Arrival and first impressions of Tanzania

So - this post is actually a month old, but since this is my blog about living in Tanzania, I wanted it to start at the beginning

Getting there
I left Saskatoon at 11:40 am on February 12 and arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport on February 13 at almost 9pm local time, crossing 8 time zones in the process. I used the 26 hour transit time for really important activities such as watching all the Oscar-nominated movies and entertaining TV I could find. I was somewhat thwarted twice however. On the Saskatoon-Toronto leg, I watched Volver and was denied the last 20 minutes because we were about to land – those 20 minutes contain the whole explanation of the movie….arrrgghhh! A similar, but less agonizing thing happened on the way to Amsterdam on an episode of The Office.

That transatlantic flight was fantastic. KLM is very nice. Each seat had its own screen and remote control. They handed out hot towels and good food all the time.

I cut it pretty close making my connection in Toronto – mostly because I ended up having to pay excess baggage for my books, which incidentally disappeared and my box that Air Canada insisted was sturdy enough was destroyed. I’m trying to get a settlement, so I’ll let you how that works out. I’m crossing my fingers.

When I arrived at the gate in Toronto to board for Amsterdam, I frantically scanned the crowd for the other cooperant, MK who I met in Ottawa last October. I didn’t see her and when I boarded, I asked if she had made the connection. They told me that she wasn’t even booked on the flight. With a heavy heart I got on the plane thinking that I would be going to Africa by myself after all.

But I had a great surprise to find her on the plane (yay!). Apparently they spelled her name wrong when the ticket was booked (one of a travel agent’s worst sins). But she was there and so I’ve had company the whole time.

We had some fun in Amsterdam eating cheese and chocolate and relaxing in some super comfy leather lounges. CUSO has us sharing a house…

House
Our house is big. We have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (although the second one is in a bedroom). I opted for the room with no bathroom and overall, I think I have the better choice – no stink to hang around in my room (eewww!)

It’s concrete and the bedroom floors are not painted so that is kind of ugly, but the rest of it is really nice. We have a HUGE window in the living room and I like to open the windows in the morning and enjoy the cool air.

The house is inside a mini-compound with a few other houses and a security guard (two at night, and a big dog). I’m not sure if the owner owns all the houses or just ours. Ours has an upstairs, where we’ve been told some lady lives, but I haven’t met her yet. We have the ground floor.

The last 2 days have been spent getting over the foggy head of jet lag and arranging the house. At this moment we are still short a broom and a mop bucket, but that is to be remedied today and the cleaning will commence shortly.

It’s not really filthy, but I’m taking no chances and scrubbing everything with bleach before I allow any food in. Turns out MK is also a clean freak and is a fellow How Clean is Your House fan. Yay! I think we’ll get along fine.

Arusha
The Lonely Planet guide book calls Arusha “one of Tanzania’s most developed and fastest-growing towns.” I knew before arriving that Arusha is the hub of most safari tourism given its proximity to so many national parks, so I think I had an idea of what it would look like. I assumed lots of groomed streets and colonial-like architecture.

That’s not exactly what it looks like.

While the town is not the ugliest place I’ve ever been to, I think it will take some time for me to find the beautiful spots. I want to do lots of exploring and getting to know the city. Many of the buildings are Arabic style architecture, but with lots of the throw-together-whatever-works-and-call-it-a-building kind of structures too. I think because the tourism draw is for the areas outside of town, not the town itself, Arusha is a commercial center, with the resulting utilitarian effect on its appearance.

Getting around
I need to learn and speak more Kiswahili!! This is the first time I’ve traveled and not been able to speak even a little of the language or been able to make myself understood. It is a definite drag.

Last night MK and I went to a Chinese restaurant (not bad!) and we asked our security guard if he would walk us to the road to get a taxi. Really, I should say we made a lot of gestures and had confusing, mostly useless conversation. I do know my numbers, so I was able to confirm the price of the taxi and it all went pretty ok, but what a hassle!

I’m reviewing my Swahili notes from December, but my dictionary was in the box of lost books, so I’m out of luck for now. My notes have all the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom words, so as soon as it’s all clean, I’m going to stick signs in Swahili on everything.

Coming up
I will meet with my organization, the Arusha Archdiocesan Integrated Development and Relief Office (AAIDRO) on Monday and I assume I will get going from there.

The jet lag is wearing off and that is a good thing. I slept much better last night, but still woke up again at 5am this morning (9pm Saskatoon time). I love the mosquito net, but it always makes me think what it’s keeping out and then I get the creepy crawlies. I’ll get over it, I’m sure.

Ciao for now