The weekend

September 21, 2008 5:50 PM


The end of the week is welcomed in many parts of the world. This is true for Tanzania, as well. Friday at 5pm I was hoping to catch some friends and/or family online for some chatting before heading home from work but quickly realized that everyone wanted to get home and start the weekend. I was basically packing up my things as I typed when Amani said he had to go and there was no one else left to lock up.

I shoved my things into my backpack sad that I wasn't able to get any online chatting in, but also aware that the week had ended and I had 2 free days stretching before me. That day had marked the end of the critical fostering training. After lunch the possible foster parents gathered into a circle in the garden at the hotel where the training was taking place and shared their experiences with William who had joined us. Accompanying William was Tim, a man who had come from the STARS Foundation to document Mkombozi's work for the organization that had just awarded them for their child protection policies, advocacy and lobbying. It was a bit odd to be sitting in a circle with foster parents, William, Steven and Simon while and English man filmed the conversation. Especially since I didn't exactly follow everything that was going on.

At one point everyone stood up, so I did as well. Then William asked them to walk around inside the circle, which he demonstrated so I joined in as well. Then he would call a number and the participants would have to get into a group of that many people and answer a question that William asked. I quickly ducked out of the circle with Simon so not to get stuck answering a question in Swahili I didn't understand. Tim asked me to explain the exercise while he filmed and I was glad that William had just whispered the translation into my ear so I could be helpful.

Mid-afternoon the training was wrapped up with a prayer and then Simon drove the participants to their destinations, one man travelling all the way from Arusha. Steven and I packed up the room that we had been training in. Father Balige, the Priest/PhD in Psychology who had been running the training had already left but his notes were posted around the room with number indicating the order they were used in the training. This made it a little easier to place them in order since neither Steven nor I had been at every training session. Steven said that we would need these notes for our report on how the training went so we arranged them in order and took them with us.

That evening Steven offered to take me out for a local beer. I accepted, glad to get out of the house and also to experience the city at night since Steven has a car and I wouldn't have to worry about getting home safely. He said he would pick me up around 6:30 or 7pm and probably return home at 9pm. This was something I am not used to. Being told what time the evening would end, but being new around here I didn't question it.

We went to a pub/dance club called Club Malindi, it was quite large with wooden walls and a wooden roof. There was a live band playing music that immediately made me think of a resort in Mexico or a tropical island, but Steven decided he would translate the songs from Swahili so I would know what they were about. One described a man telling his wife he loved her but was bored so he was going to find someone new. How romantic.

We drank Tanzanian beers. He had Tuskers and I had Kilimanjaro beers. I was surprised again to find that the bottles were 500ml each, from what I remember back home one bottle of beer is not that big. Nor does it cost less than a dollar.

Dinner was chicken and chips, and from what I understood of Steven's explanation, they were special chickens that were not kept in cages. Free range chickens? I asked and received a confused look. I guess Tanzanians don’t realize that we are aware of this concept in North America. Before starting the meal a man came to the table and poured warm water over our hands into a bowl for cleaning, then after we were finished he returned to do the same. This is the normal procedure for most Tanzanian restaurants where eating with your hands is the norm. Steven made sure I had a fork to eat my food, which I thought was funny considering the chicken was on the bone and at home I normally eat fries with my hands. He even wanted to watch while I ate with my hands.

By the end of the night I was happy to come home to my little house and sleep.

On Saturday I had planned to walk into town to buy the list of items I needed for the house. Steven had offered to drive me and had said he would park the car and I could go off and buy what I needed. Not wanting to have to pay a taxi to come home I accepted his offer. We went to the market and unexpectedly he led me around from stall to stall asking merchants if they had what I needed. After a short while my list had been filled and I was out almost 40,000 shillings - which required a quick trip to the ATM because I had not brought that much money with me. The first ATM at Barclays was out of money so I had to go to the NBC bank with some other foreigners who had the same problem, but we were successful at NBC. It was interesting talking to the two women because one was dressed in a short skirt and tank and the other in a tank and pants but with a hat and sunglasses (not many people wear sunglasses here for some reason). I asked what brought them to Moshi and they said they had just climbed Kilimanjaro. Very cool. I was surprised though because for some reason they didn't look like the climbing types. But then again, they looked at me surprised when I said I was living here for 4 months. The older woman asked if my accommodations were alright. I nodded thinking of my toilet.

So after the trip to the market, Steven was on a mission to find ice cream, not any ice cream but this specific kind which turned out to be very similar to a Dairy Queen chocolate dipped cone but bought from the store like a drumstick. It was good and I think he was surprised when I offered to pay because he was nice enough to drive me to town.

When I got home I stood outside the car finishing my ice cream before collecting my things to go inside. Steven said he was going to play pool that night and would I like to go. He said he was going around 5:30 and wanted to be home around 7pm because he had to work the next day. Why not? I thought, I had no other plans and one of the guys from the lodge had text me to go out and I was happy to tell him I was busy.

While we were chatting in the laneway Ezekiel happened to walk by and joined us in our conversation. Turned out he was on his way to Arusha to visit Corey. Steven offered to give him a ride to the bus and they were off.

I was happy to have the entire afternoon to myself, to read, watch a movie and organize the things I had bought in the market. I was almost disappointed to go out but figured whats an hour or two before coming home to relax.

Well I was somewhat wrong. When Steven said he was going to play pool, he was going to go by himself not with friends to this little place called the Chagga Grill that has a pool table. He signed himself up to play and we sat and drank the beers he had ordered for us. I then watched him play a game of pool with one of the men that was sitting by the pool table and then he lost so his turn was over.

Then he said he had picked out a restaurant for dinner, which confused me because he originally said he wanted to be home around 7pm and it was already past this time. I figured it was a good way to not have to make dinner when I got home. We went to a restaurant in a part of town I had not been to yet, but apparently they were not cooking the 'traditional' food he wanted me to try so we went to another place up the road.

It was quite lively because there was a promotion for Kilimanjaro Beer going on. Complete with lip-synching dancers with track pants tucked into high top sneakers. Oh boy. The dinner was pretty good but again was pretty much chicken and chips but instead of them being separate on the plate they were mashed together more and there were onions mixed in with the fries. One of the things that I didn't quite enjoy was that when I went to order a coke with my meal, I was told that only alcohol would be proper to eat at this place with this meal and when I said I didn't want alcohol, Steven ordered for me and the waitress left.

I think anyone that knows me well, knows this is not a way to get on my good side. Fortunately, the drink he ordered was good, a light apple flavoured spritzer with low alcohol content, but I was insulted anyway. Anxious by this point to head home, Steven ordered another round of drinks and was excited when they began doing contests on the stage to win t-shirts. He said he would win me one but never got the chance to get on stage. Then he went up and the announcer made him repeat something in Swahili 4 times which let him exchange one beer bottle for 2 cans, which the plan was to take the cans and go - which is apparently normal here. It didn't quite work out as planned because the announcer opened the cans before he handed them to Steven and then opened the bottle for him to drink as well.

He wanted to finish the bottle before we left but said that we could still leave with the cans. I was skeptical but he was able to hide them in the back of his car in a place where they wouldn’t spill so I figured that was definitely wrong in Canada, but he was the local who knew the laws here.

He gave me the opened cans to put in my fridge for later, which I find interesting because I'm not one to drink beer very often, nor do I drink alone. But free beer for guests I guess is ok.

I was extremely excited to get home even though it wasn't quite 11pm yet. I think Steven is a nice guy and I'm happy to work with him, but I am starting to figure out that "chivalry" or "chauvinism" is quite strong in Tanzania and it is normal for men to tell women what they will eat or drink and talk to them in a manner where they may not be able to take care of themselves. Despite the fact that somehow have travelled half way around the world myself.

Happy to be home, I popped in "the Aviator" which I had not seen before and crawled into bed.

This morning (Sunday) I was awoken again by the sound of people sweeping outside. I swear someone is sweeping something outside every morning for about an hour. Its quite annoying and I hope I get used to it or will have to sleep with my iPod near my head. I got up and had my first real attempt at laundry. I think it went fairly well. The washing part is easy, it’s the rinsing that I really don’t enjoy and worry about. Just when I would be sure that the soap was out of one of my shirts I would go to hang it on the line and it would look soapy still. Eventually I gave up, hoping my clothes are soap free. Due to the intense sun here, by 4pm almost all my clothes were completely dry and safe to take down and fold. I was pretty amazed. After only 5 or 6 hours! Even my jeans were dry by 5:30. Lets hope I don’t break out in any rashes because of soap residue! I am tempted to find someone who I can pay to do my laundry but for now I think I am ok.

I walked into town around noon and was happy to feel a breeze along the way. I found another internet café which has a nice menu of food and drinks as well. I ordered a chocolate/coffee Yogurt shake and settled in at a computer. I quickly learned that the prices at this internet café were double what I normally pay, but that still equals less than $2/hour. There were many more foreigners at this café and everyone was friendly but mostly kept to themselves. Another failed attempt at meeting other volunteers! But I think I will go back there again, at least to try their muffins. The computers were painfully slow at some points, so maybe not the best choice for email/facebook.

I walked to the local grocery store that is open on Sundays and stalked up on a few items: rice, toilet paper, ketchup, canned vegetables etc. Then walked up to a café I had eaten at before. It has a nice covered patio to watch the people walking by. I ate some yummy fish fingers with fries and drank a 1.5 Litre bottle of water. Halfway through my meal a young girl joined me but was chatting with her friends at another table, where they still had 2 empty chairs. I was curious but she wasn't bothering me so I didn't ask.

I decided since it was still quite hot out when I finished eating that splurging on a taxi sounded like a good idea. I had some trouble explaining where I live to the driver, but figured if he got me to Mkombozi that would leave only 5 minutes to walk home. When I told him I was walking from there he insisted on driving me the whole way. He was very nice, but definitely seemed confused at my inability to describe where I live. Um, the 2nd dirt road on the right passed the YMCA? Ha ha maybe I'll try that next time.

I folded up my laundry, spent some time reading my book and had a quick nap. Now it is 7pm, enough time to catch a movie, eat some rice and get ready to face another work week!