Wow, this is the fastest i've been back for another blog. right now i'm in the town of moshi. i just got here after an 8 hour bus ride. i'm staying the night here tonight, and tomorrow im setting off for one of Africa's famous safaris to the serengeti and ngorongoro crater, as well as a massai culture tour. apparently camel riding is also part of the deal. sweet as. im excited. and the drive over here was gorgeous. i wanted so badly to be sitting by the window so i could hang out of it and take pictures, but i feel sure i would have completely tormented the guy beside me if i tried to reach across him for the bajillion photo opps.
so, its the rainy season here in tanzania, particularly in the area where i live. and the roads are crazy. theyre mostly dirt roads with HUGE holes that fill with mud and they are sometimes QUITE a challange to walk through. ESPECIALLY when the CRAZY local drivers are barreling through at ridiculous speeds. basically, if you're anywhere around, even trying to navigate your way through a horridly huge and deep puddle, you better get your ass to running because you're about to be as flat as a chapati (or pancake).
speaking of pancakes...lets talk about food. i eat the same thing every day for lunch and dinner. rice, beans, beef, maybe some cabbage, maybe some cooked bananas. so far, im not tired of it, but i am tired of breakfast, its the meal i look forward to least. we eat cereal with boiling hot milk. not so enjoyable, especially when you're sweating to death. also, when the milk starts to cool, it gets this white, filmy cream stuff on top of it, and the sight of it alone is enough to make me throw up. also, another thing which may lead to loss of appetite if your mind is not kept in check is the awful crunch that randomly comes up in the food. i dont know if its dirt or what, but, its quite unenjoyable.
going into the city is a nightmare. a total nightmare. it takes forever, its so crowded, its dirty, and you're bound to come home with an awful headache. the city is only 30 km away from my village, but it can take close to 2 hours to get there. yesterday, cassie and i had to go into the city for a couple of errands. we were literally done in 30 minutes. but because of flooding and buses and blah blah blah, we got home 7 hours after we left. that was fun. or maybe not. generally, everything here takes FOREVER, no matter what. patience is a necessity.
i guess this post has mostly been complaining, but i really love it here. for the past couple of years, there has been a small piece of me that has felt emotionally dead. i just havent been moved or touched by things as i once was. and thats really been bothering me for a while. but ever since i got here, i have been moved to tears by the smallest of things. i cry so much it seems, but theyve been such good tears. but, some of my tears aren't really good ones... this place is REALLY making me miss nigel. i cannot stop thinking about how it would be to have him here. i cant help but look around at these people and this place and KNOW he would love it. i cant help but think that this is undoubtably a place his feet would have walked, his smile would have greeted tanzanians, his arms would have hugged these precious children, and being called a "munzungo" would not have even phased him. everytime i get in a dala dala, i wish he was there with me.
i know i was meant to email a lot of you, but the internet is too inconvenient here to really do so. keeping up with the blog is about as much as i have time for. so keep reading. i miss you all!
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