Dar es Salaam

Hi everyone, I know it’s been awhile, but things have been fairly quiet since I got here to Dar es Salaam. I recently found out that Dar is not actually the capital of Tanzania, it’s Dodoma. And Dar is much much bigger than I originally thought, it took over an hour to drive through the whole city, it’s very spread out. Anyways, we some how arrived here two Sundays ago, I say some how because our plane left four hours early. They pretty much just fly when they want I guess. On the way to the airport Karen and my taxi driver drove off the road into a ditch, our car was completely sideways and I immediately jumped out because I thought it was going to tip over. A bunch of guys came over and were able to lift it out of the ditch, and afterwards they were yelling at Karen and me for money and I was yelling at them saying it wasn’t my fault it was the taxi driver’s fault. So, they eventually went over to the driver and he gave them some money. This past weekend I went to a town a few hours away for White Ribbon Day, promoting maternal and child health. Saturday night I went out to a club with two of the Tanzanian interns here which was really fun and interesting. I ordered a local liquor (Kunyagi) and they brought it to me in a small plastic bag! The event was on Sunday and it was interesting. We waited three hours for them to get organized and then we marched about three blocks. It was weird. And they gave out shirts but there weren't enough for everyone so people were chanting "shirts" in Swahili during the rally/march. Then we had to wait for the second guest of honor about another hour (the Vice-President of Tanzania) and we had to do the march all over again. The V.P came with about 20 cars following him! Then there were speeches, but of course I didn’t understand any of them because they were in Kiswahili. I saw two monkeys on the way there and a camel. At work here I'm supposed to be analyzing 150 surveys that they did with village health workers, it's all qualitative information and it's all in Swahili so I'm having a tough (impossible) time with it. There is not money in the budget for translating, so I am working with a Tanzanian intern to help me.
Karen and I are staying with our supervisor here from CARE. They weren’t able to find us housing, but she has welcomed us into her home. She has a three year old daughter who keeps me entertained. She also has someone that they call a “housemate” who takes care of her daughter, cooks, cleans, etc. and lives in the house. This is very common here, and I recently just found out from one of the Tanzanian interns that her housemate is paid $15,000shillings/month, that is about $13USD! I was so shocked. Apparently it’s a good deal for them because they also have food and somewhere to sleep. I can’t imagine paying $13 a month to have someone cook and clean for me and take care of my child. I could really get used to someone cooking for me everyday (and clearing the table and doing the dishes).
Jeremy comes in 9 days! We are both so excited. We finally booked our Safari, I know it is going to be absolutely amazing. We are spending 5 nights on the Safari and then flying to Zanzibar for 3 nights. Jeremy has arranged the accommodations for Zanzibar. Well, that’s about it from here. I am getting frequent updates about the Gators and of course am a bit disappointed to be miss seeing them in the Final Four. Oh well, Tanzania may only be once in a lifetime and I know there will many more Final Fours (as long as Billy doesn’t leave for Kentucky!). I miss everyone!