Brace yourself for a huge blog post... this is long overdue so I have a lot to say! Feel free just to read the first few sentences and then comment at the bottom about how you loved reading it all. I won't know.
So, I've been at Riverside Campsite for nearly 5 weeks now. It's been a really interesting month living here. It's a beautiful location, with countless trails and paths to explore, as well as rocks to scramble on and a river to swim in! 3 of us went on a hike a couple of weeks ago where we found a zipwire over the river, which was great fun. The weather is mostly warm and sunny but we've had a lot of rain as it's the wet season now. Because of the altitude, the climate here is lovely and cool compared to Dar, which is extremely hot! It feels like English summer at the moment, but hotter when it's sunny. Lovely :-)
Swahili lessons were at first a bit of a shock! Not because of the long sessions, or even because of the early mornings (yes, I'm still a student at heart, but I CAN get up early...) but because of the speed we had to retain so much new information all at once. The way they teach here is much more practical and interactive than the ways I've learnt languages before, not to mention challenging! Even after the first morning I felt really overwhelmed and out of my depth. We were frequently talking and being put on the spot to remember vocab and answer questions, which I must admit has never been my preferred learning style! I like to process things in my own time, but in language learning, this is obviously not effective. 5 weeks into the course, I can say that although the lessons can be tough, I'm so glad I'm being taught this way. I'm literally amazed at how much I've learnt in such a short time, and how much I can now say in this brand new language. The teachers and the tasks have pushed me to learn quickly and just to have a go at things rather than always being cautious. Learning German at school, I was very hesitant to speak unless I knew I was completely correct, and so if I wasn't sure, I wouldn't usually try at all! But this course is really pushing me out of my comfort zone, and teaching me how to make mistakes and learn from them rather than get discouraged by them. My confidence in speaking is growing by the day.
For the first 3 weeks, there was a big group of Tanzanians staying at the campsite for a conference. They were all really lovely and it was great to have people around to practise our Swahili on! They were always really encouraging and loved the fact that we were trying (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) to speak their language, even though they all spoke English. We played volleyball with some of them every day, which was a great language learning experience, as well as a really fun way to get to know them! And every day it felt like I was understanding more of their conversation and was able to say more about myself.
Living on a campsite and in a 'tented banda' (big-ish tent with a thatched roof) has certainly been interesting! It's comfortable, but because of the tropical climate and the current rainy season, everything is damp all the time. It's really hard to dry things properly, and also my books have gone a bit wiggly like when you spill water on them. But we're heading towards the dry season so it won't be a problem for too long! Last week after the conference group had gone I was moved into a proper stone banda, which is more like a little lodge. It's nice because I now have much more space and storage and even my own bathroom, as well as a big double bed to myself! There are bugs everywhere here, but I've got used to them now. My resident gecko Gilbert lives in the bathroom and eats lots of the bugs, which is helpful. Also if a big wasp or beetle comes into my banda (all the insects are SO much bigger here!) I'm always armed with my “DOOM” spray which sends the little buzzers up to insect heaven nice and quickly.
Siafu... what are siafu, I hear you say? It's the Swahili word for ANTS! They are everywhere at the moment because of the rains, but they're fascinating because they make long lines across the paths, thousands of them, transporting food and eggs from one nest to another. You need to be careful not to step on their carefully created motorways if you're walking in the dark, because they're quick to run up onto your feet and legs and bite! I've found at least two so far half way up my trousers after walking back to my banda. Yuk. But still, as long as you're not always getting bitten, they're really interesting to watch.
The power here is, erm, quirky. There are power cuts usually every day, often for hours on end. I'd say we have power maybe half of the time. It's not too much of a problem because I'm not really using much electrical stuff, but if it's cut off in the evening, that's a bit of a pain because it's completely pitch black and there's not much you can do. We sometimes watch a movie in the dark if someone's laptop is charged enough, but often we just read by torchlight or go to bed early! I like my headlamp. Headlamps are cool. There is a fun side to the dark too - when the campsite has a blackout and it's a clear night, the stars are amazing. I haven't seen so many stars since lying on the deck of a cargo ship on the Mekong River. It's incredible. One night last week we climbed up to a nearby rock in the darkness and laid on top of it, watching the stars. We could also see flashes of lightening from a storm far away. It's that kind of thing that make this really feel like an adventure :-)
This is a proper essay, and you probably haven't got this far down, but kudos if you have, and I'm gunna keep on writing. Also, Lydia was hassling me to post something. So this is for you Lyd, I hope I'm keeping you up. ;-)
What else have I been up to? Well, I go into town a lot, which I really enjoy. And not just because I love markets and shopping! The town centre is busy and bustling and colourful, and it's a great way to practise my Swahili, of course. It's a bit of a maze and a treasure hunt – not much is signposted, so it's hard to know what a shop sells without going into it. Most of the shops are just little huts with stuff crammed inside and more stuff spewing out into the street too. If you know where to find them, there are some beautiful little cultural shops. They sell jewellery made by the Maasai tribe, stunning material for clothes and lots of other little trinkets and souvenirs. I love it all, so it usually takes at least two people to drag me out. There's also a great place to visit called Neema Crafts, which is a project set up to give employment to local disabled people. They work in the workshops making all sorts of craft items, which are then sold downstairs and all the profits go back into the project. There is also an internet cafe upstairs (which has been very helpful, and is only Tsh500, equivalent to 20p, for half an hour) and a little restaurant too, which has lovely coffee and ice cream. It's just nice to get away from the campsite sometimes and experience a bit of Tanzanian life in the town! Getting to and from town is an adventure in itself. We need to catch a dala-dala, which is a little minibus seating maybe 20 people. But this is Africa, so they just cram in as many people as possible! You're either standing up in a stooped position with your head against the ceiling, or sitting on someone's lap, or sharing two seats with 5 people and their shopping. It's certainly an experience. Not to mention the fact that we're a bit of a spectacle, especially if we're in a group – white people are called 'wazungu' and the Tanzanians are not quiet about staring, talking about us or cracking a few jokes on our behalf! One day I'll be able to understand what they say and laugh along...
Our last 3 weeks of the language course will be in town, and so we will be living in a guest house there. I can't wait! They decided it would be good for us to be immersed in the society properly for a while, and they will probably give us assignments to do while we're there, like go around asking questions to find out information about things. And as you can imagine, I'm quite happy to spend my afternoons poking around the markets and drinking chai with the locals!
I had my first safari experience last weekend! We had 2 new girls come to the campsite last week, and as one of them is only here for a week, she wanted to do as much as possible around this area. So 8 of us organised a 2-day safari trip to Ruaha National Park. It was great fun! The 3 hour ride there was along a single bumpy dirt track in a land rover that had seen better days, so that was something I won't forget in a hurry! We were then driven round the park for a few hours and saw lions, elephants, zebras, hippos, crocodiles, giraffes – you name it! Very exciting. We then went to a local bar for dinner (where we waited 2 hours for our food because there was a football match on the telly...) and then went to our accommodation for the night which was 'government bandas' (small round metal huts with two beds in each). I slept fine, but woke up to realise I had been eaten alive by bedbugs. I have about 50 red blobs on my arms and feet, which looks pretty gross. I was a bit freaked out when I saw them all! Fortunately, the bites don't itch at all, they just stay there for a long time. But added to my scabs and scratches from a bad fall last week, I look like I've got the plague or something. So anyway, the next day we had a morning drive round the park and then headed back to the campsite. In all, a really great weekend!
I think this is just about enough for now... I keep thinking of more things I want to write but I'll leave it for another time. I'm hoping to get my own internet set up soon – I can get it on my phone, but can't at present get my phone to talk to my computer to act as a modem. When I do, I'll hopefully be skype-able! I'm missing family and friends a lot at the moment, and though I really get on with people here, it's obviously not the same as having good friends around who really know me. So I love it when I hear from people – send me a facebook message or the odd text and you'll make my day!
I've now got a local sim card and my number is +255686760221
My postal address here is Riverside Campsite, PO Box 2421, Iringa, Tanzania. (Please don't send me any mail after mid-May, because I'm leaving here at the beginning of June and they won't forward anything to us if it comes here when we're gone!) Also, I have stamps and would love to write to people but didn't collect any addresses before I left! Please send me your address!
I have some pictures up on my facebook page. I've just tried to upload a couple to this post, but I'm not in my internet cafe of choice and it's painfully slow here. Will upload some soon!
My postal address here is Riverside Campsite, PO Box 2421, Iringa, Tanzania. (Please don't send me any mail after mid-May, because I'm leaving here at the beginning of June and they won't forward anything to us if it comes here when we're gone!) Also, I have stamps and would love to write to people but didn't collect any addresses before I left! Please send me your address!
Ok, over and out for now. I have homework to do!
