Thanksgiving 2006...quite possibly the worst and most depressing holiday of my life. I promise I'll get over it shortly and will stop feeling sorry for myself, but for the moment I'll just let the depression sink in while my mind drifts towards thoughts of jello, mashed potatoes, orange rolls, and turkey sandwiches. In reality though, Thanksgiving (and any culturally unique holiday for that matter...only obviously including other things) doesn't really exist without family, football, turkey, and Katie Couric, so it's not so much that my Thanksgiving was shitty as much as it's that Thanksgiving for me didn't exist this year. Which I guess means I'd better do everything I can to make up for it next year, and in the mean time should do my best to not dwell on it's current absence from my life. I suppose I never really understood how wonderful Thanksgiving was and how much it personally meant to me until I realized how much my current Thanksgiving void blows. But I suppose there are worse things; thank goodness I'll be home for Christmas. Missing X-Mas would be more heartache than I'd be able/willing to handle right now...mainly because of the presents...only kidding, it's definitely because of Jesus. But anywho, Happy Thanksgiving everyone (lucky bastards); tis the season for stuffing your face, emptying your pockets, and most importantly, loving the shit out of your family (even if they're 12,000 miles away), so enjoy it while it lasts and may someone bless you. In other news, it's hotter than a George Foreman grill right now, t-minus 18 days and my body will go through the biggest and most ridiculous temperature change of my life, and if I sound like I'm at all pissed or annoyed it's because of everything I have to get done for this ridiculous University in less than 3 weeks (and mostly by Monday)...and who would have thought that attempting to buy X-Mas presents in Africa could be so damn confusing and stressful...it's admittedly kind of fun though and rather amusing too, I just hope it all gets done. Oh and with any luck (and with Megan's aid) we now have paragraph breaks, which in itself is another reason to celebrate...woohoo, go eat some more turkey...and I'll eat some rice... Hmm...what to say about my fast approaching departure...? Yep, still confused, missing the shit out of home, not sure if I'm ready to leave, kinda wish I had more time to get everything done, yet know that I'd probably shoot someone if it came to that. More on that later... Highlights of the last two weeks: 1. FIFA friendly between World Cup qualifier, Angola, and our very own Taifa Stars. The game was admittedly not as crazy as my first Taifa Stars experience (as that match was opening round of African Cup qualification and understandably more important/nuts), but breathtakingly sweet-ass nonetheless. In truth we should all just be glad that it happened. Tanzania's first attempt at getting the Angolans to show was a complete failure-something about missing a plane that never existed in the first place. All was reconciled, however, and in just four days after the originally scheduled date the two teams played what was possibly the Stars last game in the National Stadium (before they move to their new stadium being built by the Chinese that'll supposedly be done by January). The game was sweet, the first half was action packed and really exciting to watch (especially when TZ scored), but the second half trailed and at some point lost it's luster...probably when Maximo took his starting keeper out and the Angolans scored...game eventually ends in a draw. All in all, quite a peachy experience. 2. International dinner at our safari man's house: As a thank you to our safari guides for an amazing safari experience AND for inviting us over to Fikiri's the week before for some killer ugali na mbogaboga, we (meaning Karanga, Suzanne, Nina, Laura and I) decided to combine our various international meal-making resources and influence in hopes of whipping up a spectacular chakula cha jioni (dinner) for the guys. Being that we had no access whatsoever to cooking materials and equipment, we were allowed to use Gabriel's kitchen (he's the owner of the company and the one who Suzanne is sleeping with) under the condition that we rocked his world with our excellent international cuisine. In the end (and after nearly 4 hours of cooking...dinner was served at like 11:20pm...and spending entirely too much money on way more food than we needed...whatevs though), we treated them to generous helpings of Suzanne's authentically German potato salad, a sampling of Laura's meaty (and really salty...though excellent) Finnish meatballs, various portions of me and Karanga's vegan-chocolate-banana pancakes (Karanga's vegan, I can't cook anything except for steaks, burgers, ceaser salads, and macaroni n' cheese...and maybe spaghetti, but I haven't really tried...but whatever we both love pancakes...they're American, right?), and Nina's ridiculously delicious vegetable curry (although it's not Austrian at all...but I must say that the girl is talented...pole sana for screwing up your rice though Nina. Hopefully I'll master it someday...), and topped it all off with some fresh fruits and veggies (we diced up the largest and tastiest pineapple I've ever had/seen in my life). All in all an excellent night of fun-filled cooking with friends in a kitchen that was way too small and entirely too Tanzanian for what we were doing, but hakuna matata. Also, Gabriel's little brother, Brian, is a freakin genius who's entirely too cute for his own good, loves to dance to reggae music, and is going to be fat now that I've introduced him to pancakes. 3. A rememorable and interesting night to say the least (although genuinely unique and slightly weird), of watching the Michigan vs. Ohio State football game via satellite with the US Marines at their barracks/private frat-house/American college kid paradise at the US Embassy...stories to follow...I don't really wanna talk about it. 4. University Life:....no wait, University life sucks. Although I do look forward to frisbee-Wednesdays, volleyball, and Admin Lunch Thursdays. 5. If there's one thing I'll miss the most next semester, it'll definitely be teaching at Mlimani. Those kids freakin rock and I like teaching (allow I really can't say I've experienced the down sides and tough aspects of it, I've just been lucky enough to show up two times a week, entertain the kids for awhile, grade a few papers, and then leave) so much more than I thought I would...and to be honest I'm kinda good at it too. More later... Um...not really sure where I'm going with this right now, and considering that I have dance class in less than 15 min. I'd better consider wrapping it (whatever "it" is) up. I'd say you could look forward to some further elaboration about my life, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with promising things I can't fulfill. To be honest, I have no idea when I'll find the motivation, time, or even a reason to ramble some more. For now though, be comforted by the fact that I'll be seeing most of you real soon...and if not, go draw a picture and dedicate it to me. I'm not sure what that means. End random post now. Peace-boozie Okay...now.

5 weeks from yesterday and I’ll be freezing my ass off in Iowa while enjoying the unquestionably warm and hopefully unbridled reception (in whatever ways necessary to capture the true spirit of Luther love…specifically meaning copious amounts of American food and naked time…to be rivaled only by the similar experiences which will follow in Colorado in a couple days) from friends and lovers alike. And while I’m definitely looking forward with great anticipation to these future moments of ecstasy, comfort, and long awaited belonging it’s been somewhat difficult lately to figure out if I’m really ready to leave (despite being uncontrollably eager to see all of you and bequeath unto you my verbal diarrhea of cultural insight and ideological reflection…and rather anxious to finish all of my pesky school/project shit), and furthermore identify some of the more perplexing emotions I’m feeling right now about my study abroad experience as a whole. There are some days that I find myself wishing it were all over NOW and that at the snap of a finger I’d find myself back in the States. Only sometimes I’m convinced that what my mind may think it wants now isn’t right for what I actually need…and subconsciously want despite the inconvenience associated with being so far away from friends and loved ones in the first place. And when it’s all over in 5 weeks time and I’m sitting in Megan’s room at Luther, where will my thoughts take me then?, and will what I’m nearly convinced I want more than anything in the world right now be enough when it actually comes to be? There are so many questions that will undoubtedly have to linger unanswered for awhile and in reality may take even longer than I’d like to be answered, but I’m admittedly kind of frustrated at the stagnation…for example, have I taken as much out of this situation and this country as was personally possible?...or, given the amount of time I had at my disposal did I “make the most of it” and do enough “stuff” (whether crazy cool, shitty, culturally difficult and/or interesting to deal with, or just intellectually amusing…etc.,etc.,etc…) worth feeling good about and proud of in the end? And at the same time, will my experiences be significant enough to warrant any kind of respect, praise, admiration, or recognition from those that I’ve left behind? And do I love this place like I thought/hoped I would?…and what the hell am I going to do with my life?…haha, there’s a mystery…It’s hard to fathom how fast these past fourth months (nearly) have gone by and even harder to imagine what I’ll be thinking about in four months time when it’s all said and done and all that’s left are these words, my sporadic memories, and a few pictures…okay so a few hundred pictures but you get the point. And why is it that I’ve reached the point in my college career where I’m partially wishing my study abroad experience were over so that I could go back to the States (of all places…but hey, home is home and I love it…and considerably much more than I realized) and get on with whatever…I just wanna go back to sophomore year! (p.s. not really, although sophomore year did kick ass) Furthermore, it’s hard to find some peace of mind when part of your mind and half of your heart is 12 thousand miles away. I wonder what piece, if any, I’ll leave behind in Tanzania…anywho, there’s a nice pile of mind fuck for you to revel and roll in for awhile. Just some of my thoughts and a fraction of the previously alluded to “craziness” that’s been going on in my head. Additionally, before I forget, please everyone check out Kev’s blog (by clicking the little link to the right) and read the post entitled “Cutting the Cord…Reflection on Reflection” published on Nov. the 2nd. It’s a self reflective piece about the rigors, pitfalls, stimulations, triumphs, and expectations of self reflection as told by a fellow study abroader (and my personal friend), and it should provide some further insight into some of what I’ve been quarreling with in my mind. It honestly spoke volumes for me when I read it and I’m only using it because I know I wouldn’t be able to personally describe its significance any better. So yeah, even if you don’t know Kevin please read and enjoy…and read all his other stuff too (although it may take you ages) if you like, because it’s all really good shit. Sidenotes: for those who have read my previous post I apologize for the “confusing and stupid” numbering system as well as for all the mistakes. I thought it was rather clever, only recognize now that without the ability to insert paragraph breaks (which I’m still working on…although not very vehemently so get over it) it made for quite a mess…although if you’re at all interested in LOST and furthermore even just slightly intelligent you should be able to figure it out…no offense….oh and I fixed the mistakes so read it again because it’s just that damn good. Also (continuing with the sidenotes), I was able to email Megan some random pictures of myself and a few tidbits of Africa yesterday and she’s kindly posted them on shutterfly for me so that you may view them at your discretion. Just click on “boozie-pics” and it should take you right there. There aren’t very many but enough to at least whet your appetites…I hope. But enough with the sidenotes; on with the original point of this post…Selous. I’m sure you were wondering when I was going to get around to talking about the more important topic of the week (being my weekend safari), so have no fear because I’m now prepared to divulge.(*insert paragraph break*) The whole trip was possible because of a sweet deal we (meaning the 8 international students-including myself-representing Germany, Austria, USA, and Finland that made the trip) got from Suzanne’s (German friend of mine who’s from the same University as Arne…The Univ. of Bonn) friend-guy who owns his own safari company and agreed to help us out since we’re students. Okay let’s be honest, she’s sleeping with the guy and he hooked us up hard core because of it. Three days of kick ass safari adventure complete with three cooked meals a day, camping gear, park fees, gasoline, etc., etc. for 170 bucks…which believe me is the best deal other than Heritage Motel’s Indian buffet I’ve gotten in Tanzania. Anyway, Selous Game Reserve is Tanzania’s largest game reserve (and I think possibly the largest in Africa) and is located 330 km south of Dar, although not along the coast. The reserve is home to many types of antelope (impala, dik dik, Thompson gazelle, etc.), giraffes (sweetest animal alive), zebras, elephants, hippos, lions, leopards, water buffalos, hyenas, crocodiles, baboons, white and black colobus monkeys, thousands of crazy-cool birds (like Zazoo from the lion king…only cooler), and millions of creepy yet really cool looking bugs…as well as a ton of other things I’m sure I’m forgetting to mention. The place covers approximately 55 million square kilometers, which, sorry John, is roughly the size of Switzerland, and encompasses a plethora of breathtakingly pristine lakes as well as the Great Rufiji River. We by no means had enough time to cover all of that area (obviously), but more than sufficiently scratched the surface of this beautiful reserve in our fantastic three day safari. I should clarify that Selous, like other ‘reserves’, is special and/or unique in the sense that it’s boundaries are by no means exhaustive or exclusive to the animals’ natural migration patterns. Most of the animals do, however, tend to stay within the designated 55 million sq. km. of government protected land, but are essentially free to do whatever the fuck they want as its there home and they were most likely there first. ‘Reserves’ are different from ‘parks’ in this way because parks’ boundaries are there to prohibit unregulated exit and entry (by either animals or humans), and also because hunting is not allowed in national ‘parks’. Meaning that, unfortunately, really rich and obnoxious foreigners can pay thousands of dollars (try $20,000 for an adult elephant) to kill themselves a real African animal on a “real” African adventure…fucking ridiculous. They pretend to have an authentically cultural experience by flying into Selous via private jet, killing themselves a lion, and then flying back to wherever the fuck they came from and should have indisputably stayed. While the hunting is heavily regulated and controlled in the sense that hunters are only allowed to kill only what is “needed” by population control standards and initiatives and are accompanied at all times by a park ranger and a trained animal specialist, it makes me sick to think that there are actually people who are dense/self-absorbed enough to do that, and are furthermore allowed to…and I really wonder where the hell that money goes, because the average citizen certainly isn’t seeing any of it. Part of me feels like it’s even worse than poaching, which is also a problem that both ‘parks’ and ‘reserves’ alike often have to face…ah, but I digress. Anyway, since the hunting is so heavily regulated it only occurs in one specific portion of the reserve, and we were fortunate enough to be at the opposite end. As compared to my experience in Ngorongoro (which is a park) in July, this trip was so much more rewarding for a few reasons. For one, while I undoubtedly saw many more animals in Ngorongoro I by no means had the same engulfing safari experience…Ngorongoro is in many ways like a really big and glorified zoo, only still natural in the sense that the animals are still in there “natural” environment. We actually had to try and find the animals this time and do our best not to disturb them so as to observe their intense beauty for a few precious seconds (or in the case of the lions, minutes) instead of having to avoid running them over as was the case in Ngorongoro (which was kind of fun too, and especially neat when considering how many animals we actually saw in such a short amount of time, just slightly weird and sorta annoying). Plus, the mzungu traffic is close to non existent in Selous (which is refreshing when the point of your safari is to observe the animals instead of wazungu and you actually get to do so in peace) and riding around all day in a 4X4 Land Rover through the African bush with your head and torso sticking out of the roof is fun as hell…not gonna lie it kinda felt like an amusement park ride, only slightly crazier and much more real…obviously. All the animals were amazing, the experience was literally unreal at times, I enjoyed each of the three different safari experiences (boat, car, and walking) in their own uniquely cool way, and was tremendously grateful of the opportunity in general to get away for a few days and camp in the African wilderness, but there’s really no other way for me to properly describe the intensity and fascination of it all…so I guess just trust me that it was absolutely ridiculous and wickedly cool in every way possible. Highlights: 1. walking up on a collective herd of zebra, giraffe, and impala while on our walking safari, and then watching them speed off into the forest when we got too close…like I said before, giraffes are the coolest animal alive…did you know that they have the same number of vertebrates in their necks as we do? Crazy. They’re also really funny to watch right when they take off running; for like the first 10 steps it honestly looks like they’re running in slow motion until out of nowhere everything finally clicks and they take off like Michael Johnson on speed. 2. Happening across four young simba cubs who had apparently lost their mother. too cute…although I’m sure they could have shown us their ugly side too. 3. parking literally right next to a full grown male lion and three females who were far too lazy to care about our cars as they had just finished an afternoon hunt and were sprawled out in satiated agony. Mack Daddy simba’s (let’s be honest, he was a pimp with three ladies at his disposal) belly honestly looked like it was going to explode; I could totally picture an entire antelope carcass inside that massive frame. He was so tired and lazy from the hunt and impending afternoon heat that he didn’t even get up to piss. Just tucked it back let er rip, all while lying down on his side and without moving an inch. sweet. 4. enjoying our sack lunch by the lake while a pack of elephants enjoyed theirs on the other side. 5. sleeping in tents in our river-side campsite that was chalk-full of hippos (meaning the river, not our campsite. although, I hope you can imagine how ridiculously close these hippos were at times…ah, too cool) and falling asleep to the sounds of their evening migration. 6. laughing and carelessly enjoying the company of some quality international friends while on safari vacation in Africa….priceless. Well, now that I’ve topped this post off with a little cheesy yet sentimental insight, I’d say it’s about time for some dinner. Wali maharaghe should suffice. I’ll hopefully have some time this weekend to ramble a bit more about my continuous African adventure (that will soon be over) as well as further elaborate on the confines and entrails of my engaged and engrossed (and slightly looney) mind. As for now, enjoy the post, do your best to avoid any confusion, keep on keeping on with whatever you keep to, and peace.

I should preface by admitting that this post may not be as girthy or lengthy as previous posts have been due to my current lack of time and energy. It’s currently Thursday evening, I’ve had a long day (see “A Week in the Life” for further details), and even longer when considering how our dance teacher worked our sweaty butts into the ground today, am very wet (it’s been raining pretty much non stop all week-and by rain I mean absolute craziness that leads me to believe I’d better find Noah while there are still seats left…welcome to the short rains…and mind you I said short which means that it’s a good thing I don’t have to be here in April when the actual rainy season comes…ridiculous) and as of 7am tomorrow morning I’ll be on my way to Selous for a kick ass safari adventure with some fellow wazungu who will undoubtedly be going as nuts over the big, cuddly (although not too cuddly), and uniquely African animals as I will be…and I still have lots of shit to do before then. So, while I have the spare time I’m gonna attempt to hit on some of the finer points of my week in Zanzibar so as to hopefully give you an idea of the true magic that only Zanzibar can provide. In reality this is undoubtedly the best way to go about it whether I have a lot of time or not considering how long I was in Zanzibar and how impossible it’d be to do the island any justice, much less hope to captivate in blog form all that happened in 7 days. So here we go, Z-bar by numbers…and I think it’s fitting that we use these numbers being that I was on a tropical island in the Indian ocean…jealous yet?...and mind you, in no particular order…4) To describe the island in general it’s best to first picture in your mind the stereotypical tropical island, complete with white, powdery sand, turquoise water, and lots of rich white people with sun burns. Give it an African twist and throw in a heavy dosage of Arab and Muslim influence and you’ll start to understand the island’s complexity and mystery. Basically, the whole place functions off its main port and only accessible harbor in Stone Town (also known as Zanzibar Town). Everything and everyone (be it cloves, wazungu, or Pepsi…..which, interesting fact, Zanzibar is second in the world only to Indonesia in the amount of cloves they export each year…I think I may have said in a previous post that they were the highest which if I did was false and I apologize…they’re second) that comes into or leaves Zanzibar goes through Stone Town. There are a plethora of exotic/touristy little beach resorts all along the island's edges, especially to the north and east that can be accessed by dala-dala or taxi...but a beach is a beach and all we did was lay on them and sporadically swim in the clear cool water. So as to be politically correct I must clarify that when referring to ‘Zanzibar’ I should actually be referring to it as ‘Unguja’, which is the island’s proper name. The two islands of Unguja and Pemba (which is directly north) are collectively referred to as Zanzibar, only Unguja is more commonly referred to as ‘Zanzibar’ for commercial reasons and out of convenience. Anyway, Stone Town is an amazing little Arabic labyrinth with enough windy little by ways, ally ways, street vendors, markets, nifty shops, and eccentric restaurants to get comfortably lost in for hours…trust me, Arne and I did it and on more than one occasion. Wandering around in this fascinating maze of a city between creek road and the harbor road made for some excellent picture taking opportunities and some quality escape from the chaos and high pace atmosphere of Dar. Three things I loved about Stone Town and will most definitely miss (until I return someday, which believe me will happen): 1. Zanzibari pizza-which is egg, meat, tomatoes, butter, and cheese, cooked/fried inside a chapaiti…and there’s also a dessert version-chocolate, bananas, and milk syrup-kinda reminds me of crepes at the Farmer’s market; yum! 2. All the kick ass and desolately and meticulously designed doorways…pictures to follow…some day. 3. the best and cheapest samasos I’ve ever had in my life. So yeah, Stone Town was great but I still think that harbors smell funny; something about the mix of oil, fish, dirty sea water, and smelly Tanzanians doesn’t amuse me…hakuna matata though. 8: It took some hard convincing from Arne and Neli to get me back on a dhow headed for a snorkeling adventure in the open waters of the Indian Ocean, but boy am I glad they did. Key differences to my experience in Pangani that made this excursion easily a 100X better: the boat ride took only 20 min. in what was only slightly choppy water instead of 2 hours on the open sea; the dhow had a canopy; our “captain” knew what he was doing; it was less expensive; our lunch on “Prisoner Island” (where we also sow some really big and ridiculously old tortoises) included passion fruit and Nutella; and Nemo and about a million of his fishy little friends were waiting for us in their reefy wonderland of coral that rocked my world and left my pants wet…er. I have to admit that at first I really sucked at the whole breathing out of a tube while looking under water concept, but soon got the hang of it and was absolutely amazed at how truly fascinating and wickedly amazing coral reef ecosystems are. You can count that as another cherry popping experience for sure, and boy was it wonderful. 15: Eid-al-fitr, though not as crazy as I had expected, was definitely an interesting experience to partake in and one that provided a cultural experience I’m sure will never be experienced again in my lifetime. It’s cool to note though that whether you’re in po-dunk Iowa, Grand Junction, Colorado, or Zanzibar, a festival is a festival and always involves lots of music, food, cheap toys, silly games, hyper active children who’ve had too much sugar, and plenty of laughter. 16: Spice tours: comforting to the stomach and invigoratingly stimulating to the senses. Kind of full of wazungu but definitely worth the time and money, and cool enough that purchasing spice boats in order to commemorate your journeys is definitely worth the extra 1000 shilingi. 23: Freddy Mercury, arguably one of pop cultures’ most popularly recognized and idolized gay icons, was born on the most Muslim island in the world, and remarkably enough there’s a restaurant resurrected a few blocks from his old house that carries his namesake….I think it’s owned by a white guy though. Good food, neat atmosphere, over-priced, shitty service, lots of wazungu. 42: I have to admit that I’ve run out of time, numbers, ideas/memories, and motivation (yeah I know, pathetic). However, maybe after a few days on safari I’ll think of some more cool stuff worth enlightening you all to about my week in Z-Bar. As for now it’s again time for yoga, a few hours of hopefully checking more things off my never ending list of shit to get done, packing for safari, and then bed. These last few days have been kinda weird, really raining, and may or may not have included a head shaving that started out as the most radical mohawk Tanzania has ever seen. Needless to say I’ll be needing to take extra care when applying sunscreen to my body (meaning my head) these next couple weeks. Which in reality is almost only 5…holy shit it’s almost over….and since when did it become November? ahh, so many mixed feelings and so much cacophony in my brain. Craziness. Ok well have a nice weekend all and I’ll catch you on the flip side…assuming I’m not eaten by a lion. Salama.