Tanzania: One Month

It feels strange to say this, but today (Sep. 16) officially marks one month in Tanzania. It already feels like the time has flown by. Time here is a hard concept to describe--my days here seem to fly by in a matter of seconds. We are now fully immersed into our classes, which is a good thing since they end in just a month! In fact, we only have 8 class sessions left with our professors. It's a strange thought, but not necessarily a bad one. Our professors have a very different approach to learning and teaching than we are used to, which has forced us to adapt. In particular, powerpoints and wrote memorization seem to be very popular amongst our professors. Both methods hold value, but after two hours of the same thing, it can be very tiring! Nonetheless, we are here to learn about cultural differences and this is one of them.

Another big difference between life here and in the USA is our dormitory. Our dorm is perfectly functional as a dorm, but I wouldn't say that it was much more than that. That said, it's home and I've come to appreciate it in all it's quirkiness. I've included some pictures below so you can see where I live!

The outside of our dorm.

From the outside, our dorm doesn't look that impressive. There are many dorms on this campus and all have been built in (more or less) the exact same style and design. 

A close-up of the door--you can just make out the name above it.

In this photo, the name of our dorm is (somewhat) visible.We live in a dorm called "German-American." It's named after countries who helped to pay for it.

The hallway--it's a bit gloomy.

Our room! It's a bit cozy, but it's home.

Our dorm is split into 8 rooms, 4 on each side of the hallway, with a large bathroom in the rear. (All of the dorms are built in exactly the same way) Our bathroom is fairly basic, but functional. Squat toilets and cold-water showers are the way in this dorm--there's nothing quite so refreshing as a frigid shower at 8 in the morning!

The Showers...

...and the toilet.

Last, but not least, clothes have to be washed by hand here, so it's been a steep learning to figure out how to do it without rubbing my hands raw in the process.

My "washing machine"

Although my dorm would not be considered luxurious by American standards, it is perfectly functional and has become home for the next few weeks. Even when I'm feeling frustrated after a particularly cold shower, I see the below view out the back door. Could I get that in Richmond?

The view out of the bathroom!

Tanzania: Our First Weekend!

It's been a while since my last update, which is largely due to two action-packed weekends. We have had very little down time--there's so much to see here, that we are on the go all the time! Our first weekend in Iringa was just a day trip to take in the sights of the surrounding area. The day started with a visit to Kalenga, home of the Mkwawa Memorial Museum. Chief Mkwawa was a famous leader of the Hehe tribe (one of the major tribes in Tanzania, heavily concentrated in the Iringa region). During the German occupation of Tanzania following the Berlin Convention, Chief Mkwawa led an uprising of the Hehe against German colonial rule. He successfully defeated the Germans, who were forced to regroup and return 3 years later. When the Germans finally surrounded him, he shot himself. In a rather cruel act, the Germans cut off his head and sent it to Germany. Following World War II, the British finally returned the skull from Germany to the Hehe people. Today, you can see the skull in the museum.

The Skull of Chief Mkwawa

We had one of the most interesting tour guides who showed us around. His English was very hard to understand, but he spoke with great enthusiasm for the topic. Although we were not able to understand much, we were able to get the gist of what was being said. Below are some photos from the museum--it's certainly very different from an American museum!

The inside of the Museum

A 400 year-old tree that would have been the center of the fort during Chief Mkwawa's reign

Following our visit to the Mkwawa Museum, we hopped back on our bus and headed to Isimila, our second stop of the day. The Isimila Stone Age site is known for it's unique archeological value--it is one of the biggest sites of Stone Age artifacts ever found. There are literally hundreds of Stone Age-era tools just sitting in an area that was once a river.

I don't think they'd let me pick this up in the States.

The area is also known for it's unique stone formations.An area that was once a lake slowly eroded the limestone base of the lake--but not consistently. As a result, there are now these giant pillars of stone which just seem to erupt from the earth. They were very majestic--they certainly made for a very impressive sight! See below for pictures.

The View from Above.

Down in the valley.

Our final stop of the day was to play volleyball with the local ex-pat community. In Iringa, the ex-pat community is very small and close-knit. Informal gatherings to play sports is very common and an opportunity to bring the community together. It was fun to enjoy the atmosphere and soak up the late afternoon rays.

Following volleyball and a quick dinner, it was time to head home. Sleep came quickly after a busy day. Sunday was a quiet day--an opportunity to do laundry and get ready for our first week of classes! I will post an update soon about that week and our weekend excursion to Udzungwa and Kilombero.

Tanzania: The First Week in Iringa

After the events of my first weekend in Iringa, I was ready to settle down into a quiet week of classes. Unfortunately, this was not to be. Unlike the US, classes in Tanzania seem to run to a flexible time schedule. Although we were supposed to start classes on the Monday, our professors and the university simply weren't ready for us! It definitely is very different from the US, where there would be outrage (from parents, if not students) if classes did not begin on the date specified.

Nonetheless, we had a very relaxed week, which mainly involved spending a couple of hours in Swahili and Research Methodology (the two classes taught by our CIEE team, which were definitely not cancelled) and exploring Iringa! I felt pretty crummy for the first few days--the side effects of the medicine I was taking to kill off the parasite. Fortunately, it killed them off before it did too much harm to me!

Given our wide-open schedule this week, I took the opportunity to sample Iringa's culinary offerings. For a small town, with a very small ex-pat community, Iringa has a surprisingly large number of authentically foreign restaurants. Two of the places I visited this week were unique in their own ways. The first place, Info Iringa, is a small cafe located right on one of the main roads in Iringa. Although you wouldn't know it from the front, the back of the cafe has a lovely patio where you can sit, enjoy the beautiful weather (it hasn't rained yet in Iringa), and eat amazing food!

During my visit to Info Iringa, I partook in a coffee milkshake (making up for both a lack of dairy and a lack of coffee in my diet) and several small savory pies. Although I would wager that the pies at PieBird (for those who live in Raleigh) are slightly better, these were pretty tasty. That said, given our standard diet of rice, beans, and meat at the university (it's perfectly edible, but doesn't change much), anything would taste nice. See below for photos of the food!

The Milkshake...very creamy!

The pies...which were equally tasty!

In the middle of the week, we got the opportunity to go to Gangilonga Rock. Our friend at the cafe, James, offered to take us up there. We had been looking for an opportunity to go, but we needed guides and Tanzanian backup, since it is a crime hotspot where many thieves (apparently) hide out. As a result, we went with our Tanzanian friend plus Justin and his dogs. (Many of the Tanzanians we passed were terrified of the dogs...a cultural difference from the states probably caused by the many stray dogs here)

Our Canine Companions

It was a short hike to the top of Gangilonga Rock, which required a bit of scrambling (including a very narrow bit). Before long, however, we were at the top--and the views were unbelievable. Iringa was laid out below us, a mismatched quilt of buildings covering the valley. It was very pretty!

The narrow climb up to the top!

Looking out over the valley

Looking out in the other direction

Following our climb up to the rock, I was hungry! After our tasty experience at Info Iringa, I was skeptical that any food experience here could top that. However, I was about to be proven wrong during my visit later in the week to the Greek Club. Located behind the Greek Orthodox church (yes, there's one in Iringa, of all places), the Greek Club is perhaps the most unmarked and hard to find place in Iringa. Even once we found it, we weren't sure if we were in the right place. There was nobody else around and only a few tables to sit out. Fortunately, someone came out and invited us to sit down. According to Justin, our director, the Greek Club serves the best hamburgers in Iringa. Although the other 3 in my group decided to go with the hamburger, I went with a bacon and cheese calzone, plus coffee. I was not to be disappointed. The calzone was good, but the star was the coffee. Justin had mentioned that the Greek Club's coffee was possibly the best in Iringa. It was certainly an impressive display. When the coffee arrived, I was given a French Press, steamed milk, cup and saucer, sugar, chocolate shavings (?!), and a sugar biscuit. I'd never had chocolate shavings served with coffee before, but they were amazing. See below for a photo:

The best coffee I've had in a while!

As we left the Greek Club, we were treated to a rather spectacular sunset with the Greek Orthodox church in the background. I also snapped a shot of the sunset on campus a bit later--equally beautiful. Although I might not fully appreciate American sunsets, the sunsets here are truly gorgeous. The hues of the sun were truly beautiful. It seemed like a fitting way to round out the day!

The Sunset & Greek Orthodox Church

The sunset on campus

Later this week, I will have an update about the weekend--we went on an expedition to two sites near Iringa. Until then--baadaye (later)!