Gratuitous Posts From the Past #1 - Afica 2009

Shantytown, Moshi:

Our hotel is called Mama Africa, and is owned by Mama Grace, an employee at CCS, the program Andy volunteered with two years ago.  It is located in Shantytown, which, like

'No Child Left Behind,' is ironically titled.  Just north, south, east or west of downtown Moshi (we have no idea where we are when we don't have a large body of water as a reference point), Shantytown is full of manicured lawns, hedges, and large houses protected by gates and occasionally barbed wire. 

Downtown Moshi is:

Andy: hot, dusty, teeming

Jamie: hot, too American to make her feel weird, and a lot like rural Arkansas

The downtown market is full of vendors selling rice and beans from 10-gallon sized bins, vegetables, and fruit.  Across the street is the Tanzania Coffee Lounge, where Mzungus (foreigners/tourists) go to check their email and buy milkshakes and even hot dogs.  Our two lunch destinations downtown so far have been Italian Passion, where we ate spaghetti and pizza, and the slightly less American, but not really, Chrisburger, where Andy ate a chicken burger and Jamie feasted on chicken that, sadly, lacked any actual chicken.  Seriously.

In contrast, Rau Village, where Matumaini Orphanage (the subject of a later email and the primary destination for us) is located, slopes up into the outer foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro and is thus more jungle-ish, more rural, and slower paced than the markets and busy streets in downtown Moshi. 

We walked from Shantytown to Rau and it was great, except that even for less special people it takes about an hour in blistering heat, and for us it took even longer due to Andy 'sort of' getting us lost. Jamie, in an attempt to be supportive, insisted she trusted him to find the way. She was wrong. We finally asked directions from a man who did what any American parent would do: he had his 7-year-old daughter lead two foreign strangers through the jungle.

Andy's favorite Swahili word:  Chakula cha mtoto mchanga (baby food) because it sounds cool

Jamie's favorite Swahili word:  Mambo (s'up?), because it's the only one she can remember

Phrase Andy wished he could say in Swahili:  Please give my fiancé chicken that has chicken on it or I will be forced to hear about this chicken-less chicken many times in the ensuing days.

Phrase Jamie wished she could say in Swahili:  Please direct me to the orphanage or hand me a blunt object because I either want to get to my destination or bludgeon my fiancé.

After our walk, we returned to our hotel via taxi, which we discovered is much easier than walking, but smells worse.  We then ate dinner (chicken!), played very bad Scrabble (sample word: "cat"), and collapsed into bed, happy to be with each other, not lost, not dead of dehydration, not bludgeoned, and ready for restful, relaxing, restorative sleep.

The rooster woke us up at 3am.