My attempt at a map of Arusha-Town
Happy belated 4th of July!
Last night I met up with friend from Duke, Meaghan, who is also here in Arusha. She’s doing a different Duke Engage program called “Literacy Through Photography.” It was really nice getting to see her, since I won’t be back to Duke until January. We’ve been talking about meeting up here since February or so, when we realized we were both going to the same city.
After class, Charlotte (my roommate), Ray (a guy from Duke in our group), and Michael (another guy from Duke who is here on an independent project) took the TCDC shuttle bus into downtown Arusha. Michael is living in a hostel in Arusha and has been here a little longer than us, so he showed us through the main streets around Clocktower, the main landmark of downtown and apparently the longitudinal “center of Africa.” Not sure how accurate that is, but maybe they just mean the East Coast. Anyways, downtown is crazy. There are so many people! And cars, and motorcycles (pikipiki), and these huge wooden wheelbarrows full of clothes and vegetables headed to market. People don’t really follow any traffic etiquette here, so it’s smart to cross the street in large packs to avoid becoming a human speed bump. It gets dark here around 7:30 pm, so Michael headed home at about 6:30 and Ray, Charlotte and I started walking back to Clocktower. At this point the plan was to go back to Sikina (where I live), drop off our backpacks and change, and then meet up with Meaghan and the other group for dinner and a club later on.
Now, first I need to explain how Arusha is set up. It’s basically just a square with only two traffic lights, one at each of the top corners. The Eastern one is called Sanawari and the Western one is called Mianzini. Charlotte and I knew that we had once walked East from our house about 25 minutes to a traffic light, which we thought was Sanawari, meaning that Sikina would have been located in between the two lights, on the top side of the square. So, we set off for Sanawari, which is just down the road from Clocktower. We take a left and start walking West. And we walk. And walk. And I’m thinking we should probably have reached Sikina by now, when we come to another traffic light. It’s Mianzini, which means Sikina is actually located completely West of the entire city grid! By this time it was about 7:15 and the sun was starting to set, but there was a lot of traffic so we figured it would be faster just to walk than try to jump in a DalaDala (like a mini bus thing, but that’s for another post!). By the time we finally reached our street, it was pretty dark, and we accidentally passed our house but we ended up making it home safely. After that long, dusty walk, however, Ray decided he’d rather just head home instead of coming out with the other Duke group, and Charlotte preferred to stay in Sikina for the night. I didn’t really want to worry about taxi-ing back home after going out with Meaghan, so I figured I’d just stay at her lodge and meet up back with our group at TCDC in the morning. Ray and I called a cab, who dropped me off at Kundaya Lodge before taking Ray home to his homestay.
This post was written on Friday June 29, though I was not able to post it till now, Thursday July 5. Last night I met up with friend from Duke, Meaghan, who is also here in Arusha. She’s doing a different Duke Engage program called “Literacy Through Photography.” It was really nice getting to see her, since I won’t be back to Duke until January. We’ve been talking about meeting up here since February or so, when we realized we were both going to the same city.
After class, Charlotte (my roommate), Ray (a guy from Duke in our group), and Michael (another guy from Duke who is here on an independent project) took the TCDC shuttle bus into downtown Arusha. Michael is living in a hostel in Arusha and has been here a little longer than us, so he showed us through the main streets around Clocktower, the main landmark of downtown and apparently the longitudinal “center of Africa.” Not sure how accurate that is, but maybe they just mean the East Coast. Anyways, downtown is crazy. There are so many people! And cars, and motorcycles (pikipiki), and these huge wooden wheelbarrows full of clothes and vegetables headed to market. People don’t really follow any traffic etiquette here, so it’s smart to cross the street in large packs to avoid becoming a human speed bump. It gets dark here around 7:30 pm, so Michael headed home at about 6:30 and Ray, Charlotte and I started walking back to Clocktower. At this point the plan was to go back to Sikina (where I live), drop off our backpacks and change, and then meet up with Meaghan and the other group for dinner and a club later on.
Now, first I need to explain how Arusha is set up. It’s basically just a square with only two traffic lights, one at each of the top corners. The Eastern one is called Sanawari and the Western one is called Mianzini. Charlotte and I knew that we had once walked East from our house about 25 minutes to a traffic light, which we thought was Sanawari, meaning that Sikina would have been located in between the two lights, on the top side of the square. So, we set off for Sanawari, which is just down the road from Clocktower. We take a left and start walking West. And we walk. And walk. And I’m thinking we should probably have reached Sikina by now, when we come to another traffic light. It’s Mianzini, which means Sikina is actually located completely West of the entire city grid! By this time it was about 7:15 and the sun was starting to set, but there was a lot of traffic so we figured it would be faster just to walk than try to jump in a DalaDala (like a mini bus thing, but that’s for another post!). By the time we finally reached our street, it was pretty dark, and we accidentally passed our house but we ended up making it home safely. After that long, dusty walk, however, Ray decided he’d rather just head home instead of coming out with the other Duke group, and Charlotte preferred to stay in Sikina for the night. I didn’t really want to worry about taxi-ing back home after going out with Meaghan, so I figured I’d just stay at her lodge and meet up back with our group at TCDC in the morning. Ray and I called a cab, who dropped me off at Kundaya Lodge before taking Ray home to his homestay.
After getting ready, we called another cab and headed to ViaVia, a large compound that has a craft market and restaurant during the day, with live music, a dance floor and bars at night. The place was really nice, all outdoors with multilevel patios and little thatched-roof verandas. I had a little bit of reverse culture-shock however, when I saw all the bleached-blonde girls in short dresses and tank tops. Via Via is a pretty touristy place. I was definitely the most conservative person there, in a long skirt and long sleeved button-up shirt. I thought it was so funny how upon seeing the young tourists in western club-wear, I took a sharp intake of breath and thought to myself, “Ah! Look at that whore with her calves showing!” We had a fun night though, dancing first to live Tanzanian music and then more western mainstream stuff on the dance floor. It’s crazy though—at one point we were doing that Jersey-shore fist pump thing and I look up and there’s a full-on Massai guy doing it across from me. Red checkered blanket, stretched earlobes and everything. Now that’s what you call a cultural fusion!
By the end of the day, I think I gained a much better locational awareness of where I live and study in Arusha, and I’m happy I got to see Meaghan and have a really fun, if touristy, evening out on the town.
Meaghan and her friends had ordered in Indian food, and I had some delicious thing that they got me, though I have no idea what it was!By the end of the day, I think I gained a much better locational awareness of where I live and study in Arusha, and I’m happy I got to see Meaghan and have a really fun, if touristy, evening out on the town.
My apologies...
The internet connection has been extremely spotty lately, so it's been pretty difficult for me to keep you updated with posts. The only time I really have to use the computer lab is in the morning before class, but that's only enough time for maybe one post. But don't worry, I didn't get eaten by lions, and my safari pictures will be up soon! :)