealthy place. Apparently, 80% of the population is actually ex-Pats, meaning Europeans and Americans. Should be a very interesting place. I just hope I don't get too hungry since I'll be forced to fast for Ramadan while I'm there. After a day in Dubai I'll be heading to Nottingham to see Jacque at the University there and then will meet my family in London! Should be a crazy trip and a good way to celebrate the Eda Holiday. That's the end of Ramadan, the fasting time, so it's a big party like Mardi Gras! Well, I'll be in England so probably won't see such a big celebration but maybe I'll see something that will remind me of Thanksgiving. That's a funny thing to think about. Thanksgiving while having 90 degree weather. Well, I'm going to write a few e-mails and then head out on my Emirates flight. I'll be back next Sunday! Happy Holidays!

Last set of pics for now...A few shots of Anna and her fam while they were visiting. We had a great time eating and chatting, but the time flew by! Now they are on their way back to Ohio (not the midwest).

Anna and Fam