I arrived to the Kilimanjaro area on June 2, 2010 at around 7:30 pm. My journey began, however, in Chicago on June 1 where my parents dropped me off and I took a flight to JFK - New York airport with two other fellow "EWH"- ers. The 1.5 hour flight went smoothly, and upon reaching New York the three of us rested and ate at Buffalo Wild Wings - our last taste of American restaurant food for two months (in perspective, not a bad thing). As the three of us sat in B-Dubs with our open advertisement of Duke University attire, a vocal man struck up a conversation about Duke’s recent national championship win in Lacrosse against Notre Dame. (Side note: that gives us at least 2 national championships in the past year….woot!) Constantly persisting a conversation with the three of us and intermittently making 1/8 turns with his tall glass of beer, we asked him where his journey was to take him. He was on his way to LA to finish writing a screenplay for a potential film. He was a screenwriter! Now, if the guy was truthful to us – which, I slightly doubt – I would say it was an interesting encounter.
Finishing the last of our satisfying 8 piece wings, we proceeded to the gate to vegetate before our first long stretch of the 24 hour journey. A fourth member of the program joined us, and at around 6 pm we took a flight from JFK airport to Amsterdam airport. We left, however, 1.5 hours late because of the weather. For the ensuing 7 hours, I watched movies, stared at the front of my seat, read a bit of The Hobbit, and slept. The food was not too bad – edible at least. We reached Amsterdam airport at around 9AM Amsterdam/Netherlands time and met with the rest of the group who had come from various places. We eagerly awaited the commencement of our real summer trip – the flight into Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
The flight consisted of mainly students, safari-prone people, and a few Tanzanians. Initially, I sat next to two elderly women whom I presumed were a daughter/mother pair. They looked like they were ready to take a safari at any moment, and their American origins were revealed by the daughter’s long sleeve shirt plastered with multiple mini American flags and fireworks. As the flight proceeded I eventually moved seats and sat in the back of the plane with the other program participants. The flight lasted around 7-8 hours, and I spaced out through movies while trying to learn a word or two of swahili.
Results:
Rafiki = friend...that's right, the baboon from Lion King was "friend."
Simba = Lion
Mufasa = not a Swahili word :(
Zazu = not a Swahili word (I think...)
Pumba = foolish, silly, weakminded, careless, negligent (compliments of wikipedia)
Yes...I looked up names from the Lion King...there is nothing wrong with that. :)
It was a twenty-four hour journey of movies, buffalo wild wings, and eying open aisle seats to ensure that I could make a quick getaway to the restroom when need be. Trust me, climbing over strangers in a less than compact seating arrangement is not fun - especially when KLM has decided to place their seats so close together that movement ceases when passengers lean back all the way in their seats. Nonetheless, the flights went well, and we arrived in Kilimanjaro at around 8:00 pm Tanzania time. We would have left by 8:30 pm, but my carry-on bag decided to not come. Now, a carry-on bag implies that I had the bag on the plane...but the geniuses in JFK-New York Airport decided my carry-on bag was "too big" and forced me to check it in. BUT IT NEVER CAME WHEN I WANTED IT...but fortunately it came the next day. Nonetheless, airlines' employees are...somewhat inept.
All the program participants boarded the bus and we were then taken to MS-TCDC - a Danish training center for individuals who come to Tanzania to do volunteer work, take classes, etc. The host parents were waiting in a line with name tags that had our names on them. They patiently (and cutely) waited for their temporary "mzungu" children - mzungu means white, or pretty much "foreigner" in Swahili - and I slowly approached my host mom who then gave me a warm and loving hug to welcome me and my roommate.
They took us to their home, a 2 minute drive from the classroom in which we had assembled, and saw a comfortable living space - a nice bed with our own bathroom (shower and toilet). Fortunately, we got the better half of the accomodations - or at least we got the better bathrooms. I just hope I don't have to worry about squatty potties the next month....I think.
The following morning we started our Swahili and engineering classes. My host mother made us fabulous masala chai - pretty much the best I've had so far. Then I went to my first Swahili class, which was quite the experience considering that I was once again put into a foreign language class after 3-4 years. French was my last language taught to me in the classroom (not since high school), and I felt as if I was thirteen again in Stanley Clark faced to learn a totally new language. The only difference is that my ability to absorb it as fast as I used to has somewhat diminished. Nonetheless, it is pretty cool learning Swahili. Our classes in Swahili are 4 hours long with a 30 minute break for chai - yes, they have tea breaks consisting of drinking hot milk, chai, coffee, or hot chocolate and then eating popcorn or roasted, warm peanuts.
Swahili side note: coffee = kahawa, kafi = slap, chai = tea, karanga = peanuts
Following our Swahili lessons we then had lunch - which is pretty much the most awesome part of the day. We get three different types of salads - fresh vegetables - along with 4-5 different hot entrees, chappati (basically made like paratha), and 3 choices in dessert. I pretty much look forward to eating lunch everyday. After lunch we have lecture/lab and learn about different types of medical devices we'll be encountering in the hospitals and how to do basic troubleshooting/repair of these types of equipment. This goes on for about 4 hours. By the time it is 4:30 pm we're ready to head out and crash/hangout/do whatever till dinner. This is the typical schedule from 8 am to 4:30 pm - with awesome lunches and chai breaks in between.
Between that Wednesday and Friday, it was a combination of intense language/medical equipment repair classes and visits to low-key "bars," hanging out with other EWHers, and spending time with my host family. My host family is a simple but interesting family. Both parents have had children from previous marriages and have 2-3 children from their current marriage. The oldest one in the house at the moment is Mikaya who is around 13 years of age. He is a wicked dancer and will jam to Akon (and the like) frequently. It seems as if Michael Jackson is his idol (very legit). Their 5 year old grandson Jo also lives in the house and is the most wonderful little boy who communicates through non-verbal means with my roommate and I. Everyday when we get home we look forward to playing with him and practicing our Swahili with him while he practices his English with us. During dinner, he also tends to entertain us with his odd but picky food choices. His favorite foods: chappati, rice, banana (ndizi), and spaghetti. I enjoy the meals my host mother prepares for us, though. A lot of vegetables, a lot of roots, and sometimes a meat dish. I find that meat can be quite expensive hear - along with certain vegetables.
I'm getting sleepy now...I shall complete this on Monday...promiseeee...bye for now!! :)
i can't believe you looked up the names from lion king...
ReplyDeleteand "kafi = slap" was SO random. but i could definitely see how you were maybe asking for some "kafi" one morning..
glad to hear you're having a good time! (: