First impressions- Dar es Salaam

Eunice and I having our first ugali and nyama.
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Here I am on my first entry. I've arrived this morning at around 8.30am, but we were 30 mins delayed (I guess Africans are always late like the Brasilians!). I met a "Portuguese" girl from the TBA course called Dee on the plane and a Cameroonean girl (Eunice) in the queue to the Immigration. I'm so glad I had bought my visa in advance in the UK cos Eunice was held for over 1 hr and apparently they didn't treat her very well and even made her cry. Outside the airport, we met our driver that the TBA course had arranged to pick us up and also Trent (the frog lecturer) and his wife Dina.

Dee happy with her matoke
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On the way to the Msimbazi Centre, I had the first glimpse of Tanzania and it shocked me a bit to see poverty everywhere. The traffic is chaotic and I don't know if I didn't pay attention, but I didn't see any traffic lights so far. The other thing is that people are always, always, always staring at me! Probably because I'm white (yellow actually) and have japanese eyes. I don't think they get many of my species around here! It makes me a little bit uncomfortable sometimes cos I feel like an alien. I don't have the faintest idea what they are saying about me, but i try not to care. There's nothing I can do to hide my face, so I'll just enjoy the feeling of being obeserved.

... people are always, always, always staring at me!

We got the Msimbazi Centre and were introduced to Clive, the course coordinator. We were taken to the farthest accomodation, and shown our rooms. We were all allocated in single rooms, with mosquito nets, a fan, a bottle of water and cold shower. Simple but cozy.

We just dropped our stuff in the room and Dee, Eunice and I headed off to the city centre again to exchange our money. I had bought traveller cheques in London, but found out they are useless without a receipt. So we had to go to Barclays Bank where they had an ATM machine. 1 USD is approximately Tsh 1200.

By that time we were starving, so we went to a local "restaurant" (if I can call that a restaurant), where they served quick meals cooked in pans on the floor for Tsh 1000. I had Ugali (staple made from maize or cassava flour, a bit like japanese omoti in texture), nyama (a beef stew) and matoke (cooked plantains) from Dee. Tried to eat with my hands, but had to finish off with a fork. That's the first place I felt the hospitality of Tanzanian people. I tried to speak the little swahili I know (Jambo and nakupenda- not very useful!) and I think they like when they see foreigners trying to speak their language. The cook was a lady that could not speak English, but tried to make us feel as comfortable as possible, saying Karibu tena (you are welcome again) all the time! I thought everyone could speak english since it is the official language of the country, but I found that only a few people do. We walked around the city for a while and a guy tried to open the small pocket in my bag, but didn't take anything.

I forgot the charger for my mobile phone!I'm so stupid and I can actually use my phone with roaming! Now I have no phone and no alarm in the mornings! Hunfs!

In the evening, there was 3 wedding parties going on at the same time. All of them with lots of music and dances! I met the rest of the TBA group in the evening. 24 students from around 20 different countries, half europeans (and south american-me!) and half africans. They are all really nice, but I can't remember a single name! I'm loving this cultural mix!