Students and Kili

Back in Moshi and Kim/Dave's Holiday party

Hey - Kim - will look forward to the holiday open house!!

Back in Moshi after the Zanzibar trip. BTW - Air Tanzania which I used to go to Zanz....Hamis (my driver) told me it stands for Any Time Cancel (not sure where the C comes in ...)

I was supposed to leave on an 8am flt; arived at 6am for shuttle to airport; no show; flight canceled; almost canned the trip....and on the way back, the flt was at least 1 1/2 hrs late...and the airport in Zanz was pretty strange/ Get this: after the Muslim women took my backpack thorugh he security they asked for a tip!!! and in the restroom, one of them followed me around turning on the faucet for me etc...and of course expected a tip.....

OK - this part is supposed to be about Moshi - I really like this town - have been here long enough so I know my way around, I can converse a bit in Swahili, I recognize people - and they recognize me...anybody with light skin and hair sort of stands out here...

staying at backpacker hotel - 7 bucks a night , breakfast incl.....and the staff are actually pretty competent and helpful. I also like the second floor restaurant that opens out ot the street so I can look at all of the activity while I'm having breakfast: men running downhill after huge carts loaded with produce or grain, women in their so colorful clothing carrying stuff on their heads; but of course this is a pretty big town - along with these sights are cars, daladalas (local buses with people packed in and hanging off the sides), bicycles - a lot of people use bikes here - , animals, people selling fruits on the sidewalk - and the everpresent seamstresses with their sewing machines set up onthe streets
time running out onthis session; will post the rest later I guess - but I will be home soon anyway..

so maybe I shoudl just mentione that i spend the last 2 days back at my school - finishing up a project that I started with t he kids cpl wks ago...they are doing their exams now, so not so much teaching going on...but the projects came out great! will show you the photos...
I took my preform 1 students for a walk - or maybe they tooke me for a walk - they wanted to show me the river - it was beautiful - in the really lush forest...we had fun running/walking, talking in Eng/Swahili.... I'm telling you - it doesn't take much to thrill these kids

it was hard to say good bye to everybody - and everyone at school and in TZ in general aways says karibu tena- welcome again - come back - when are you coming back...and the thing is they are really sincere - as I said before - some of the sweetest people you will ever meet.

Back from Zanzibar

Best experience in Stonetown: Taarib music at the Cultural Music Club. It was sort of like going to the Elks club - there were a bunch of old guys wearing those Muslim hats, playing dominoes...upstairs in a big public looking bldg....sat and waited for a while till the appointed time and all these musicians appeared...they were really good!!! I mean good! Apparently they have performed all over the world; the music is a combination of African/Arab; included singing and dancing - and audience participation of course...and I gathered these performances are just like a practice - free to the public. It was great - Marsh, Mark, Glen - this reminded me a bit of Faado in Portugal.....started out sounding a bit dark, but really got lively

later...
This has to be one of the most weird and exotic places I've seen....and in some cases pretty dilapidated...and a bit sad.... I shouldn't start out on a negative note ...but I think that just because a country is poor it doesn't have to be trashy and unkempt...for instance a museum in Stonetown (old part of Zanzibartown) had some pretty interesting stuff housed in an enormous old Arab Palace called the House of Wonders - well the House of Wonders has seen better days. So many people are out of work in this country - if the government spent less on their own material advancement and put some people to work on the infrastructure and just general tidying up, this would be a small step in t he right direction....

You see so many people just hanging out on the street; I suppose at home they are just hanging out in front of the tv - but since everyone doesn't have tv - and it's warm out side......

So - on the positive side - I spent a night and day at Kendwa onthe Northeast coast at a place called SUnset Bungalows - inexpensive - huge, right on the beach - amazingly beautiful beach..couldn't stop taking picutres - everything looks like a post card. got up early and walked the beach then swam for quite a while and had breakfast (incl wiith rm) on the beach; Wiseman (yup that's his name) came over and gave me his spiel about snorkeling so I went out with him and the boat "captain"....got a bit queasy after a while from the rolling wave action ,but it was pretty nice....

Back on the beach I got a massage and pedicure from Rosie ...all for about 20 bucks.....

Sitting at the beach restaurant having some food in the evening and listening to some arabic sounding music ....it was like "I guess we're not in Kansas anymore Toto" (ok Maine , but you get the point; things are just so different here)....it did remind me a bit though of the first time we went to Mex...before the Maya Riviera got so crowded; this place was sooo mellow and quiet - and the people so friendly - just like the rest of TZ!

So - next day in stonetown I did the obligatory spice tour - whihc was pretty interesting for a nerd like me - but really not all that exciting - what can you expect..it's horticulture....
anyway - someone is getting spioces fo r Christmas...
Next lunch at a stonetown rest - really good spiced rice and kuku (chicken) chickens are everywhere in this country btw, I think t here are more chickens than people...

Tour of Stonetown, finished off with a beer on the balcony of the Africa House Hotel.Old style African Hotel as you would imagine it....ocean view, veeerrry hot on the balcony Mitch you would like the nice hotels in this town, but probably not the Jambo Guest House where I stayed for cheap; nice view about 3 feet across the very narrow street of the neighbors...but anyway - it was clean, safe, incl breakfast - and there were some other Americans there...

Met a few intersting people along the way - Hamis, Haji...very few women around it seems and since Zanz is primarily Muslim, they are all swaddled in the Muslim garb.....