Habari za siku nyingi? I’m writing just as the power has been cut off here in Zanzibar. Shocking, I know. There are scheduled 15-hour long power cuts in Dar es Salaam for the next week; time will tell what that means for Zanzibar. Lucky for me, the flat where I’m staying has a nifty solar powered back up system that allows us to run a few lights, charge a computer or phone, and even maintain our internet connection. The positives are obvious, the negatives include that I am now functioning as a homing device for all mosquitoes that are within any reasonable vicinity. So, here I write, from a warm and humid night on the Spice Island, with a long-sleeved shirt, pants, the thickest socks that remained in my luggage from France, and a scarf around my neck. Every so often I’m motivated enough to make an attempt at smashing the latest mosquito that crosses my line of vision in front of my computer screen. Current kill count is 4, plus a few that were trying to bite me through my pants and were swiftly snuffed out. As was the case last year, I’m not taking any anti-malaria pills so even though I never was graced with the parasite, I do know I need to be careful. A wise investment would be some insect repellant…
Zanzibar has welcomed me with an impressive amount of rain. It was so loud that it actually woke me up this morning around 6am. It turned out to be a nice sunny day, in contrast with the first few, which were gray, cloudy, and drenched.
I have committed to doing a 1/2 marathon at the end of June, called the "Lewa Sympathizers International Run" in honor of the Lewa, Kenya marathon (and 1/2 marathon) that I ran last year and that my friend is running this year. I don't have the $ to make it up to Kenya for the real event, so I emailed some other friends from Zbar who are back in the US and proposed that we each do a run on June 25th wherever we are in the world. I went on a decently-long run Sunday after arriving/unpacking, and then went on another good one Tuesday. I forgot how long it took to complete a certain loop and ended up running for almost an hour and a half. Someone chucked a strawberry milk shake out of their car window and managed to aim it square at my left shoe and shin. That was a first. Good thing it has been SO rainy that there was no shortage of puddles for me to choose from to rinse my hands after doing a finger-squeegy move to get the melted (and surely synthetic) milk product off of my dusty and sweaty shin. I was partly annoyed, yet partly surprised because I didn't know milk shakes existed here. You learn something new every day, huh?
My left shoe still smelled of fake strawberries despite washing it until yesterday, when I jogged to ngazi mia (the old Hindu Crematorium with 100 stairs from the beach to the street level) and ran the stairs in the rain. I received a number of curious greetings and glances, but enjoyed the camaraderie despite the lop-sided gender composition of the other people working out there. A number of people had on these great bright yellow soccer jerseys that had “ngazi mia” screen printed on them in green. I’ll see if I can score myself one. I’d be stoked!
For my first blog posting in a long long while, I’ll try to answer some obvious questions you might have:
~Why am I back in Zanzibar?
I’m continuing work on the public health research project from last year, tying up loose ends and organizing dissemination materials. I’m also applying to medical school, but I could do that from anywhere with internet access. I’ll be here until the end of July, will then return to the US and continue searching for a job for the 2011-2012 academic year.
~Why haven’t I written anything since August of 2010?
Part 1: this blog is called “East African Adventures” which suggests that it takes place in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and maybe Rwanda, Burundi, or Ethiopia. I haven’t been here since then.
Part 2: I had many good ideas for blog entries while I was in France between September 2010 and April 2011, but I never actually finished them, and thus, didn’t post them. Why didn’t I finish them? Good question. Perhaps deep down it was because I hadn’t coordinated enough brain cells to click together and come up with an appropriate and broader title for my blog, so didn’t feel justified in posting my experiences from France in my EA blog. Should I pay less attention to such self-imposed and flexible parameters? Maybe.
~What have you been doing since you left TZ/KE last summer?
Well, I worked as a waitress in Maine to earn a bit of cash before spending 7 months in Dunkerque, France. I worked there as an English language assistant in two public middle schools, studied for and took the MCAT, and worked to improve my French skills.
I lived in a rented house with three French guys who were all master’s students at the university there. After taking the MCAT, I had more free time and spent it working on my French skills, doing a mini-internship at the local bakery and pastry shop, going to some hip hop and house dance classes, and occasionally offering my American accent to a R&B/soul radio show that a good friend of mine produces each Wednesday night.
In early April, the traveling & wrap up began. I went to Holland for a long weekend to visit a friend I had met in Iceland back in 2007. We had a good time catching up on the past four years, driving from Zwolle to The Hague, then across the Deltawerken to Antwerp, Belgium. We tried raw herring with minced onions on the pier in The Hague and had a nice cup of tea at a hotel overlooking the sea… it was at this hotel that I overheard a few people speaking Swahili a few tables away! I imagine they were certain there was no one outside of their group who could understand their conversation, but au contraire! There was also a Zanzibar restaurant nearby, with vaguely African-inspired décor. We went for a really great run along some trails and ended running in the surf on the beach once the sun came out. I caused some laughs with my butchered attempts at pronouncing all of the Dutch road signs.
My Dad came to Europe (for the first time!) in mid-April after lugging a suitcase full of my Zanzibar-appropriate clothing. As usual, his suitcases were searched by security agents and met with raised eyebrows as he replied that he was indeed traveling alone and had packed the suitcases himself. We had a great time in Dunkerque and Paris, then spent nearly a week driving around Ireland, which was really fun. We did get a flat tire due to a rock that had fallen off its stone wall. Some helpful soul told us that our tire was “only flat on the bottom- yer okay!” Gee, thanks. It gave us a moment to observe the happenings at a very very very small village gas station/post office.
We checked out the town where the Harrington relatives used to live, a small fishing village in the southwestern corner of the island. It surprised me how willing people were to help us try and find out more information about our ancestors. After saying that our last name is Harrington, one woman replied “well, that’s not much help in these parts!” She also said that the 1840s “wasn’t so long ago” when we showed her the names and birth dates of my father’s relatives. Quite a different perspective. I couldn’t tell you anything about anyone who lived in Belfast, Maine in 1840. I enjoyed having the Irish accent fall on my eardrums, although at some points, neither my father nor I were completely sure of what the person was saying.
We flew back to Brussels after seeing two cousins in their World Championship Irish Dancing competition in Dublin, and promptly took advantage of the chocolate and waffles. It was great to spend time with the Dadster and visit some new places. Unfortunately, my Mom was too sick to come :-( Next time…
I then had a few short days to finish moving out of my house in Dunkerque and say goodbye to my friends there before I took a train to Paris en route to Le Havre and met up with three dear friends from Yale. We rented a car and drove around Normandy, the Champagne region, and Strasbourg in France before heading to Switzerland. We touched down in all 3 linguistic regions of Switzerland (German, French & Italian), and I even ran into some Zanzibari friends on the street when I was in Bern! Small small world.
We stayed at my friend’s parents’ condo in Locarno, Switzerland and did some great hikes in the hills and mountains there, always with a lovely view of Lago Maggiore. It was so nice to stay in a “well prepared nest” after having moved from hotel to hotel during the French portion of our trip. I flew from Milan, Italy to Zanzibar after spending a day in Bergamo, Italy. I’m slightly in love with Italy, especially after feeling persecuted every single time I had to buy something in Switzerland with their Swiss Francs… while the franc is weaker than the euro, the prices of things in Switzerland are so.incredibly.expensive. The Italian gelato was even more delicious because it was half the price of what was available just across the border in Switz. I loved the traveling I did in the month prior to landing in Zanzibar (and reconnecting with my Dad and Yale friends was just so so nice), but it was nice to arrive and not have to live out of a suitcase for a change!
~What are the things you’re glad to get reacquainted with in Zanzibar?
BALUNGI (pommelo), mkate wa ufuta (sesame bread), and passion fruit. Those mini finger-sized bananas are much appreciated as well. So is the oh-so-refreshing and swimmable Indian Ocean. I’m a fan of the scratch-off pre-paid cell phone vouchers (France used these ridiculous receipts where you had to actually call a number, listen to the menu choices, push way too many buttons, then not even be sure you correctly updated your account… although I only did this a few times before I got my monthly phone subscription, I have never met a person who enjoyed the process).
I do enjoy hearing the call to prayer 5 times each day, visiting the market and buying from the same people I saw every day last year, and generally be back at my old stomping grounds. It’s a bit strange not to have some of my friends here (The McDows! Flore! Allison & Lillian! Marielle!)
~What are the things you miss from France?
My bakery and all of its daily bread and pastry goodness
Fromage blanc with crème de marrons SO good.
My android phone & internet service without counting megabyte usage
Hearing & speaking French!! (especially with my friends from there)
Running on the digue & beach in Dunkerque
Overall, it feels good to be back, although it is a bit of a mind bend to realize that in the past month or so I’ve been in 8 different countries, finished with my time in Dunkerque, and am already back in Zanzibar. When did this all happen? I sound like an old fogey. I do miss being in Dk. As with most wrap-ups, the last few weeks (months, even) went by in a flash. So full of good talks with friends, nice jogs on the beach, and on a most basic level, appreciating the place I was living in at the time. I look forward to returning, and in the mean time, keeping in touch with the friends I gained there.
I’ll stop here for the sake of saying I’m “done” and will therefore actually publish this post. Plus, now I get to check off a box on my long “to-do” list, which always gives me a healthy level of satisfaction.
I’ll try to write again soon. Until then, hope all is well with you all!