Man this country can be EXHAUSTING at times. The University is an absolute nut-house right now, I have absolutely no idea what courses I'm going to take (and technically the semester has already started....although not really...), and it's taken me since last Wednesday when I got back to Dar to find the time to update this here blog...........I actually wanted to do it last Friday but was abruptly denied when the power went out.......AGAIN (that along with the water being randomly shut off is a regularly occuring thing here), and this time taking with it half of an already long email to Megan and part of a post. Shitty. Today was a weird day; after getting back my less than desirable test grade in Kiswahili, waiting in line for an hour and a half at the ATM, enjoying some quality diarhea after lunch, getting my water bottle stolen by some primary school kids I was playing soccer with, finding out my residency permit didn't clear and needs to be resubmitted, and being told that I was going to need to move out of my room that I have been comfortably settling into for the past 3 1/2 weeks into one without working outlets, the water shut-off in the middle of my attempts at handwashing my laundry that I had still not started since coming back from vacation last Wednesday.......needless to say most of my clothes are still sitting in buckets of soapy water just chillin until I can rinse them out. So yeah, you could say I'm a little frustrated, and I think it's a combination of two things. First being my initial frustration with the way things tend to work around here. As an American I've developed and grown used to a certain standard of living (that is not neccesarily better or worse than the way things work here, just different) that has allowed me to enjoy the finer luxuries of fast and reliable internet, hot water, working toilets with seats, and internet based registration for all of my life........among other things......all things in reality that I have signifficantly taken for granted until now. Secondly, I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with these initial frustrations and my current inability to adapt to these minor misfortunes; I wish I could just roll with the punches and laugh like I usually do, but for some reason it's all starting to get to me now that I've been here for just over a month. I'm not quite sure if you could call it homesickness either; in fact I think a better way to describe it might be to call it a familiarity sickness. I think what I'm starting to miss most about "home", more so than the physical place in general, is all the wonderful people and familiarity associated with home. Tanzania is an AMAZING place, one that has already offered tons of exciting insights, experiences, and and challenges, but what Tanzania lacks, and what I'm discovering was much more important to me than I originally could have imagined, is the comfort and familiarity of home and all of YOU reading this blog who matter the most and count for a big part of what home really means to me. Tanzania is SO different, and while that can be absolutely invigorating at times it can also become exhausting. Craming the highest of highs and the lowest of lows into one day can be, although exciting, somewhat overwhelming to say the least. Furthermore, life for the average Tanzanian in general is definitely very different than what we as priveledged Americans experience on a daily basis, and consequently, life for the average American is, by comparison, entirely too easy. I think you could say that I'm learning that the hard way here in Tanzania, and while I'm still very excited about this experience and can't begin to describe to you how valuable and enlightening this all is, I'm struggling. Struggling to pinpoint exactly what it is about this country and my attitude right now that bothers me the most, while continually striving to find a middle ground, enjoy these experiences for what they are, and understand a little bit more about not only myself, but this unique and special developing city and nation as a whole. Don't get me wrong though, I wouldn't trade these frustrations for the world and consider myself insanely lucky to have experienced so many incredible things (good and bad) in my short time here thus far...........I just kinda feel like a warm shower and a cheese burger right now. And I'd like to think that it's normal and even okay for me to be feeling these things, it's just a little bit out of the ordinary for me and is something that, more than anything, I'm not tremendously excited or proud about admitting. But hakuna matata; I'm sure this funk will pass and it's always more fun to focus on the brighter side of Tanzanian life........like vacations in the mountains and on the beach! To sum up the end of my vacation time in Lushoto, I think it'd be best to describe it as being one of the best trips of my life and one that was filled with some of the most memorable and incredible experiences a guy could ask for. I originally thought it would be impossible to top our experiences in Tanga and Pangani, but to my surprise and extremely good fortune, hiking in the Usumbaras was absolutely breathtaking to say the least (and in more ways than one). On Saturday (the 19th) we, along with our crazy but fun guide Omari, hiked up to the world famous Irente View Point. A fairly simple hike scattered with the occasional village, chamelion, and/or banana tree that leads you to a spectacular outcropped view of practically all of western Tanz. with what was probably a 1000+ ft. drop off..........pretty stellar. The 2 hour trek back to Lushoto took us through a local dairy farm (complete with gourmet cheeze, rye bread, veggies, mango, passion fruit nectar-juice, and peach jam for lunch), one of Tanz.'s three special Primary Schools for the blind, marijuana plants, Rainbow Connections Primary School for the Mentally Challenged (and yes, Kermit was there playing his banjo for the kids), and a shortcut through the District Comissioners mansion. Hard to top even that, I know, but believe me.........we did it. After getting up on Sunday morning and perusing the hectically buzzing Lushoto market, we took off (again with guide Omari) North fora 2 day hike that would eventually bring us to Mtai, an even smaller Usumbara Mountain-town at the very northern edge of this spectacular mountain range. There's no way to adequately describe via blog what we experienced over the course of these two very tiring, yet very amazing days, but I'll do my best to hit on the good parts. For starters, what I thought was one of the coolest parts about this unique trip was all of the regions we eventually passed through in order to make it all the way to Mtai (a total one way hike of approximately 40 km........2.2 km is 1 mile, fyi...). We started out in lushly rugged Lushoto, passed through a freakin rain forrest (like, Tarzan meets Jane having crazy jungle monkey sex, rain forrest), skirted over the top of Tanzania's fourth largest peak, baked in the almost desert-dry conditions near the village of Sungara (where, to our surprise, Omari was born.......he cooked lunch for us at his aunt's house and we got to hang out with all his little cousins and their village friends.....sweet!), found our way into the middle of a HUGE pine tree farm dotted with euclyptus (which in some parts looked freakishly like Colorado.....minus the euclyptus), and ended up in the quiet little village of Mtai overlooking the Masai Step where we watched the most amazing sun-set I've ever seen. All in all two of the most incredible days of my life. And the stars in Mtai......AMAIZING! I've never seen that many stars, not even in Colorado. It honestly felt like I was inside a planatarium. But yeah, we left Mtai at 4am and took a bus all the way back to Lushoto, then got on another bus headed for Dar (which took 7 hours but felt like 14) and have been here since, continuously enjoying the finer sides of Tanzanian life. Sidenote: some dudes next to me are looking at porn........kinda weird. Not use to seeing that in a public setting, but whatever works I guess. Oh wait, I forgot to mention. I went to this swanky little beach resort this past weekend called Kipepeo (which means butterfly in Kiswahili). Kinda touristy and a little overloaded with the pasty-white wazungu traffic, but a nice place nontheless offering insanely cheep beach bandas for an excellent over-night stay at a beach that honestly looks like it's straight out of a Corona commercial. Good stuff. One thing to be happy about for sure, I think I could definitely get used to beach life.........although sandy butt cracks tend to get annoying. But alas, it's nearing bed time (kinda lame that I go to bed around 9:30-10 here.......then again, I wake up every morning at 6:45 when the Mosque next door begins it's morning prayers) and I'm guessing you've all had enough of this sporatically subjected blog. Toodles for now.......keep sending the great comments, it always makes my day. Much love to all...