dar

Oooh, pictures! More of them!

This is clearly a sign that I am in Dar es Salaam, at the Peace Corps office, with fast computers. Because it only took 10 minutes and not 10 hours to upload these shots.

Descriptions:

Top: Nutrition seminar for a PLWHA group. That is the group, and the other picture is of the FANTASTIC food we ate that day. We had tea, chapatti, eggs, and sweet potatoes for breakfast; yogurt mid-morning; lunch consisted of rice, pilau, potatoes, fish, meat, beans, spinach, tomato salad, a nice dish made of cassava leaves and peanuts called 'kisamvu', and fresh fruit; and then for an evening snack we had juice and peanuts. We were stuffed by the end of the day, but it was all for the sake of learning about balanced diets and food groups...

Bottom: A picture of Dominic and Deus, my two best friends, at the home of their parents. I wrote about it in a post called 'Ng'ombe' or 'COW.' In the photo, we were mocking the door to their shed where they store drying tobacco - a grass shed with a padlock on it. Right.

The last one is the back of the head of the daladala bike driver who took me on a one-hour+ ride to a nearby [well, relatively nearby] secondary school. It's a pretty wild ride, but this guy really did a good job of getting me there, quickly, and comfortably.

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Ok, so as I said, I'm currently in Dar-es-Salaam. We call it Dar, which in English kind of sounds like a noise meaning 'duhhhh' but here it's a normal part of our vocabulary. Peace Corps flew me down here from Mwanza so that I could attend, as an official PCV 'delegate', a party that celebrates the 45th anniversary of Peace Corps. This was a fairly special event, since Tanzania [then Tanganyika as it had not yet united with Zanzibar] was one of the first countries to become involved with the Peace Corps.

It's nice to be in Dar, one last time before I come to, and leave from for good, the biggest city in the country. The party last night featured lots of special guests, including some of the volunteers from 40+ years ago, who were really fascinating to talk to and hear their thoughts on how the country has, and has not, changed. The party also featured a pretty fabulous buffet of delicious foods, salads, and desserts. And an open bar. Woo-hoo!

The trip has also given me a chance to take care of a bunch of admin stuff, forms to fill out etc etc, before coming back in December. I'm still in the process of looking for work as I apply for and then wait for graduate school [if you know of any good jobs, preferably not behind a desk, let me know please please i will thank you so much please please].

Dar is a bustling city, as evidenced by what can be described as a semi-brawl trying to fight for a spot on the daladala bus to get to the office this morning. And the nightlife is nice too, last night I went to a casino with one of my friends, where we managed to play blackjack for a good hour or so. In the last 10 minutes of that hour I had amazing luck and managed to walk away with about 50 bucks!

It's also a small world - yesterday I ran into, I mean just randomly bumped into, a really good friend from Missungwi. It was surreal, think random Stevens Point bumping-into in NYC.

I had some other stuff to write about in an entry, but it was about Missungwi, and despite seeing this guy I am still in big-city mode, so will wait to write about the nuances of village life until I actually return to it, which will be this evening when I get back on the plane and head home....