Somewhere but Nowhere: Back to Zanzibar...

The camps I attended the past two weeks have been incredible… and exhausting. Felt sick for a few days in the North but after a lot of rest and getting my feet back in the Southwest where I belong… I felt better. Recovery time for camp is slow but my energy will return with time. The students are still on break till next Monday so I have some time to relax and enjoy the quiet till then.

One year ago today I left Michigan to attend staging for my Peace Corps service in Philadelphia. I remember loading my luggage into the car that morning, hugging my parents goodbye, and getting on an airplane by myself. When I arrived at the hotel I was already making a great impression by showing up just as things were starting. I had my first Chipotle experience on my last day in the states for the next 27 months, remember my first roommate in my PC experience (Kat), and will never forget how I felt when they ‘couldn’t find’ my passport. Just think about leaping off of a very tall building with a bungee cord attached to you and your eyes are closed. You have no idea what the other end of the cord is anchored to or if there is even a safety net below. Even if you were wearing protective gear it’s doubtful that it would help in the event something happens. This is Peace Corps. You have no idea what you are getting yourself into until you jump and figure it all out through the experience.

(I would have used ‘it’s like jumping out of a plane’ but I think I already exhausted that one)

Now back to Zanzibar….

****December 26th****

After harassing dolphins and getting stung by micro jelly fish, we hired a private vehicle and headed to Paje town. Paje was the ‘spring break’ destination for beach-goers (from my understanding). Although I’ve never gone on a beach spring break trip before in the states this is a bit what I always imagined it would be like except with more people. There were young adults touring from all over the world with a few parents and their children scattered about. Sunburns and booze here and there… with tons of beach in-between! Even with my constant application of sunscreen and living 8 month on the equator I started peeling the second day. Lame. Nice mental photo.

*Side note: The last place my brother and I stayed was nice… but the beach was non-existent and replaced with sharp rocks and a 10 foot drop. If I mentioned sand in my last post at the lodge I hope I didn’t make it sound like a beach because that would be an overstatement. It was always either under water or hanging over the water due to a small cliff. Pictures I promised from last post:

The view from the room

the 'beach'

WARNING: This is not my plate... I would not waste my precious stomach space on a samosa or banana.

The staircase I would always attempt not to fall down

Full of crabs under the cliff!

no words could describe the beauty.

My brother and I arrived at Demani lodge around noon when everyone else was already on the beach. We changed into our suits and headed down the beach to find a familiar face…. in the wrong direction. We started walking one way where the ‘nicer’ more excluded resorts were then headed in the opposite direction for a few more miles. On the way we saw kite boarders, local sailboats, and even a few guys throwing a Frisbee which I happily joined in on for a few minutes. I was a bit bummed because I gave the only Frisbee I brought on the trip to a few kids on the main land of Tanzania but… I found one temporarily at least! We continued walking for a good 2 hours and after being extremely burnt and feeling like I should be in an episode of ‘Survivor.’ We stopped at a beach resort for a Pina Coladas and a plate full of flavorful food (which I was not used to). With our bellies full we headed back to Demani lodge to find the PCVs we were looking for the past few hours. Go figure.

That night we ended up taking it easy and stayed at Demani lodge (or should I say most of us). We took over the music and stayed up for a few hours catching up with one another. After one drink and a few good conversations I headed to my dorm style room that I was sharing with 2 other PCVs and my brother. I could tell I was on a tropical island because no my floor was a giant sandpit and I thought I’d wake up with gritty particles of sand everywhere in my bed but to my surprise it was relatively clean. In the morning the housekeeping staff came in and dressed our beds so they would continue to remain sand free! Each morning we got a ‘free’ breakfast consisting of an egg done in whatever style, fresh juice, and fruit. Yum.

December 27^th through the 2^nd of January all blurs together. Most days were spent on the beach relaxing in the sun, eating great food, and enjoying the company of other PCVs. Most nights were filled with casual conversations, good drinks, and (of course) the beach. We attended a Full Moon party on the beach consisting of expensive drinks and loud music that nobody was feeling… especially after a few of the Uganda PCVs got robbed at machete point (quite scary but theft is very common in Zanzibar so if you ever plan on going be smart, be careful, and stay in a group.) The next day 6 of us boarded a taxi and head over to Stone Town on the Western side of the island. We found an awesome local tour guide and walked through the fish market, everything market, explored an old bath house, discovered a delicious homemade yogurt shop, visited the old island fort, wondered around the back alleys of town like a pro, and lastly ended up at the seafood street food market (that’s a mouthful). You could find any seafood available from the local area skewered on a stick and ready to be grilled. I’d explain in better detail but I have a confession to make… I don’t like seafood. I tried some but I don’t really like it so I couldn’t even begin to tell you what they had. Although seafood is not my ‘thing’ I did taste a few of the items and heavily enjoy eating dafu, fresh coconut split open and ready to drink, and wish I could have just been a squirrel to store some for a rainy day in Uganda. The texture of the coconut meat was almost like a jello and strange at first but fantastic!

The next day (I believe) a large group of us planned an all-day snorkeling trip consisting of a stop to 3 different reef areas and a seafood lunch (octopus, squid, shrimp, lobster, and fries). I remember the first stop we landed on a small island and the crew pitched a tent for shade and started splitting fruit. Most people didn’t venture far from shore but I wanted to find the ‘good spot’ so I swam to the other side of the island with Aaron. After about 15 minutes of swimming Aaron wanted to head back to the group because we weren’t having any ‘luck’ finding the reef. He takes off and I keep on coasting along… by myself… in an ocean full of strange creatures I will never understand. Not even 2 minutes later… JACKPOT! I find a big reef filled with plenty of cool and bright colored looking coral and fish. The best part? I had it all to myself! Don’t get me wrong… I love to share but this?! Incredible! The water was so blue it looked like someone put food coloring in it. For those of you who need more of a visual the color reminded me of a blue raspberry kool-aid jammer. Remember those? And Dunkaroos? Oh such precious childhood taste bud memories. Sometimes I feel my taste buds weep when I think of Dunkaroos…. but I guess that’s normal because I find my taste buds do that about a lot of things now a days while I’m living in Uganda…

Back to reality now….

On New Years eve I went all out on my last meal of 2012 and got… drumroll…. street food with Aaron! Haha. I need to laugh at myself for that one. I’m cheap and I may as well act like a local and be cool to finish off the year. I also found it… symbolic somehow (wrong word? Oh well). By the time we finished our ‘meal’ we were ready to head to the New Years beach party! Unfortunately it was dark and with the previous night’s theft we felt a tad uneasy. Luckily we found some Masaai warriors and paid them to escort us to the beach party. Yea… we really did that and it was AWESOME! I felt pretty important for those next 20 minutes. Once again it was full of loud music and expensive drinks… good thing I am a cheap PCV and bought my drinks before attending the party for ¼ of the price. At midnight, which I’m pretty sure we had more than one countdown, they lit the beach on fire and it spelled out ‘WELCOME 2013.’ I’m pretty sure Mike loved that because he has an obsession with fire. At around 3ish the tide starts creeping in and everyone is dispersing. A few of us stay around so we can travel back together. While we were waiting on the beach I start walking towards a small group of PCVs near the water and all of a sudden one of the takes off onto shore and starts yelling about her wallet. I notice nobody else is following here so I run after her down a dark alley next to the lodge… I remember her yelling oh so politely ‘Excuse me sir but I believe you have my wallet’… ‘Excuse me sir….’ Over and over and over and over again as we run after this guy. Finally we reach an opening and we stop at the edge. I try telling her it’s unsafe to continue and I’m sorry that her wallet was stolen. So we start walking back and she trips on something. She bends down to pick something up and it’s her wallet! Surprisingly nothing was missing! We figured the thief either felt really sorry that he stole from such a polite person or he saw the Ugandan shillings and realized it wasn’t worth anything. After we get back none of the other PCVs really noticed us missing so we tell the story and head back to the lodge. Most of the other PCVs head to bed but I stay up with Kristina, Aaron, and other people from our lodge.

By 6am we are all exhausted but figured we would stay up and watch the first sunrise of the new year rise over the ocean so we headed down to the beach and waited. In those moments when the sun of the new year was rising up over the horizon I felt… at peace. We sat in silence and just drank in the beauty of the moment until the temptation became too great and people started swimming. I was too exhausted and ill prepared for swimming/ proper footwear and what what and am so glad I did not get in because one guy ended up cutting his hand and left to get stitches because of a sharp rock. I’m glad I thought things through and decided to go to bed before all of that even happened. By the time I went to bed, breakfast was moments away from being served but I decided to eat in my dreams instead. That day was reserved for lounging and enjoying the last full day of sunshine and white sandy beaches. I was going to take it all in. After 3 hours of sleep I was up and moving again with a slow but steady pace. I wanted the last day to just keep going on and on and on…. I felt like I would just wake up and be right back in Uganda. Well after a rocky Faerie ride, Subway sandwich in Dar Es Salaam, and two plane rides later… I was back.

Once we reached Uganda after 2 delayed flights we spent the night in a hostel and the next morning boarded a 9 hour bus to my home district of Rukungiri. For my brothers last few days in Uganda I got to show him my house! He was my first real visitor and I was so excited to share my house with someone from my family. I taught him how to hand-wash laundry, let him experience bucket bathing, and showed him how I generally live on a day to day basis. I will never forget when he told me I was doing ‘very well for myself’ and that he was impressed and proud of me. This was all coming from my oldest brother who I have always look up to and want to out-compete (at nobody knows what) and impress. I think I have finally succeeded. J

The whole trip was incredible! It felt good to take a break from Uganda and add another visa to my passport since I have never had many opportunities to travel outside of my home country before joining the Peace Corps. Tanzania was a BLAST and most of the reasoning behind that was the great company that I had the pleasure to be around throughout my trip. I’m so glad I got to share my brother’s first experience of African and hope he has many more because it has so much to offer.

Although I was glad to get out of Uganda for a week or two… I was also very relieved to come back to the familiarity of Uganda. Around this point it started feeling more like a home to me and I was very comfortable with my lifestyle and living situation.

Sometimes I may complain or point out things I dislike… but I could do the same thing about America and probably will when I return next year.

Now that I FINALLY was able to sit down and finish my post about something that happened over 5 months ago… I have a huge task ahead of me to update you on my life in Uganda since then. I would kick myself in the butt if I could but I already know I can’t do it successfully so I won’t even try. I won’t lie… time has flown by and at times I can close my eyes and still picture the vivid memories of Tanzania and Zanzibar that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. It is a great feeling… the first country I needed a visa for to travel in and not work or live in. I may be a newborn when it comes to traveling still but… look out world! This chick has some big dreams and distant destination to explore! Bring. It. On.