"This water is so SALTY. and it smells like artichokes!"

So i've been living at the provincial house, getting really good at operating all our oddly finicky remote controls, baking fancy breads, prepping my new site. I was really nervous about moving out of my old site, but it turned out to be ok. The clinic was supposed to schedule a meeting, but they didn't. Instead we showed up during ante-natal day and had the meeting with all the pregnant women in my catchment area, the midwives, and the few lazy men hanging around. (if you ever want to disseminate information in african villages, the speediest and most reliable way is through the women.) We told them why i was moving and all the women agreed with the choice and simply could not believe that this was happening to me. They were hopeful that maybe now the community would mobilize to put an end to the theft problem. I wish them the best of luck with that. Then it was like christmas when i was clearing out all my belonging and i left tons of containers, bottles, cosmos (that should be a bit of a shock to the system), and boxes. Then everyone went inside my empty house because they had never been allowed inside, although how they expected it to be different from every other falling-down mud house in the region is beyond me.

The next day we went to my new village to see the progress on my house and to have a community meeting. The house was done. The latrine was done. Everything, done. We couldn't believe it; that kind of speed and enthusiasm in preparing for a volunteer is almost unheard of.
The set-up of my new house will be really different, but the location is nice, and the community seems really ready, so I'm looking forward to that. I'll also have cell phone reception, which is amazing.

Then I went to Zanzibar for the Sauti za Busara Music Festival! We took a bus (my first time taking a bus, in my whole year in country) to a place called Kapiri (basically a nothing of a town, a transit intersection). The train station was proper with stairs and a huge ceiling and everything. We got our tickets, made it onto our first class car (4 bunks, sheets, blankets, 1 roll of complimentary toilet paper) armed with 8 liters of water, 200 cookies and some bread and cheese. Our friends joined us along the route. 48 hours later we arrived at Dar es Salaam after passing through cold weather, hot weather, a game park and pretty pretty greenness everywhere. Dar was kind of a mess, with no one quite sure how we were going to arrive in Zanzibar. A bunch of people chartered a plane (it sounds pretty fancy. i'm sure it wasn't.). We stayed at a hotel that we were driven to by a taxi driver. It was very nice, but the neighborhood was not and we weren't allowed to leave for dinner. Nevertheless, it had air conditioning so we were content.

The next morning we walked to a ferry asking directions along the way ("I recommend you only ask directions from students and old people." - man on street). We took the fast ferry - 1.5 hours - to Stonetown. It's gorgeous! Tons of old, kind of falling down, cement structures with tiny, winding streets and clotheslines hanging everywhere. It's right on the bay and there's a fabulous blend of arab and african architecture. We showed up at our hotel (where reservations had been checked multiple times) and were informed in a very condescending way that we didn't have a room. After much "Don't worry, sweetie"s we were led to a vehicle that was going to take us to a different hotel of same price and quality. HA! we drove around for 2 hours trying to find a vacancy and wound up all sharing 1 bed on a discount provided by a very kind man way out of town. needless to say, I was pissed. but i got over it, we went to the music fest, ate seafood, and danced. It was lovely. Then the next day we were able to move to a place in town, we walked around the fish, spice and fruit market, which was fantastic and then music fested again. We even had mojitos and margaritas that night (that's a pretty major achievement).
Sunday had us on a tour of a Spice plantation where we tasted lots of exotic fruits and spices, learned about their production and had a fun time. I ate a pepper tree and it was awesome. After that we saw a cave that was used to hide slaves after slavery had been made illegal on the island. and we went to the beach. and then we music fested again. There were all kinds of music from jazz to hip hop, bellydance and crazy rhythmic sufis spinning. It was good fun.

The next day we bummed around stonetown and shopped. There are tons of scarves and fruits and painting, and bad african crap. I got a bunch of henna (i am completely obsessed). i also observed the local fashions and daily routines. Women there are frequently covered from head to toe in loose conservative scarves. But this isn't Saudi Arabia people, the scarves are frequently leopard print and covered in sequins. It's an awesome mix of flashy and conservative. We ate dinner at a "traditional" swahili restaurant and had wonderful vegetables, coconut sauces and fish while sitting on cushions. So much of the food is covered in great spices and flavors like cumin, tamarind, coconut, masalas, etc. Then we smoked some hookah and played travel scrabble at a really fancy hotel balcony.

After that we headed up north to the beach. The water was so turquoise and wonderful and warm. There are signs saying "please respect the local culture" and you are supposed to cover up if and when you go into the village. But on the oasis of the beach you can just walk around in a bikini to your heart's content. So needless to say, i never went into the village and let my thighs and tummy see some sun (and proceed to get burnt). Our friends were also at the beach so we hung out with them, and then that night there was a big beach party to celebrate the end of the festival on a nearby beach, but i didn't go due to my prolonged medical issues, so I was a bum and had fish curry with another party-pooper i know.

There are lots of guys who just hang around on the beach trying to convince you to scuba dive and walking on their hands showing off. It's a very strange environment, but we just embraced it. and i drank smoothies - amazing. After 2 nights at the beach it was time to head back to stonetown and await our overnight ferry. The ferry was disgusting and hot and crowded and uncomfortable. It only actually takes 4 hours to get to Dar, but due to curfews you have to get on at 8, sit at the dock until 2 and then depart for Dar. We all survived, just barely and totally sleep deprived and crabby and proceeded to the train station. Then we waited at the train station for about 7 hours in the first class lounge (which was really the white kid lounge for the first 5 or so hours, until the rich locals showed up and were appalled at american loudness and unconcern for the space and comfort of others). Then we got on the train again, there was some confusion as to who was meant to be sitting where, and then we were off again (2nd class this time and devoid of a few of the luxuries of our first trip). When we went through the game park this time it was approaching dusk and we were able to see tons of giraffes, kudu, impala, wildebeest, zebras and elephants. And the kids on the other side of the train from me were lucky enough to see 3 lions chase down a wildebeest. Apparently it was amazing. That night the emergency brake was pulled and we were stopped for hours. We later learned it was because the engine had detached from the train and kept going and then we had to wait for it to back up and reconnect with us. Then later there were more stops for other brake and assorted issues. Needless to say we were 10 hours behind schedule. But I made it back to Lusaka and I am just waiting around with the medical staff trying to improve myself before i move to the new village.

Other notes: 1.) apparently to most africans I strongly resemble Mariah Carey. While studying abroad I was told by many people in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia that I looked like her. It's happened once or twice here in Zambia and then in Zanzibar it happened a lot - to the extent that one woman thought i WAS her and was afraid to ask me about it. then on the train, the immigration man for Tanzania, after harassing me in my sleepy state, said "you look a lot like Mariah Carey." My response: "I know." and I proceeded to pass out. 2.) it's pretty obvious that most of the people travelling in zanzibar aren't american. They are really tan and chic and quiet. We were considerably fatter, tattier and louder. 3.) People were considerably less pushy and annoying. It was hard for a lot of us to lose the bitchy edge we have gained here in Zambia.


no book list; i forgot my journal.

Movement

I spent xmas in malawi. it was beautiful. It seemed a lot more developed. It's definately a lot more crowded than here. The fields are much smaller, there arent as many farm animals, and they plant different things. They farm a lot of tobacco and cassava. The people have crazier names- we met Dude, Christmas, Happy Coconut, Special, etc. We spent the first half of that vacation at the northern part of the lake. It was so beautiful with all the hills, rice paddies, banana trees on the edges of cliffs. We went mango fishing from our floaties. The food was wonderful, the avocados were cheap, but we couldn't ever buy fish to eat! We would just look at the waiters and say "really?! But there's a fish market right outside the door!" So after a few days in the north we went to the south. We had awful transport and when we got there we just ended up really missing the north, but then we got used to it and enjoyed ourselves. I think one of the major things we noticed in the north was that the villages and the hostels were more integrated. It was a lot more socially and environmentally conscious, with compost toilets, local people employed for all the domestic tasks. In the South the villages and the hostels seemed really separate and there were a lot more children saying "hello, give me money." So that was a bit annoying. But we got to eat fish - and it was so good! And we kayaked to a deserted beach, watched some monkeys, went skinny dipping, had a xmas day hostel bar crawl. We watched santa come deliver gifts from a boat to wealthy french children at stop number 1. We got squirted with a water gun. Overall, great trip.

So then i came back to my village for new years eve (poor planning on my part), and found more things stolen. My neighbors told me it was a rat - a really strong, determined, genetically mutated rat. Basically I am done. Way too stressed out over it, sick of it, unable to work, gotta get out. So, that's what's going on with me. Gonna take a break while a new house and new village are found for me. It's gonna be awhile. And it's gonna be an adventure.

Books (not many since i've been out of the village): Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen; The Tattoo Artist - Jill Ciment; The Golden Gate - Vikram Seth (it's all in prose!); In Beautiful Disguises - Rajeev Balasubramanyam; Blue Water - A. Manette Ansay; The Reading Group - Elizabeth Noble