I can’t believe my 9 months in Tanzania has come to an end. I left yesterday and I’m currently in Paris with five other SIT students. We are staying with Sorina, one of the girls on the program, and trying to readjust to Western culture. But France will be the next post…now it’s time to talk about ZANZIBAR.

After a rough few weeks writing and presenting our ISPs, I got to spend an amazinggg two and a half weeks relaxing in my favorite place in the world, Zanzibar.

Unfortunately the journey from Arusha to Zanzibar started off on the wrong foot. The supposedly 8 hour bus ride from Arusha to Dar es Salaam turned out to be 14 hours due to several break down. And to make the ride feel even longer…I spent the first four hours throwing up. And of course there are no toilets on the bus, so plastic bags had to suffice. So we missed the last ferry to Zanzibar and spent a night at the YMCA in Dar.

But once we made it to Zanzibar the next morning, everything was nzuri sana! For the entire two and a half weeks there were always SIT students coming and going so I always had someone I could show Zanzibar off to. I traveled from Arusha with Kristen, Polly and Amanda and just when Polly and Amanda were leaving, Alex and his friend Mathias showed up. Just when Alex and Mathias headed out, Leana and Emily arrived, followed soon after by Grace, Alan and Laura who arrived from Rwanda. And the day they all left, James and Casey arrived.

I was so happy I got to return to most of my favorite spots in Zanzibar. I took the crew to Jozani Forest to see the Zanzibar red colobus monkeys, the forest reserve, mangroves and feed sea turtles.

We went snorkeling at Bawe where I saw two hugeee squid.

And of course we went to Forodhani every night for dinner. For all of you who haven’t been, Forodhani is the waterfront park in Stonetown where probably 50+ food vendors set up tables every single night and sell cheap street food such as chapatti; samosas; all sorts of fish, octopus and shell fish; sugar cane juice; grilled corn on the cob; chips; Zanzibar pizza; lots and lots of other things…and last but not least…mixi (which of course I got all of my friends hooked on).

Cooking Zanzibar Pizza

Of course we spent some evenings at Livingstone, dancing to our favorite Bongo Flava and pop songs. And for a vacation away from vacation…we spent every weekend at Kendwa, which, despite its touristy-ness, is still my favorite beach on Zanzibar. If I’m not mistaken it is one of only two beaches on Zanzibar that has had great swimming at both high and low tide. Plus there is white sand, perfectly clear water with no waves, no rocks, no icky seaweed, and most importantly no jellyfish (except for one). And there is beach volleyball. And of course Fee performs there as Michael Jackson every Saturday night which is always a blast to watch.

And in addition to my favorite old spots, I explored some new great places. Of course we had to spend some time exploring new beaches. We took a day trip to Pwani Michengani, the beach where Polly and her parents were staying. They kindly treated us to a free fancy lunch at their resort which provided a much needed break from rice and beans and dafu. I also checked out a few new markets with Fee…the second hand market that had lots of ‘80s tshirts and we visited another market out in Bububu where I found much needed rugby cleats. There I also tried some new fruits…including custard apple which is kind of a slimy white substance that tastes like bubbleicious gum. Yum!

And of course I got to see some of my favorite people…I went and visited my host family from fall semester, hung out with Fee’s friends Masoud and Wize, and my SIT friends happened to be staying in the apartment right next to Lode and Sarah so we spent some time with them and their adorable kitten, Leila.

Leila!
And of course I got to hang out a bunch with Fee’s family. For once his little nieces didn’t cry out of fear every time they saw me…in fact they starting giving me hugeee hugs every day when I’d get back to the house.

Masoud, Fee and Wize

Fee teaches his neices Rayani and Arafa how to be baller

James, Masoud, Casey, Fee, Kristen, Wize

But alas, I’ve had to say a sad kwaheri to Tanzania and here I am, back in a world of too much waste, personal cars, flaunted wealth, where everyone is in a hurry and always busy, and where strangers don’t exchange greetings. But at least I’m here (in France) with some of the wonderful people I got to spend time with in Tanzania. Being back in the Western world is making it very difficult to live the way I have been for the last nine months. As I’m experiencing this reverse culture shock, I keep reminding myself of Fee’s motto that told me nearly every day: “Money is nothing…people are everything”. If you’re fortunate enough to have more money than you need to survive, share it with those who don’t. In a country where 50% of the people live on less than $1 per day and 90% of the people live on less than $2 per day, a little help can go a long way. While Fee may be slightly wealthier than the average Tanzanian, he is by no means a wealthy man. But nonetheless he never fails to put a few coins in the hand of every beggar he passes. He buys extra meals at Forodhani just to give to those who can’t afford it. He doesn’t try to accumulate money just to have it. One weekend at Kendwa his entire pay from his performance that night was pickpocketed from him. That was his entire week’s pay. And of course he was sad, but there was nothing he could do about it. He just said, “hii ni maisha”, put on a smile and spent the rest of the night doing what really makes him happy…dancing. Overall it seems to me that Tanzanians have a much better grasp on what is really important in life. As one Zanzibari told me “Westerners live to work, Tanzanian’s work to live.” If a Tanzanian can put in a few hours of work and make a sufficient amount of money…he’ll close up shop for the day and spend the rest of the day doing whatever they fancy.

Well this chapter in my life has finished and I guess I’m just expected to go back to normal American college life…we’ll see how that goes…

I suppose that all I can say at this point is “hii ni maisha”. Once the phrase was introduced to me by Kellie Fatma Dada Chura McMahon in the fall, I started hearing the phrase everywhere. It’s used in good times, bad times and just…times. This is life. It goes on. So appreciate it while you have it. When I tried to explain to Olotuno in broken Swahili how amazing it was that I could just sit and watch birds and then all of a sudden a zebra would walk by just a few feet away, he just smiled at me and said “hii ni maisha”. When I gave my condolences to a Mama who had just lost her baby she told me “hii ni maisha”. As much as it pains that me that this journey is over, I hope I can bring what I’ve learned in Tanzania back to America and hopefully my life will lead me back to Tannzania in the not-too-distant future.

Tutaonana siku nyingine, Tanzania.