Hello friends! I'm back at the internet cafe to continue on about our Safari adventure. I left of when we had arrived at the Ngorogora Crater. It was cold when we arrived at our campsite, which was very remote (a hole for a toilet), we were greeted by zebras! Yes, there were zebras just roaming our campsite like deer, except these zebras were not intimidated by people. They kept their distance, but we probably got within 5 feet of them. When Catherine and I walked to our tents we realized there was a large pile of poop (zebra) outside the entrance. The zebras come out at night and roam around outside the tents. After dinner and a campfire complete with Tanzanian beer and the most breath taking view of the stars I have ever seen. Literally, there was not a speck of sky that didn't twinkle. I must admit I was a bit freaked out at the thought of wild animals so close. I had trouble sleeping because it was sooo cold (forties) I slept with socks on my hands (forties). I actually heard a warthog snorting around outside the tent...eeeekkk!
The next morning we woke up at 5:30, ate some random breakfast, and loaded in to our safari vehicle yet again. We drove the long bumpy drive down to the inside of the crater where all the animals live. The inside of the crater in much flatter and grassy, not like what we experienced the day before at Lake Manyana. While in the crater we saw hundreds of wildabeasts, lot of elephants, hyeneas, hippos, and wharthogs, and arhino,but my favorite were the lions.
We got to experience animal planet in person when we witnessed lions hunting. They hunt in a pride, usually two females and a male. The females are the ones that hunt the food and the male just watches over them for protection. The female crouched down as they crept slowly towards a heard of buffalo. Oh no my time is up at the cafe. I'll finish tomorrow!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Safari (complete with Safari hat) #1
This past weekend, Lauren and I went on a trip to Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater a few hours away.....truely an amazing experience. Never in my life have I felt so small and in awe of the world around me.
On Friday, we loaded our huge, tank-like Land Cruisers and left for Lake Manyara. We stopped at a Massai village on our way, where they did a traditional song/ dance for us. I was fortunate enough to be one of the "chosen ones" from the crowd to dance with the Massai women (basically jump around and wear this big necklace that you have to bounce around with your shoulders...don't worry, we have pictures).
The Massai people are an African tribe that functions basically as it has for hundreds of years. They are a tall, thin group of people with narrow features and really dark skin. They all wear traditional blue and red woven clothing (depending on age/marital status), large white beaded collar necklaces, and the men have droopy stretched-out holes in their ears. Oh and their small hut-like houses are made out of dried cow poop. They are polygomists (have as many as 20 wives) and their level of wealth depends on the number of cows that each man owns (the use the poop, meat, milk, and even drink cow blood). They still practice outdated cruel things like female circumcision and the girls are married around age 10-12. At one point, I was able to visit with one of the male leaders of the tribe by using one of our guides for translation. He kept asking about cows in America and even asked "if i moved to America, would I be able to get a job?". It is so strange to think that the most important person in the tribe, would simply be an uneducated foreigner at home.....
On Friday, we loaded our huge, tank-like Land Cruisers and left for Lake Manyara. We stopped at a Massai village on our way, where they did a traditional song/ dance for us. I was fortunate enough to be one of the "chosen ones" from the crowd to dance with the Massai women (basically jump around and wear this big necklace that you have to bounce around with your shoulders...don't worry, we have pictures).
The Massai people are an African tribe that functions basically as it has for hundreds of years. They are a tall, thin group of people with narrow features and really dark skin. They all wear traditional blue and red woven clothing (depending on age/marital status), large white beaded collar necklaces, and the men have droopy stretched-out holes in their ears. Oh and their small hut-like houses are made out of dried cow poop. They are polygomists (have as many as 20 wives) and their level of wealth depends on the number of cows that each man owns (the use the poop, meat, milk, and even drink cow blood). They still practice outdated cruel things like female circumcision and the girls are married around age 10-12. At one point, I was able to visit with one of the male leaders of the tribe by using one of our guides for translation. He kept asking about cows in America and even asked "if i moved to America, would I be able to get a job?". It is so strange to think that the most important person in the tribe, would simply be an uneducated foreigner at home.....
Safari
This past weekend we truely experienced something incredible. Where to begin...on Friday we left our placement at the Tumaini school a little early to head out on our adventure. All eighteen of us piled in to our fancy Safari vehicles (the top comes off and you can stand up and look out) and were off. We drove for a couple hours and made it to our camp site, which was very nice and had a lodge on the grounds. After a quick stop there we headed to a Messai Village. It was sooo interesting! The people there live in little huts made out of cow dung and straw. They have no electricity or modern ammenities of any kind. The do not believe hopspitals and still have a medicene man. It was so interesting to get to visit their village. They sang all these tribal songs and did dances (Catherine joined in). It was sad because the kids were dirty and had flies on them, but it made me feel good that we visited them and bought some braclets. After that we went back to the camp site and had dinner and watched some traditional Tanzanian dancing. I got out an danced and attempted to shake it.....it looked ridiculous but it was funny!
We got up super early the next morning we dressed in our safari gear and headed to Lake Manyana National Park. It doesn't look anything like I pictured. Instead of flat grassy dessert this was beautiful green jungle surrounding a huge lake and mountains. It looked a bit like rainforest minus the fact that these plants and trees looked different. We saw so many animals! Elephants, giraffes, a ton of baboons, zebras, hippos, and we drove under some lions sitting in trees. It was amazing and I thought the trip counldn't get any better until we got to the Ngorngora Crater. It is not actually a crater but that is what they call it because it looks like one. It is a far and bumpy drive to the rim which is around 7000ft and very cold!!! Oh wait the internet cafe is closing so I am going to stop my post here, but I will continue where I left off. I miss you all!
We got up super early the next morning we dressed in our safari gear and headed to Lake Manyana National Park. It doesn't look anything like I pictured. Instead of flat grassy dessert this was beautiful green jungle surrounding a huge lake and mountains. It looked a bit like rainforest minus the fact that these plants and trees looked different. We saw so many animals! Elephants, giraffes, a ton of baboons, zebras, hippos, and we drove under some lions sitting in trees. It was amazing and I thought the trip counldn't get any better until we got to the Ngorngora Crater. It is not actually a crater but that is what they call it because it looks like one. It is a far and bumpy drive to the rim which is around 7000ft and very cold!!! Oh wait the internet cafe is closing so I am going to stop my post here, but I will continue where I left off. I miss you all!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
"Teacha, Teacha"
"Good mawning teacha" is the greeting that we hear each morning at Tumaini School. The children are adorable!!! Today Catherine and I were in the same classroom in the afternoon (5-6 yr.) and we played shape Bingo. The kids really enjoyed it, but our favorite part of the day was afterwards during the drawing activity. We were attempting to draw a picture of an elephant on the chalkboard (a black rectangle painted on to the cracked concrete wall) when the children burst out in song. Seriously this is the most random song ever. It goes "Elephant, elephant go to the bath, NO! NO! NO!, Why? Why? Why?, Because I'm too big, Because I'm too big." Catherine and I found ourselves singing along in a Swahili accent...it is quite catchy. Recess is another interesting part of our day. We are once again left alone with the children. The "playground" is actually just a small lot of weeds and dirt, but we always have fun playing games. The Hokey Pokey, Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and Duck, Duck, Goose are the favorite games. The kids love to sit in our laps during these games. Yesterday during a game of Duck, Duck, Goose Catherine realized Theresia (an adorable little girl about 3 yr. old) felt extra sweaty, but it was not sweat. She got peed on!!! Little Theresia stood up, after peeing on Catherine, and pulled down her pants in the middle of the game and peed on the ground...honestly we didn't know what to think. So we just kept playing...it was pretty funny. School here is very different than Holy Souls that is for sure! I have to mention our favorite little student....Corolla (like the car). Atleast we think that is her name she is so little that all she can say is "teacha, pencil, and her name". Today she wore her tiny uniform with a matching tie (some wear uniforms and some wear regular clothes). Right when CCS dropped off at the front gate she came runing up to us and gave us a huge hug. I swear I feel like some sort of celebrity when we arrive to school everyday. Well, I'm off to breakfast, but I'll try to post again before we leave for our weekend trip to the Ngorongora Crater. We are sooo excited for the animals!!!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Watoto is for children
Today was our first day at our placement at Tumaini English Medium school. In this school most of the classes are in English, but the younger children mainly understand Swahili. Quite the experience! While today was supposed to be our day to observe the operations of the classroom, we quickly were thrown into teaching. Lauren is working with 7-8 year olds and I am working with 5-6 year olds. I can tell already that the school is understaffed and Lauren and I will basically be teaching the children all by ourselves. The children are ADORABLE (chubby dark faces and huge eyes) and they love meeting new people, especially Mzungu or white people. They all hang on our clothes and fight over holding our hands. We played lots of games (duck, duck, goose and hokey pokey) and even learned some African game where you jump when you hear different types of meat and if you jump when they say the word "cockroach" you loose...really funny. I am going to love work everyday and already can't wait to go back tomorrow!
Monday, June 8, 2009
THe "Cain" in African
After our post yesterday, we had our first trip into the town of Moshi where we visited a few crafts shops and the local market. Moshi is colorful- women wearing bright fabrics, churches ornately painted in bold colors, worn-down advertisements adorning every storefront and bright fresh fruits for sale on every street corner. The people are friendly and anxious to practice English and teach visitors Swahili (and sell them things of course). Everyone was yelling at us to "give them five" and "hello mama". While at the market, we bought 2 types of mangos, miniture bananas, and green oranges and are excited to try everything!
It smells funny here...kinda like B.O., a taxi cab and burning wood, but we are getting used to the smell! The food is good (lots of rice, Oogali (mushy corn pasty mush), vegetables, and bananas) and we eat avacados from the tree behind our Home Base every day...they are HUGE and delicious.
Last night we went with the other volunteers to a local outdoor bar called The Watering Hole. It is on the grounds of a base for tourists leaving on safari. Weekly, they show movies outside on a big screen and serve beer, so last night we drank Kilimanjaro beer and watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Kinda funny, but we were tired and it was a good way to see a new place and not have to talk to much.
Today we spent most of our time at the Home Base learing more about our Placements and having a REALLY long boring Swahili lesson. We met two teachers from our Placement at the Tumani Nursury school. The two men were really nice and excited to have our help with the 25 students ranging in age from 3-7. The conversation got a bit interesting when they asked us our view on Corporal Punishment, because their typical punishment is "caining children"... or in their words "There is always a "cain" in African".
It smells funny here...kinda like B.O., a taxi cab and burning wood, but we are getting used to the smell! The food is good (lots of rice, Oogali (mushy corn pasty mush), vegetables, and bananas) and we eat avacados from the tree behind our Home Base every day...they are HUGE and delicious.
Last night we went with the other volunteers to a local outdoor bar called The Watering Hole. It is on the grounds of a base for tourists leaving on safari. Weekly, they show movies outside on a big screen and serve beer, so last night we drank Kilimanjaro beer and watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Kinda funny, but we were tired and it was a good way to see a new place and not have to talk to much.
Today we spent most of our time at the Home Base learing more about our Placements and having a REALLY long boring Swahili lesson. We met two teachers from our Placement at the Tumani Nursury school. The two men were really nice and excited to have our help with the 25 students ranging in age from 3-7. The conversation got a bit interesting when they asked us our view on Corporal Punishment, because their typical punishment is "caining children"... or in their words "There is always a "cain" in African".
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Hujambo from Tanzania!
After a 30 hour journey, we arrived to Tanzania safely last night at around 10 PM, then drove 45 minutes to our Homebase near the city of Moshi. There were about 20 other volunteers on our flight, so it was comforting to get to know a few of them before we arrived at our Homebase. Most of them are in college, a few are older and a few younger.
The Homebase is adorable and sits at the end of a long treacherous dirt road surrounded by corn fields and jungle forests. It is large with white stone with pretty landscaping. This is such a different experience than Vietnam- so much cleaner, more sanitary, and more organized. We are staying with two girls from Houston, Emily (26 and a teacher) and Carley (18 and a Senior in High school) and so far have a lot in common with them! We slept under our mosquito nets which was kind or interesting because I kept waking up all tangled.
Today we go to explore Moshi city and start our orientation. Hopefully this will help us with our Swahili since we currently only know 2 phrases- Hello, how are you (Hujambo) and My name is... (Jina Lago Nee..) We will keep you updated and are so happy to finally be here!
The Homebase is adorable and sits at the end of a long treacherous dirt road surrounded by corn fields and jungle forests. It is large with white stone with pretty landscaping. This is such a different experience than Vietnam- so much cleaner, more sanitary, and more organized. We are staying with two girls from Houston, Emily (26 and a teacher) and Carley (18 and a Senior in High school) and so far have a lot in common with them! We slept under our mosquito nets which was kind or interesting because I kept waking up all tangled.
Today we go to explore Moshi city and start our orientation. Hopefully this will help us with our Swahili since we currently only know 2 phrases- Hello, how are you (Hujambo) and My name is... (Jina Lago Nee..) We will keep you updated and are so happy to finally be here!
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