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!