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!