The Trip Home

Sorry it's taken me so long to get my final post on here. It's been crazy since I've been home! My last days in Moshi were fun but sad. Friday night we went out to Glacier and had a few drinks and did some shaky shaky. Most of the guys showed up. Freddy and Abbas said goodbye to me earlier that day because they were heading out on safari. Hans and all the rest of the guys showed up for my last night in Moshi. We had such a good time. Melissa and I shared a bottle of Konyagi (local liquor that tastes like gin). After Glacier we took a cab to Kool Bar one last time. I was a little too tipsy to play pool so we all danced until we decided it was time for La Liga. By this time it was past midnight and by the time we got there I was so tired! Riley said Melissa and I ditched the boys right away and headed to the dance floor haha. We danced for awhile until we couldn't really keep our eyes open anymore. We took a cab home, Melissa and I munched on some popcorn and chocolate and then went to sleep. In the morning Kevin called-he got our puppy! He had just picked him up. He is now about 13 weeks old, he is a brindle boxer puppy and we named him Diesel. He's the perfect little puppy! This phone call made me sooooo excited to get home! I was not fully packed but was pretty hungover, so Mel and I slept for a couple more hours while the boys took the grill and the food across the street to Mzungu Bar to start the BBQ. Riley woke us up and told us the food was almost ready, so we headed over and had some hot dogs and burgers. I was still feeling a little rough but managed to eat a hot dog. After hanging out for awhile Mel and I headed back inside and she helped me finish packing. My bags were SO heavy! I had a lot of stuff that I bought for people back home, and my bags were pretty much full of souvenirs, I wasn't even brining that many clothes back. Riley was helping me take my bags to the cab and was like "Oh Dory, you're plane is definitely going down! What? Did you bring one of your children from school and pack them in here?!" So funny! I ended up taking a cab (of course Stanley, our wonderful cab driver and good rafiki ((friend)) offered to take me) to the airport since a couple other people were leaving for the airport a couple hours after me and Ibra was taking them in the van. Mel and Riley wanted to come with me, so we all loaded up and headed out after I said goodbye to the staff (was so sad!). It felt like the week before when we were heading to the airport with Stanley except going to Zanzibar. It felt so surreal, I just kept thinking that it was a joke or a dream and I would be heading back to CCS homebase to see all the staff and friends, not that I was actually leaving. It was so crazy, I just couldn't register it. It was really pretty on the way to the airport, we went through some rain but it was still sunny (my favorite!). It was such a perfect night, warm but not too hot. I was so sad to leave. I don't think it hit me until we actually got to the airport and I said goodbye to Stanley, Riley and Mel. We got one last Three Musketeers picture and then the tears came. It was so hard saying goodbye to Mel! We already have plans for her to visit over the 4th of July, and Kev and I are planning on going to her house for snowmobiling next winter. So excited! Everything at the airport went smoothly. It was sad getting on the airplane, seeing my last view of Kili and getting my last breath of Tanzania air, I'll miss it so much! My layover in Nairobi went well too, which I was so grateful for, because that airport is small, cramped, hot, and not very organized. Katelyn got stuck there for 14 hours on her way home! When I got to London the first thing I got was Starbucks, yum! Missed that a lot. I finished writing in my journal, read, and shopped (I had an 8 hour layover). I went to a chocolate store and the woman working helped me pick out some truffles for my Momma. They are pink champagne truffles and they are by appointment to the Queen. My mom liked them a lot. They also had a store called "World of Whiskies". Kev loves Whiskey so I went in and got him a pack of 3 small bottles to try, all aged differently. The layover went pretty quickly. There was a little scare when the fire alarm went off about an hour before my gate opened. I was so worried there was a fire that would result in delays, but luckily after shuffling all of us in the terminal around for about 20 minutes they cleared the area and my gate opened on time. The flight home was smooth, and I got through Customs without them having to look through all my souvenirs (would have taken so long!). Kevin met me in the parking lot (I told him not to come in because I didn't want him to have to leave the puppy in the car). It was soooo good to see him! I couldn't beleive how cute Diesel is, he's the best little puppy! It was weird driving over 40 mph, on paved roads, without speed bumps, on the right side instead of left side of the road. Even though it was super nice out it seemed so cold to me! So strange being home after being in such a different place for such a long time. In the past few days I've been adjusting back to home and to being a new puppy owner, trying to get everything with graduation and in the house worked out and organized. Kev had the house clean when I got home, which was so nice, but "Tornado Dory" as he calls it came in and there is stuff from Africa all over I'm trying to get organized and put away. We've already been talking about planning our trip to Tanzania, it'll probably take us a couple of years to save up, but I'm so happy Kevin wants to go back with me. I really miss the friends that I made and my kids, I think about them all the time. I miss the country so much, I can't wait to go back! Thanks to everyone for reading my blog! Hopefully sometime in the near future I'll be writing another one about my second trip to Tanzania!

Rest of Zanzibar and Moshi

Oops, the power went out...typical! One thing I won't miss about here. Anyway, Melissa and I decided by asking ourselves "what would our mom's tell us to do?" and we both decided that they would want us to spend the extra money since it wasn't that expensive and not suffer in the heat. Riley and Elle wanted to try to stay in the Banda and save money. It was amazing once we got to our room and turned the air on! We haven't really felt A/C since being in Africa. We told Elle and Riley they should just sleep in our room since there was a double bed and a single bed. The room was super nice with it's own beautiful bathroom, outside sitting area and sitting area inside. So cute! After we cooled down we went down to the bar on the beach. We were all in such a good mood after being in the A/C that we decided we would stay there our 3rd night also and all just split the cost of the room. We were worried that we wouldn't find anywhere in Stone Town with A/C and it is a lot hotter in Stone Town, no sea breeze and very crowded. So, we had some food and then the Full Moon Party started, a party they throw once a month on the full moon. They decorate the dance floor/eating area really nice and there are dancers and acrobats and then everyone dances afterwards. Elle and Riley were super tired and we all noticed we looked a little burnt so they went back to the room and Melissa and I stayed and danced for a couple more hours. It was fun but we went to bed fairly early because we were tired too. By Sunday we were all in so much pain from our sunburns. They didn't look very bad, but they were the most painful burns any of us have ever had. Then we understood why they asked us if we wanted wet suits for snorkeling: the water is so clear that no matter how much SPF you put on the salt water washes it off and the sun hits your back the whole time. Even the backs of my knees were fried (sorry, Mom, not my fault!!). We were all popping Advil and running from the sun for the rest of the weekend. We would all be hurting saying how we just wanted to go back to Moshi then we would take some Advil and sit out in the shade on the beach and say how beautiful it was and how we didn't want to leave. We developed quite a love/hate relationship with the island. We just bummed around and relaxed on Sunday and Sunday night on the beach. On Monday we got an early cab to Stone Town. It was super hot and we were carrying all of our stuff so we only hit the main highlights. The first thing we saw was a church which was built exactly where the slave auctions took place. First we went to a building next to a church down some steps into a scary dungeon-looking place. There were two tiny rooms. One held 100 women and the other held 150 men consistently during the trade. It was unbelievable and incredibly sad. It seemed impossible that many would fit in such a small space. Then we went to see a memorial built to honor those who died, then went into the church. It was very interesting. After the trade was abolished in Zanzibar, missionaries came and built the church over the auction site. When you first walk in you see a basin where baptisms take place. A guide explained that they built the basin in that place because below is where the mass grave is located. When slaves died in the small rooms or when women gave birth they threw the dead and the babies into the mass grave. Since baptism is like celebrating new life, they put the basin there. Also, there were Roman columns in the church that were put in upside down because the architect wasn't there that day, and when he got back he decided to leave them, so it's the only church with upside down columns. The altar is directly over the whipping post, where slaves were whipped to see how much they would cry out. If they didn't cry out, they were considered stronger and thus went for a higher price. It was very sobering. After, we went to the main Stone Town museum, which told a lot about the history of Stone Town. It was really interesting. After that it was time to go to the airport. We were very happy to get back home to Moshi, and it was so nice and cool (only about 85 degrees) when we got there around 5:30 pm, it felt so nice to be home! This week has gone by so fast. I've been running around town trying to get last minute things done. Today is my last day with my kids, and we are going to have a little party. I'm super super sad to leave them, but I'm also very anxious to get home. I still look back and can't believe I've been in Tanzania for 10 weeks! Crazy! Tonight we are going to Glacier, of course, and then to Club La Liga (I'm going to go once more since it's my last night even though it's crazy!). And tomorrow we are going across the street to Mzungu Bar for a BBQ. It should be a blast. I'll be so sad to leave, but I'm also getting so excited to get home!!!

Zanzibar and my last days in Moshi

So it's already Thursday evening (seriously, only 2 days left? CRAZY!) and I decided I finally needed to take time to update everyone on my Zanzibar trip, so here goes:
Friday morning Stanley picked us up at home and took us to the airport. We had a quick one hour flight to Zanzibar. The view over the Indian Ocean was so pretty! Once we stepped off the plane we could not believe how hot it was! We thought Moshi was hot, but it was ridiculous! You could hardly breathe the air was so hot and humid. We immediately got a cab and initially were going to go straight to Stone Town, which is the center of the city and was the area where the original city and slave trading took place. However, the air conditioning in the cab was so nice and we had so much stuff that we decided we didn't want to lug it all around Stone Town in the middle of the day, so we had the driver take us straight to Kendwa, which is a town on the top tip of Zanzibar island where there are amazing beaches. We had an idea of where we wanted to stay from my friend Ellen who had previously been in Zanzibar for a week. We had him drop us off at Kendwa Rocks (our hotel) and hoped that they had open rooms (we didn't make any reservations because most hotels don't have phones). They had open rooms, several types and prices to choose from. We chose two Bandas, which are little two-story huts that are really cute, they are just a small room with two beds and they are made out of wood and grasses. Elle, our friend from Hostel Hoff stayed in one with me (it was on the second floor and a little rickety, kinda scary!) and Riley and Melissa stayed in one right down the path. They had shared bathrooms that were clean and pretty nice, especially for Africa. It was sooo hot in the rooms, but we hoped it would cool down and there would be a sea breeze at night. We immediately put our stuff down, got changed, and went to the beach. The sand and the water were phenomenal! Really white, soft sand and the water was the purest, bluest, clearest blue I have ever seen. It was amazing. The ocean was the perfect temperature for swimming and cooling off. We just played on the beach for awhile. Then, a man came over toward us and he had the cutest pet monkey! I kinda felt bad for the monkey being a pet, but it was so cute and friendly! We were all so happy. After, we all went and showered and got changed for dinner. They had pretty amazing food. We all got pizza for dinner and it was so good. We also had a few beachy cocktails, it was sooo nice! Eventually we went back to our Bandas for bed, which is where it all started to go wrong. It was SO hot! Even with the fan going it was unbearably hot. Elle and I didn't sleep at all and were sweating all night. Also, right now Zanzibar is experiencing some political unrest, so there isn't any power on the entire island. Any power that the hotels have comes from generators, and to save money (the power has been out since October-ish) they don't run the generators all the time. So, at 3 am the fan turned off. Elle and I were desperate! I remember thinking, "seriously, WHAT am I going to do, it is SO hot and there is NOWHERE to go to get cool!" it was bad. Also, Elle and I were super dehydrated from the drinks we had earlier and the amount we were sweating all night. We stupidly didn't buy water to bring with us to our room. We decided to go out in our t-shirts and undies to look (we were so hot and didn't want to put clothes on, we didn't even care). We walked down toward the beach which of course was pitch black. We could hear some men talking down by the water but couldn't really see anything, and then Elle made a comment about how the guards needing to be by the water all night to watch out for Pirates, because we weren't that far from Somalia (I reminded her that we weren't that close, either, and Pirates aren't coming on shore looking through resorts for money, that they only hijack big ships), but, all the same, the comment and the dark freaked us out a little bit. We were so desperate we went to Riley and Melissa's Banda to see if they had water. They weren't sleeping either, but didn't have any water. They were also super thirsty so we decided (since we now had a boy with us) to brave the beach one more time and see if we could find some, even though I don't know where we were thinking we'd get some. We walked down to the sand and immediately saw two locals standing and staring at us. It freaked me out! We both just kinda stared at each other and then Elle and I were like "umm water? maji (Swahili for water)" and they turned out to be the security guards. They basically told us the bar was closed and there was no hope of water until the morning. We were ready to cry. On the way back to our rooms Elle spotted a semi-full water bottle sitting down on the table of the Banda below us. We told her not to take it but we were so desperate that we also drank the water when she did. We vowed to buy our neighbors some more water and profusely apologize the next morning. Then we went back to our rooms and struggled through the rest of a sleepless night. The next morning we were all a bit grumpy from being so hot and getting no sleep. We decided we would figure out later what to do, go back to Stone Town or stay another night. We had scheduled Snorkeling for 9 am that morning. It turns out they got a boat just for the four of us, and the boats were so cool! They were like traditional fishing boats, long and made out of wood. It was awesome. We headed out with the Captain and a snorkeling instructor. The boat ride was about an hour, and it was beautiful. On the way we saw a lot of flying fish (so crazy to see them run across the water) and the water is so clear most of the time you can see straight to the bottom. When we got to our first spot we got our gear on and dove in. The water was perfect. We saw such beautiful coral and so many fish and sea urchins. Our instructor dove to the bottom and brought up different things. The first thing he brought up was some coral, and then he brought up a bluish-purple starfish for us to hold. It was so pretty! He also brought up a giant sea cucumber, which is super disgusting! It looks like a big yucky you-know-what. I held it and it is slimy with little bumps all over it. It also randomly squirts water out of one end. Pretty gross. We ended up going to two snorkeling spots, it was amazing. On the way back we were pretty tired and napped on the boat. Back home we washed off the sea water and had an amazing lunch (a mushroom calzone for me, so good!). After that we decided that we'd had enough sun for a bit and went to take a nap, but again, the power was off and it was just too hot to do anything. Melissa and I were ready to upgrade to a room with air conditioning, which was $85 a night. Elle and Riley weren't ready to splurge. We went back and forth and Melissa and I decided by asking ourselves, "what would our moms t

Tanzanite

Yesterday we kind of decided last minute to go back to Arusha with the group who's only here for a week. Instead of going back to the Tribunal Randy, Jay, Andy, Riley, Melissa and I went to this coffee shop we've been wanting to try. It was fantastic. I got an iced coffee and it was so so good! Then we walked to a cool place with all kinds of t-shirts that Ibra showed us one of the last times I was in Arusha. After, we ate lunch at McMoody's. We got there and finished eating before the rest of the group even showed up so we decided to go back to the Tanzanite Experience store so Jay could finish paying for the stones he bought and pick them up before the rest of the 20 people in the new group all came. Well, looking at all the Tanzanite finally got to me. I ended up buying a small stone (almost all of the stones that they sell are loose stones). It's so pretty! It's round cut and it's .64 carat. I'm not sure what I want to set it in yet, I was thinking a small ring, but we'll see. I am so happy with my purchase! All of us except Riley and Andy ended up buying stones. Melissa bought one a little smaller than mine but in a trilliant cut and slightly deeper color. We were both happy girls when we left the store! We got certificates of authenticity with our stones stating the carat, cut, clarity and color, so nice to have, since it's one of the only stores who has certificates with their stones. It's said that Tanzanite will be depleted in one generation, and those who buy it within the next 15-20 years will be the first-time owners of all the Tanzanite in the world. Such a precious and rare stone, of course I had to buy one! After the store we went back to the Maasai market where I helped Riley pick out a necklace then we went back home. We were all pretty tired so after dinner the boys came in our room and we played some cards and listened to music until bed. This morning everything went well with the kids. They are really starting to get numbers 1-10 and the first 15 letters of the alphabet, so exciting! I get so happy when they learn stuff and I know I helped teach them! They are such great kids! I only have 4 more days left with them, because tomorrow Riley, Melissa, Elle (our friend from the hostel) are heading to Zanzibar, and we won't be back until Monday night. I cannot wait, the white sand beaches and Indian Ocean are supposed to be absolutely fantastic!! After today I only have 9 more days left in Tanzania, I can't believe it, the time is going by so quickly! So, I'm trying to enjoy the rest of my short time as much as I can!

Mawenzi Hospital

Yesterday (Monday) went by fairly smoothly. It was actually a little cloudy and not as hot so Melissa, Randy, Jay and I walked all around town running errands. We walked to the Mama who has done all my skirts and I dropped off material for her to make me another shorter (knee-length) skirt, a pair of sleep shorts and a headband. Then we did a little shopping and went to a coffee shop for some beverages. I got an iced coffee, which was really good, except a little too sweet. I wish I had told them I would add the sugar myself, I don't like that much in my coffee. Tanzanians put quite a lot of sugar even in a small cup of coffee. Our walk took us a couple of hours. Once we got home Melissa and I cuddled up with our books (we are both at really exciting points in them) until dinner. After dinner we went across the street with the boys to Mzungu Bar. Freddy and some of the other boys were there. They didn't have a lot of work to do during the day and football (soccer) was on tv so they had been drinking for awhile by the time we got there. I just had a soda water and we all chatted for awhile until we got tired and headed to bed. Today was a good but chaotic day with the kids. I left early to go get a tour of Mawenzi Hospital where Randy, one of our group, is helping the administration to get their records in order so that their funding will continue. The hospital is pretty big, there are several wards, each building is a separate and you walk the grounds outside to get from one to the other. It is nothing like hospitals at home, and pretty graphic. We saw the pediatric ward, it was hard seeing the little kids hooked up to tubes and some had severe burns on most of their bodies. We saw the clinic strictly for HIV/AIDS patients (which was unfortunately extremely full with patients waiting to be seen). Then we went to the maternity ward, which I think affected me the most. There were about 30 women in there who were in the beginning stages of labor. In the labor room there were three women. When the women are about to give birth they are stripped down naked and laid on hard tables (sanitation purposes). One woman was very close to giving birth, and her contractions looked so painful. They are on their own most of the time right up until the baby is about to come. Right after birth they often have to walk themselves out of the room to the beds in the ward because another woman in labor needs the delivery room. They are not given epidurals or pain medication. Another woman had just given birth. She was still lying on the table, still in pain, alone because husbands or family are not allowed inside, and there was a nurse in the corner holding her baby. The baby was premature, and since they don't have the necessary equipment to handle premature births, they were just keeping the baby warm under a heat lamp and had an oxygen mask on her waiting for her to pass away, trying to keep her comfortable. It's quite a culture shock, so different from home. They just simply do not have the necessary tools to deal with such things in countries like Tanzania. After the labor ward we saw various recovery rooms, and we saw those who are in quarantine with communicable diseases. We also saw the psychiatric ward, they have separated men and women as they do with all the other wards in the hospital. This was also very difficult to see. There were two sides to each building. One side had beds with patients who have psychological issues but are still functioning enough to be allowed out of the ward to walk the grounds. The other side is where the patients are locked in. There aren't beds (no metal or sharp objects for their safety) but just foam mattresses on the floor. Most of the patients are chanting, babbling or yelling out as if they're in pain. The hospital doesn't have the resources to treat things like schizophrenia with medication so there isn't much they can do with these people except make sure they can't hurt themselves or others. The hospital is really doing great work but needs more funding so eventually they can get the resources to treat these patients. Randy is helping get their records in order so funding continues, because although they do give the treatment and medication most patients need, it's not documented, often because they are so short staffed. The doctors are constantly running around with patients to see, and with so many the first thing that goes is paperwork. So, Randy is trying to find a balance that will help them with this. They've gotten some computer programs that should really help them out. Melissa and I are planning on going in the afternoons this week or next week to help them get their records in order. Overall it was very difficult to see but I think it's really important to really see first hand how this country is struggling and be able to tell about it to others. I will definitely never forget that first trip to Mawenzi, but am so grateful I got the chance to see it.