Life in Mwanza

Here is what living in Tanzania is like so far, four weeks in:

• Beautiful sunsets;

From the Gold Crest Hotel

• Bananas (ndizi) at every meal;

• Chipsy maiye! It's this amazing Tanzanian food that I think needs to have it's own food truck in Calgary. It's the most amazing hangover food; an omelette with fries cooked in it, served with hot sauce;

• Everyone wanting to take a picture with the mzungu, from shopkeepers, waitresses, business owners, guys on the street;

• Everyone is better dressed than I am. I'm going to have to go get some new clothes so I stop looking like a traveler bum and more like an environmental professional;

Fresh!

• My swahili seems to be getting worse without 5 hours of lessons a day :P 

• Everyone says hi to you on the way to work! Sometimes in Swahili, sometimes in English. It's delightful/annoying. I was told that greetings carry WAY more importance in Tanzania than I expected. It is customary to do quite a few back and forth greetings every time you see someone. 

Habari ya asubuhi? (How is your morning?)

Nzuri! (Good!)

Mambo vipi? (How's it going?)

Poa! (It's going)

Hujambo? (Problems?)

Sijambo! (No problems)

Karibu! (Welcome!)

Asante! (Thank you)

A person should greet their neighbours every time they see them, so every morning I get to practice greetings as I walk by the group of men lounging in front of the store by my apartment. 

From my apartment

• I asked my teacher why Tanzanians look so stoic, so stony-faced, so impassive all the time. She laughed, and my Ugandan coworker suggested it is because everyone is thinking about their problems. However, as soon as you greet them usually you get a big smile in return. Everyone feels delightfully friendly here, perhaps because I don't understand what they're saying about me in Swahili;

• My favourite Swahili saying so far is Amna shida or Hakuna shida (no problems!). I've been told "Hakuna matata" is a Kenyan thing, not said here. There's also a joke here that Tanzania is where the Swahili language was born, but it got sick in Kenya (they say the Swahili in Kenya is not proper, too sharp, too rude), and died in Uganda (where they barely speak it). My Ugandan co-worker is a big fan of Swahili and is learning it as fast as he can here. He said that a common language is key for the East African community, which includes Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and I heard rumor South Sudan just joined. 



Sunset over Lake Victoria

• Burping is socially acceptable here. Ew! 

• Learning dirty swearing from a slightly (or mostly) deranged woman in Geita, who was screaming "Wewe.. [something, maybe una] kuma kubwa!" at us;

• Feeling low and a bit lonely one night, only to have my former Kiswahili teacher randomly start up a conversation with me at 10 pm on Whatsapp using very simple, basic Swahili sentences :-D;



Chilling at Ryan's Bay Hotel

• The price of items on the street being 4x the normal price because I'm mzungu, but the price dropping by 30% when I barter with them in Swahili;

• Buying used clothing but being unable to try it on before you buy it;

• Innovative solutions to recurring problems, for example the apartment building I live in appears to have been Chinese made (so say the other tenants) so while it looks nice it is in a constant state of falling apart. One night, before I arrived, a big storm came through Mwanza and some of the windows blew out! The solution to keep the remaining windows from blowing out is pictured below;

Yup, that's a wire holding the window frame to the railing.

• Randomly ending up at a table with six Canadians one Sunday night;

The lovely Hilary, Nadira and my shiny self

• Riding the daladala (bus) for the first time; 

It's not even full yet.

• Not being able to go out alone at night, or walk anywhere at night. A new friend got mugged a week or two ago despite walking home with a big local guy. Another volunteer here (from India) said that he has never felt unsafe while walking around Tanzania, but the white gals living here in Mwanza are adamant that it's just not safe. And even when taking a taksi (taxi) home after dark, there are uncomfortable situations where the driver (always a male) asks for your number when you're the only one in the car, and you are worried that maybe he'll pull over and dump you in a sketchy part of town or maybe he'll follow you up to your apartment :( 

• But, on a happier note, taking a break on the lake shore and finally hearing birds instead of construction and cars honking. Unfortunately, Lake Victoria is known to be a source of bilharzia/schistosomiasis so it's too risky to swim in the water... although the locals were swimming. 

Early morning yoga, seriously dreamy

Tunza Beach

I have now made a few meals here, washed my laundry by hand and hung it outside on the railing to dry, and feel like I actually live here now. Tutaonana!