Safe in Arusha!
With only a slight delay in Nairobi, we landed a few hours late, but all in 1 piece to Mt Kilimanjaro Intl Airport and were quickly picked up by our organization.
After day 1, I've already met, (and fallen in love with) several children (orphans) who latch on to you as if they have not a care in the world. They love taking pictures and then seeing what they look like on the digital cameras. They apparently never got the message to not talk to strangers...
After taking a quick, freezing bucket shower, we rode a dalla dalla, (a little van you hail like a cab) into the city of Arusha - which is quite the culture shock. It felt like a walk through union square on a Saturday afternoon trying to not fall over the rocks while still taking a second to look at the people, the trades and the kids. But if you don't see them - they will come chasing after you -"hey white person, where's my money, where's my money?" A bit crazy... but we managed to find a quiet little area and had lunch with a few other volunteers and one of the organization leaders (from TN).
The organization is great as are the ~10 other girls we're staying with in the house... there's a driver, a cook and several cleaning ladies. The house we ended up staying in last night is new - and might i say, far better than any NYC apt. They are all extremely sweet and are patient with our lax attempts at Swahili.
So far - Tanzanians are beautiful people who are curious and excited to practice their english, meet foreigners and potentially get paid. :)
The country - from what we've seen, is just like you'd imagine. Chickens and goats roaming around, children and their mothers on the street... the landscape vibrant and breathtaking.
With only a slight delay in Nairobi, we landed a few hours late, but all in 1 piece to Mt Kilimanjaro Intl Airport and were quickly picked up by our organization.
After day 1, I've already met, (and fallen in love with) several children (orphans) who latch on to you as if they have not a care in the world. They love taking pictures and then seeing what they look like on the digital cameras. They apparently never got the message to not talk to strangers...
After taking a quick, freezing bucket shower, we rode a dalla dalla, (a little van you hail like a cab) into the city of Arusha - which is quite the culture shock. It felt like a walk through union square on a Saturday afternoon trying to not fall over the rocks while still taking a second to look at the people, the trades and the kids. But if you don't see them - they will come chasing after you -"hey white person, where's my money, where's my money?" A bit crazy... but we managed to find a quiet little area and had lunch with a few other volunteers and one of the organization leaders (from TN).
The organization is great as are the ~10 other girls we're staying with in the house... there's a driver, a cook and several cleaning ladies. The house we ended up staying in last night is new - and might i say, far better than any NYC apt. They are all extremely sweet and are patient with our lax attempts at Swahili.
So far - Tanzanians are beautiful people who are curious and excited to practice their english, meet foreigners and potentially get paid. :)
The country - from what we've seen, is just like you'd imagine. Chickens and goats roaming around, children and their mothers on the street... the landscape vibrant and breathtaking.
No comments:
Post a Comment