Tanzania Summer 2008

The Daily Life in Africa!

I have always known that life in America is pretty easy, but I never knew just how easy we have it! Big grocery stores, laundry machines, and hot showers are very hard to come by here in Africa, therefore our group has been spending a lot of time boiling water. For instance, hot showers are generated from boiling water. We add a pot of boiling water to a bucket, add some cold water, take a pitcher and wash away. I don’t think that any of the females have completely rinsed out the shampoo and conditioner out of their hair since we have gotten here. On a positive note, at least we know we always smell good (although we probably are attracting more mosquitoes). It is amazing, however, how much less water we use by the bucket method, even though I think we will all go back to our showers once we get back home (I am unsure about Andy though…haha…just kidding).

Since we are college students, we are naturals at trying to save money and even though everything is much cheaper in Tanzania, we still find ways to cut the cost. Some of us acquired blankets through Ethiopian Airlines which we will return during our trip home. Thanks to Anh, who had to bring her pillow with everywhere, we stuffed a few in the pillow case and let me tell you, those blankets have been handy! We have used them everywhere including the 12 hour wait in the airport, camping out on our safari, and I personally use mine every night since I didn’t bring a blanket.

Our grocery shopping skills have also come into use. First of all, and anyone who saw us pack can second this, we brought a lot of food. Luna bars, ramen noodles, oatmeal, Ice’s Indian food, peanuts…we have had quite the variety of food just from our suitcases. We also decided that it would be smart to pack lunch everyday. Our lunch has consisted of bread with Nutella and, to go along with our diabetes theme, sugar-free fruit jam. It is quite the interesting combination and the bread reminds us of the crusty bread one feeds to the ducks at home. We have managed to make ourselves stand out even more in town by walking around eating our delicious sandwiches. For some reason, everyone sits down to eat. We are trying to get the courage to go into the market and bargain on some fresh produce, but we will have to write about that experience another day.

Tonight was an exciting night for us because it was the first time we’ve been able to wash clothes. Anh and Andy strung up the clothes line and we all took turns scrubbing up our dirty clothes. We all figure that our parents would be proud and we took plenty of pictures to prove how hard we are working here. All of us are going naturale, especially Andy, who uses a rock to clean his under garments.

Even though we are roughing it a little, we are all having a great time and this has been a great experience for all of us. But I don’t know if our new ways of living will come back to America with us…only time will tell.

Kayla
(Andy comments by Anh)