I feel like I should know who is reading about my personal life from now on. Just comment to this post and I'll add you.

Peace!

So I got back yesterday afternoon, and I think I'm over my jet lag. I was so sad my last week, and I thought I was going to cry so many times but it didn't happen until I was in London at an airport hotel trying to find some place to eat and everything hit me and I started crying in the middle of the street. It feels so strange to be back and I don't know what to do with myself. I guess try to see as many people and do as many things as possible so I'm distracted from wanting to still be in Africa.

Things I miss about Tanzania:
-tembo, simba, pumbaa, twiga! (animals!)
-Swahili
-Safari lager
-not needing a car
-getting lunch for two dollars
-ugali
-biointensive agriculture work
-Pizzarusha
-Kilimanjaro and Meru

Things I am happy to have again:
-friends
-drinkable tap water
-reliable power
-seatbelts
-a kitchen
-a washing machine (but forget about driers)
-newspapers

I'm actually nervous about driving again. I don't know what to say when people ask me about my trip, but I usually come up with something. So call/email/visit me! I really just want to hear from everybody now.

America is weird.

So today I was back at the Maasai village, and I kind of got really sick and missed half the compost building demonstration. Oh well. Tomorrow they are going to dress up and do traditional song and dance as a sendoff for us. Sweet! They seem like a pretty cool group. Interestingly, we were playing the Gender Roles game, and the one activity that them group refused to accept that both sexes could do was digging graves. ONLY men can dig graves, and they were adamant about it. Someone told me every group has had the same reaction. I tried asking my homestay brother about it, and he said women just shouldn't dig graves. Even educated modernized people feel this way.

I can't believe that I have basically two days left to do everything. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back on Monday afternoon. I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time next week up near Baltimore, because I sure don't expect anyone to head down to Frederick. Tis not the most exciting place to be after a month and a half in a third world country... Sigh. Blah. I've been on my own for so long, I think I'll either be unable to stop talking or not be able to say anything when I see friends again.

I think I'm actually looking forward to seeing my parents. Weird.

Yesterday I went with Dori and Javason to train a Maasai group. It was joint training with HIV, which was cool because I got to see how the HIV training is done. The gender role discussion was particularly interesting. Also, the kids in this HIV group are my age and don't act like a bunch of dumbasses, like the others I've met so far. They reminded me of the kind of people I would hang out with at home, and I was sad I didn't meet them until my last week here.

And then this morning my alarm just turned off instead of snoozing when I hit snooze, so I completely missed going to the village today. Luckily, Sommi was going an hour later to do evaluation on a "special group," so I went with him. Special groups are groups that haven't been active. It was the first time I've done any follow up or training without other volunteers, but it went pretty well. I was able to assess what needed to be done in all the gardens, and when I told the farmers what they were doing wrong they didn't act pissed off or anything. Apparently only the husbands went to the initial BIA training, even though it's the wives who do all the work in the yard, hence the problems.

In Nguruma, which is where this farmer's group is, the government is widening the road to provide easier access into Arusha. Anyone who has a house on the edge of the road has to tear it down, or else pay the government a hefty fee to tear it down for them. They aren't given any money to do this or to relocate; apparently no one knew that the official boundaries of the road were extended. Sommi said a lot of the people who live there are old and can't rebuild, or don't have any other land. Families are having to send their children to live with relatives because they won't have a home anymore. "Lots of people here are sad," is what Sommi told me. No kidding! And this is with the government everyone's happy with. I couldn't believe it.

I also met the new sustainable ag volunteer group that got here this week. Since I've been here nearly 6 weeks, and since Dori wasn't around to dominate the conversation, they thought I was really cool. A nice change from hearing "Oh, you're only here a month and a half? Do you think you can get anything out of such a short stay?"

I can't believe I'll be home so soon. I'm not nearly ready to go back. I don't know why - I don't have friends here, my homestay sucks, and I think my organization is stealing my money, but I don't want to go home yet. Although I can't wait to see some familiar faces again. And have clean hair again. I'm just not ready to leave this country and this way of life.

I'm on my last day in Zanzibar - Laurie left for her flight a little while ago. Mine doesn't leave till this afternoon, and I don't have time for any trips before that, so I'm just wandering around Stone Town, where I hopefully won't get lost again. This is a place where it's possible to walk around for hours and unwittingly be just one minute from your destination the whole time.

We were here on Friday and did some shopping and hanging out. The night market by the seafront has dudes selling fresh seafood kabobs and Zanzibar pizza - I was really sad about the seafood, I must say. Saturday we went on a spice tour, and saw spice farms and got to smell and taste all these spices and fruits right off the tree/shrub/vine/etc. After getting back, we were supposed to get a cheap shared taxi to the north beach, where we wanted to spend the rest of our weekend. But our hotel fucked it up, and we ended up having this horrible ordeal getting to the beach that will be much more satisfying to tell y'all about in person. Suffice to say that we ended up on an east coast beach in the absolute middle of nowhere. Our hotel was only serving grilled octopus for dinner, there was no power, and the only other places for us to go were weird exclusive Italian hotels that didn't want us eating there. Also, during the night, bush babies got into our hut and ate a giant hole out of my purse. Luckily, there are very few situations in life where a swim in the ocean won't make me feel better. Especially if it's at the most beautiful beach I've ever seen in my life.

So yesterday we came back to Stone Town after lots of swimming in the Indian Ocean, and had a nice night out. It's really nice here - Arabic-influenced architecture, food with flavor, cool ocean breezes... If you ever go to East Africa, I recommend ending your journey with a trip to Zanzibar.

I can't believe that this time next week I will be on my way home. I am confused about the whole thing. I definitely miss a lot of things, but I feel like I just got here and have only begun to experience this amazing country. The U.S. is going to feel so strange when I get back... I'm getting used to this way of life, and now I am about to leave it behind. I miss my friends so much, but I've gotten used to being on my own without talking to anyone much beyond day-to-day stuff. I'm not sure how I'll react, though I'm sure I'll get used to it pretty quickly. But just thinking about it gives me butterflies.

So I'm in Dar Es Salaam right now - I met Laurie here and we take the early morning ferry to Zanzibar in the morning. It feels like summer here! I don't need a jacket! It's wonnnnnnderful. We went to the spice market and I bought cheap spices. Now if only we can find a place for dinner that doesn't require a $10 taxi ride...

I keep seeing the headlines on the Israel/Lebanon conflict, but I really don't know what's going on. It's all over the news here, but that's in Swahili and I feel so cut off from the world. I have a feeling it's something worth worrying about, though. Is the U.S. picking sides? I will have to read a lot of news when I get back home.

Woo so I leave tomorrow for Zanzibar! I am sick as hell, but I am thinking that a long weekend of relaxing will make me feel better. Plus I will be getting out of my homestay for 5 days, which is awesome. Especially since Elijah is acting weird and it's creeping me out. And Jako, the only one in the house that didn't make me uncomfortable, seems to have moved out. Yup, it's time for me to see the ocean.

Irene told me the other day that when I wear my hair down I look like Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. She has also started calling me a dirty pirate hooker. I love that girl.

Yesterday in Arusha I saw a dog whose eye had been ripped out - recently. It was awful. We told Irene's flycatcher friend JB and he said a human probably did it to him. I couldn't believe it. People don't see animals here the way we do in the States. My family has a cat but the cat is nameless and no one really pays attention to it - I was told that "people here don't get close to cats." Most people have dogs, but they are for security and live strictly outdoors. They are given food but nothing else. I played with Dori's family's dogs yesterday and they seemed so starved for attention. The dogs are also all extremely skinny. Irene says they will fight to the death over food scraps. At Laurie's homestay there was a dog who would fight with her own puppies for food. Goats and cows are kept in very small enclosures. I visited a farm with a pet monkey, who was kept in a teeny tiny cage all the time. It's a little distressing sometimes. I can't imagine what Irene, who wants to be a vet here when she comes back to live permanently, will do.

The farmer's group I worked with this week was so awesome. Their gardens were really nice, and they grew all these awesome crops like strawberrie, arugula, rosemary... Irene and I were drooling over their produce, so when we were leaving they walked us through one of the shambas and pulled up a bunch of vegetables for us to take home. Sweet! I made a salad (no time to buy dressing though) and it was soooo good. I have been missing green vegetables so much. Elijah was the only other person who ate any, and he obviously didn't like it, but I didn't care. The salad reappeared with last night's dinner, and we had a guest, and he said, "If my father saw this dish he'd ask why there was no fire to cook today!"

The end is approaching way too fast...

So, things have been very interesting since I told y'all anything but bad news. But when you are staying in a third world country, getting on a bus to town is interesting. We spent last week working with a farmer's group of retired military dudes who were so awesome - they were really enthusiastic about BIA and we built the best compost pile ever with them. Also, I got a ride to one of their gardens standing in the back of a pickup truck with 15 military vets, like a bunch of cattle. Sweet!

Saturday morning Laurie left to do her week of travelling, but I'll see her next weekend. More on that later! That night Dori and I went out with Irene, Sebastian (Irene's Tanzanian husband) and one of Sebastian's friends. We got dinner with my brothers at Khan's, then went to one of those bars that's a corrugated steel shack with plastic lawn furniture. Then to Colobus, a club where a lot of wazungu go. It was... interesting. There was the fat Saudi Arabian and his friend who wanted me to do Arabic line dances with them. Then there was the creepy African who said he loved me and then wouldn't let go of my arm, even when I started to cause a scene, until my posse came to my rescue. Then the Indian guy who kept stroking his own chest. We had to leave early because I was sick (I didn't drink, my body just hates me for going to Africa), but I had a good time.

Sunday I got Elijah to take me to the Snake Park, which is basically a zoo with tons of snakes, including a black mamba. Also, crocodiles, turtles, and some birds. It was awesome, but they were in horribly small cages. The way they treat animals here is really not humane. Then I saw the Maasai museum and rode a camel! On the way home, we were having trouble finding a bus, when two guys in a van stopped to pick us up (never have I ever hitchhiked in Africa?). It was a strange ride. First, they said they were stopping for food on the way back from town, and made us eat with them. One guy was dressed like a cowboy and told me he loves Nashville. He was so weird... he started saying how he liked George Bush, and I had to disagree. He asked why, and I told him a few things that Bush has done that I don't like, and Cowboy says, "You are wrong, you are very wrong." Don't try to tell me I don't know what's going on in my own country! Then we got back in the van and I realized that I had just watched these guys drink whiskey and soda, and remembered seeing them earlier when I passed through the snake park bar. SHIT. But there was literally nothing I could do at that point. Fuck. I was upset, but couldn't say anything. Apparently drinking and driving is technically illegal here, but no one actually does anything about it. We got off as soon as we were in Arusha, even though we were a little far from any daladala stop. Oy.

The daladala, by the way, is a full-sized van, built to hold maybe 10 people, but used to carry close to 30 people (sometimes more!). On our trip back from Arusha, someone wanted to get three goats on the daladala. So they turned the goats on their sides and stuffed them under the back seat. That's where I was sitting, and I felt so bad for them. But their own pets don't even get attention, so I'm not suprised that's how they treat their livestock.

So, big news - my parents are loaning me some cash so I can go to Zanzibar! How spoiled am I? I leave on Thursday, come back on Monday, and I'm meeting Laurie there. Beautiful beaches with white sand, clear water, and some SUN. I will have to buy a razor. Flipping sweet! My parents are pretty awesome sometimes. And Laurie said she will just let me take pictures on her camera, since she never does, and she'll send them to me when she gets home. Yay! My life just gets better and better.

So, I went to the police station to pick up and pay for the police report I made (I was supposed to get it yesterday but I got there too late). I got my report from the officer who helped me the day before, and who I thought was really cool and helpful because he was teaching me Swahili and seemed to like that I am trying to learn and whatnot. He said I had to go to a back room, which I thought meant I needed to sign something. Then he starts asking me when I'll meet with him! It got more and more uncomfortable from there. He kept looking at me all lecherously and asking me all these questions and saying he needed to see me so we could discuss many things. I told him I have a boyfriend, and he said "But your boyfriend isn't in Tanzania, so what about me? Aren't you lonely?" Yeah. It kept getting worse. I literally started to feel sick. There were two female officers in the room, and I thought maybe they would tell him to cut it out, but they never did. I finally got out of there unmolested, but haven't felt happy since then. I couldn't believe it! I know that this sort of thing happens all the time, and since nothing bad happened to me I shouldn't be upset, but I really just feel ill about the whole thing. I want to beat someone up.

All my excitement about Bastille Day has been completely deflated. And this is going to have to be one more day when I am too mad/upset to update y'all on anything else.

FUCK THE POLICE!

MY CAMERA WAS STOLEN.

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck SO UNFAIR!

The worst part is, I'm not even sure where or when exactly. I'm pretty sure it was yesterday morning on my way to work, but it could have been Saturday when I was bargaining with those bitchy ladies, or later that day in the Tengeru market. Or on the dala dala. I went to the police today to file a report, but there's no fucking way I'm getting it back. My camera! It was like a little extension of me, I didn't even go to the grocery store without it (at home or here!). I can't believe it. Not to mention the fact that there's no way I'll be able to get a new one when I'm home, and it had all my pictures from Arusha National Park on it, plus a bunch of the farmers' groups we visited (the rest are on another memory card, at least). *sob*

I wanted to update y'all on some other stuff and share some exciting news, but whatever. I'm too pissed off and upset to think about anything else right now. WTF?????

So, a few things that didn't bother me at first are really starting to get to me. Like, some of the "mzungu" shouts are starting to sound downright hostile, especially the ones from adults who just yell "mzungu!" at me and then don't even say hello or anything. Or the ones who practically bark different Swahili greetings at me in rapid fire succession as if they're testing me to see if I know the right responses. Or the dala dala conductors who yell something about the wazungu to the driver as we're getting on. Or the teenagers who followed us for over a kilometre and even started pulling my hair, but wouldn't speak to us at all. I know it doesn't mean anything, and I shouldn't be bothered by it, but some days it just wears me out.

But then, why shouldn't I be bothered by people shouting "Hey, white person!" at me? I think a lot of white people have a complex where we think that since so much racism and injustice has been directed towards other ethnic groups, we're not allowed to be offended by anything against us. But it's so obvious that wazungu aren't even seen as real people here half the time - we're just wazungu. And not only that, but there's the assumption that all wazungu are loaded tourists. Yesterday some ladies got mad when Laurie and I tried to bargain with them! Sometimes I just want to yell, "I'm not a tourist, I'm a volunteer! I don't have money! Give me a break!" Like I said, I know it shouldn't get to me, but lately it does.

I thought I was used to cars not stopping or even slowing down for pedestrians - you just say a little prayer when you cross the highway. But last week we were getting a ride into Langa, and the road was full of people because it was market day. The car just started honking and driving slowly, and the crowd parted. But then one old lady didn't get all the way out of our path, and we bumped into her! I heard the thump, looked out the window, and saw an old woman crying and people crowding around her. Our driver kept going! I'm not even sure he noticed. I was pretty upset by it. I mean, running into an old woman can't be good for your chi. This country is crazy.

Christina went home yesterday, which means my trip is half over! I'm pretty sad about it. I wish I could stay longer, and I know my last few weeks are going to happen so fast. I have to do so much more!

Today my body is playing the fun game of "let's see how many different ways Heather can be sick at the same time." No fair! I can't even get to a drugstore easily; there's nothing in Tengeru. I will just have to wait it out.

We finished our follow-up training with the Langa farmer's group today. Earlier in the week they were really grumpy. And really it was only the women farmers, and apparently all their negative vibes stemmed from one particular woman, who didn't like the whole teamwork thing. But Javason told them they should be like a river, who carries water to the ocean without worrying about where its own water is coming from, as long as it keeps contributing to the whole. Today Mama Grumpypants wasn't there, and everything was much friendlier.

After helping me fix my phone, Elijah told me he and Baraka want to take me out for a drink sometime. Suspicious, since Elijah has told me he doesn't drink. Even more suspicious since Irene told me Baraka was pretty sketchy towards the last volunteer who stayed at the house. Hmm. I really don't want things to get awkward. It's bad enough with Baba saying all kinds of offensive things to me all the time - AIDS is God's punishment because humans aren't living like they should, evolution is a stupid lie, secular societies are decaying, Jewish people have a superiority complex, poor people freezing to death in European cities are an example of natural selection at work, homosexuality can't be biological because it "only exists in coastal cities," etc. etc. I have honestly been tempted to ask Mama Frida to move me to another house, but I figure this will just make me a stronger person. But if the only people I can have a reasonable conversation with here turn out to be sleazeballs, I will be quite irked. At least Jako seems pretty safe, when he's not too shy to talk to me. This family is making me feel a lot better about mine, though. Jeeeeeez.

In general, though, I like it much better in Tengeru than Arusha. In Arusha I am always harassed. My walk down any street sounds something like this:
"Hello sister, some decoration? Only five thousand!" "Sister, where are you going? Do you need company?" "What's your name?" "Are you from California?" "Ok, four thousand!" "Do you like beer?" "Your hair is beautiful, can I touch it?" "You're not much fun, are you, sister?"
They will follow you down the streets for blocks, and do not understand that you aren't going to buy something. If you say "Sihitaji" or "hapana," they usually give up a little sooner, although sometimes that makes it worse ("Oh, you know Swahili! So, some decorations?"). In Tengeru it's much better. I can just say hello to everyone I see, and they say hello back. Little kids even run up to me going "Mzungu, good morning, how are you, thank you!" So cute!

Laurie and I got a hostel reservation for Sunday night so we can watch the World Cup final at a restaurant in Arusha. I am so excited! I missed the end of the first semifinal and the beginning of the second one for various illnesses, but I am all into this World Cup thing. I had to hide my excitement when France won last night, though. I am probably the only person around here who likes France. My whole family was pissed off because all the teams in the semifinals were European.

Well, I am off to sneak into the fancy pants hotel and do some journal-writing in their garden. Tutaonana badaaye!

Ahhh, my first alone time not spent in my room at the homestay... Feels good. My life is so eventful, I'm not used to this! Let's see:

Last week we finished our BIA training and visited some beautiful BIA farms. The second one in particular was incredible - it's run by a construction worker's wife and mother, and it was the most gorgeous shamba I've ever seen. Anna, the wife, said she likes BIA because it uses less water, and wants to make the entire farm BIA. They have 30 raised beds already, and they've been doing this for 4 years! Today we started the real work. They mercifully split our group, so Laurie and I don't have to listen to Dori talk about herself ALL DAY LONG. We went with Irene, who's been here with GSC since January, and Sommi to the Langa village for follow-up training. The leader of the farmer's group there says they've worked with several other organizations that teach organic farming, but they like the BIA technique the best so they're sticking with it. Now if only we can convince them that compost really is important... The one advantage other orgs have is that they can give the farmers money to buy goats or supplies to build a water reservoir. GSC doesn't even give farmers the hand tools they need to finish a double-dug bed, so if they don't already have them, they can't do anything.

We're starting to realize that GSC is not the most organized or rational organization, and there are a lot of communication problems between the Arusha office and San Francisco. What's worse is that Sustainable Ag is the black sheep of GSC - the office is much more involved with its HIV/AIDS program. I don't even really understand why us volunteers are needed here. Laurie and I enjoyed our work today, but we felt pretty superfluous. Sommi could definitely done it better himself, but he was supposed to just be there as our translator. Why is it better to have a bunch of kids who don't speak Swahili and who just learned BIA a week ago come and teach these farmers when LITI Tengeru has a much more competent staff of their own? At least I am learning a lot about sustainable agriculture, and I'm getting lots of ideas for things I want to do when I'm back in the States. It's a lot easier to understand when I see it in action and dig the beds myself.

The weekend was awesome, though. We visited Lake Manyara park on Saturday (GSC's treat!) and saw some elephants really close up. Also, Manyara definitely had the coolest trees I've seen here so far - I saw baobabs! But safari trucks stop for animals, not trees, so I have to trust my memory for those. Parts of Manyara are lush and green because they are fed by underground springs, and those areas had thousands of white butterflies. They really filled the air - it felt positively magical. Sunday we went to Arusha National Park. We first did a three-hour hiking tour. This park was so beautiful; it was mostly rich green forest and other vegetation, unlike the other parks we've seen. There were fewer animals, but lots of breathtaking views and cool trees. And a waterfall that fed into a creek with black sand and blue stones - gorgeous. We saw SO MANY GIRAFFES, it was unbelievable. My group kept making fun of me because I took pictures of every giraffe, even after we'd seen a ton. It was so cool to see them from the ground and not from a Landrover. We also went on a short game drive afterwards and saw a massive flock of flamingoes, lots of baboons, and the elusive black collubus monkey. Flipping sweet!

That does it for safaris for me, though - these parks are insanely expensive. So no Serengeti, no Zanzibar, no canoeing around Mount Meru... I will just have to plan an ultimate vacation here when I'm rich to make up for everything I can't afford to see now.

On Friday I finally learned an important skill - laundry. Elijah had to show me how to do it by hand - they don't even have washboards here. Here's how our conversation went:
Elijah: So in the U.S., you are used to using machines to wash clothes?
Me: Yup. We also have machines to dry our clothes.
Elijah (with a shocked expression): You know, most Africans, if you tell them that, they will think you are spoiled.

Yeah, we are spoiled. I am staying with a family that's definitely middle class and better off than most people here, and they don't have running water, grow most of their own food, have their power cut twice a week, no computer, no CD player, stovetop that doesn't work, I could go on and on about the "necessities" that are completely unheard of here. Irene was telling us that at least in the U.S., even if you are dirt poor with the shittiest job ever, you can count on having power and hot running water. And that's all she'll need to be happy when she goes back to the States. Of course, she must be pretty happy here, because she just married a Tanzanian and is coming back here to live permanently once she works off her debt. Incredible!

Yesterday morning I realized I haven't listened to much music here, so I put on my headphones and had half an hour of Ted Leo. Immediately all the sadness that's been bothering me lately floated away. There ain't no blues a little Biomusicology can't cure. I guess it was just having SOMETHING familiar for once... It's hard sometimes being here.

Usually it's kindof chilly here, and really cloudy. I really miss hot weather. But today is a gorgeous clear day, which means I can see Kilimanjaro on my way to work. Oh, yeah. And on the road between work/home and Tengeru town, which goes through abandoned coffee plantations, I can see Kili through the trees, and it never fails to take my breath away. I want to climb it one day. Arne Naess said Western men want to climb mountains because they think they can conquer them... I don't remember why he said other kinds of men climb mountains. I know better - to the mountain, you are not even enough to be a nuisance. There is no conquering something that eternal. But I still want to climb it, just so I can be that much closer to the sky.

So I woke up this morning with not only what has become my usual morning intestinal discomfort, but a horrific sinus infection, and I could barely move my arms. So you can imagine how much help I was on the demonstration plot. Luckily it was an easy day - we composted our raised bed, planted it with Chinese cabbage, lettuce, kale, and bug repellant plants, and stuck some branches in it for shade. Then we planted an adorable nursery bed. Sommi said "Now you know all the practicals, you are ready to teach the farmers." Yeah, right. And why does no one tell us where we'll be going next week?

My family is just a Mama and Baba - their kids are all out of the house. Mama's nephew Jako stays there too, but he is even quieter than I am. It is a little awkward, especially since the other day Baba told me my society is in a state of decay because we are secular and accept homosexuality. I just could not keep quiet on THAT, let me tell you. But yesterday two of their sons came to visit, and I had a really interestng conversation with them about many things. And we watched the World Cup! Ghana lost, it was really sad. I watche the World Cup a lot these days.

Yesterday I had tea with Laurie at this really fancy pants hotel right outside of LITI Tengeru. We used the bathroom there, and it was the first real sitting toilet I've seen - AND they had toilet paper AND soap AND a mirror! (I just don't know what I look like most days) We were talking about it and this lady says "Oh my, have you seen some holes in the ground?" We told her we're volunteers living with families here, and she says "Oh I simply CANNOT imagine!" Lady, millions of people fucking live like this their whole lives. How can you not imagine what's ten feet from your hotel door? She has to at least see the villages out her window as she's chauffered to her expensive safaris. Yeesh. If you come to Africa and just stay in your fancy resorts, you weren't really here.

To let you know how I'm doing, here's a list of things I wish I brought with me:
-toilet paper
-itch cream!
-liquid soap or at least a soap dish
-more than one jacket
-binoculars
-a zoom lens

LOve you!

Ok you guys, stuff has been so awesome. This weekend I went to Ngorongoro Crater! The first day we hiked up one crater with a Masai guide, and I got an asthma attack! But it was so worth it for the view. We camped on the rim of the biggest crater that night, and a bunch of zebras came into our campsite! Zebras! Right next to me! Then I looked up at the stars, and I think I had a spiritual experience. I could see the Milky Way and everything. Oh my. The next morning we drove down into the crater and looked at animals. We saw: zebras, wildebeests, buffalo, ostrich, flamingo, egyptian geese, warthogs, hyenas, jackals. We saw a ton of lions - we even saw lion sex! AND the most amazing thing was - we saw a cheetah kill a gazelle. Holy moly. Not to mention that the view on the way down was so beautiful that I almost cried. Seriously.

In other news, I moved in with my homestay. My family is kinda awkward to live with, but they are nice. Hopefully it will get better. The food at least is good. Today we started our hardcore training in the farm demonstration plots. I didn't tell anyone about my gimpy shoulders, so hopefully I'll be ok. I'm in some pain right now, but if I ignore it it'll go away, right? Right. The only thing that is not perfect about this trip is one of the girls in my group, who drives me insane. Everyone else loves her and thinks she's super cool, but she just talks constantly about herself. Why am I the only one annoyed by this?

Everyone else here is older than me and not interested in anything I'm interested in. I'm having so much fun, but I really do not have a soul to talk to. About anything. Also, my phone only works in Arusha town, so the $22 I spent to get it up and running might have been a waste. Lonely! So email me or comment or whatever, you punks! I miss you and people here interrupt me and change the subject when I talk! Also, Bekkah, the power here gets cut at least a couple times a week for the entire day, and my house does not have running water. I have to pour water down the toilet to flush it, but I'm lucky because I have a toilet. So hush about your no AC! Ah I'm just kidding. Complain all you want.

I wish I could post pictures but it is just not gonna happen here. The internet in the nicer cafes is still super slow and I don't think I'm even allowed to upload anything. But when I get back I will be that annoying ho who carries around her photos and makes everyone listen to her vacation stories.

Tutaonana!

Ack this computer is so slow and I'm running out of time! Ok. So I am in Tanzania, staying for the week in Arusha town for orientation and training. I am with three other girls in my group, and they are all pretty nice. I'm not sure what to tell you about this place. I wish I could show you pictures of the town, but apparently taking pictures where there are other people is a bad idea, and would attract the wrong kind of attention. Plus, I can't post pictures here. So maybe after the weekend I'll have something to show y'all.

Yesterday we went to LITI Tengeru, the agricultural college, which is near where we'll be living and working. We had a lot of lecture on Biointensive Agriculture theory, then got to see the demonstration plots! It was so beautiful - this garden was so full of life and I felt so inspired by it. I can't wait to start working there and teaching farmers how to feed the soil and grow gorgeous vegetables for themselves.

Other than training and Kiswahili lessons we haven't done much besides explore Arusha a bit with Javason, our chaperone with GSC. Walking down the street here, people are always shouting out to you, trying to get you to buy stuff. Some men who Javason calls "flycatchers" try to talk to you so you become their friend and give them money. Most people are really nice though. One word I hear constantly is "MZUNGU!" which means "white person." I even saw a t-shirt that said MZUNGU.

It is very beautiful here, I am definitely coming back to Africa. But I am out of time. I love you guys! Write me and let me know what's going on at home!

So I'm getting ready to leave tomorrow by... watching a documentary on the Galapagos and burning CDs for the plane ride. Hmm, I am so responsible. I have pretty much been in a state of constant elation for the last week. I don't know if it was deciding to go on this trip, or something else, but I have been happier in the last few months than I've ever been in my life. I finally figured out how to feel happiness from within myself, rather than depending on outside sources, and I feel like I could do pretty much anything. Honestly, I don't know if I could have done this a year ago. Hooray for me!

But enough of that. I am going to miss everyone tons while I am gone. Last night Dia and Tammy threw me a going away dinner party, with lots of amazing food and awesome people. I think it's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me, I was so happy I almost cried! To everyone who came - you guys rock my socks!

Well this is getting way too sappy for my taste, so I'm gonna go do everything I need to do to get ready to go. This whole writing-about-myself thing is addictive, I better watch out. Stay tuned for pictures and adventures!

Oh my god, you guys. Do you realize I leave on Saturday?? I sure am about to freak out. I think I am way more nervous about my three connecting international flights and finding my own bus to Arusha than I am about actually being in Africa for 6 weeks. And what if my luggage gets lost? Also, I am going to be late to orientation b/c my mom didn't pay too much attention when she was booking my flights, so I am worried I'll miss something important. Also, the stupid GSC office has a new program coordinator, and she may have messed up my resident permit application. BUT it's all going to be ok! In just a few days I will be on another continent, in another hemisphere, far far away from everything I've ever been familiar with in my life. I can't fucking wait. I am just going to be very nervous and jumpy until I get there.

So I finally broke down and got a livejournal, so as to chronicle my adventures this summer. I'm sure I'll continue when I return, though. I am never done adventuring! So yes, I suppose I don't really have anything else to say...