I can't believe I'm saying this already, but in a week and a half our SST group will have already said our first goodbye to our host families and traveling to the Serengeti! Two weeks ago I would have said that the next three weeks couldn't pass by fast enough, but now that the end of our time in Dar is approaching I'm trying to enjoy every moment. We've been going about the usual schedule lately of going to class in the mornings and having lectures in the afternoons but its really fallen into somewhat of a routine. The weekends are always pretty different but the weekdays just seem to fly by. As I look forward to going on service and experiencing a whole new part of Tanzania I just have to share about some of the most interesting parts of Dar es Salaam.
Daladalas
Ok, so have any of you ever wanted to get a taxi but thought it would be too expensive for just yourself? Maybe it would be better if you shared it with a couple of friends right, to cut the costs? Well, that seems to be the thinking over here in Dar. If you can fit 40 people into a bus then the cost will be really cheap (250 Tanzanian shillings = about 20 cents). Every morning, I wake up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready to and walk to a bus stop 20 minutes from my house to catch a daladala (the buses here) into town. If I'm lucky I'll grab a seat and won't have to stand for the hour it takes to get to where our classes are given. On any given day, I would say that I spend an average of about 3 hours on a daladala. Sometimes I get a seat and enjoy the ride, and other times I end up standing with only the packed bodies next to me managing to keep me on my feet. It's definitely been something that we all have had to get used too. I never would have thought that I would grow to enjoy the time on the buses but I have to admit that I have. Its been a nice way to get reading done and just have some "alone" time at the beginning and end of the days. I think that so far our biggest exposure to how actual Tanzanians live has been during our daily commutes. I've been able to talk to people who speak great English to people who don't even know a single word, from things about politics to daily life in Dar. Its really been a great way to feel connected to daily life here. Actually, I'm glad that I put off writing about the daladalas until now because before I probably wouldn't have had as nice of an outlook on the whole situation. Needless to say, I'll be happy to be done with the bustle of Dar es Salaam in a week or two and finally get to the hopefully quieter life of service. I'm still pretty fuzzy on the exact facts of what I'll be doing during the service portion of SST but I'll be sure and write an update as soon as I know!
