Aye mambo rafiki. Harbari za mchana? (how are you doing, how is your afternoon....since its afternoon where you all are). Man am I tired after another long day here Tanz.; today we visited a traditional Masai boma and as part of our cultural exchange ended up helping them harvest some kidney beans. But, seeing as how I was cut short yesterday, first I will briefly (we'll see how briefly I guess) talk about yesterday's safari....... and I literally mean safari in the sense that we as 'westerners' understand it. We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to make a day trip out of an excursion through Ngorongoro Crater in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, one of Tanzania's (and Africa's really) most popular and acclaimed natural nature preserves, and one of the best places to see a large amount of animals in a relatively short period of time. The day started out very early as we were huddled into the vaneeps at 6:30 in order to get an early start on the 2 1/2 hour drive to the Crater. To begin with, the drive was absolutely beautiful as we were able to watch the sunrise above the Tanzanian grasslands as we headed north-east, slowly leaving Mt. Meru and Arusha on the western horizon. The Crater itself, like I said, is one of Tanz. hottest tourist spots, but to be quite honest I didn't mind one bit being a typical tourist for a day and was excited about the whole experience-although I have no desire to do so again. Once inside the gate it's about a 45 minute drive into the bottom of the Crater and is only accessible by four wheel drive. It's required that you have a driver accompany you, preferably in a registered safari company car, but being that our drivers from the TCDC (Aziz and Winston) are just that bad ass our vaneeps were cleared to go! (Aziz actually used to drive through the Serengeti as a professional safari driver before he took a job with the TCDC.....more about him later) Like I said yesterday, Zebras, or 'punda melia' (literally means 'striped donkey'.............sidenote: zebras' stripes are a evolutionary defense method as lions, who thoroughly enjoy Zebra meat, are colored blind and only see black and white....which would make it kindof hard to initially pick out a Zebra amongst tall black and white grass), are the sweetest animals I have ever seen. It's as though each Zebra was personally painted by the hand of God (and boy was there a shit-ton of them). We also saw loads of wildebeest, water buffalos (which are ugly as hell, but have sweet ass goatees), jackals (wild dogs essentially), hyenas, warthogs (kick ass), Thompson gazelles, grand gazelles, hard beasts, ostriches, some other crazy birds, and hippos. We also saw a couple of tembos (elephants), a cheetah, and two rhinos from far away (and yes Dad, you were right.......that's all I'll say and I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.....), but the greatest highlight of the day and honestly one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me was our experience with the Simbas. As we were approaching a large cluster of vehicles we, including our driver Aziz, were all confused as to why there was such a large congregation of 'humans' and were a bit apprehensive as to whether or not we should proceed. As we got closer we noticed that one mama lion was resting among some reeds on the side of this hill, but were obviously curious as to why there was so much commotion over just one animal. Aziz decided to pull around to the other side of the cluster and see if we could catch a better look, and to our sheer amazement there must have been at least 4 other mama lions and three little simba cubs walking around in the middle of this vaneep cluster. My first reaction was "holy shit" and my second reaction was "wow they're big." My third reaction was "those cubs are adorable and this is the coolest thing I've ever seen," and was shortly followed by another "holy shit." But it gets better.....so yeah, mama simba had come down from the little hill by now and was just chillin with the rest of her posse amongst the stupid humans and their fancy cars (that fortunately were providing some nice shade for them) and then out of no where comes Cheech and Chong, Mama's fully grown sons who were apparently still along for the ride (we know they were sons because two fully grown males who aren't from the same pride would never be seen together......unless they were ripping eachother's heads off). So yeah, these guys show up and Mama decides to move everyone away (but not after taking a huge piss infront of us all), and as Cheech and Chong are making there way towards Mama and the pride, one of them lays down in front of the car right in front of us while the other one basically cuddles up against the side of our vaneep. There's no way to describe what it was like, but just try to imagine a 350 lbs. lion nestling up against the vaneep that you're in, while his brother is taking a nap 10 ft. away. Absolutely amazing. Anyway, Mama came back (while carrying a cub in her mouth by the scruff of its neck) and apparently got the message across that it was time to leave, and the whole pride just kindof slumped away. Long story short, the Crater was awesome, the animals were all just absolutely beautiful, and it made for a very long but very tremendous day.............. as for today, while I can still say that today was a great day, I can't say that it was not without its moments. Visisting and working with the Masai was such an interesting and unique experience, but to be honest at times I was a little overwhelmed and slightly uncomfortable. The practicing Masai people are a very traditional, very conservative, and very self-sustainable Tanzanian tribe (one of Tanz.'s 125), and if you're looking for a culture shock, you need not look any farther. Just spend 10 min. with the Masai and you'll have all the culture shock you need. Aside from the fact that they still live in 1 room huts made of wood, barley, and cow-dung, aside from the fact that most Masai men have 7-10 wives, and aside from the fact that women are often married off (for the average price of 40 cows) at the age of 12 or 13, the Masai population still speaks their own language separate from Swahili and are in some ways facing the brink of extinction due the rapid spead of HIV/AIDS among them (largely due to the polygamy and promiscuity among the tribes and some of their ancient health care methods). Their boma, or village, was very beautiful though (despite the heavy smell of cow-dung) and their simplistic, systematic, direct, and sustainable lifestyle was intriguing to the least and in many ways admirable. I guess I was most uncomfortable by their approach to us as tourists rather than as friends and visitors with an educational and cooperational intent, their distinction and separation between men and women in general (which was weird being the only white male in a group of 9 young white ladies and two older white women), and honestly was very astonished and very surprised, and not necessarily in a negative way, by the way and condition in which they lived. I think what also added to my overall discomfort was my reaction to the initial discomfort which turned into my discomfort with being uncomfortable in that situation that maybe shouldn't have been uncomfortable for me but obviously was. Yeah, definitely good but definitely unlike anything I have ever experienced before..........that's for damn sure! Nonetheless, being at the boma was a great experience, I felt great about the work we did in their bean field (not that they needed our 'help' in the slightest, it was just fun and stimulating to get my hands dirty and do something I'd never done before), and I think I've learned a bit about myself and what some of my concrete values are, however 'westernized' or 'modernized' they may be, and have certainly learned a lot about a very unique, very interesting African culture. For our final event of the day we stopped by and visited our friends and colleagues who are here from Luther giving seminars and personal instruction in basic computer skills to secondary school teachers in the area. It was great to see some familiar American faces and was especially nice to talk to my good friend "Big John" Miller. As for now it is 11:00 pm (like 2pm your time I think), and seeing as how we have class at 8 tomorrow morning I should probably hit the sack. Asante sana for reading this post and until next time, salama.

Mambo! (you say 'Poa'....it means 'cool'...essentially) Anywho, let me first take the time to thank all who commented on my first post; your words made me laugh and cry all in one breath and I am pleased to hear that you have taken an interest in my blog. I would've thanked you in my last post, but I didn't realize until after I had posted it that I had 7 new comments on my first one (most props goes to kevin for being the first one......i love you like sexy time). Dad, in answer to your question, I decided to use that particular picture for my blog because it happened to be the only decently frequent one of just me on my computer at the time. Pretty sweet if I do say so myself........sidenote: that picture was taken just before Eda shaped my hair into the sweetest Mullet in history. Megan, I'm not exactly sure whether you asked me in your comment or in a personal email, but unfortunately I do not yet have a mailing address as we are only going to be here in Arusha (technically just outside of Arusha) until Sunday. I promise I'll let you know as soon as I am aware, but like I said before, Tanzanian mail is sketchy and I wouldn't suggest sending me anything of value.......and don't send weed, they'll smoke it. Since I never really fully eplained where I am right now and what exactly it is that I'm doing, I will take the time now to hopefully clear some things up.................after landing in Kilimanjaro Intl' Airport last Thursday night, we were met by our program coordinators Terry Ulinhake and Barbara Temple-Thurston (Terry is from Luther and Barbara is from PLU) and the TCDC Coordinator (Training Centre for Developement Coordination in Tanzania), Mzee Steven Ndosi, and were taken to the Centre which was about 30-40 minutes away. Since then we have been staying here at TCDC, where students ranging from age 3 to 76 (by the looks of this one guy) are here in order to study kiswahili and international developement studies. We're (LCCT) here as part of our program orientation. With the help of Mzee Steven (Mr. Steven) we have been exploring Tanzanian history and culture through various classes, discussions, and safaris (journeys) to surrounding areas. We have spent a condsiderable amount of time with local Tanzanians in their homes, churches, schools, and villages, and have had the opportunity to take a closer look at what REAL Tanzanian life is like, both urban and rural. The sad reality about tourism in Africa, and especially Tanzania, is that tourists often don't get a taste of what the average African's life is really like; most really have no idea what it means to be African and are entirely more interested in seeking thrills on Mt. Kilimanjaro, or on one of the very expensive and very touristy safaris......traveling on paved roads from airport to hotel and hotel to attraction. Not to say that it's not exciting and fun in its own right, and not to say that I'm an expert by any means on what it means to be African and what life is like here in Tanzania, it's just that I can't help but feel very fortunate and often times overwhelmed by the unique cultural opportunities I've had thus far. Another depressing concept about African tourism, at least in Tanzania, is that the average Tanzanian does not benefit in the slightest from the country's progressively booming tourist industry. One would imagine that the country's economy would certainly be doing better as a result of a continued increase in a growing tourism industry, but alas it is not the case. One interesting sidenote: most safari company's and all entrance gates into National Parks only accept US Dollars or Euros.......which makes me wonder where all that American money is going........especially since the dollar is worth 1250 shillingi...? but anywho, on to other business. Let's talk about yesterday and today.......whew, what a topic aye? So yeah, yesterday: We started off the day at 8:00 am sharp when we loaded ourselves into the vaneep and headed for Nkoanrua Community Hospital and joint Orphanage. There we were given a tour of the very small, but homely hospital where they had been treating a number of orthopedic surgery patients. A number of orthopedic doctors from Germany have been working at the hospital for the past few weeks in order to provide some orthopedic instruction to the Tanzanian doctors, and treat a large number of patients while they were there. To give you an idea of how packed they were, the hospital only has only 80 beds and it seemed as though they were forced to double up on some of the beds due to the large number of patients. After our tour we headed up the hill to the ajoining orphanage where we were very desperately greeted by 24 smiling little faces. I'm not kidding you when I say that the minute we walked in the door we were stampeeded by these little angels whose arms were emphatically outstretched in hopes of being comforted and loved with new energy and fresh arms. 1000 props to the 3 amazing women working in/running this small orphanage who were noticeably at their wits end, and equal amounts of support to the two American women who were volunteering and will be contining to do so for two weeks. Those 24 small children were so full of life, so full of love, and so eager to receive the same in return, and because of the tireless and persistent efforts of these incredible women, these watoto (children) have at least been given a chance. And while opportunities in this developing country may elude them, everyday is a miracle and everyday is a reward. Most of the childeren had been left at the orphanage by their biological parents shortly after they were born (one child was 1 month old, and was practically the size of my freakin hand), while others belonged to parents who had died of various causes like Malaria and/or HIV/AIDS. One little girl named Mary thoroughly enjoyed the large bouncy ball I gave her, while another young lad named Baraka refused to stop nuzzling my shoulder. I think the most frustrating thing about the whole experience, is that while I was there and I while we were allowed to play with the kids for awhile, I really felt so disconnected. I have so much more respect for individuals who make that sort of work their life, and it's a shame really that most are so poorly compensated. I've become even more disgusted while in Africa with our values system in America, most specifically with the way we compensate our workers who seem to have the biggest impact in our children's lives (ex: teachers, caretakers, job coaches, nannys etc. .....they're paid shit), and the sad reality is that it seems to be a reocurring problem all around the world (in fact, regional politicians are often paid more than doctors in Tanz.). I guess i just felt intirely too priveleged, and slightly helpless. Priveleged in the sense that we had the privelege to leave and the privelege to continue on with our lives while these women and these poor children were absolutely confined in every way to this reality, and quite frankly a fate that had already been decided for them. The toughest part is admitting that there really isn't much that I can do right now. And while there are plenty of little things each one of us can do everyday, I'm so dissatisfied by the reality of my inabilities. My job here is to be a student, to observe, to take as much in as possible, and to hopefully create a lasting empression of Tanz. that will hopefully stick with me for the rest of my life. Yet I wish that I could just throw all this aside and get my hands dirty NOW, and take everything in while being a part of it.........I don't really know where I'm going with this.........just trying to purge my feelings from these experiences via keyboard and bright screen that is making my eyes hurt. Man I wish I could just talk to you all........ but yeah, anyway, after we left the orphanage we went to Nkoanrua Secondary School where Mzee Steven is the Chairman of the School Board......or something....... It was definitely very interesting to sit down with the teachers and administrators and talk about the similarities and differences in education between Tanz. and America. For example, Tanzanians take 7 years of primary school, 4 years of secondary school, two years of A Level Training (what they call high school), and then, if they're lucky, go onto a University or College for four years. Students start taking English lessons in primary school, but are not heavily toutored until Secondary where English classes are required and English is actually spoken very well by many of the students. One unfortunate thing about the Tanzanian education system, is that on top of the reality that not all children in Tanz. are originally given the opportunity to go to school, the vast vast majority never make it past secondary, if not primary for some. Students after certain levels of their education are required to take Gov't administered complaceny tests (that no one has any idea of what's on them) that decide whether a certain student will be allowed to continue on with their education due to the lack of funds, teachers, and facilities. It's something like 60% of the students at each testing level arn't allowed to go on, making the final number of students who are allowed and can afford to go to college very small......just something to think about i guess. It's very interesting because the students here obviously value their education more than we do in America, and I feel like it creates for a fairly competitive environment for the students, which is arguably good or bad. Anywho, after talking with the teachers we were escorted into some of the classrooms and were allowed to talk with and ask questions of the students, who were in turn allowed and encouraged to ask questions of us. Man were some of there questions intense. All the students seemed very in tune to the domestic and international affairs of their country, which prompted questions about foreign policy, health care (in response to our approach to HIV/AIDS as compared with theirs), crime, and education in America. They were also quite interested in our dumb-ass of a President and were eager to understand why we as Americans had allowed him to continue to make so many horrible dicissions.........a very good question I might add. Basically, they were all mostly questions that I was unprepared to answer, unable to answer, and consequently ashamed at my inability to talk in-debth about........as I'm sure most Americans would have been. I don't think it's that I am unfamiliar with the policies and happinings of my our gov't, I think it has to do more with our common complancancy as Americans to really want to do anything. Life for the majority of us has little to do with what Bush and his cronies work out in Washington, and while we would like to think that we have an effect on our "Democracy", sometimes I wonder if we do at all (bear with me, I'm just thinking out loud here). In Tanz., everything affects everything and everybody affects everybody, in one way or another. Citizens, and especially students, are interested and involved in what goes 0n in their country because they have to be. Their livelyhood depends on it and without their input their voices might go unheard. I guess what I'm trying to say, and believe me I am guilty too, is that we are not as involved, not as informed, not as concerned, and not as troubled because at the end of the day little or nothing has changed for us. We still have our big house, our nice car, our 4 TVs, and the security and comfort of our family and friends, without having to worry that anything serious is going to change.........not to mention we've never had to worry about whether or not we would get an education. And don't get me wrong, I realise that there are many people within the United States who don't have these luxuries and who do have to worry about their access to education (which is also part of the problem), I'm just pointing out the vast majority. But yeah, on with my day (man this post is freakin long...) So yeah, next we actually went to a funeral. Not something that was planned obviously, but the interesting thing about Tanzania is that when someone dies, anyone and everyone who even remotely knows the family or at least knows of the family or knows someone who does is in many ways obligated to come. It was one of the most beautiful things that I've ever seen and I'm not exaggerating when I say that there must have been over 600 people at this young man's funeral (he was 20 and had died from complications resulting from throat cancer). The service was done in a small catholic church above the Secondary School, and the entire lot and surrounding mountainside was practically full of people in greiving. After the service everyone was entreated to walk by the open casket (which took a long time if you can imagine) and were then ushured outside where the entire burial congregation made its way up the side of the mountain to the family burial plot while the church choir sang the boy's favorite song. Absolutely amazing and forgive me in saying that I really can't quite find the words to describe it. After the boy was properly buried the church bells continued to ring until 12am last night, so that everyone would know that one of their brothers had died..... On a lighter note, after the funeral I had the chance to talk to some of the older secondary school boys about the differences/similarities in our cultures, and was particularly intrigued by the concept of dating.......which Tanzanians don't do apparently. They were rather shocked that American men didn't pay dowries for their brides to be, and we similarly intrigued by the concept of "buying a girl flowers and taking her out to diner." All four of them (Ridhione, LeMac, Eddie John, and Godi) were very very empressed by all the "lovely 'merican girls" that I had "brought" with me. After some innocent laughing and teasing I taught the boys how to properly compliment and "swoon" an American girl as they were all very interested in getting the LCCT girls' email addresses. Unfortunately, Kristin (from Concordia) turned them down, but one of them had some better luck with Leah (from Luther....who ironically is a lesbian). Haha, good times..... Well, as this is a tremendously long-ass post, I am going to end it here. I know I had promised to tell about my adventures today, but unfortunately it is getting late and I have to get up early again tomorrow morning. I will say one thing though.......Zebras are the coolest fucking animals I have ever seen. Sidenote: I apologize for note informing you about my Shutterfly account. It exists and I do have many great pictures already, but the computers are very slow and are usually in use and I'm having some trouble finding the time to upload them. Pole Sana. Lala Salama (good night sorta, like sleep with peace or something.......whatever).

Wow. There's so much that I've experienced in these past few days, and so much going on in my head right now that I honestly have no idea where to start. I apologize if this post seems in any way confusing or vague, but bear with me as this is the first chance I've had to sit down and organize my thoughts. I meant to make more time for this so as to give you all an adequate idea of what's going on, but I'm afraid I slightly underestimated how often I'll need to update my blog. Pole sana (very sorry). So yeah, here it goes... It definitely took a while to actually sink in. I felt it a little when I said goodbye to B-Lou and my mom, but was too resilient at the time to leave much room for emotion. I thought it'd sink in while flying over the Atlantic ocean, but due to the fact that it got very dark very quickly (mainly because we were flying against the rotation of the earth and away from the sun) there wasn't much worth seeing. It was definitely weird when I was served dinner on the plane, and then served breakfast 4 hours later (while on the same plane), but still it hadn't hit me. Amsterdam Intl' wasn't that cool and while flying over the freakin Sahara Desert when all I could see forever was sand was mindboggling to say the least, it wasn't until Friday morning that it really hit me . . . Africa is going to be my home for the next five months. And to be frank, it's everything I hoped it would be X10 yet nearly impossible to have predicted (and equally as hard to describe). I really believe there's no way to prepare for something like this, because no matter how much you think you know you really have no idea. Slightly frustrating yes, but absolutely invigorating too. It's true that Tanzania is poor, it's true that language immersion without shit for foundation is scary as hell and equally as hard, and it's true that my colleagues and I are awkward Wamzungu (white people...singular mzungu) in a sea of monkeys (which are everywhere by the way.......don't touch though, slightly mean and possibly diseased) and blackness. But what I couldn't have known and what I'm struggling with now to explain, is the feeling you get when confronted by twenty watoto (children) in the street who would love nothing better than to sell you a plastic bag for 500 shillings so they can have a decent meal that evening. Or the warmth, appreciation, embarrassment, and shame you feel all at the same time when invited into a one room house (where the kitchen and bathroom are outside) with the utmost grace and hospitality, while spoken to in English and offered a plethora of chakula (food) and kahawa (coffee...or chai(tea)) that should have been saved for that evening's supper? And not to mention the sheer awe one experiences when gazing in admiration at Mt. Meru, proudly standing on the adjacent horizon at 16,000+ ft, playing futbol (man's international language) with a bunch of local boys on the fenced in basketball court, or being led through a banana and coffee farm only approachable by foot or bumpy/scary-ass 4 wheeling tantrics in a vaneep (mix between a jeep and a van.....don't really know how else to explain it) full of 13 people? Part of it is not knowing where to begin, but mostly it's because I can't seem to find the right words to describe it (which seems to be a similar problem in my continuously frustrating bout with kiswahili.......a very kick-ass, very beautiful, but very crazy language). For now, I'll end this post; simply because I'm very tired after a very full day of church (with an AMAZING choir by the way), family visits, swahili lessons, frisbee lessons (that I gave to some little kids at the church and Aziz, our driver for these past couple days......more about him later), and futbol with the locals, and I'm ready for bed. I'll do my best to write again tomorrow, and am going to try and make a list of some of the more amazing things I've experienced before hand in an attempt to relay some interesting stuff your way. Poa? (cool?) Tuto a nana na kwaheri (until we meet again and goodbye..... i think). Salama (peace).

Good evening and welcome to blogspot. As this is the first of what I hope will be many boozer-blog-posts, let me start by taking the time to thank you for your interest in my life. I am extremely thankful for the many amazing opportunities I have had over the years and am similarly thankful for the countless individuals who have touched and changed my life. Let it be known that if you are reading this message I appreciate you, I miss you, and I love you (some more than others...). And while I may not care about or love you that much, rest assured you can be certain that someone cares about you. And hell, I'm halfway around the world so that's gotta count for something, right!? But anywho, let me get back to the point... Point is folks, you matter. And whether or not you matter to anyone else you matter to me, and since you're reading my blog I'm pretty much the only thing that matters right now anway. So, let's cut to the chase... As the next 5 months unfold I'm undoubtedly going to be experiencing some pretty heavy shit (sorry all, you'd better get used to the profanity now). The point of this trip in many ways, at least in my own mind, is to experience life on the opposite end of the spectrum in hopes of gaining a hopefully valuable insight into the diversities of mankind, and to also emmerse myself in a beautiful new culture thousands of miles away from the comfortable confines of my very priveledged, very American, and very white life at home.........and at the same time have a ton of fun! In doing so, however, I'd like nothing more than to give you an insight into my experiences and my life while abroad, and so I invite you to follow along with me on my journeys.......sortof. As best as I can I will attempt to relive the smells, the tastes, the sights, and the sounds of Eastern Tanzania in a way that all of you back home can appreciate and comprehend (truly letting the locals have it....uh girl!). I apologize ahead of time if my posts tend to be somewhat sporatic and/or non-existent, but let me just say that for those of you who know me well, simply setting up this site is an achievement in itself for me, so it's nothing personal. Let me also reiterate that while I may be ignoring you from 12,000 miles away, my love and appreciation for you all has yet to diminish, as is highly unlikely that it ever will. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to having a completely positive blog experience, and hope that you'll appreciate what's to come. In closing, I want to thank you again for your interest and support. I'm sure these are going to be the craziest, most-radical, and, often times, hardest months of my life, but I want you to know that I consider myself truly blessed to have you in my corner. Essentially, this blog is for you (some gift huh?), so may you have as much fun reading these ensuing words as I will have in living them. In Peace and Love, Zach D. Booz"er"