I feel like I owe you more than just a few pictures that went up while i was gone. and lets face it, i have plenty of time. so here we go...
4/2/14
last day at school. gave 2 exams today and got a text while i was at school saying that my itinerary had been changed for one of my flights. good thing i checked because they changed the time so that i had to leave bariadi on friday instead of saturday. so tonight i had to unexpectedly finish packing and getting everything together.
started getting pretty darn nervous tonight. i think it finally hitting me that i was going to be doing all of this traveling, in africa, by myself, at 21. i was still beyond excited about it. it was just the logistics of getting to each place that was making me nervous.
4/3/14
got up this morning early and ready to go. feeling much more relaxed after a good nights sleep. we went into the soms to buy our bus tickets and get some more mpesa and airtel internet vouchers. we had a good bit of drama at the mpesa place because we had already withdrawn the money but it was coming through at the duka. oh well. we eventually got it. so i had lots of money, way more than i was comfortable with. amber decided to come to mwanza early with me so we were off at 9am. 4 and a half hours later we made it to mwanza. our bus was big time struggling so i was just happy to get there. we got our bags and found 2 piki piki drivers to take us to hotel tilapia. i burnt my calf pretty good. rookie mistake. i talked to mom for over 3 hours and just chilled. my veggie pasta was a let down after last time. then i got to talk with katie, goober, and dad. a really great start to the break. i started to get nervous again this afternoon but tried to shut down the nerves. my back was hurting really bad after the bus ride. it was incredibly crowded so i was sitting funky on the bad roads. lets just say that between spending a ton of time together, sharing beds together, traveling together, etc, i am so glad amber and i are friends. that would get rough.
me and my closest friends... and i was wondering why i was already stinky?
the other exciting news today was the somewhat impromptu addition to my travel plans. i decided that once i got back to dar, i would go to zanzibar for a night before meeting up with amber. along with this, i have also officially decided not to climb kilimanjaro and i am so happy with my decision. it was never on my bucket list before coming here but i think i had somehow talked myself into adding it to it. i also don't know how well my body would handle it right now. so that brings more exciting news…. after end of service i will be done which means that probably on may 30th i will be boarding that big bird home!
amber and i caught an episode of criminal minds on the tv in the room before going to bed. already pretty stinky. I'm blaming the bus.
4/4/14
a pretty disappointing breakfast based on past breakfasts at the christmas tree. chilled in the room and got my stuff together before saying bye to amber and getting a taxi to the airport. i was there way early but it felt good to be productive. tiny little airport and a neat experience. you got on a little bus to take you to the plane and there were no signs or gates or anything. lots of chinese people at the airport. no one was sitting beside me on the plane to dar so i got to spread out and chill out. read on my kindle. got into dar and waited for my luggage. so happy i didn't have to replay my last luggage scenario in dar. so funny to see so many 5 gallon buckets on the conveyor belt. and so tanzanian. steven was waiting for me and we took a long ride to the ywca. because of traffic it took over an hour. we stopped somewhere for me to get us dollars for my visa fees. so nice to have steven who treats us so well and is, most importantly, a safe driver in dar. i was so happy because the other volunteers from the ulanga district were staying at the ywca too before going back to their placement the next day. so i got to spend the night with them. we went to a little cafe. then i got some cereal! at a supermarket on the way home. and we talked more in their rooms before i went to bed. it was so great to see all of them and pick their brains for how they were feeling. nice to have some company. they pretty much all feel the same way. the name of the game is how can i waste time. lots of just existing. being content but not too many extreme highs or lows. got in touch with mom before trying to go to bed and get some rest before my 4:00am pickup to go to the airport. sleeping in dar is so hard though. it is hot and loud and you are under these stifling suffocating mosquito nets.
4/5/14
i got up and put on my uniform which consists of my white shirt and orange dress and chacos. we were at the airport quickly and i checked in with no problems. sat around for a while and checkout of the stores before sitting down at the gate. ate pb and a banana and more cereal. such a treat. honestly it probably isn't all that good but I'm loving it. caught a little bit of cnn and unguarded by rachel nichols so i got some sports news in. so excited for my trip and so happy i am getting to squeeze in stone town/ zanzibar.
if this trip has taught me anything, its never be ashamed of the selfie!!!!
food on the plane was pretty dar good. flight #1 was from dar to johannesburg and then fought #2 was from johannesburg to livingstone, zambia. sat between 2 really nice ladies on the second flight. they were traveling with their husbands as part of a big business vacation with people from around the world. but this one lady was from new jersey i think but her daughter was a rower at clemson. she was so sweet and they were both really curious about my life. the clemson mom, mary i think, gave me her airplane food, an individual package of sour cream and onion pringles, and a mini bag of white cheddar popcorn. you bet i savored all of that!! she also offered her husbands phone for me to call mom and tell her that i made it safely. unfortunately the service was not working so i couldn't get though but i was still so nice that she offered.
i made it through the airport and found my sign for “Rassie Smith”… close enough. my driver was very nice and gave me a nice little tour of the town and pointed things out to me. made it to jollyboys which was so neat. just a really great atmosphere. dropped off my stuff and got my valuables into a safe after telling mom that i was alive. i went to the atm to get some kwacha (about 6 k per 1 $). i went to the curio markets which was awesome. just shop after shop of handmade stuff. the people were generally very nice but made me go in just about every shop. met a group from lagrange. and got some good stuff for pretty darn cheap. oh and my bargaining skills just kept getting better. then i went to a supermarket on the way home and experienced some real culture shock. there were fixed prices and aisles and refridgeration and registers, package meat, and … it was fun. i paid for my bed. $12 a night. and got a shower before sitting in the pillow pit with a yogurt, banana, pb, and cereal and my laptop. talked to mom for a little and then just talked to the other people that were traveling. i found out that rafting actually had not been closed yet so i got my hopes up for that. I had to go to the desk the next morning to try to book anything i want to do.
the pillow pit! loved jollyboys
i went to bed pretty early and was the first one in the room and was out in no time. a big group returned about 1:30am but i just rolled on over. no mosquito nets so i was a little paranoid. no worries i thought someone wanted me to borrow their bug spray that they had left out though. oh and no top sheet either. haha
4/6/14
slept great but woke up early for american time, normal african time. went out to the common area and ate some breakfast while waiting to talk to the travel booking person. i got some water and 2 more yogurts to put in the fridge at the hostel before talking to her. there were no confirmed raftings yet so i had to return later that day to see if i was going to be able to go. so i just decided to go to the falls today and explore.
got my stuff and took advantage of the shuttle to the falls at 10. we were less than 10 minutes away. met a really nice older lady, liz, from the uk that i saw off and on throughout the day who was also staying at jollyboys. she was a retired midwife and was here in zambia to volunteer at an orphanage for a week. she came with a pastor that comes every 18 months and he was recruiting more people to go so he could bring more bags of stuff to donate.
so we all went into the park. there were baboons everywhere. curio markets right outside the entry gate. the shop owners always want to trade for something. the frequently mention hard bands and also really like carabineers and drawstring bags. as soon as i got in the park, i went straight for the falls and knife edge bridge. it was spectacular. just the sound and the sheer volume of water was ridiculous. how deep and wide the gap in the earth is was wild. the mist was also incredible. so i got a few pictures and then rented a poncho and got out the go pro went right in for it. the mist blew every which way and would come and go whenever it pleased. i was beyond soaked! like under my huge poncho i was soaked! i walked across the bridge and all the way out to danger point. from here, i could see the big bridge that people bungee and swing off of. and the rainbows were incredible, often seeing two at a time. i made my way around this island of sorts and then back across the bridge. i returned my poncho and then headed for the boiling point. i took out a cracker to eat, too much to the delight of the baboons that started running toward me so i quickly shoved it in my mouth and hid the rest in my bag. i sat at a bench and met 2 women doing the world race. they were in their 10th month. they were so awesome, loving, and kind. i have so much respect for them.
devils pool
so i hiked down to the boiling pot or devlis pool. really rocky path with lots of steps and baboons all around. beautiful walk down. sat down there for a while, and watched the whirlpools and people jumping off the bridge. walked back out and then down the photographic trail. it wasn't especially photographic but nice nonetheless. and then i went back to the other side of the falls and to the zambezi river right before it dropped off. I saw a big group and got excited bc i thought it might have been the big business group with mary in it but it was a group from switzerland.
then i went out of the park and walked across the big bridge. so beautiful. i walked over to zimbabwe and even went into the immigration building but i decided not to go in. i was prepared to have enough us dollars for the visa fee but not the park fee. liz was nice enough to let me borrow enough the last time i saw her but it was a long walk and by the time i got over there i decided it probably wasn't worth it. plus i talked to people and they said that because of the high water level the mist was so strong that you couldn't see it all that well. so i just walked back, enjoyed the pumbas i saw, the views of the bridge, and the people jumping off the bridge. i got a shared taxi back into town and walked back to jollyboys. one great day! i came back to the travel desk and still no bookings for rafting so i spent a good chunk of time trying to find what else i wanted to do. i ended up not booking anything tonight and just planning on having a relaxing day tomorrow. talked to mom and found out that mary, the lady that let me try to call mom, called mom yesterday to tell her that i had made it here safely. how sweet is that!! i ate cereal for dinner until liz came and asked me to join her for some dinner that she had cooked. pasta, tuna, corn, mushrooms, and green beans. nothing spectacular but tasty and so sweet of her. about 9:15 i had to call it a day and head to bed. crazy but there were already 4 people in there. they had a rough day after the booze cruise last night.
4/7/14
woke up and had breakfast with my internet. i was in my bathing suit and in the lounge chair by the pool at 8:45. i caught up on journalling as i listened to music. very peaceful with a good breeze and the sound of water. i took a baby nap and then got in the pool for a little. i put on some clothes around 1 and went to the markets again. talked to mom when i got back and then it was time for the sunset cruise. but right before i left, i figured i would check one more time about the rafting… and there was a trip! i was super excited. but also nervous because tomorrow is my last day and i also really wanted to do the elephant back safari. they were not sure that i would make it back in time from rafting to get to the elephants but in the end we settled on booking the rafting in the morning and provisionally booking the elephants in the afternoon, which meant i would have a spot if i made it back and wouldn't have to pay if i didnt. so that was a very quick, exciting, nerve-racking decision that i made with the van waiting to take me to the sunset cruise. so anyways, the cruise was nice but nothing too great. only 6 people on the boat. got some snacks and then dinner with some really good chicken. views couldn't compare to some of the sunsets i have seen here in tanzania.
i talked with mom for a little when i got back and got all my stuff together for my day tomorrow. if you cant tell i was really taking advantage of these free fast wifi! i saw liz for the last time tonight and wish i would have given her my email or something. she gave me and extra sheet from her room because she found out i didn't have one.
4/8/14
lets do it! busy busy day. i was really really hoping to make it back for the elephants. they picked me up and took me to their office at the waterfront. it was then that i realized that i should have brought my closed toe shoes for the elephants bc it was the same company that is organizing everything. even more nervous because that meant that i was going to have to make it back to jollyboys to grab them at some point. i was the first one there. then a family of 6 and 2 individuals got there. we did the quick safety briefing then got our gear and got on the truck. we picked up 5 more people that were waiting on us along the way. we rode for more than 30 minutes through a village to the river. well let me rephrase, we drove to the top of the gorge where we would had to climb down this super steep rocky path with all of our gear to the river. i guess it is only fair to work your legs before you work your arms. I was in the boat with a lady from australia, who was biking with a group from sudan to cape town. crazy. then there was an older guy and the only thing i know about him is that he just paddled whenever he wanted, usually at the complete opposite time from when the guide would tells to. then there was a group of 4 friends, 2 that live in lusaka in zambia and 2 that were visiting. they were hilarious and made the day even more fun. the guide, enuck, was nice.
so today was the last day that they were doing rafting. so we had the last run on the river. every year they close it when the water levels get too high. it is more dangerous then because the water is ridiculously fast and there are more whirlpools. the rapids are actually less pronounced and are more like huge waves. so we were rafting down the zambezi river, which enuck, said was 90m at its deepest. the river is the border between zambia and zimbabwe so zambia was on our left and zimbabwe was on our right. and the gorge was so deep/ high. the scenery was spectacular, so unreal. so there were two rafting boats, 2 kayakers that went ahead of us to take pictures and video, and 2 kayakers that stayed by our boats to help rescue people.
right before we flipped... i was already long gone at this point
we got to move around the boat a good bit and sit in different seat. but lets just say that i feel out enough for enuck to ask me if i liked falling out. i think i fell out 3 times and someone grabbed my foot to keep me in one other time. it was serious. the scariest part of the day was when our whole boat flipped over. i did not see it coming at all! and got caught underneath the boat and could not find my way out. i kept hitting the hard part of the boat and couldn't find an air pocket. luckily our boat hit another wave and it popped me out from under it (i only know this because i saw the video of it happening). i was in such a daze but enuck got on top of the boat and flipped it back and we were off again. we went for all the big rapids and eventually made it to the end. i think we did rapids 14-25 or something like that. at the end, we got a cable car out. thank god we didn't have to climb back out! we had sodas and water on the ride back to the waterfront. i was beyond happy because we made good timing and i knew that meant i was going to make it to the elephants.
i got back and changed quickly, went to pay for the elephants since i was getting to go, grabbed my packed lunch that steven (one of the kayakers, really nice guy) packed for me, and was taken to jollyboys. oh and i had steven do a little first aid on the piki piki burn because it was looking rough and i didn't have anything with me. the only thing that i missed out on my leaving early was the food, which they packed for me, and the pictures and video of our trip that i could buy but i was told we would be coming back by there later that day and i could look it then. anyways, another van came to pick me up from jollyboys for the elephants in mosi-oa-tunya national park. it was really well run. there was nice introduction with a guy that was pretty funny and then we went outside to meet and get on our elephants. there were 4 doubles and 3 singles so of course i was happily a single meaning i got to be the only one on an elephant with a guide. i still got a big ol’ elephant. his name was madinda. he was a crazy elephant that loved eating and had a mind of its own, as we would often stray off the path. he was fighting another elephant for supremacy of the group. They had an older elephant, bob, there that is about 60 years old but he just retired from riding.
madinda!!!!
so some cool elephants facts…
- their skin is about 1/2 inch thick but is still sensitive. it is actually much harder than i thought.
- they do not sweat so they use their ears as a fan to cool down. that is also why they roll around in the mud.
- an elephants of madinda’s size will eat about 220 kg of food per day and they eat for about 18 hours a day. they drink about 70-80 gallons of water per day.
- their drunks have about 46,000-56,000 muscles.
so the safari part of the elephant back safari was pretty uneventful but that wasn't what i was there for anyways. we did see the lions though that are used for the lion encounter. the company earned major brownie points for me because even though someone was walking along side us to take pictures and video, they offered to take my camera and take some pictures of me. we made it back and got off our elephants. then we got to feed them the rest of the pellets in the bag. it was so awesome. the elephants kneeled down and i sat on his leg. we washed our hands and got some water while they were putting the video together. so we watched the video and looked at a few of the pictures before we called it a day. i didn't want anything here because i already had pictures from my camera. but i was interested in the rafting pictures and video. since we weren't going back to the waterfront, i asked the driver about it and he said that it is the same company that does it. so we went back in and arranged someone to come to jollyboys with the videos and pictures.
by the time i got back to jollyboys and took a shower, there was someone waiting for me with the discs. it was so cool to watch our raft flip. feeling cheap and wanting to take advantage of my bartering skills, i got one heck of a deal for both the video and the pictures (even when this is definitely not something that you can barter for). then i was finally able to get on the internet and tell people that not only was i alive, but i also had one heck of a day. talked with mom, trish, and pam and then loaded/ saved all my pictures. packed up my stuff and hit the sack.
4/9/14
messed around in the morning. finished up packing, got my last souvenir, talked with mom and katie for just a second, ate some yogurt, and booked my transfer to the airport. got to the airport, which was undergoing major renovation. when boarding the plane, i saw mary and the big business group so i got to thank her and ask about their trip. journaled for while on the plane and ate me some yummy airplane food.
made it to johannesburg and went got through a monster of a long line to get through immigration. snacked at the gate and started another free kindle book as i was waiting for my 5th flight. only 3 more after this. so excited to get to cape town and revel in its developed beauty, do fun stuff, eat good things, and just have an awesome time. lets hope it can rival livingstone.
found my taxi driver from the hostel and got checked in to my hostel. so nice. said hey and bye to mom so i could go to sleep. so tired.
4/10/14
5:00am came early but i was pumped for the day ahead. great white sharks with apex in the morning and then an afternoon tour of boulders beach and cape point/ cape of good hope. nick and i planned this day together which worked out nicely. our driver for the day was allistair and he was there at 5:30 ready to go. with dawn approaching i got my first little glimpse of table mountain and saw a beautiful sunrise. we drove about 45 minutes to simon town and met monique and another guy at the office. we had a muffin while we waited for the other people to arrive. we loaded the boat and were off. it was so beautiful to be riding along as the sun was rising over the ocean and surrounding mountains. i took some pictures and tried to do a video only to find out my batteries for the go pro were dead. so disappointed but tried not to let it get me down. i charged it before i left livingstone but it must have turned on and drained the batteries during the travels. there were dolphins swimming besides us and birds all around.
mango!
we made it to seal island, which was cool to see in person. we did a lap around the island, towing the decoy behind us. no breach but it wasn't really the time of year for it. it was interesting to see how shallow the water was right around the island and then i completely dropped off. they said that is what makes this area so popular for great whites and especially their breaching behavior… its a great hunting ground.
so happy!
then we dropped anchor and they set up the cage. i was in group 3 to get in the water. the views from the top deck of the boat were the best to see the sharks. it was really neat to see how familiar they were with each particular shark. they had names and stories of their behavior. there were 2 guys that were working on the boat, constantly trying to attract the sharks. they had two lines with bait, one shallow and one deep, and would beat on the boat to attract the sharks to the sound. one shark, darasi, loves to come visit the boat and has come almost every time for 4 months. the skipper found out that she loves the bottom line and will jump on it. if he just hold the line tight and doesn't jerk it, she will just stay on and he will essentially be walking a shark. darasi made many visits to us today. they said she is about 3.4 m long. the biggest shark we saw all day was mango, who is about 3.9 m but so much bigger/ wider than darasi.
can i do it again?!
my time in the water came quickly and i jumped in first and went directly for the spot on the left because i had noticed that that is where the sharks had been coming the most. i feel incredibly lucky to have seen so many sharks and so close! i mean, if i wanted i could have touched a great white! i may be partial but i think i was in there at the best time. really wished i had to go pro to share with yall. the water was cold but not too bad.
other animal sightings included a huge sting ray that was playing with the bottom bait and penguins on seal islad. speaking of seal island, most of the seals on there are female seals but you can definitely spot the difference between the males and females. the males are much chunkier. the said seals are actually very ruthless killers and that they got out in packs to find food.
we went back to the office and paid for the day and left with allistair again. there was a bit of miscommunication about how long we could be gone but it was all settled and we had a great afternoon. the first stop was boulders beach. we walked along the beach paths for a while seeing very few penguins but then got into the park and saw lots of them. much smaller and pretty funny to see them on a beach. then we went to table mountain national park to see cape point and the cape of good hope. we saw the famous fynbos (fine bush) that the area is covered in. we got some quick food (got a cape malay chicken pizza) before walking up to the lighthouse at cape point. beautiful views but we were quickly up and down. then we went on to the cape of good hope. we spotted 2 antelope and a few ostriches along the way. the first stop was to get a picture by the sign…. along with a whole asian tour bus. but then we hiked to the top of the mountain in the background to take in the scenery. outrageously beautiful.
penguins!!!
cape point... walking up to the lighthouse
i think you know where this one was....
the twelve apostles... of which there are more than twelve of??
we made our way back down and got in the car for the trip back. i finished off my pizza along the way. our driver took us a different, much more beautiful, way back along chapmans peak. we passed by some popular beaches and got some good views of lions head, signal hill, table mountain, and the twelve apostles. when we finally made it back, i hopped in the shower where i also did some laundry (hot water with excellent water pressure), went to the grocery store (bought some apples!!!!!!), and talked to mom/ spent time on the internet.
4/11/14
slept like a baby!! i loved the bed and the room. it stayed pretty dark and i didn't get out from under my cozy down comforter until 9am! it was brilliant (ugh! a british word that i heard too much traveling and have accidentally been saying too much). ate apples, yogurt, and pb before heading out to explore. the goal was to just walk around the city today and see what it had to offer. the first stop was greenmarket square to look for souvenirs. nothing too different from the curio markets in livingstone. but i ended up with an awesome comfortable africans mans shirt. i stopped by afro gem to get my free goodie bag. gotta get them freebies! went to the castle good hope, district six museum, and just wandered around more. stopped and got some food and then back to the backpack. still exhausted so i took advantage of being on vacation and showered, ate, and talked to mom a little more. found apples and pretzels in the supermarket so i was in heaven.
my hostel... loved this place!
4/12/14
busy day ahead. i decided to do the blue tour of the hop on hop off bus. and i pretty much conquered it. i caught the bus in front of the mount nelson hotel at about 10. it was really nice. they gave you headphones when you paid and you just plugged them in and picked you language and they told you about what you were passing and where you were going. my first stop was kirstenbosch botanical gardens. i heard great things about it but lets be honest… thats just not my thing. so i walked around for a while, saw what i wanted to see, and kept going. stop #2 was the wine tour. i switched onto the wine tour bus that took me to grove constantia, which is apparently pretty famous. again, not my thing but i had to do it. i got the bus back out and had a fig and bought a bag of little clementines while waiting for the next blue bus. stope #3 was world of birds and monkey jungle. it was really fun and interesting. all kinds of crazy animals and of course birds at world of birds. honeybadger, lots of tortoises, alpacas, the famous birds of arabia (aka storks), penguins, … then monkey jungle was really cool. you walked into this big enclosure and there were lots of squirrel monkeys all around. one jumped right on top of my head. step #4 was the imazamu yetu township. i did a little township tour there where a group of us walked around with someone and he talked about the township. houses built by habitat for humanity and now by an irish initiative. so there was a mix of the traditional houses, made largely out of tin/ metal, and the new, colorful, concrete houses. the owners have to pay 15% of the cost of the house over a period of 12 years but they will get the deed. most houses in the township have water and all have electricity. they had a decent size community center that serves as their church or area for any community gathering. it was built from storage cubes. really creative. so the walls were the storage cubes, which also served as smaller rooms or offices, which were arranged in a rectangle. the township also has its own schools. stop #5 was the victoria & alfred waterfront. i didn't have too much time here because i wanted to catch the night tour bus to see the sunset over the atlantic at signal hill. and i wanted to have an open top seat on the bus so i had to get there early. nevertheless, i still had time to wander around. i went to the food court which was full of individual booths. i bought some honey, almond, cinnamon dried apple rings. and i had a smoothie and a roasted vegetable fritatta. huge chunks of butternut squash and a piece of zuchinni. very tasty. the night trip was nice but i was ready to be back after a long day. so i caught a taxi back to the backpack to rest. got some pictures up on the internet and talked with craig and kathy, mom, and kristi.
just another day. monkey jungle.
victoria and alfred waterfront
on the night tour bus. a paraglider at sunset.
4/13/14
woke up at about 7:45 and called abseil africa to try to figure everything out. i thought i wasnt going to get to go because i am riding solo but i found out that i can do the abseil by myself as long as i hiked it myself. no problem! the weather was great but definitely sunny and hot. it was unseasonably hot the whole time we were in cape town, especially since we were bordering on winter time. someone mentioned something about it being 38 degree (celsius) which is crazy. but anyways, i caught the red line bus to the mountain and started about 10:15. i had to walk about a mile to the start of the trail. i was taking the platteklip gorge route. it was hard but probably good for my heart to be huffing and puffing again! table mountain is no joke. the route was well defined, with steps the whole way up. probably took me about an hour and fifteen minutes or so to get to the top. then i walked around the top for a while before searching for abseil africa. another guy had gotten there just before me so we did it at the same time. it was pretty quick but lots of fun and sooooo beautiful! and there was a nice little surprise half way down… the rock that i had my feet on completely disappeared and so i was just hanging in the air. it was a total of 112m descent. but that means we had to hike 112m back up. whew! so exhausted and hungry. we hiked up the last bit of the india venster trail. i got to the top, grabbed my stuff, and took the cable car down. the cable car was super nice and fast. the floor even rotated to give you a 360degree view. i hopped on the bus and took it to the waterfront. again i didnt have that much time because i wanted to take the last bus back to my area (to go to the greenmarket square again and then to my hostel). starved, the first stop was for another smoothie/ fruit juice. then i tried some kudu, springbok, and beef jerkey. and then i stopped at a restaurant and had a salad. but the highlight was the huge breadstick that i got from volvo telo bakery and cafe. best. thing. ever. i made it back to greenmarket square but they were already packing stuff up. i was trying to blow some money that i had leftover but only bought a few bracelets. so i went back to the backpack and got my last hot, awesome shower and relaxed for the rest of the eventing. talked to dad, mom, and katie. got pictures up on the internet. packed and called it a night.
smiling because i hadn't started yet....
on the bus. such a cheap, easy way to travel
made itttttttt.
ready for more! more abseiling that is.
4/14/14
got up before 7 to finish up packing everything. cab came at 7:30 and we said our goodbyes to cape town. i finished off my cereal and clementines at the airport and got into my bag of apples i brought back with me. journaled the cape town experience on my first flight on mango airlines. mango just keeps appearing on this trip. first the fruit is everywhere here in bariadi. then there is a teacher at my school whose name is mango. then the huge shark. then the airline. guess it was just meant to be for me to make it back for camp. no complaints by me!
both flights were pretty uneventful. the signs in the johannesburg airport for transfers were pretty awful but we had plenty of time. i was still trying to spend that extra money and there just wasn't anything i wanted. if i buy something it is because i really really want it because i have to carry it everywhere with me. it takes up valuable room and weight. thats how it should be everywhere though. so i bought a bran muffin and demolished that. and a bag of white cheddar popcorn that i cherished on the plane to dar. so delicious! i took fast jet from johannesburg to dar and it was basically empty. i had 3 seats to myself so i laid down a took a nap. so nice.
we made it through the airport and waited for steven to pick us up and take us to the ywca. i talked to mom for a second before crashing…. well trying to.
4/15/14
steven picked nick and i up at 6:15 to take us to the ferry. we were both heading off to zanzibar. luckily i had my exemption certificate so i got resident rates. yep… thats right. im a tanzania resident. how crazy?!
on the ferry to zanzibar
i was really not feeling well this morning and was getting nervous about getting nauseous. luckily i think i just really needed some food and water in me. and i got just that on the ferry. my first chapati in a while. back to the days of eating because you have to. the ferry was nice. nothing too crazy. nick and i split ways after getting off and i met up with someone from the hostel i was staying at. he just came and met me on foot because the place is so close to the ferry terminal. i got a nice welcome with a wet towel and some juice. i went up to the roof top and used their wifi and got some more food. really didn't need it but who's going to turn down free? texted mom and she was hilarious this morning… well middle of the night for her. so then i just went out with no real aim. i just wandered around stone town. did some sightseeing, did some history, did some beaching, did some shopping (bought some volunteer pants- poofy pants that volunteers wear to get away with not having to wear a skirt- haha). i was back in tanzania so i was wearing my uniform (orange dress) again. i took off my undershirt and that was as scandalous as i got on the beach. if i was further away from stone town i would have been in my bathing suit but not here. one guy was driving me crazy for money or to let him take me somewhere. no thanks. met another tanzanian from england and he was nice. his accent was pretty funny. then i went to an indian restaurant for lunch and that was quite yummy. then i tried to go sit on a bench and read my kindle but a student kept asking me english questions. i helped him for a good little while and then he left. i got complimented on my chaco tan before i headed back to the hostel. i showered then read and texted in my luxurious bed. i went back out a little after 6 to see what this foordhani market/ gardens was all about. along the way i stopped and watch a big group of boys doing all kind of crazy jumps, flips, and dives off the side walk into the ocean. it was so fun. so athletic and they were putting on a good show for us. i went back the next day and was amazed at how shallow and coral-y the area was. but the market was really neat. apparently it happens every night. so there were tables set up all over and each table had their own grill. the tables were covered with skewered meat and seafood, bread, corn, etc. i ended up with just an ear of corn to stay of the safe side. but i let them rub lime and salt on it and that wasn't a good call.
pre-scandal
4/16/14
enjoyed the breakfast. tried passion fruit for the first time. had some zanzabari bread and an omelet with some mushrooms on the side. then i went out to walk around stone town again. i bought another african shirt and ended up on a lounge chair at a hotel on the beach. i read for a while until the rain came in. so i devided to go ahead and take the 12:30 ferry instead of the 3:30 ferry and get back to dar. well the line at the ferry definitely got my blood boiling but, trust me, i held my own and let them know i wasn't happy with them. anyways, i was cutting it close but i made it. and i bought the vip ticket. 12,000tsh more but i heard that you get incredibly seasick in the economy section on the way back so i wasn't going to risk it! so the vip section was pretty nice. we had nice chair and it was inside in an air conditioned room. so i just relaxed as we hopped on across the indian ocean.
when i made it to dar, i was going to walk back to the y. and i say was bc i started to but then the rain came. fast and hard. and so did the flood. so i waited a while under an awning and then i flagged down a taxi, only to sit it traffic for forever and eventually i just got out and walked the rest of the way. whatever. dar flooded pretty much instantly. it was ridiculous. there have actually been multiple deaths in the last few weeks because of the flooding. anyways, i made the treacherous walk back, knee deep in water, and not knowing what i was stepping on.
so i finally made it back to the ywca and was reunited with amber. she had texted me on the 12th saying that she might go home but she made it official today. so that meant we had to soak up and make the best of our last couple days together. we nixed our plans to go to kunduchi beach and the watermark there because she had errands to run and we were worried about the weather. so we just chilled the rest of that day. she went to mokka city for some internet. i went to the supermarket and got another thing of cereal. and we had a movie night in the room, staring les mis.
4/17/14
stayed up so late last night. we watched les mis and then i got on the internet for a little. it was nearly midnight when i went to bed! crazy spring breaker! haha. dar has been treating us well so far though. the room had a good fan and it wasn't really even all that hot, probably because of all of the rain. and haven't really even seen any mosquitos. still using the net though. woke up around 7:30 and went downstairs and brought my hard boiled egg and two slices of bread up to the room to eat with peanut butter. amber had to go out to try to change her flights but i stayed in the room, ate way too much cereal, and read harry potter. then i went to mokkacity to meet with kim since i was in dar. it was great to see her as always. i tried to meet up with her when i came through dar the first time but she was down and out with malaria at the time so it was great to see that she was nearly back to herself. after kim left, amber came and used the internet. i waited for a lapse in the rain and got back to the ywca. i stopped and bought another huge jug of water. its so cheap here! and a roasted sweet potato. the streets were flooded yet again. there was a smart guy that was charging people to walk across a ladder. i kindly walked right around them but silently congratulated his for his ingenuity. texted with mom for a while and laughed about my ever growing ego here. the movie of the night was love and other drugs.
4/18/14
a super lazy day here. i hardly got out of bed and my nose hardly out of harry potter. ive been going through this cereal like crazy. oh well. got to talk to dad. and then mom and katie… together! it was so awesome to see them together and to hear about their fantastic day, surprising and visiting a bunch of the family. i took a minute to pack my stuff up and then watched hairspray. it wasn't easy but i finally found out what time divergent was playing at which theater. so amber and i went to see it at 7:15. we were on top of the world. i honestly don't even know if the movie itself was that good but everything about going to the movies was great! popcorn, slushies, drinks, and indian food at the concession stand. really comfortable seats… and only 31 of them in the whole theater. we were loving it. we came back and went to bad since we had another early pickup. our flight back to dar was at 6am so steven was coming at 4.
4/19/14
well we were prepared at 4 but the ywca wasnt. they have security guards that work there and keep the door locked. the only problem is when you cant find the security guard and the door is locked. well after searching everywhere and calling a number i found by the desk, we were finally set free and were off to the airport. they gave me a little grief (justifiably so probably) about my large carry on but i had flown fast jet from johannesburg to dar and they didnt have a problem with it so i just used that and talked them into letting me carry it.
fastjet. last flight for a while.
i loved the early flight because we were already at hotel tilapia in mwanza by 8:30 and we had the whole day ahead of us. we checked in to a room there (such a treat!) and went out by the pool. swam, treaded water, and laid out for a while. we met a nice guy and he took us out on his boat later that afternoon on lake victoria (yes, i know this sounds sketchy but he was nice and we lived to tell the tale). haha it was perfect! so relaxing and refreshing. and it was like we were on our own safari! we saw some crazy disgusting mix of a lizard, snack, and crocodile, a baby crocodile, some cool birds, and an otter. we came back and i ate some delicious indian vegetable stew with rice.
hotel tilapia
little otter
baby croc
terrifying little creature
4/20/14
Happy Easter!
Amber and I woke up at Hotel Tilapia on Easter morning. We were celebrating in style by staying there. I set by the pool for a little before indulging in quite the spread that they have for breakfast. I came back to the room and joined amber for our Easter church service courtesy of a Charles Stanley sermon that we found on tv. I got my last hot shower with great water pressure before we headed out to the bus stand. The journey was nothing less than tanzanian and far from boring. Someone had told amber that there was a bus leaving for bariadi at 12…. well that wasn't the case. There was however a bus leaving for lamadi which is about half way there and they said we could take a dala dala from lamadi to bariadi. So we went for it. So we got off at some place and after some tanzanian engineering to open the door under the bus to get ambers luggage out, we had to take a piki piki to the lamadi bus stand. from there we paid for the dala dala and waited for enough people to come to fill it up. Well thats where the interesting come in. Full has a drastically different meaning here. Take something the size of a suburban or tahoe in america and put at least 26 people in it. I say at least because i counted that many but due to the people all around me and over me, I couldn't see the whole bus. I was just about as miserable as could be. Jesus music blasting in my ears was the only saving grace. I heard people laughing at one point and I seriously thought how in the world can you be laughing right now. A few of the guys standing basically on top of me were sometimes was too happy to take advantage of this forced close proximity to two mzungus. The only thing that came close to being funny was me thinking that I paid 6,000tsh for the ride but the dirty looks that i was dishing out were free. Fortunately, a few people got off somewhere along the way and that made life much better. After about 2 hours, we made it back and got to the house.
Happy Easter! Thank you Charles Stanley!!
such a rough trip. but DONE. look closely and you can see 2 other people in this picture.
actually, i don't even know how i mustered up the energy to open my eyes long enough to take this picture...?
and the face... please don't ask.
my easter candy! from moms package that came forever ago
After being closed up for 2 weeks, it actually didn't smell that bad so that was nice. I got right to work unpacking my bags and getting settled again. It really was nice to get back and put things in their place and, even more importantly, to only have 5 weeks to go! Oh and during this whole traveling fiasco we also had another passenger with us…. ambers 70 lb package from her grandmother that she has been fighting to get since january!! So, we also got to go through that and look at all of the incredible goodies.
4/21/14
I woke up in a super productive mood today. And thanks to one of the lovely roosters, that was much earlier than planned. Anyway, I got up and got a module done. Then, I went through and cleaned, like really cleaned, my whole room. I dusted my bed, reorganized my shelves, put some stuff in my bags, swept, etc. I did my laundry and washed my sheets. I swept a good portion of our courtyard. Nick got back this afternoon from his trip, too. I also spent my last day here with amber. She decided to go home during spring break so she came back to bariadi for one last hurrah and to pack up, say goodbyes, and give her package to the students here at bariadi. It will definitely be much different here without her but I am so beyond happy for her!
4/22/14
Said my official ‘see you later’ to amber this morning before heading off for a little dose of reality. back to school today. School was pretty crazy. lots of caribous and 20 new teachers. the work room is officially a mad house. it is packed. no where to sit and just loud. Lots of teachers asked me why i didn't tell them where i was going (they just know south africa) because they would have accompanied me. ummm no thank you much! surprised because no one asked me for their gift. maybe i already broke their hearts after coming back from the serengeti empty handed.
so with all of these new teachers, they were only able to create 2 more streams, one for form 1 and one for form 2 because that is all the classrooms they have. they are supposedly trying to move form 3 (which is me) to a new school. i really dont see that happening but well see.
a rude awakening to be back. just wasn't really feeling it today and i had two double periods and they just really didn't go that well. the students were being incredibly disrespectful. the teachers, mostly the new ones, were really annoying me too today. they were mocking me and speaking extremely dumbed down swahili to me. corporal punishment hit me hard again. i guess i had been away from it for too long. and a girl yelped in pain one time and some of the teachers mocked that too. and a bad case of the devils. just little frustrations. fortunately i had my midterms to grade so i was able to stay busy and keep to myself.
the people i met on my walk home didn't do too much for me either. Kept asking me about the differences between america and tanzania in a million different ways. thats pretty much one of my least favorite questions. but on the bright side, i stopped and bought enough airtel vouches to buy an internet bundle and got that rocking when i got back to the house. we also started catching fire tonight during dinner which came in one of ambers care packages. awesome!
oh and we woke up to no water this morning so i will blame some of my moodiness on that.
4/23/14
was woken up this morning by mahumis text telling me that he was leaving for mwanza and to call for osama, my piki piki driver. but the better wake up was to running water again! and the BEST wake up was to an email from katie, giving me the baby news!!! a fantastic email with great news and handsome pictures. a day cant start any better than that! i knew nothing was going to be able to get me down today.
i got to school and got to work on marking my exams. marked for about 3 hours before it was time for class. stream c did pretty darn well on my midterm if i do say so myself. now, its all relative but i think they did well. stream a, on the other hand, not so much. it was hard not to get frustrated with the tanzanian education system, test results and success, english, …
teachers are still driving me crazy. only two ‘arguments’ with luchonga. one was about english grammar and the other about may 1st being workers day. well in case any of you americans didn't know that is a worldwide holiday and we will not be having school. no worries i just went back to marking, this time with my headphones in, and all was right in the world.
the walk home was much better and many people stopped to try to take me home, an immunizations guy, a driver for the district education office, and a school bus. i stopped at the market and got my essentials…. bananas and peanuts butter. when i got home i did the dishes and just chilled. i was so exhausted today. i finally got to chat with katie this evening so that was fun.
4/24/14
a little late to school this morning with osama, then planned a lesson on variation, taught a double period, enjoyed break, taught another double and then called it a day. word on the street is that we will be moving to the new school monday. that would be ideal. less teachers and a little closer.
simba asked for his gift from south africa today. even just a pipi (a sweet) he said. grrrr. i was prepared tuesday but today it caught me off guard.
walked half of the way home with madame joyce and then walked the other half with the rain. everyone kept yelling at me to come in their shop/ under their awning but i was enjoying the rain. living on the wild side, folks.
hash for dinner with a side of catching fire. and the dessert treat was a facetime with mom and jane. facetime has been acting up recently so it was great to be able to get through tonight.
4/25/14
wake up this morning was a call from mahumi telling me he was back. so i got up and boiled some water so it could cool down while i was at school. a very short day at school. mahumi had a meeting back near our house so i marked exams for about 2 hours and then i made it back to the house. no classes today because they were holding elections for the head prefect. evidently it was a big deal because a girl won for the first time. and if you think about how many more boys than girls there are at the school, it is even bigger. congrats, i guess. i still dont really know what the head prefect does. i tried to get mahumi to explain it to but basically all i know is that the head prefect is the ‘chairperson’ of the students and the ‘bridge’ between the teachers and students. so ive been typing up the blog since i got home and am ready for two days of nothingness. guess that means a lot of quality time in my bed with my kindle. some internet. hopefully some workout and some sun. oh and of course food. anything i can get my hands on if i eat anything like i have been this week. and speaking of food, i was leaving today and micese said ah you have obesity today. and i just laughed and said how? my stomach? and he said he said yes! you have eaten much! congratulations!!! yolito! hahahaha side note, i was wearing my pillow case also called a kitange so there was no way he could even see me but i loved it. we finished catching fire over cabbage and mchicha for dinner. great movie and great food. we hadn't had cabbage and mchicha for a long time!
4/26/14
back to the bariadi weekends! spent the day either typing up this monster of a blog or readying my kindle. also did a workout, bariadi style, in the courtyard in my bathing suit while i was boiling me some water. went into somanda and bought some water and some sweet potatoes to have either tonight or tomorrow. oh and my itunes just crashed on my computer. not happy about that. i went from 1600 songs to 111 songs. well well well. at least i have my iPhone! i dont think i can ever stress the importance of my music here. i pretty much always have it going. it keeps me sane. and happy! rice and beans for dinner. wahooo. not!
