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

We had a great time at Zanzibar meeting 3 Americans on the Semester at Sea program! They came to Dar a few days later and we had a great time showing them around. I wrote more about it earlier (below) but here's the pics that go with the stories! A SASy Weekend

A belated but good look at Zanzibar, the island off the coast of Tanzania. It's such a different place, but beautiful as you can see from the people and the pics. Between a spice tour, a day in stone town, and a night eating at the fish market on the beach, we had a great time! Zanzibar

Back at it...



Anna's parents left last night and Lindsey has malaria! Kind of a depressing day today. The work is piling up and I'm trying to make it to Friday when I can head to Dubai and London. Lots of work before then though. Tonight is turkey dinner at the US embassy, an unusual gesture of compassion, so we'll see how heartfelt it is.



Things have been crazy here lately. Gerard and Josh's room was broken into on Friday and so there have been security people everywhere as we are getting frustrated it took 3 break ins for them to do anything. There was also a fire in the dorm next to ours! UDSM is going crazy.



For now, you can get a little taste of the college with these pics from dar...very random but representative. enjoy. Friends and Tanzania

Pictures are finally working! Check them out!



This is a big set! We had picture day at school and these are the pictures of all the kids I teach! They are great and so personable in front of the camera.

Mlimani Shule



Pics from our birthday party! I turned 21 and a half and Lindsey turned 20 and half, thus a 21st birthday!



Birthday Party



More coming tomorrow, out of time now. Enjoy!

It's been extremes ups and downs the past 24 hours but it is finally up again. It all started with my seminar presentation. For each class we have a seminar which is a smaller group that discusses an issue from the lectures. Everyone in the seminar is supposed to present once in the semester and since my semester is short, I've been trying to get them all done as soon as possible. So I joined the group for presentations in Democracy and Elections and had the ultimate Tanzanian culture experience. What should have taken 10 minutes to come to a position and then divide up work ended up taking 2 and a half hours and in traditional Tanzanian fashion we had to talk all around the issue. Just when I thought we'd reach a conclusion someone would say something and we would go off on a new tangent and come to a new position. It was so frustrating! Then to make matters worse, when everyone brought their research back they decided we should only have one presenter and they picked me! Thus, I had to learn everyone's material and try to slow my language down and speak British essentially so people in the class could understand me. It was very frustrating, but it turned out well as I presented today on how Africa is not going through a third reverse wave towards authoritarianism. I think I scared them though as I used a banana as a visual aid and squished it. Oh well, who cares about taboos!



Also frustrating was pictures. I have been trying to figure out pictures and how to get them online and yesterday spent about half the day trying different computers and methods. Finally, Gerard helped me out and between him, me, and his computer we got the pics ready to go online! So scroll down and you'll find them!



The reason for hte push to get the pictures on line was that today was School Picture Day at school! It was so much fun. I took my polaroid camera and my digital and every student received a polaroid picture of themselves. They were thrilled and the best part was how they all did little poses for the picture. Very funny. I haven't downloaded those pictures yet, but I think tomorrow I'll put up all the students' head shots if you want to see the kids I teach! They have an end of the year test next Friday so that is the big news from Mlimani Shule!



Now I am going to head out to Mwenge to get some pants made for me! We'll see how it goes. The internet's being slow so the pics will be up later. Get excited. There's a lot of them!

It's been 100 days, or so my mom says. That's an uber long time. I feel like we should have a party like in elementary school on the 100th day. I guess I'll go to church to celebrate. We're pretty crazy people here.



Last night we DID had a crazy experience though. We went to Bend it Like Beckham at the European Film Festival, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Then we all piled in the car to leave and we hadn't even gone one block when a policeman stood in front of our car and told us to pull over. We did (stupid mistake), and he told us we were going the wrong way down a one way and that they were going to take our car and take us to court. It was so frustrating! Ayubuh argued with them and we all stood around protesting for almost an hour. We knew exactly what he wanted and despite Swahili protest, we eventually paid the 10 dollar bribe and went on our way to Bilicans to go dancing. I was so mad though at Tanzanian legal practices, the fact that police on foot can just stop you and threated you with a corrupt legal system. It's either go to the corrupt legal system or pay the corrupt police. What do you do? Then to make matters worse, on the way to Bilicanas two more police tried to stop us. Our Tanzanian friend Ayubuh who was in the car said "DRIVE ON!" and we did, screeching past the protesting police. I guess that's how it works here. Run or pay. So that was our exciting night in Dar last night, a lesson in Tanzanian law I guess.



Today is chill with church and some homework. Anna's parents arrived on Thursday and they are on safari all week, but we'll see them again next weekend, perhaps in Zanzibar again!

I've faced the facts: I suck at laundry. Today I attempted to do laundry the tanzanian way. They have this bar of soap that Anna O swears makes your clothes the closest to white they can be in Tanzania. Well, I took out the soap and an hour and a half later went and got the woolite. All the Tanzanians were giving me tips and I think I basically sloshed water around without cleaning anything. Then to make matters worse, or more entertaining, I hung my clothes on the line and it started raining! It's probably better though b/c I'm sure i didn't rinse properly or something. Who knows. Needless to say I won't complain about walking down the stair to put my clothes in the washing machine at Luther again. Or at least not for a while.



Anna's parents arrived safetly here and we've had a great time with them. We all went out for Indian food on Thursday night along with two Danish girls Erin met, Ayubuh our Tanzania friend, and Des our friend from South Africa. It was quite an international event and so tasty! The Osterbur's were extremely generous too and bought dinner for everyone! I was stunned. Very kind. Yesterday Anna gave them the shock and awe tour of Tanzania and we all went to Mama Mshigeni's house for a traditional Tanzanian meal. Mama Mshigeni is like the coordinator of study abroad here and is in charge of all us crazy internationals! We had a great meal though and a fun time. Now Anna and her folks left for safiri in the north and then a trip to Zanzibar, while the rest of us are here in the lab. Time is flying though and soon the time will be up.



I got more pictures from our trip coordinator from the beginning of the trip, so if you want to see me posing with some maasi warriors or painting the local school, check em out! A second look back



We've had a troubling occurances here at the University. Two American girls, both on a program from Brown University, have had their rooms broken into and had things stolen, from passports to envelopes. Needless to say we are a bit on edge, so that has been kind of an unfortunately occurance. Until now, I have felt so safe and secure here. Now though I'm looking my room everytime I go to the bathroom even. Too bad.



The rest of the day includes homework, watching English Premier League football, and watching Bend it Like Beckham at the British Council. Sounds like a fun day! Tomorrow might be a beach day. We'll see!

It's a scorcher today and I'm already dripping just from walking to the lab. I had an interesting experience this morning trying to call Rebekah in Australia. Normally, I go the cell phone route because it's my only option, and it's $2.20, so needless to say our calls are short and not very frequent. Today though I went to check out a new store that advertised international calls. At first glance it looked great! It was only $.90 a minute! I went though and this new business had there computer set up all wrong and they needed it to make the call, so I was there for an hour and a half essentially setting up their business and installing software and such. Then right when everything was ready, the network quit! I couldn't make the call and was only able to make the 4 minute call. Sad day...



Tonight Anna's parents come which should be great! We'll celebrate by going out to eat! Should be fun. Saturday, big plans...Bend it Like Beckham is playing at the Euro film festival so I think we'll head there. Otherwise, a quiet week in dar. Enjoy the snow!

Happy November! I had a great time for Halloween here! Thanks to candy sent by June Brown and some pictures sent from my mom, I got to celebrate by

teaching my 5th grade kids about Halloween. It was hilarious! I taught them how to

trick or treat and they all had to say who they were dressed like, the

pattern went like this: "I'm David Beckham, I'm Jennifer Lopez, I'm David

Beckham, I'm 50 Cent, I'm David Beckham, I'm George Bush (no joke), I'm

David Beckham, I'm Ashanti...etc." Pretty much name your favorite black R

and B/Rap artist and they were represented...and of course david beckham.

It was fun.



They cracked up too b/c my mom sent a letter with scanned

pics of different costumes we had worn in the past; they couldn't believe that i too had once been a kid. It was great fun. The day culminated by teaching them "trick

or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!" I could still hear them singing it when I was halfway back to the university. More corruption by their American teacher! It was great fun though, and surprising difficult to explain Halloween. My roommate even asked me what the difference between a witch and a wizard was...interesting question! So, Halloween was a blast and things have been going well.



We're all enjoying free European movies at the film festival in town and last night I went out dancing with three Swedes, two Tanzanians and a partridge in a pear tree. It was a great mental exercise as much of the conversation was in Swedish (which is very similar to Norwegian!) and Swahili. My head was slightly sore by the end of the night, but it felt great to be able to jump languages like that! Today is quiet, probably church at 4:30 and a movie at 7:30 at the British Council. I hope all is well in the States...enjoy the snow!