Shakes on a Plane

Tomorrow, my time in Tanzania will be over, and I’ll be boarding a plane to the UK, then to the US. There are a few activities that I’m looking forward to – meeting my new niece, eating a taco, and taking a hot shower – but also some memories from Tanzania that will stick with me:

• Teaching our friend Ole – who was photographed by a photographer in Zanzibar – how to use Skype to communicate with the many attendees at the photographer’s exhibit opening in Bulgaria. Attendees from Cuba, Bulgaria, France, and China were able to talk to Ole live as they bought prints of his portrait from the photographer. Ole had never heard of Skype or Cuba, but experience with enough tourists had taught him how to greet his fans in English, French, and Mandarin
• Getting a haircut at Smart Barber Shop (which competes with Smart Shavers, Smart Salon, and Smart Haircutters, among others). The barber took about 2 minutes to shear the hair off my head, then spent about 35 minutes giving me a world-class fade. He then shampooed my head and told me my new style was “safi sana”, or “very fresh”. I spent about $1.50 for the service
• The country-wide obsession with Barack Obama. His face is everywhere, and he apparently lent his image to endorse a ketchup brand, several barber shops, a few clothing retailers, and countless other businesses. Several Tanzanians insist that Obama is part Tanzanian, and I see his face or name around town at least 5 times each day
• The daily encounters with our night guard, Augustino, who is about 3 inches shorter than me, 25 pounds lighter than me, and provides protection by sleeping next to our house at night...he usually isn’t woken up by the noise when I come home late at night. There are only about 10 words in English and Swahili that we exchange, but this somehow turns into the same lengthy conversation every night (“Hello”... “How are you” ... “I’m fine, how are you” ... “I’m great” ... “Good, peace to you” ... “Peace to you also” ... “Are you completely fine?” ... “Yes, completely; you?” ... “Definitely. You’re feeling fresh?” ... “Yes I’m feeling fresh; you?” ... “Yes. You are completely fresh?” ... “Yes, completely. Are you also completely fresh?” ....)
• Practicing Swahili with our housemate, Martha, while she learns English from an English teacher and practices with us. Her English is far better than our Swahili, but we somehow manage to communicate through context, hand signals, and translation from our other housemate, Danielle. I’m hoping to see Martha on her first trip to the US in August, when her English vocabulary will probably be larger than mine. Our Swahili progress was encouraging until we met Al, a Canadian American who has had 1/3 the time in Tanzania as us, but has gained at least three times our Swahili vocabulary
• Realizing from daily conversation how much Swahili is influenced by other languages: Prepare tea (“Chai tayaar”), Law (“Shariya”), Peace (“Salaam”).... are all phrases that I’ve heard or used before learning any Swahili. I also take pleasure in a few Swahili words that are easy to trace to their origins, such as the words for chicken (“kuku”), roundabout (“keepy-lefty”), and big butt (“tsunami”)
• Carrying in tanks of water every day, while we wait for our running water to be fixed. A guy with a wheelbarrow and tanks of water delivers a few jugs to us every morning, and we carry the jugs inside to fill buckets in our bathrooms and kitchen. We’ve gotten used to it, but running water – not to mention hot water – will be awesome. I didn’t realize how sought-after we were, but I hear that 2 of the water vendors got into a physical fight a couple of weeks ago for the rights to deliver water to our house
• Gaining familiarity with the neighborhood taxi drivers, who started out calling me “rafiki” (friend) while giving me the “mzungu” (Westerner) price, but now give me the right price the first time I ask. This made me feel pretty good, until I realized that Kat’s prices are usually one or two thousand shillings lower than mine
• The many “international” moments I’ve had after arriving – I hadn’t thought of Tanzania as being very “international”, but I’ve had more of these moments in Tanzania than in London, New York, Hong Kong, or anywhere else. Showing a Maasai cow herder to use Skype to talk people in Europe; playing volleyball at Kipopeo (“Butterfly”) Beach with people from Syria, Malawi, Tanzania, UK, etc; buying items from Chinese merchants who ONLY speak Swahili; pubquiz at an Irish pub, with a team comprised of a British IT professional, an American law student, a Hong Kong-based consultant, and myself (we won by a HUGE margin)
• Visiting Kenya to go on a safari with other Columbia students – meeting my future classmates, who came from Germany, Egypt, and Greece, and visiting some of the world’s most notable sites to see some of the world’s most ridiculous-looking animals. I got hella pictures, as well as confirmation that I’ve chosen the right school, with the type of classmates I was hoping for.
• Renting a Bajaji (also known as a Tuk-tuk or Auto-rikshaw) to drive myself and my friends around Dar Es Salaam. It was hard to find a place to legitimately rent one, but as expected, an illegitimate payoff to a Bajaji driver got me the keys and an experience I’ve wanted for years. I’m getting used to driving on the left and honking at old ladies that are in my way…I hella want to get a Bajaji in the US after I get back
• Finally, getting mugged on our first day – definitely a highlight for Kat and myself...enough said

There are other things I’ll remember – especially about the projects I’ve been working on – but the above is just a sample. I’m glad to have gained exactly what I came to Tanzania for: a lot of learning, a lot of fun, and a moustache.