Mambo Mambo? I have not had the time to write a post in a while because we went on a week long trip to Dar es Salaam and then Zanzibar. I got back this past weekend and had to write a report about the trip, do an oral presentation in front of the professors, and also read some Swahili childrens books because that is the level i comprehend best :) haha.
So first we went to Dar es Salaam on the 12-7-08 and arrived at night. We were all invited to go to a wedding of one of the daughters or sons of a teachers here at MSTCDC. It was huge. There was music and food, but we ate before we got there so we just talked with different people. At one point the father of the groom came by our table and welcomed us saying "Karibuni!" and one of the students, Xander, replied "Marahaba!" Shocked and a little tired i busted out laughing. This is the response given to the greeting "Shikamoo," and is suppose to be the response stated by the elder. Shikamoo is a respectful greeting you say to someone who is older than you, and they answer Marahaba, now maybe you get the humor.
SO Sunday 13-7-08 started our adventure around Dar. First we went to Bagamoyo, a town which was the last stop of the slave caravan from the inland to the coast. Bagamoyo literally means "throw down my heart." Here we visited the Kaole ruins which were found in the 13th century and is believed to be an ancient city that was destroyed after the Portuguese arrived on the coast. Here we washed our hands with "holy water" from a well and climbed a Baobab Tree- my favorite! After Kaole we went to a museum in Bagamoyo where we read about the history of the East African slave trade. The museums here offer both Kiswahili and English descriptions so i was able to learn new words as well as understand the artifacts. Here we saw this map that was created in 1918 by a German. It was very interesting to see how detailed the map was: it had villages, cities, and geographic locations pinned.
After the museums we celebrated two of the students birthdays here. First we went to a local bar in the city for some bias (beers) and konyagi (kind of like gin). Of course we made friends here because as wazungu (foreigners/ white people) we attract attention. After we headed to a delicious Chinese/ Indian restaurant and had a feast, finally we got some chakula cha tamu! (tasty food).
The next day, 14-7-08, we headed to the University of Dar es Salaam where we walked around the university. It was alot bigger than i imagined, but a few kids had studied there in the past so we were able to follow them around and check out a book store. After this we headed to the Kijiji cha Makumbusho (Villages Museum). The museum was mostly outside and had recreations of small houses that were representative of the many different ethnic groups that are native to the Tanzania area. There was so many that i was not able to see all of them. There was also little descriptions of different plants the museum. For example the Muarobani (or Neem) tree is a dawa la asilia (natural medicine). Its sap can act as an aid to many diseases including malaria, pretty cool. After this we proceeded to another museum! I was getting tired, but At the Makumbusho ya Taifa (National Musuem) i saw this crazy fish (ilikuwa kufa- it was dead) but was being preserved in water. It was a Kisukuku (Coelacanth) and is believed to be some really ancient fish. ANyway this thing was nasty is was by a window and looked like it was rotting in the sun. However i did try and educated myself a little by reading a little bit about the oldest city excavated in Tanzania, Kilwa. But like i said i was kinda tired so i mostly walked around reading the stuff that struck me as odd (i.e the fish).
After this we all agreed to get ready for dinner and go to an Ethiopian restaurant close to our hotel, Addis in Dar. The food was the bomb here. It was my first time eating at a Ethiopian restaurant and i hope it is not my last! We sat around in a circle and the food was poured onto a large njera which is kinda like a flat bread except it is made with teff. Then you eat with your hands, taking pieces of the njera and dipping it or grabbing the different foods :) Yumm...
Then we were done in Dar, because the next day we had to wake up realllly early to catch the boat for Zanzibar!
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