We're Back From Holiday

On Saturday morning I left my new village with Sara, Sarah, and Renske (a woman from Holland doing anthropological work in Shirati) to go to Musoma. It's a city about two hours away, but it's also on the lake. All the roads to get there were pretty smooth, especially compared to the roads we take to get to our villages. There were even some times when the road was paved. Musoma is mostly a business place of gathering for the surrounding areas. They have Internet cafes and other shops that sell things you may not be able to get in a village. We went to eat, see the market, dance, and use the Internet. And that's pretty much all we did there.

We were in for a nice surprise when we found out the hotel we were staying in had a pool, so we all packed our bathing suits. It turned out that the pool, which we had been told was very clean, was Lake Victoria. That is a pretty big miscommunication if you ask me. Lake Victoria is the second largest lake in the world, and the snails have schistosomiasis; but, we did it anyway. It was so much fun! While we were swimming it started to pour so much that I could hardly see two feet in front of me. Probably a poor life choice if you factor in the thunder, but it was worth it. I have contemplated taking my Cipro just to be safe, but I think I will just take the schisto treatment for now. I might even wait on that in case we go swimming again before we leave in March. Just this week they treated the entire first grade class in both primary schools in the village nearby for schisto.

We ate some really good food, before we went out dancing. Dancing was definitely not quite like dancing in Nairobi, and also not the highlight of the holiday, still it was a good experience. The next day we went to an Internet cafe and looked around the market. I got a kanga, which is the cloth that women here wrap around themselves for just about every function. I think mine is really beautiful, and I'm anxious to use it.

On the way home our right front tire popped off, so I suppose you could say we were in a car accident. All I know is that all of a sudden the car started to slide and we slid all the way into a
ditch. When we got out the wheel was totally perpendicular to the way it was supposed to be, not to mention unattached. We were really lucky that we didn't hit anyone. The family that lived near where we crashed stayed outside with us. Every car that passed stopped . . . after they passed, and then they would back up, or yell back to us that they were really sorry (which was a lot nicer than it sounded). The only car that didn't stop was the one with a muzungu in it. We just laughed. There was really nothing anyone could do for the car, but the guys (who were all local) picked at it, took apart the wheel and the brakes and scattered the pieces all around while the girls (who were all western) just sat and watched. Because I'm still really pitiful in Swahili I just had to accept that I would have to just sit there. I feel like I have done a pretty good job of communicating with such few words, but in such a situation I felt hopeless. Even the two girls that spoke Swahili were getting frustrated. They were saying that the guys wouldn't even answer their questions, they were just not responding. CRAZY!!! It was interesting to see the whole thing, but it was also a really good end to the trip, because it was a good way to be reminded that no matter what you have to be flexible and deal with things as they come.

In the end, it was definitely the people that made the trip.