Sunday, July 23, 2006

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).

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Incredible man. Thats all I got, I can't even imagine what a total time wharp you are in. But still waaaay awesome.
Take a photo of the vaneep.
keep having fun man, and stay safe.

7/25/2006 02:36:00 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

seems like you're picking up on the language really well.... and from the sound of it, you've been jamming as much shit as possible into a few days.... that's what i like to hear.

show those africans that us amurricans can still play THE BEAUTIFUL GAME with the best of them....


much love,

kevin

7/25/2006 04:01:00 AM

 

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