I’m in Tanzania now, we checkedinto the hotel just fine, it’s actually pretty nice.there are beds withclean sheets, mosquito nets that are white so it’s almost like they justput lace over them all) and our own bathroom! there are women who cookbreakfast, lunch and dinner for everyone. you just have to tell them if you’ll be home in time so they know how many people to cook for. unfortunately, there’s no internet at the hotel (I’m at the local
university right now) so I don’t know how often I’ll actually be able to
write.. but we’ll see. a little worried about handing in assignments since
I think I’ll have to type them up on my tablet and then re-type them on a
computer with internet

people mostly speak Swahili here, but they’re very welcoming and happy to
teach so communicating isn’t too bad. yesterday we had a tour with a guide
who knew some basic things and could talk to the museum directors and
whatnot. the school paid for us to see their national museum, a botanical
garden, art gallery, village museum, get lunch (which was at 4:30.. I
almost died.) and then see a market- but we had a big van to take us
everywhere. it’s super relaxed here. like everything is slow, but since
everyone is slow it’s not that hard. however the slow computer thing was
not cool. it took about 3 minutes to load gmail. and their toilets are like
holes in the ground so you have to squat… but otherwise I’m good! the
food is fine (really good coffee) and we bought tons of bottled water ( I
have a 1.5 liter bottle, it’s like carrying around a child). Today the plan
was to get a tour of the university and then get ID pictures and meet the
students we’re working with, but the one guy is on his honeymoon and the
other lady is gone… so I think that the new plan is computer lab and then
go back to the hotel? making plans for the day is hard, and they seem like
they’re going to change even after we make them. anyway. right now, I’ll be
in Dar til Friday and then go to my field site, but that might be pushed
back too… for now, we’ve been exploring and at the hotel the women have
been helping us learn Swahili.

notes: it smells weird here, I’m not burned or bitten yet, they eat a lot of papaya. I still don’t like white rice

Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania