Bathrooms and Baboons

  I knew the Jangwani beach resort was a treat, but when we moved into the dorms at UDSM I had my long overdue realization as what what exactly I had gotten myself into.  CIEE kindly transported us from the resort to campus yesterday in an air conditioned van (I would pay money for that to be my dorm room!) and dropped the girls off first, then the boys because we are living in two separate residence halls.  I appreciate CIEE's planning on that one because all of the boys chivalrously carried our bags up the flights of stairs.  Meeting my roommate was a tad awkward though because we only had time to drop off our bags and say a quick "Mambo, habari gani?" before we were whisked off to the boy's dorm.  So much for the introduction I had planned out! But no worries, because after we unloaded the boy's bags (unfortunately there weren't enough for the girls to help, poor us) and made another quick run to Mlimani City (the air conditioned shopping mall near campus) on the dalla dalla's the CIEE gang and our roommates were invited to a cultural dinner in downtown Dar.  The excursion was pretty interesting for both groups of students because there was a group preforming traditional Tanzanian dance and music before, during and after dinner. Of course all of the American's were flabbergasted by the skillful dancing but I'm pretty certain the Tanzanian roommates got an equal kick out of watching our looks of awe and excitement.  I know my jaw dropped a few times.  My roommate Asman is pretty quiet and opted to sit next to some of her friends at the dinner table, but I did get to have some interesting conversations with our Tanzanian student assistant Polycarp and some other Tanzanian students.  Dinner ended, eventually, and we traveled back to our dorms in style (the air conditioned bus from before) only to be greeted by the impressively warm night time temperatures of Dar and the many hungry, hungry mosquitoes (about 79F) that live here.  Asman generously helped me put up my mosquito net and was quite amused to hear that yes, I am afraid of malaria. I was a little disconcerted she wasn't.  It was quite a process to get the net up, but finally with lots of help from Asman (who actually knows what she is doing)  I had my little mosquito-free sanctuary in our room.
  Speaking of rooms and for those interested (that's you mom and dad) here are some pictures of my room. Keep in mind that it isn't fully decorated yet and is still a little messy.

View from my side of the room-balcony off to right

My bed

My desk!

  Before this trip I got all sorts of advice from all different kinds of people, some helpful and some not so much. I was often warned that the bathroom situation was going to be "different" "difficult" or "strange" but I think that in this situation I just sort of tuned it out after hearing it so often. I thought "yeah, yeah it will be different, but no worries" and went on to think about other things like medicine and what clothes to bring.
The moment that reality came crashing into view was in those hurried minutes of saying hello to my roommate and dropping off my bags when I decided to use the bathroom facilities.  The door to the bathroom is missing the doorknob so I had to put my fingers through the open space where it should have been and push the door open a little.  As I entered I stepped in the 1/2 inch of murky water that stays on the floor all the way from the shower, into the toilet stalls, and to the opposite side of the room with the sinks.  The mirrors above the sink are clouded and broken around the corners and ants and tiny bugs were crawling around the edges of the sinks, not because there were piles of filth everywhere but because there are cracks in the walls and windows. I noticed that the water on the floor was most likely from the showers- without curtains and one without a door- and there was no drain anywhere in sight for the excess or overflow liquid to go.  As I tiptoed through the water into the stall I noticed a drowning beetle  in the corner, struggling to get out of the water. And of course, when I opened the door to the toilet I startled a moth who then startled me.  No toilet paper (but I had been informed of that many times) and the building had run out of water for the next two hours so the toilet wouldn't flush. Part of the top to the tank on the back of the toilet had been broken or cracked off. I know that my explaining of this on a blog may seem gross to some, or that the conditions are obviously what I should have expected, but I feel I need to express that moment when I realized, I mean really first-hand realized the privileges and luxuries we have in the U.S. and the conditions that exist in the rest of the world.  We are always told that the "other half" or the third-world live in extreme poverty, filth and general misery but I don't think any human can understand what that really means until they travel to those places. I am afraid for when I travel to those places because even though the UDSM conditions are a huge step below anything found in the U.S. they are leagues above how the majority of this world live every day. The the fact that the girls in this hall are provided with toilets, showers, running water (most of the time) or means to wash, all in an enclosed and relatively safe environment is very fortunate.  I hope I don't seem like I am complaining about the bathroom conditions but rather describing the eye-opening experience that made me realize how lucky I am to have the things and people that I do.  And what I find most amazing about where I am living on campus is that everyone is extremely grateful for the facilities, either because they did not have them at home/another university, or because UDSM has taken great care into looking after its students with the funds they have.  Of course after a night and day using the facilities on campus I am used to the "difficult" and "strange" ways of Tanzanian bathrooms and my reaction to the bathroom in the dorm yesterday seems silly, but prior to moving in I had been surrounded by things trying to replicate life in the Western world as much as possible. I am excited to see how things go from here and to truly experience  how my Tanzanian friends live.
  So back on track as to my activities in the past 12 hours (all of them exciting I assure you).... Morning begins with first light here and at 6am most everyone was up and about washing clothes, bucket showering, studying or getting other activities done before it got too hot out.  Even the roosters were doing their part.  Thankfully I had showered the night before when there was still running water because, just as promised, the water had run out by around 6:30 in our hall.  Even though I got out of bed at 6:30 I was already sweating by the time we walked out the door at 7:20.  Unfortunately my spoiled Humboldtian skin is not used to humidity and temperatures of 79 in the morning! Breakfast was taken in one of the many lovely UDSM cafeterias, and on our way there we saw the resident baboon and his other monkey companions (and their babies...aw!!) chilling in the grassy lawns. He seems to be quite the celebrity among foreign students and apparently doesn't have the bad reputation all of those other baboons have. Still, I think I will keep a safe distance. I had my first Kiswahili class this morning and learned more in two hours than I have with 3 weeks in French (no insult meant to my French professor)...it is exciting to be communicating with the locals! I had my first 'greetings conversation' today and it was quite the confidence boost.  On the downside of today, it seems that my body is having an allergic/poor reaction to the bites that the dozens of little bugs gave me while at the marine reserve. My feet and now my ankles are swollen and it isn't helping that it is so hot here! But no fear, ibuprofen is here! All will be well (that reassurance is for you mom) and I promise I will take excellent care of myself. I am just amused because this seems to be the one medical problem I didn't plan for! Oh well, that is live no?
 Well it is off to bed for a nap and then some more language study. What a crazy 48 hours, no? Everything from bathrooms to baboons.