Enjoying All Tanzania Has To Offer

Half of my two week stay in Dar has passed so it is on to my second stop - Fr. Francis in Pugu. I mentioned in previous blogs that I would like the visit my friend Fr. Francis, a Filipino monk who lived in Katibunga Zambia while I was there, during my stay in Dar. Fr. Francis has been assigned the director of the Pugu shrine and parish. It just so happens that Pugu is literally a ten minute walk from where I stay now. So, he has invited Raphael and I to stay at the guesthouse there. It is quite nice and it is great to see him again. It's good to have friends in high places ha. 

The move has come just in time too. I feel as if my bed at my first home-stay had bed bugs and so that was no fun. I must taste like an ice cream Sunday to them because I was covered in bites. It will be nice to be able to get cleaned up and healthy before Kilimanjaro.

However, Raphael and I plan to see and spend time with our friends Joyce, Halima and Samwell while still in Dar. The beach day on Friday is still scheduled. 

While on the topic of the beach, the amount of beach-goers that are able to swim are the minority. I would say 95% of the people at the beach are unable to swim and my friends are most definitely a part of this grouping. This leaves me and two other Tanzanians as the experienced swimmers. 

I made sure they had a floatation device the last time we went to the ocean and I will do the same on Friday. I am sure you can imagine that even with the flotation device they still cling to me. As a former lifeguard, this is the worst. It inhibits my ability to swim and therefore I make sure we stay in areas where I am able to stand. 

Raphael's sister

I also tried to explain the ocean's dangerous undertow which doesn't necessarily take swimmers underneath the surface, but can pull them out to sea. This they did not seem to understand and if they did they did not heed my advice to stay close. I made sure to pull them in multiple times, though. The other Tanzanians who could swim seemed to take a liking to the ladies which led them to swim nearby. This helped me keep an eye on them which was nice.

While at the beach my skin obviously becomes a little more red and my freckles stand out. My friends became alarmed and thought I had a problem. I had to explain what freckles were because they had never seen them before. All is well.

Every once in a while I forget that some things we have in America they may not have here. I asked my new friends if they were on Facebook. Halima looked at me and laughed and said "do you think this phone can access Facebook?" Good point. Some have smart phones, but most don't. 

My friends also call me Jose (Jos-ay). They love putting a vowel on the end of everything here. I don't mind Jose, at least it's not Joey.

Since I eat everything my friends eat they appreciate my willingness to try and eat what they do. They told me the white people they know only want American food. I don't mind so much. 

Something interesting about food is that when it comes time to put the food on the plate it tends to go from oldest to youngest. The youngest is last to be served. Guests also tend to go first. 

My biggest downfall is my ability to eat without spilling. Ha, I seem to always spill something. This is one reason I like utensils, but in Africa it is common to eat with your hands. I have done both, but when there are utensils around I use them.

It rained yesterday and so we ran out with our buckets to collect the rain water. We were able to use it as drinking water for dinner which was nice. It also saved us a trip to the well.

We visited another of Raphael's older sisters two days ago and in her yard were multiple palm trees. They brought out a coconut and helped me open it up, drink the water and eat it. It was fun and fresh coconut is really good. Now, if I am ever stranded on an island I will be able to eat the coconut!

Considering we have moved to the guesthouse, Clous, one of our neighbors in the village, offered to kill and cook one of his ducks for dinner. It was very good. It's funny, they meet me, we talk for a bit and then they say "we are now just like family." Very nice people. 

Enjoy some fresh coconut 

Raphael was speaking with me the other night and how he and the others want to go to America. This is a very common topic of conversation. I explain to them that not only is it expensive, but hard to enter. They brought up the idea of doing it the 'magic way'. I laughed and said "huh, what is the magic way?" They explained to me that some Africans (only Africans) can summon spirits to help them fly to other countries. I laughed again, but they didn't. They full-on believe this. Witchcraft is a very common belief, however I couldn't believe that my friend Raphael thought it was true. He said he saw a video of it once. I explained the video was edited for special effects. He said no and that I wouldn't know because I am not African. So be it. I don't believe people can fly, but what do I know, I'm only an American. Ha!

Something that I do believe can fly are airplanes and I love being able to see them in the sky over Dar. I haven't seen one single airplane in the sky while in the village this past year. Not one. So, it is great to see and hear them. I feel like I am a little bit closer to civilization because of them.

Not only do I hear the Muslims call to prayer in town, but on Friday nights the Catholics go to their little chapels and churches and pray all night. And they pray loudly. They scream and chant in order to cast out the devil (this is what I am told because it is in Swahili). It's great to pray, but do you have to do it at 1:00AM? Silent prayer sounds nice to me.

The temperature in Dar is about 15 degrees hotter than Songea. It is a hot box here. It only makes me more excited for the cool temperatures of the mountain. I like 70 degree temperatures, but 90 and above is too much for this guy. Just too hot. Soon I will be in cooler weather, though. 

Today will be a relaxing day for me. Just hanging out. I enjoy going into town, but with how long I spend on the bus to do so it is nice to have a break. I am nearing the end of East of Eden which is a phenomenal book. I will have finished it by the time of my next blog so I will talk about it then.

I hope your March is shaping up nicely. I cannot believe we are already approaching the middle of the month. 

Thanks for reading!

The new kid on the block