hapana asante

Day 5 in Tanzania, Day 2 of classes

I titled this entry hapana asante which means no thank you in Swahili because I feel the phrase represents my experience in Arusha so far. Since we walk through the clocktower neighborhood which is the town center every day, several times a day to get to and from school we are constantly bombarded with mostly men trying to sell us one thing or another. From newspapers to shoes, or even a taxi ride. Everything is still so new so when I am offered I am kind of thrown off and just shake my head but when I muster up the courage I look the businessman in the eye and say hapana asante.

Right now I am in the Arcadia Center which is a short walk from pretty much anything. On the way there I walk past the East African Communities headquarter and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda which is still in session. Before coming to the center for our two hour lunch break I decided I would walk alone for a couple of minutes just into the center of Arusha because I felt ready to take my first short walk by myself. After just a few minutes of being asked every couple second if I wanted a taxi I decided to give up and walk back to the Arcadia Center. Literally 30 seconds after making this decision a man standing on the corner started walking with me and talking to me. (sidenote: supposedly I look Spanish because several Tanzanians have told me this). He started speaking Spanish to me and I just went along with it for the rest of the block. He wasn't trying to sell me anything he just wanted to know what I was doing in Arusha. Then the man selling newspapers on the street heard that I was speaking Spanish and started following me trying to sell me El País. I finally told him that I didn't have time today to read it with an hapana asante.

THEN a man who tried to get some other students and I to go on safari with his company the day before must have recognized me because he shook my hand and and asked me the same questions he asked the day before. Instead of being rude and saying "you asked me yesterday back off" I said, "yeah I recognize you from yesterday. You're a really good businessman. Very persistent." So we exchanged names and went on our ways.

While I know for a fact not everyone is trustworthy, I kind of appreciate in a strange way the curiosity and spirit these people in Arusha have. It is a little off putting to be hawked at because I'm a muzungu but I think its kind of a welcoming... at least they are talking to me instead of completely ignoring me. I'd probably feel even less comfortable if people in Arusha were unfriendly and cold.

kwaheri, tutaonana

Karibu! First day in Tanzania

This is my first post from TZ. After getting in last night around 8:30pm in Kilimanjaro I took my first breath of African air, filled out the proper paperwork, and met the rest of the group to drive about an hour to get to Arusha. It was pitch black outside for the entire drive so I almost didn't believe I was in Africa. When I woke up the next morning (after a pretty lousy, post almost 24 hours of travel sleep) I started believing that I was in Tanzania.

Today was SO BUSY with orientation. Besides the regular introductory meetings and lectures, we had our first Swahili lesson, took a walking tour of Arusha, and had a discussion about safety with the assistant secretary of security from East African Communities. The city of Arusha reminds me a lot of Leh, Ladakh in India where I was a couple of summers ago. It has a similar look and feel. There are three east African students joining us in our program, two from Uganda and one from Tanzania so I'm excited to get to know them.

Surprisingly its chilly here... I wore jeans and a pullover fleece all day. They say it'll get a lot warmer in the next couple weeks.

Outside the window right now there seems to be a drum and singing circle.

On the agenda for tomorrow: continuing orientation until 2pm, going to the ATM, and getting more credit for my cell phone.

Hoy es el día

Today is the day! The bags are packed.. well sort of and I'm ready to start my junior year with an adventure. I'm so excited to learn a new language, meet some amazing people, and experience Tanzania!!!

Arusha, here I come!!!

10 days....

I leave for Tanzania in 10 days. Its unbelievable. The past several weeks seems to have been consumed with preparing at a deeper level for my experience. I realized that I virtually knew nothing about Tanzania besides what I had seen in the Darwin's Nightmare so I began to do some research. While I am trying to go into this experience with as much as an open mind as possible, there are some facts and ideas about Tanzania and its culture that really excited me such as:

*Of the 274 seats on the National Assembly, 232 are elected by popular vote, 37 are women appointed by the president, and 5 are members of Zanzibar's legislature.

I would like to somehow research gender politics and gender identity and how the male dominated National Assembly contributes to these dynamics. As a Women's and Gender Studies major I tend to focus on women's experiences and how gender contributes to an individual's experience within a given society. For this reason I am actually really excited about two of the classes I am taking this semester: Tanzania in the Midst of Peace and Conflict and Gender Analysis in Development Projects in East Africa. The first is the required course for all of us on the program and according to the syllabus we are going to study gender as it relates to human rights and conflict. I am assuming we are going to focus on rape as a weapon in conflict. The second course excites me because it involves a 10 week field study component during which we visit different development projects and NGOs and study gender dynamics. (The other 2 courses I am taking are Health Issues in Africa and Elementary Swahili.)

I've also been trying to pick up a little bit of Swahili before going but so far I have really only been able to pick up how to say "how was your trip?" (Habari za safari?) I'm sure I'll lean a little more while I'm actually surrounded by the language!

More to come....

26 days until departure...

As the title of my first blog entry says, I am leaving for Tanzania in 26 days and I thought I would start my travel blog so that I can look back at the end of my time abroad and have some insight into how I have changed.

Right now I am sitting with my mom in the den watching my new favorite show of the summer--The Real Housewives of NJ. Its my guilty pleasure and I've seen every episode of the season. I've been watching so much of this show that I am starting to recognize places in the area that are on the show!

So far, this summer has been very productive and interesting. I finished my internship at MergerWatch this past week and I learned so much about advocacy, communication, and reproductive rights. It was a great experience working with such interesting and intelligent activists. I'm also working at the law firm part time and spending lots time with family and friends.

My favorite part of going on trips is packing! I think I have almost everything together that I need for Tanzania (i.e. shots, visa, clothes, shoes, medications). The next couple weeks will be getting everything finalized and physically put into my luggage. Got a new digital camera today after realizing this week that my former camera no longer works (thanks to a pretty legendary fall during the big snow this past winter) so now I will be able to post some pretty pictures on this blog for my loyal followers to see. I ordered some books about Tanzania and Swahili but I'm still waiting for them to come from Amazon!

I do not know my internet situation yet in Tanzania so I don't know how often I will actually be able to post on this blog but I will try to update as much as I can.

For now I am going to leave you with my favorite photo of the day: my beautiful dog modeling with a beautiful boa like scarf (made by my wonderful cousin Alyse).