There’s No Business Like Choo Business…and a safari!

[Please note: an incomplete version of this posted earlier today by accident because I have no idea how WordPress works yet.]

Time is flying here.  We just started on our fifth week of training, which means we are halfway through already!  I’m still struggling with learning Kiswahili.  I know it will come, I’m just not sure it will be on time.  I’m not the only one feeling this way and I’ve been reassured the language isn’t a make it or break it issue for us.  As Education volunteers, we’ll all be working in secondary schools, where English is the official language (for better or for worse).  Some of us (possibly many of us) will be placed in villages where English is not spoken in daily life, so we’ll need Kiswahili to function in our daily lives.  Fortunately, I have enough confidence in my Charade skills that I’ll be able to make it work until I’m up to speed on my Kiswahili.

Adjustment to Tanzanian life has come pretty quickly.  It’s amazing how your expectations change when there are no other options.  For example, back in the U.S., I was someone who loved taking a long, hot bath at the end of the day (and I was pretty sure I couldn’t live without them).  Now I’m taking bucket baths every night, which involve a 5 gallon bucket of cold water and a cup that you use to pour the (sometimes very) cold water all over you.  Not only do I do this voluntarily, but I consider myself extremely lucky to be with a home-stay family that has running water in their home (some of the other volunteers have not been so lucky).  I even have a shower head, so technically I could take a cold shower at night but the bucket baths seem to be the most economical use of water.

My evening bucket bath.

And then there’s the choo (pronounced “cho”), which those of you who have lived and traveled internationally are probably familiar with.  It’s a squat toilet, which most of the world uses.  Again, I’m extremely lucky that my home-stay family has a working, flushable inside choo – this is a luxury that many Tanzanians  (including other home-stay families) do not have.   The upside of using a choo is that you really strengthen your quadriceps and increase flexibility.  It’s like a mini yoga class in your bathroom.

The choo in all its glory.

The alternative to an inside choo is a pit latrine, which is like an outhouse, only not as fancy.  (Kathy, you might want to skip over the following pictures.)

The pit latrine from the outside.

Inside, the horror lurks…

Somehow, in a little over a month, I went from only using the ladies lounge at Nordstrom because it was the best public restroom in the Grove (an upscale, outdoor mall in Los Angeles, for those of you outside of Southern California), to regularly using a pit latrine and carrying a roll of toilet paper with me everywhere.    That being said, there is a restaurant here in Morogoro called Dragonaires that caters to ex-pats and charges way more than other local places.   It has pretty good pizza, but the main appeal for me is its Western bathroom, which includes a flush toilet.  There’s even a hand dryer!  I’ve been known to pay over 3000 Tsh for a beer just to spend a few minutes in that bathroom.

Last weekend we trainees finally got a day off and the chance to go on a safari!  It was the culmination of an exciting week for me where I actually had two monkey sightings at the training center (one which included witnessing monkey fruit thievery, which is always entertaining).  Saturday morning, instead of our usual language training, we all met at the training center and took a couple of small buses to Mikumi National Park.

Mikumi National Park entrance

Take no liberties with wild animals…words to live by.

We took the same buses through the park to check out the wildlife.  Unfortunately, it looked as if there had been a fire there fairly recently so there wasn’t a ton of vegetation and not as many animals as we had been told were usually there.  Still, we were able to see giraffes:

A giraffe in one of the few pictures he/she was not turning and running away from the camera.

…zebras:

We saw lots of zebras (including the ones in my new header photo).

…hippos:

All we really saw were the top of the hippos’ heads – they weren’t too keen on taking any more of themselves out of their hippo pool. I don’t really blame them.

…wildebeests:

I’m pretty sure these are wildebeests.

…and elephants (I didn’t get any pictures of them because they were a bit camera-shy) but, alas, no monkeys.   Needless to say, I was beginning to think the word of my arrival in the country had spread like wildfire along the monkey network and they were all avoiding me, lest they be lured into my banana filled hut and dressed in tuxedos (for the boy monkeys) and tutus (for the girl monkeys).  As we pulled out of the park, I shook my fist at the passing scenery and cried,  “You can’t hide from me the whole two years, monkeys!”

That night, we stayed at a nice little hotel outside the park that offered all of the expected amenities: televisions, ceiling fans and, of course, a snake park.  Being completely terrified of snakes, I, of course, decided a great way to spend a Sunday morning would be to check it out.   (This is the same person who is deathly afraid of heights and, during its heyday in the early 90’s, decided it would be a great idea to go bungee jumping.  I’m not clear on why I do these things.)  During our health and safety training, we had been warned about black mambo snakes, which are extremely poisonous.  The Peace Corps doctors told us, “If you are bitten by one, you could try to get help but you probably won’t have enough time,” which was extremely reassuring.   They also told us the black mambo was the only poisonous snake in Tanzania that we had to worry about.  But it’s a good thing I made it to the snake park because now I know there’s about eight other deadly snakes slithering around Tanzania and jumping out of trees that I have to worry about.  I took a photo of the wall mural that outlines the different types of poisonous snakes and how exactly they will kill you (sorry the picture’s not so great, but I would have had to get into the crocodile pit to get a shot without the shadows and I’m just not that dedicated to this blog):

The handy dandy guide to Tanzanian snake venom.

On Saturday night, the twentysomethings in our training group decided to blow off some steam.  Because I am old, I was in bed and asleep by 10:30pm, but I learned the next morning that there was drinking, dancing and someone fell into the Tanzanian equivalent of a septic tank.  These kids can really party!  (I’m leaving out names and distinguishing characteristics to protect their identity, but the person this happened to had a way better sense of humor about things than I would have in their situation.)  It must be said the septic tank incident had less to do with alcohol consumption and more to do with non-existent lighting and the apparently acceptable practice of leaving septic tanks full and uncovered here in Tanzania.   Note to self: always wear a headlamp when wandering around outside after dark.

I’m happy to say the weekend ended on a high note.  On our way home the next day, we saw a few more animals by the side of the road – including a large number of baboons!!!  Unfortunately, I was too busy jumping up and down and shrieking “Monkey! Monkey! Monkey!” in a very high-pitched voice (involuntary reaction) to get many photos, but I did take one of a lady baboon with a baby on her back:

Mama baboon with her babies.

Eventually, I did manage to get it together enough to yell out the window “I have bananas!  Come live with me!”  I think one of the baboons wanted to take me up on my offer, because he chased behind the bus for a while.  Everyone else said he was the alpha male and was actually chasing us away to protect his pack, but I think we all know that they were just jealous of my new monkey friendship.

So that’s what’s new here.  I’m teaching my first English class to actual Tanzanian students tomorrow and afterward I have my Kiswahili written midterm.  The oral midterm is on Friday.  Neither of the tests are going to be pretty.

Also, as you can probably tell, I have figured out how to upload photos but it can take a looooong time, depending on my internet connection.  So, enjoy these now because it may be a while before I have the stamina to post a bunch of them again!