Back to Arusha

So, here are some pictures of the beach on the coast of Tanzania. As you see in the second picture, you can own cows ANYWHERE... beaches, residential areas, in the middle of the city. I wonder what would happen if I owned a cow and just let it graze on my lawn in a suburb in the states? The third picture is of two of my friends here, Johanna and Rickard. She's from Finland, he's from Sweden, and I met them through LEAT. More about them later... the fourth picture is the lovely form of public transportation I have mentioned before, the dala dala. Looks like a mini van, runs about as well as a hippie van from the 1960s (aka don't turn it off or you have to push it to get it started again), and can fit about 30 people in it...if you are lucky you get a seat, if you are unlucky you are half hanging out the open door... which is quite exhilirating as you speed around other cars, over speed bumps, swerving on a second's notice to avoid potholes... However, for about 20 cents a ride ya can't complain. Too much anyway. :)

Tomorrow I leave Dar es Salaam and head back out to Arusha to finish up my semester. Its crazy to imagine, but next Friday is the last day of my program in Tanzania! I've spent the most consecutive days in a row here in Dar es Salaam out of any place in Africa, and I've made some great friends here, more than anywhere else. I've spent the past two weeks living with Johanna and Rickard (and 2 other swedish girls), because the other woman I was living with was having her boyfriend up from out of town and I didn't want to interfere. It has been great living with other wazungu who appreciate my attempts at cooking american food! I have eaten more cheese during this past month than in my entire time in Africa combined... and I am NOT complaining!

Johanna and I went out on Saturday night to a disco called the Garden Bistro. While discos usually start to get busy around 11 in the states, it took until 1230 for people to start showing up, and dancing didn't really pick up until 1 or 130 in the morning! However, when dancing did start we had a blast! We pretended it was my birthday (which got us a few drinks), and talked to some nice men from Brazil. We ended up getting home at 5am, after finding the only 24 hour pizza place in Tanzania and having our Brazillians buy us a few pies to share, which was great as pizza isn't the cheapest african food :). I love the little moments where you could be anywhere in the world, and its only when you actually stop and think that you realize "Wow, I'm in Africa!".

Anyway, I'm definately sad to be leaving Dar. While it is certainly too hot here, I have really enjoied getting to know the people who work at LEAT. I feel like I am part of the family here, and I think I will end up coming back to visit everyone in the next few years and maybe even working for a short time for LEAT after graduating. This experience has definately raised more ideas about what I could do after Bucknell, which is definately NOT what I needed as I had too many possibilities already :)... such is life as a young adult I guess!

I'm looking forward to seeing the other students on the program, and to hearing what they've been doing for the past month, because there is such a variety of interests in our group that I know everyone will have amazing stories to share. One lucky soul is even going to get to read my entire paper during our peer review process, which turned out to be 35 pages long, by far the longest paper I have ever written. And I still have to start and finish a 10 pager on the Serengeti, which I knew would get put off until the end of this trip but which now (of course) I regret not doing little by little, as well as prepare a presentation to summarize in 20 minutes what I have learned in the past month. Should be a lot of work but I think its managable...

So as of the 18th I am a free soul again. Between the 18th and the 25th I'll be bumming around, not really sure what I'll do yet, I may head up to Nairobi Kenya and actually try to see the city rather than just the hospital :). Or, I may just hang around Arusha for the week, we'll see. On the 25th of May I fly from Nairobi to London, to begin a new adventure in the UK. I still don't know where I am going to work or live, so if you've got any connections anywhere in the UK (England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland) and want to put me in touch with them I'd be eternally greatful! Otherwise, I'm going to bum around London for a bit until I find a job in a restaurant or a bar, which shouldn't be too difficult. After 2 months in London, Marge is flying out to join me at the end of July and we're heading to France to catch a stage of the Tour de France, and to either Switzerland or Germany, and then she's heading home and I'll travel through Italy on my own! And then I'll return to the states, to finish up my last year at Bucknell. Crazy to think that a whole new adventure begins in less than 3 weeks... but I'm very confident in my ability to travel and plan on the spur of a moment now so I'm not worried one bit! Talk to you all next time from Arusha!