I just realized that time has passed too quickly and that I've been a bad blogger. I can't say that we've been too busy, 'cause that's not the case, but there has been so much problems with the Internet access. I was thinking of writing about all our expriences tomorrow, friday, since it will be our last day at the university but I can't trust the Internet. So now, while there still is power in the campus area I'll try to write as much as possible about the latest things we've experienced.

Last  weekend, we went to Tanga - a city near the coast and only four hours by bus from Lushoto - to spend our free time there and to enjoy the sun and the beach. Because of the "Nyerere-day" last friday (a holiday day when celebrating the first president of Tanzania) we could leave on thursday already. It seems wrong to say it, 'cause I like the food in Tanzania and have no problem with eating the same things every day, but the best thing with Tanga, was actually the food. We ate pizza, pasta, vegetables, hamburger, garlic bread, ICE-CREAM... I really felt like a tourist, eating almost the same food as home, haha.
  Apart from the food, we experienced the fantastic Amboni Caves! It was so cool, we had a guide with us who showed us traces from animals in the rocks, told us about human activity in the cave system and that some people had used it as a place to hide during the colonization. Because of the rain, it was very slippery on the ground so we had to take every step very carefully, since it was so dark. Without a torch, it was completely black.
  Friday night, some of us went to a night club with three tanzanian guys, one of them we knew from Lushoto. We had a great time, the tanzanians are great dancers, thought we didn't always appreciate all the attention we got... Anyhow, we went to bed five o'clock in the morning and I missed breakfast. Before lunch, we went to see a "local doctor" in a village. Evelina told him about her problem with her back, and he put some black liquid on it. Caitlin questioned him about her life and future love, but he didn't seem to have so many answers to those kinds of questions. Then everyone of us got some small stones and we were supposed to tell them about our problems, whispering. After that, we put them in a boul with ashes, and the "doctor" put a sheet over his head, leaned over the boul and the smoke that rised from it, and made some strange noises. Since he only understood Kiswahili, the man from the hotel who had helped us finding this "doctor", translated everything he said into English. Before we left, the "doctor" wanted Evelina to buy some medicin to heal her back (eggs, a hen and something more) but we only thanked him, paid him for his help and left.
 Except from these happenings, we spent some time at the beach and in town. On our way back to Lushoto, sunday afternoon, the bus was really crowded and when we only had one hour left we had to stop in Mombo because of some trouble with the bus. Because of this and all the stops we had to do along the road to fill the bus with more people, the journey took six hours instead of four. We were pretty tired when we arrived sunday evening and happy to see that the ladies in the kitchen had prepared dinner for us!


This week we've had lots of free time. Too much, I think. On Monday we had no lessons because we were supposed to prepare for the exams. We did, but we also washed our clothes (most of us had a mountain of dirty clothes in our room) and enjoyed the sun (last week it was raining every day in Lushoto...). Tuesday, we had the writing test and after that some of us walked to Lushoto, bought some Snickers and fruit and went back to SEKUCo again (16 kilometres, wohoo!). Yesterday (Wednesday) we had the oral test (which was pretty basic, we got interviewed by our teacher Esther one by one. She asked us to present ourselves and tell about our stay in Tanzania, what we liked and what we didn't like). Then Emma, me and Turid went for a walk and we met two students called Emanuel and Innocent who were really nice. We talked about and discussed many things, for instance about higher education in Tanzania. In Sweden it's common to start working after finishing an education of three years in university. Here in Tanzania, it is almost a must to take a master directly after finishing a candidate-programme, since the job opportunities are very few. This is probably one of the reasons for why many parents can't afford letting their children go to school - even if primary school is free (secondary is not), the parents know that to get something our of their education, they have to continue with university studies and that costs a lot. And many parents need their children's help in the household. However, we had a great time with the students and ended up in Emanuel's place where he stays while studying, playing guitar and singing.

Today, Thursday, I've only been resting since I have a cold. And it's really bad timing to get sick now, since we'll leave school on Saturday for our working places!! We were told this monday where where we'll work, but we still don't know were to live. Haha, it's so typically African! I'm really happy and excited about my work, I will be at Irente Biodiversity Reserve and Irente Farm for six weeks, taking care of the forest and the trees, guiding people in the forest and maybe I can do some work in the farm. After that, I have one month of free time, doing whatever I want to do. I haven't decided yet which things I want to prioritate, but it would be fantastic to go on safari, to climb Kilimanjaro and to visit Zanzibar. I don't think there will be enough time to visit the south parts of Tanzania, because of the distance, but it would be great - to see something else than just the northen and the eastern part.

Now, it's time for dinner. There i so much more to tell, this was just a brief, short summary. I hope the power will last the whole evening so that I can publish some pictures later. I also hope this won't be the last you hear from me here, maybe I can get access to Internet in some way while working at Irente and travelling around Tanzania.

Tace care!
Tutaonana baadaye!

After the fantastic weekend spent in the capital of Tanzania we're now back to school, since monday, but only for a few days - cause on friday we're leaving for Bagamoyo!! It is a city near the coast and Dar es Salaam, famous as the city of art, music and other culture. We will spend our weekend there with our african history teacher Philamon, who will guide us at the historical places in town since there are many traces from the slave trading time. I really hope to learn a lot about history while there so I can share it here on the blog when coming back! We are also planning to spend some time at the Bagamoyo festival of arts and culture.

Since Matilda S already wrote about our weekend in Dar es Salaam, I won't bore you repeating all the happenings. We really enjoyed the wedding, bot the ceremony in church and the celebration in the evening, though we felt sorry for the bridal couple since the electricity was out for a very long time, just before the dinner was supposed to be served. But, since this is something the tanzanians are very used to, they remained calm. I admire them because of this. Back in Sweden people would have panicked, haha. Luckily, the electricity came back after maybe 40, 50 minutes.
I am not a fan of big cities, but I still appreciated all the things we experienced - the wedding, the dala dala:s, the nice view from the restaurant we had dinner at friday evening (at the 11th floor) and many other things.


Today we've had Kiswahili lesson with Esther and Irene. We learned about the most heavy grammar part; the noun classes and the possessive pronouns. There are nine noun classes (or at least there should be) and the plural forms of the nouns vary a lot! For example, you say mkulima (one farmer), wakulima (several farmers). This is the first class. But then your say mti - miti (tree, trees), which belong to the second class. The third class says that jicho (eye) becomes macho (eyes) and according to the fourth class kitabu (book) becomes vitabu (books). Then there are five more classes and, of course, lots of exceptions... So, we've got much to learn in a short time!

I forgot, I've got a anecdote to tell: This morning, I went up and was supposed to go having breaktfast in the cafeteria. The problem was, couldn't get out of my room, because of the door. Something had happen to the door lock! I looked and found that a part in the lock was broken. I went to my window, waiting and hoping for someone to pass outside. Emma became my rescuer and tried to help me, she called for the others and they also tried to help me. Ludvig was kind and brought me breakfast, so that I was able to eat through the bars beneath the window, haha. Emma joined me. Suddenly our teacher Philamon showed up, he laughed a lot and brought the carpenter who removed the whole lock so that I could get out for class. So now I can't close my door properly, waiting for a new door lock! And for you mum, isn't it ironic that you told me yesterday, just before i went to bed, about my sister's son Alexander (2 years old) who had locked in his grand mother in the earth cellar, by mistake! And then the morning after I wake up and can't get out of my room, haha!

However, one day left in class and on friday, we will go by bus to Dar again and from there, to Bagamoyo.

Tutaonana baadaye!