Sunday, October 25, 2009

Send-Off Party- Wedding Celebrations TZed Style

Recently I attended a send-off party in Tanzania. This happens before the wedding and after the engagement/kitchen party. It is equivalent to the time before a wedding in an Indian wedding. They had dancing (mostly to religious songs), presents, food, speeches/introductions of the families, they also had something where the bride searches for the groom, etc. The wedding traditions here seem to emulate that of Indian weddings more than American weddings. Of course with western culture coming into Africa there is a combining of the two. In wedding celebrations there is a engagement party, a kitchen party (similar to a bachelorette/wedding shower), send-off party, and the actual wedding. A kitchen party is where women get together to advise the bride of martial responsibilities and give gifts of that nature.

Umeme again..new books to be read..

So now we have increased to 3 times a week so about every other day I have no power from 9 AM till 11 PM. It doesn't hinder me too much as I try to get everything I need power for accomplished on the days I have power and before 9 AM on the days I don't have power. But besides that it forces me to read books instead of being on the computer all day. Of course as usual I visit my neighbors. Some books that I have read: Three Cups of Tea, Into Thin Air, Zahir, and various others. I am trying to look for more upbeat "junk" books but right now all I have is the well-written, somewhat philosophical variety which is nice to expand the mind but tends to leave me a bit sad.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

My Community is Awesome!

Everyone is so loving and supportive of me during this time of stolen stuff and police investigations. I definitely feel the love of my neighbors, fellow co-workers, and students. And despite everything happening I am still optimistic and love working here..so I need to constantly tell them not to worry..that I am not going home. :) The first few days were a shock but I am getting back into the swing of things again, hopefully gaining momentum..you never know what life throws at you but you got to deal with it and keep on moving because it gets better. And everything falls into the past. I think that is why I am all about memories and not about material possessions. I would rather have experiences than physical objects-because of this value system it helps me recover in times like these when physical property and money are stolen. 'Cause when I look back in life I want to feel as though I have fulfilled what I wanted to accomplish. But for this to happen, of course, everyone must have their basic needs met and I feel as at least my basic needs are met.

Harusi

There is a wedding at the institute so I helped in cooking food yesterday. It was awesome to feel the energy as we used wood and big pots to cook food instead of electric stoves that most people have here. I think it was due to the fact yesterday was a non-umeme day. But at that moment I felt how it probably feels to live in a village..I can say I totally like the community feeling. I visit my neighbors alot when I am at site and actually like doing that but I have always been like that even back home in the States..it's my personality. And I enjoy cooking with everyone..cooking should be a social event. :)

Tangazo..

So for two days a week I have no power from 9 AM to 11 PM due to shortage of electricity here in TZed. It is the end of the dry season and until the rains start we probably won't have constant electricity (we use hydro-electric power here). It's nice because I get to make consistent use of my kerosene stove finally...

But on a better note the institute is planning to install water tanks so that we can get constant water instead of water just 3 times a day. I don't mind getting water only 3 times a day but when I have guests it tends to be a problem.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

I Feel Like I Am In A Mystery Novel...

It's a combination of alot of things but I feel like I am in a mystery novel. Maybe it's the old James Bond movies I recently watched or the dealing with the stolen laptop. It's horrible to be suspicious of everyone that you love with your heart. I realize in going through this experience it is not getting the stuff back that is most important but for me it is the questions that I have... What is the motive? How did they get it done? That is what is fascinating me right now as I try to contemplate many scenarios. And I recently discussed with my friend to be a good theif you must be a good planner, and planning is something that I like to do so how the criminal mind works interests me. Of course it would be nice to get the stuff back...

My Life at this Moment

Teaching computers to bachelor level and ordinary level students, getting the ICT conference off the ground, dealing with stolen laptop/money, getting rid of rats in my home, preparing to run the Moshi Kili Marathon in Feb 2010, and preparing to take the GMATs sometime next year. Also hanging out with neighbors & attending various student events like New Student Day, Graduation, and various sports competition.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A-Town and Iringa

I visited Arusha before my climb and I stayed at Ujamaa Hostel near Fire Road. I totally recommend staying there, it is very homey and the people are awesome. In Arusha a good pizza place is Albero's- they had a wood fired oven. And Meat King has cheese and also sells Pesto. There was also some good veggie samosas at a Raha's veggie snacks place in Arusha. I took the Hood bus from Mbeya to Arusha to arrive at 2 AM in A-Town...it was a long journey so on the way back I stopped over in Iringa. I stayed at VETA in Iringa which has nice rooms for cheap and then went over to Neema Crafts for good food- veggie lasagna and passion fruit ice cream and some stuff to bring back home in Dec. Also got some quilted kitenge bags aka Iringa bags for 5000 TSH each. :) Iringa and Arusha has some good dairy yogurt products.

Climbing Kili..I passed the test!

So I made it to the top of Kilimanjaro though it wasn't without some struggles. Here is the following info about the trip and tips too. I hiked the 8 day Lemosho route with Duma Explorer. It is not easy due to altitude and I don't know if I would do it again. But I am glad I did it (I don't regret it) and am proud of getting to the top.

I took with me hiking poles (recommended), 3 fleece shirts- Old Navy, 3 pairs of Patagonia capillene long underwear (top/bottom)-midweight, 2 fleece pants- Old Navy, 1 set of wind/raingear (top/bottom)- REI, 2 short sleeve running t-shirts, 1 pair of quick dry hiking pants- Patagonia, fleect hat- Old Navy, fleece scarf- Old Navy, fleece neck gaiter- Old Navy, 3 fleece gloves- Old Navy, 1 waterproof mittens- Old Navy, 5 pairs of wool socks- Smartwool, 1 pair of backpacking Gortex boots- EMS Summit GTX Women's, 1 pair trail runners- Gortex Salome, Petzl Tikka headlamp, extra batteries, digital camera, GU Energy Gel (for summit night), Diamox, daily contact lenses, 0 degree down Women's Sleeping bag (Marmot), Down Jacket with hood-Mtn Hardware, and other stuff. I used all the clothes I brought during the 8 day hike. I used the trail runners the first 4 days of the hike and on the last day. I used the backpacking boots all other days including the summit attempt.

I took Diamox 125 mg twice a day starting the day before the trip. Took it for first 4 days and then started taking 250 mg twice a day and took the last dose the night of the summit attempt. Took it during breakfast and dinner- experienced nausea, dizziness and slight tingling of fingers during the days I took Diamox. Summit attempt got a bad headache but once I started drinking more water it went away. Tried to drink at least 3 liters of water a day- normally I never drink water. Took lots of Chocolate flavored caffeine enhanced GU every 1-2 hours during the summit attempt till the sun came out and then I had energy again.

The hike overall is not too bad in terms of technical difficulty. There are some parts like Barranco Wall with scrambling and some parts where short people really need trekking poles to go up and down. The major difficulty is altitude and you really need to force yourself to go slowly to acclimatize. On summit night the major difficulty is exhaustation (not enough sleep during the day) and altitude. The going is steep but you are going slow so you don't feel your muscles hurting as much.

Preparation wise I ran 3 times a week about 5 miles each time in hilly terrain and I live at 1700 meters. The 2 months before I did not do any physical activity but living in Tanzania you are forced to walk everywhere so I think this helped. Also the fact that I had good physical fitness previously (I am able to run 13 miles without stopping and ran a marathon the previous year) helped even though I didn't run as much. Also I didn't get to do any day hikes on the weekends.

What really helps if you want to reach the top is doing a longer climb to acclimatize, and having good guides who set a good slow pace and give you help if needed during the climb. Diamox helped as well at least for me and drinking lots of water. Having some basic level of fitness is also important.