The Indian Ocean is Like a Bathtub

I know I update a lot, but the past week has been filled with so many adventures!

So on Saturday we took a trip downtown for the first time. We rode the Dalla Dalla and then a bus to central Dar, and then walked to the National Museum. They had simple exhibits, but it was really interesting. My personal favorite was the one on evolution in Africa, as this past week was the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Austrolopithecus boisei in Tanzania. There was also a great section on tribes of Tanzania, and I got to look at musical instruments and read some information on them as well, which is really helpful for my upcoming research project. The picture is of our whole group on the steps of the museum.


After the museum, we walked along the shoreline, and I got to see the Indian Ocean for the first time. The color is really beautiful. We walked along the beach to the big fish market, and walked through the market. It's bustling with activity, and everyone was so excited to talk to us. Wherever we go, whenever people find out we're from the US, they usually reply with a very enthusiastic "Obama!". It's really fun. They sell all sorts of fish and different shells and trinkets from the sea there. We then walked through downtown to get to the Jambo Inn, which is a well-known hotel for backpackers going through Dar, and ate at the restaurant there. I had some delicious chicken curry. The hotel is in the Indian section of the city, so it was particularly yummy. Once lunch was over, our director showed us where the textile market is, and some of us purchased some fabrics. I bought myself a Kitenge, which is a long piece of printed fabric, that you can wear just on its own, or you can have it made into a dress or other piece of clothing. They also sell Khangas which are printed fabric that look more like tapestries, with a border and some sort of saying printed on the bottom.

Yesterday a few of us woke up early, and went with a local student who we've befriended to an orphan education center. It was about an hour walk there, so we got to see a little more of the city. They teach classes there for orphans so they have an opportunity to get an education, without school fees or book fees. It's a really neat institution. All the kids were at church because it was Sunday morning, so we're going to go back later this week to meet the kids and teachers, and see if there's an opportunity to help out. Batista, the University student, is also going to take us to an actual orphanage on Wednesday afternoon that houses young kids ranging from babies up to teenagers. I'd personally like to see if I can volunteer there, because I'd love to work with younger kids.

We went back to the University and then all got ready to go to the beach. Because public beaches aren't really safe, especially for tourists, we took public transportation to a resort beach at a hotel called White Sands Hotel. There was a small entrance fee, but the beach and resort were really nice, and it was a lot of fun. Besides getting to swim at the beach, we also got use of the pool. The water in the Indian Ocean is incredibly warm! The sand is really fine, too, and feels so good under your feet. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of trash in the water, mostly washing up on shore and not really out in the water where we went to swim, and I can only assume this is a fairly common occurrence in Africa. There's trash everywhere on land, and I guess it's not that surprising to have it wash up on the beach. We spent basically the whole day there, and it was so relaxing. It's quite a chore to get out there, though, so I don't think it will be a frequent outing for me, unless we can find one that's closer and easier to get to.

Today we started our first day of Kiswahili classes, and I'm so excited to finally be learning the language! We have 4-hour intensive courses every weekday for the next two weeks, and hopefully I'll pick it up quickly. I'm already feeling good about how it's going to go. It's very different from English or Spanish, which makes it difficult, but it's much more simple in structure and pronunciation. Today we learned pronunciation and greetings. Next week the class will be taught completely in Swahili, so we're going to study vocabulary every night so it's not such a shock when there's no English! It's a really fun language to speak.