Baadaye Zanzibar! Arusha...nakuja

The last few days have been a mix of good at bad. On the bad side we have:

1. I’m leaving Zanzibar tomorrow. I’ll miss it here…Fee, his family, the slow-paced lifestyle I’ve gotten too used to…and my favorite Zanzibari food, MIXI (apparently they don’t have it on the mainland).
2. I wiped my face in wet bird shit that I didn’t realize was on my sleeve. Brooke suggested it was probably left by Fish Market…as a sign that he’s alive. (Fish Market is the bird that Fee and I attempted to save after it had broken its wing…but then it mysteriously disappeared the next day. And yes, its name was Fish Market).
3. I was sick with a mysterious stomach ailment for the last week.
4. I finally went to a doctor, got wrongly diagnosed with food poisoning and was forced into getting an injection of some mysterious medicine in my butt.
5. I watched in silence and disgust as a group of men tied a heavy rope to the feet of a live crow they had caught. They held on to the other end of the rope, threw the crow into the air and harshly yanked it back to the ground once it started flying. They erupted in hysterics when the poor crow hit the dirt…and then repeated the whole thing. Maybe soon I’ll know enough Swahili to actually say something to them next time.

And on the good side we have:
1. I get to go to Arusha and study big animals and the politics of national parks in Tanzania! I’m excited to do something a little productive with my life again…plus it will be nice to have conversations with people who speak English fluently.
2. I’m not sick anymore! Although I refuse to believe it was the butt shot that cured me…but who knows.
3. I think I’ve finally learned the names of all of Fee’s relatives. I literally wrote out a family tree of his relatives who live in his house and on the same block and had Fee quiz me. There are 25. On this block. Not including all the relatives in other parts of Zanzibar.
4. Fee’s littlest nieces have gotten so used to a white person in the house that they now only cry if I get within touching distance of them.
5. I managed to work up enough energy to exercise in this heat a few times…by going running on the beach. It turns out, running on sand is wayyyy more exhausting than I thought. Luckily there is a beautiful ocean to jump into after!
6. We spent the weekend in Kendwa where I got to play some beach volleyball and Fee showed off his dance skills at the hotel’s weekly Saturday night party. There was also an amazinggg acrobatics show that night…see the picture. Plus the beach at Kendwa was glorious…minus a few naked Italians (not super appropriate in a Muslim country).
7. I’ve been trying to combat my laziness and get out and explore the island…maybe I missed something in the last four months. Turns out I did! I visited the Natural History Museum, went to the GIANT secondhand clothing market (there were some gems there that I would have snatched up in an instant (leopard print spandex, anyone?)…if only I had extra room in my luggage), explored a new beach in Bububu, and finally went to the House of Wonders Museum. The view from the top of the House of Wonders is incredible!

Karibu Zanzibar Tena!

Greetings from Zanzibar! So I’ve been here for a week and things are nzuri (good) so far. But as usual it’s hot as balls…I’m pretty convinced it’s more humid than last time. I can’t say I have any exciting news to share. All of you college kids will probably hate me for saying this, but this has probably been the laziest week of my life. I really should be taking more advantage of my two weeks here in paradise before I go off to Arusha (not that I’m expecting Arusha to be much less of a paradise). But I’ve spent my time sleeping, more sleeping, attempting to communicate with Fee’s family and trying to get the littlest ones to not cry every time they see me, lazing around at the beach, and eating my favorite Forodhani foods.

There are so many places that I’d never seen on the side of Stonetown where Fee lives…and there are noooo mzungus (white people) here what so ever. I literally went three days without seeing another white person…commonplace in Pemba…but unheard of here in Stonetown. I’ve gone to the beach near Fee’s house every day and it’s gorgeous… a few miles long, white sand (albeit a fair amount of trash on the shore and probably not particularly clean water). I’d always assumed that locals didn’t really go to the beach all that much but apparently I’d just never been to the right beaches. This beach is definitely a locals-only place and always crowded. And the beach is where everyone exercises…I’d never realized that before. There are herds and herds of men running along the beach (and even a few women) and people doing sit ups and acrobatics. And there are aerobics classes for women there…some of them even do it in bibuis (long black robe and headscarf) with just their eyes showing. I wish I could get pictures of the scenes at the beach, but unfortunately it’s not too safe to bring my camera.

I’ve kept my eye out for everyone’s favorite mtoto, Beta, but so far no sign. But again, I haven’t been in the city much. I wish my Zanzibar SIT crew was here!! I’m not gonna complain, but Stonetown really isn’t the same when I’m wandering around all alone and too lazy to make new friends.

Well here is about the only particularly memorable thing I’ve done so far. One of Fee’s neighbors teaches adult English classes in the evenings and invited me teach English to his students one evening. So for the entire two hour class I sat in front of the class and practiced English with the students…it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in Tanzania so far. Luckily they were good enough at English that they spent the class asking me questions about myself and America and vice-versa and I didn’t have to attempt to explain any English grammar concepts. They stumped me on a few questions though, such as “how can we be expected to learn science like you when we have no scientific instruments at our school?” and “Why should students here be encouraged to pursue higher learning when it’s expensive and there are no good job opportunities for them after they graduate?” So if anyone has a better answer than me stuttering, “I uhhh errr uhh…I donno”, let me know. They’ve only been learning English for two months and they spoke about 100 times better than I speak Swahili after being here for 4 months.

These are Fee’s dance students before tying for first in a dance competition that ended in a legit dance-off between the two winning teams.

Above are four of Fee's neices. Rabia and Sade in the back, Arafa and Rayani in the front. Below is Fee's sister, Salma, (in the middle) with Arafa and Rayani again. I’m the only mzungu (white person) Rayani has ever seen, and after months she still cries when I’m in the same room as her because she thinks I’m a ghost.

Tanzimester!

Well I’ve commandeered “Zanzimester” from Brooke and it shall henceforth be known as “Tanzimester”! (Tanzania + Semester, in case that wasn’t clear.) I realize Tanzimester doesn’t have quite the same ring to it…so I’m very open to suggestions for other titles.

After a quick three-week break at home, I’m back in Tanzania for a second semester studying abroad! After visiting Zanzibar for two weeks I’ll be making my way to the mainland where I’ll be studying “wildlife conservation and political ecology” in Arusha through SIT study abroad. At home I had just enough time to see my family and friends on Bainbridge Island, celebrate the holidays, eat all of my favorite American foods (mainly cheese), head up to Bellingham to taunt my friends in real school, share a birthday beer with Jocelyn Maher on her 21st, and have a reunion with Brooke and Jordan “Jay-Z” Zanmiller…and then I got to head off again...precisely when I was getting sick of the cold.

(Me and Joce celebrate her 21st in style, while Piper (taking the picture) celebrates with tea)

(Jay-Z comes to Bainbridge!)

Much love, Becky (or Bucky, as the Swahili people pronounce it. Maybe I should stick to my Swahili name, Rahima.)