Friday, August 10, 2012
This was was a well-deserved rest day and the morning was devoted to a lot of photo-sharing, hanging out, and laundry. In the afternoon, we presented the mini-poster we had made the week before Serengeti to the staff and other students. A pretty low-key day.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
This was our home-stay day. We were all paired up (conveniently with people we really liked- thanks to Molly... see if you can guess who I was with) and sent to the home of one of the locals near the school. Katherine and I went to a family that consisted of a mom, a dad (who was a work most of the day), two sons, a daughter, and a guard dog.
The morning was really fantastic. We were made and served delicious chai tea, helped with the dished, and helped make lunch, which consisted of beef, cabbage, rice, ugali, and a tomato-broth-sauce. Ugali, by the way, is a corn-meal type dish that has the consistency of mashed potatoes and is bland but meant to be dipped in sauces; they also served this a camp and I really enjoyed it. While doing all these tasks, we drew pictures with the kids and tried, somewhat successfully, to communicate with the mom, who spoke very little English. I also got to show off my waterproof paper notebook, which they really seemed to enjoy.
But then, after lunch, Uncle Andrew showed up.
The mom's brother, Andrew, had gone to school in Dar Es Salaam (the biggest city in Tanzania) and therefore spoke English really well. At first, he seemed really interested in talking to Katherine and I and teaching us words in Swahili or Iraqw (one of the tribes in the area, like the Masaai) while we helped out with more chores. But then, slowly, he essentially pulled Katherine and I away from the rest of the family and only wanted to talk about the United States and how he could get a job and go to school there. Which, I mean, is fine... but we spent 3 hours with this guy while the kids disappeared and the mom sat to the side and did other things.
The other sort of completely obnoxious thing about Crazy Uncle Andrew was that he constantly tried to hold hands with Katherine and/or myself. I knew that hand-holding between members of the same gender was a sign of close friendship, and that PDA between the genders is a big no-no, so I wasn't sure what to think. But when it got to the point where Andrew actually took Katherine's hand out of her pocket to hold it, we were a little beyond considering social norms.
Anyway, Andrew told us that someday he was going to come to America and stay with my or Katherine's families while we find him a school and a job. He also told us that he hates people who drink, who are fat, and told me that I need to use something on my face because of pimples (which everyone thought was hilarious, because I had almost zero breakouts while in Africa because of the dryness).
Needless to say, when the truck came to pick us up, Katherine and I basically ran to it. Once on the road, we asked one of the East African students if that hand-holding thing was normal. He laughed and said no. Katherine then (jokingly) said that she thought we might be married to the guy now... Later at camp, she and I started getting referred to as sister-wives.
At least it was an interesting experience.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
This was our last non-program day, and we went back to Mto Wa Mbu (I spelled it incorrectly earlier). Two weeks previously, one of the girls (Lisa) had gone to one of the larger painting shops and learned how to paint in Tinga Tinga style. She did a really good job with it, so a bunch more of us wanted to go back and try this time.
We first had to paint our backgrounds and let them dry, so we did that and then went to walk around Masai Market again. Most of the shopkeepers recognize/remember the mwanafunzi mzungu (see if you've been paying attention) so their attitudes toward us this time we a little less aggressive and a little more trusting (just slightly). Katherine was bent on finding a painting of a leopard, but all people were showing us were cheetahs (which they usually assured us were actually leopards... I guess they didn't know we were studying wildlife).
I wasn't sure what I wanted, but I had broken my watch strap earlier during the trip and never wore it at home anyway, so I was going to trade it for something (they love watches for some reason). I was pretty sure I didn't want another painting (I had one from the orphanage and the one I was painting) but then we walked into a shop and I saw a painting that is essentially a Tingatinga bird explosion, with lots of dark blues, purples, and pinks, which I didn't see a lot of in other Tingatinga paintings (they use brighter colors usually). Anyway, I had to have it, but we went to lunch first to make sure we had enough money.
First, we went back to the painting place and did the outlines/background fill of our animals. I did flamingos. :) Then we had to wait for those to dry.
We had our last pizza at Pizza Point, which was delicious of course. Katherine walked to a shop down the street and got her leopard painting (she almost had to give up the pants she was wearing for it) and then we headed back to Masai Market. Katherine and I bartered off my watch, a couple cheap water bottles, 2 bug-repellent wipes, travel-sized toothpaste (thanks, Codyrose!), and 12,000 shillings (about $8) for my bird painting and a painting for Katherine. And then I was officially out of money (except for what we had to pay the people who taught us Tingatinga and the bill I was bringing home as a souvenir).
We finished up our paintings, all of which turned out pretty cool, and headed back to camp.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Our last full day at camp. :(
In the morning, we did some "closing activities" which is where Katherine and I discovered that we're both sympathetic criers and couldn't be near each other if one of us was shedding tears. Which didn't work out. But anyway, we did some verbal evaluations of how we thought the academics, non-program activities, and other things worked out. We said some preliminary goodbyes and then Molly talked to us about what to expect when we get home (like unconstrained sorrow... just kidding). It was an emotional morning, so I took a nap after lunch.
The afternoon was devoted mostly to packing, last-minute picture taking and sharing, and a last walk around Moyo Hill. For dinner, the kitchen staff did a fantastic job at making us a feast of some of our favorite foods, plus a cake. It was wonderful. Then we watched a music video (of all of us, even most of the staff, dancing to Call Me Maybe) and the obligatory end-of-something-significant-slideshow-set-to-emotional-music. Then Melissa, my banda-mate, and I watched Big Band Theory and went to bed.
Sunday, August 14, 2012
After breakfast, we packed our luggage into the trucks and said goodbye to the staff and to the two East African students who lived in the area. So much crying. And not just from me and Katherine this time! But mostly me and Katherine. Then we left for the long trip home.
We stopped in Arusha for lunch, said goodbye to a couple more people, and then headed to the airport.
The rest of the trip was basically: Kilimanjaro Airport to Nairobi Airport (1 hour), waiting (3 hours), Nairobi Airport to London Airport (8 hours), more goodbyes and then waiting (4 hours), London Airport to JFK Airport (7 hours), the rest of the goodbyes, panicking through customs and security and collecting and re-checking baggage only to be delayed about an hour (3 hours), and then New York to Columbus (2 hours).
I was picked up at the airport by my wonderful mother, boyfriend, and friends (Christy and Al) and then went home. I expected to go to sleep, but instead I talked my poor mom's ear off until about 11:00 at night. And then I slept, for a really long time.
So, that's it! School starts back up tomorrow and it's back to real life. Pictures are being posted to Facebook as we speak, so I'll post links to the album(s) as soon as I'm finished, and then I'll post the best ones directly here on the blog.
Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. And if anyone is wondering, yes, I would recommend a trip to Tanzania to anyone and I would go back in a heartbeat.
I am glad you are home but a little envious that I could not go too. So glad you had a wonderful time. Love, Mom
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