Wrote this a few days ago, but am just now in Wifi land sooo... Yep.
Well the first week of Dar was a whirl wind, but wonderful
despite the flooding, traffic, and expensive frozen yogurt. Traveler’s note
frozen yogurt in Dar es Salaam is horrendously expensive… Just buy the
Carmellos from the Azam carts. Anyways, Allie and I are roommates now and we
live with Mama Christine and Baba Reverend John. Mama Christine picked us up at the hotel and
met us with the biggest smile and a warm hug, she was so excited to see us! We
got to the car and loaded our things in the car, before going to our nyumba
(home) we took Chris to his house. As we were dropping off Chris our driver
introduced himself as Francis and our Mama insisted one of us ride in the front
because we were special guests. As the traffic crawled by the sky darkened and we
got home about 7:30. Upon opening the car door I was certain we were in the
right place with the right family. I mean, come on… God couldn’t have yelled “
YOU WILL LOVE IT HERE!” any louder. There was a chorus of angels singing
hallelujah! … Okay well apparently it was just the choir practicing, but you
know you must be in the right place if you are greeted with angel’s singing… At
least I would assume so, but so far that has not been proven wrong. The family
here is so kind, our host mama and baba are the happiest kindest people I think
I have ever met. Our baba is a priest at the Anglican Church we live at and our
mama teaches primary school. Our baba’s mama also lives in our house and I am
faily certain she only knows Swahili, but every morning she comes out of her
room and greets us and has the biggest smile on her face… And for 83 years old
she looks amazing! No walking stick, nothing! Just a little slow… But so sweet!
We also have 3 dada’s (house girls) which is very common in Africa. One of the
girls is our host parent’s grandchild Flora who is maybe 13ish (It is very
common for relatives or grandchildren to work for family. The family generally
also pays for the girl’s school and what not) There is also Jesica who is a
relative in some way and also about 13ish, and a new girl who is maybe ten
whose name I have yet to catch. They are a hoot, and so kind. They always come
and say hello when we get home and even though they do house work (Mama is gone
for work from 7 am -7pm almost every day) they are most definitely family.
While I am not sure
exactly how old our host parents are, Allie and I describe them as ‘grandparent
aged’, and I already feel like a fully loved adopted grandchild. They have 4
biological children in addition to Allie and myself, all of which are already
moved out. The first two are twin girls one of which has five children a set of
triplets and then a set of twins.(Twins and trips most definitely run in this
family!) She was or is a teacher, I am
not sure. The other twin was a teacher and is now running an NGO, and then the
other ( I think a man) is a lawyer, and the youngest who is a year older than
Allie and I and came to meet us the other day is finishing up his law degree at
a university here in Dar. Our host parents speak English remarkably well, and
seem to have an understanding of the language that even allows them to pick up
on nuances of humor (Which is amazing because normally humor doesn’t translate
cross lingual lines) Our baba has been an Anglican Priest for many years and
spent 3 years at a parish in Venice… ( How cool is that!???) He was telling us
the other night how Venice has no cars, and lots of boats with too many people.
He also showed us a book about Venice churches, which makes me want to go there
more than ever now.
They feed us here ridiculously well and thus far the food
has been far healthier than anywhere else we have been. Less oil, more options,
and less bread and flour (Thank God!) Everyday mama asks us what we would like
for dinner, and what our favorite foods are and she says she is very excited to
learn how we cook. Allie and I are trying to figure out a good time to make
American food for the family, Dar has so many options it seems we can get
anything we would like! So we are trying
to make our food unique food that our family wouldn’t be able to get otherwise
which is a harder feat than we had originally anticipated… But I am sure we
will figure it out!
Allie and I have our own beds (first time since being here
in Africa) and a fan… J
J J (You have no idea how
amazing those things are.) The church is a good ten meters from our room and every
night from about 5-8 sometimes later or earlier there is the choir singing. To be perfectly honest I pretty much feel like
I live in an African Anglican twist on the sound of music… Without the 7
children, the nuns, and Julie Andrews…
So, I guess more of I feel like I live in an African Anglican Sound of
Music Church… But anyways, Allie and I love it here, our host mama and baba
seem to really love us to and love asking questions about our lives in the US
and about our families. Our driver Francis is awesome and always happy to see
us. He picks us up at about 8 am every morning and picks us up between 3 and 5
every afternoon depending on traffic. The only annoying part about Dar is the
traffic… But traffic is universally annoying and generally found in big cities…
So it is only to be expected… But in Dar it is especially bad, and with the
flooding lately it is awful. Oh, story
time!!!
So last week we were
stuck in traffic for 4 hours (our normal commute can be as quick as 15 minutes)
with some other students and at about hour 2.5 we were all starving so our
professor bought us and Francis ice cream from one of the carts that are
driving through the grid locked traffic… We also watched the Hunger Games on
Allie’s Ipad while we waited and munched on our ice cream. A while after that
Francis bought us cashews from another street vender (which are way better than
cashews in the US… Just sayin) and in another hour or so… we were home. I must
admit, it was probably one of the most enjoyable 4 hour traffic jams I have
ever been stuck in.
Well, I think that about sums up what I wanted to say… and
to be more honest… I am avoiding writing one of my papers for class… So really
this is a nearly justifiable way of procrastinating on homework and a way to
keep the world updated on my trip… Which only has I think what, 18 days left?
Time moves too quickly…. :p
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