Ismila Stone Age site

Photos from a recent visit to Ismila, a Stone Age site and really cool canyon in Southwest Tanzania. I am too tired to write. Enjoy the photos.

xo

Shannon

Things I am thankful for in Tanzania

I like the way Tanzanian waiters and waitresses sit down to chat when they're taking my order.

I like the way people call me Shanni, from Ameriki, who does researchi.

I enjoy the melody of Swahili. I haven't enjoyed imitating the cadence of a language this much since I started speaking French.

I love how proud of Tanzania so many Tanzanians are. They have every reason in the world to be.

I love how I think that women are gossiping about something very very juicy, but then discover they are talking about avocado trees.

These are the things I am thankful for about Tanzania.

Happy Thanksgiving.

xo

Shannon

Iringa, Tanzania

Last week, I climbed to the top of this rock with my new Japanese friend, Shingo (Swahili for "Neck").

Closer view of the rock (notice the guy standing on the rock, not Neck):

Neck is a cool guy. He's with JICA, the Japanese International Cooperative Agency, which can be most closely compared with America's Peace Corps. Basically, Neck gets paid the salary of a Japanese computeer engineer while he lives in Tanzania for two years, builds computer networks and trains health workers in Microsoft Office, Excel, Powerpoint etc.

The more I learn about Neck and JICA, the more I'm impressed. To compare, America sends a lot of low-paid Peace Corps kids to wander through poor parts of the world with a hazy understanding of their tasks. Japan, on the other hand, sends well-paid professionals with several years of experience to do highly-specialized, easily measurable tasks.

The more I meet Peace Corps volunteers, the more underwhelmed I am with their abilities and the program generally (Peace Corps types who end up at Hopkins are a wholly different breed. The ones I'm referring to are usually getting drunk and whining about how they have nothing to do).

Anyway, walking around town with Neck, who has been in Iringa one year, is like hanging out with a resident celebrity. Everybody knows and loves Neck. Women ask him to hold their babies. Kids wave to him and say "China! China!" Our colleagues gush about Neck's fluent Swahili, his patience when teaching computer skills, his ability to cook fish in new and fascinating ways. Neck has set the bar very high.

Here's Neck at the top of Gangilonga (the rock shown above). When we reached the top, Neck and I had a nice chat and drank some Konyagi, alcohol which comes in a plastic bag (sounds trashy, but you take what you can get).

And we took in the view of Iringa. Our office and my house are in this photo.

The next day, Sunday, Neck and I went to Ismila to see and touch materials used during the Stone Age. Photos to come later.

Missing everyone this Thanksgiving. Looking ahead, I am going to make every effort to avoid spending holidays in new, foreign lands without the comfort of old friends.

Shannon

Cade of the week- deluxe edition

Caderoo, my remarkably adorable Godson turned the big O-N-E last week. To celebrate, I'm doing a special-edition Cade of the Week. Here is a collection of Cades from our day touring DC in September. I can't put them in the order I would like, but here's the story.

Cade started the day looking like a happy, drunken pilot:

He was ecstatic to be inside the National Air & Space Museum:

He took pretty much zero interest in the Lincoln Memorial, even when I explained the Emancipation Proclamation and the Illinois connection. (There were birds, trees and airplanes to look at overhead):

He looked downright distraught outside the IRS offices. Smart kid:

Near the vice president's house, Cade decided it was time to hit on the ladies:

We interrupted this flurry of flirtation to take a photo of Cade and the Capitol:

Cade's favorite spot on the bus was, of course, right in front. He held the bar with a death grip and, at one point, tried to press his itty bitty nose to the glass:

Before the day ended, we made sure we got a photo outside his favorite spot- the Air and Space Museum.

I hope we can do another adventure day sometime Baby Cade!

Happy Birthday!

Auntie Shannon

Camera

My beloved camera is broken. Of course this had to happen while I was in Tanzania- arguably the most beautiful country in the world (right up there with Turkey and New Zealand).

But there's good news. Because God loves me, the only other expat in this community happens to be Chingo (a Japanese IT guy who loves to repair electronics). Chingo is with the Japanese Volunteer Corps. He's going to look at my Japanese camera and do his best.

The word Chingo means "neck" in Swahili. When Tanzanian women try to get Chingo's attention, they say his name and make the international symbol for choking. I find this extremely amusing.

Shannon

Recap the week

I'm "stuck" in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for an extra day en route to Iringa. I use quotes with stuck because - of all the places in the world to be stuck - this one's spectacular. (see above)

I have speedy internet, so let's re-cap the past week:

On Thursday I turned 28. What a great age! That evening, my boss and several new friends took me to an Italian restaurant in Nairobi where they serve homemade mozzarella, handmade pasta and raspberry cheesecake. As the guest of honor, I instituted a law wherein guests were not allowed to discuss public health (cholera, infant mortality, diarrhea, latrines etc.) more than 35 percent of the time. The law was broken, but we formulated a plan. Everyone at the table had to talk about things we would like to see happen in the coming year. It sounds silly, but if you put 10 people at a table from NGOs, government ministries and research institutions... and ask them to articulate personal goals, they'll drum up interesting plans. Suffice it to say I'll remember the chat at my 28th birthday for a long, long time.

Near the end of dinner, somebody told the waiters it was my birthday. The wait staff (and kitchen staff) brought out a sparkler-topped cake and sang the most vibrant version of Happy Birthday I've ever heard. It included harmony, percussion and Masaii grunts. I was torn between blowing out the sparkler and giving a standing ovation.

Friday, Cade turned 1. My only major regret of the past several (and upcoming) months is that I don’t get to hang out with him. I hear that Cade picked up his 5-pound cake (see below) and lobbed to the floor. Bravo little buddy! You rock!

Saturday, I relaxed with Adina. Adina is a Swiss friend I met at a campsite on my first day in Nairobi. We hit it off. Here's Adina:

When Adina vists in Kisumu, men make idiots of themselves trying to get our (really, her) attention. Adina and I decided to go to a grocery store Saturday morning. In the parking lot, we ran into one such man (who is also an acquaintance from Kisumu). He said he had extra tickets to a soccer game. Would we like to join? No, we said, we're not really soccer people and it's hot and we're in grocery shopping attire. Then he says, Its a World Cup qualifying match. Kenya versus Nigeria. And they're VIP seats and we can take a car. Are you sure?

When Kenya lost to Nigeria last Saturday, Adina and I were right there hurling insults at the ref, making cracks about Nigerian corruption and trying desperately to learn the rules of soccer and avoid using the bathroom (as it lacked a toilet, wiping supplies and water). The stadium was half-filled. The scoreboard and lights broken. The refreshment stand empty. When a Kenyan player was given a yellow-card, people began tossing bottles, shoes and other debris onto the field. At one point, a fan yelled, "I HATE YOU NIGERIA. GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY AND SEND YOUR STUPID SPAM." I only wish I brought my camera to the grocery store that morning.

Sunday, Adina and I met a couple of her colleagues for lunch in Karen. Karen is a very uppity neighborhood of Nairobi named for Karen Blixen (of Out of Africa fame). Blixen's farm used to cover what is today a suburb of the city. Adina's colleagues treated for lunch at Talisman, a restaurant run by expats who also import goods from the Middle East. The decor is part-Turkish kilim, part- African wildlife infused with a love of food and drinks and people. It's what this blog would be if it were a restaurant. I loved it. Here's Talisman:

Monday afternoon, following several flight delays, I flew to Tanzania. Unfortunately, my luggage did not make the journey. Under most circumstances, if I arrived in a country where I didn’t speak the language and had never visited before … I would be frustrated if I didn’t have my luggage. But due to a mixture of factors (1. I’m getting used to traveling 2. In the scope of life, lost luggage is really not worth anger and 3. Tanzanians are AWESOME), the luggage loss was a blessing!

When the luggage ladies, Priska and Carol, heard that this was my first day in Tanzania they decided to help me “overcome the luggage and sort out lady needs.” Priska left her post at the luggage desk, grabbed my hand, walked me past customs and taxi touts to the entryway of the airport. “First, you need to know the exchange rates Shanni,” she said. We learned the exchange rate at a currency counter, made some calculations, walked to the ATM and got some cash. Priska stood guard while I collected the cash. She talked about Tanzanian men and dating. We went to the cell phone service counter, “Shanni, you will be in a remote area in mountains. Zain is the service for you. It’s for the remote areas.” At the Zain phone counter, Priska kept talking about men while she installed my new SIM card, topped up my phone with points and then walked me to the cab stands. With the cabbies, Priska (who has the stature of an American 11-year-old) drove a hard bargain. From speaking with expats in Tanzania, I knew the cab rates a white person can expect to get from the airport to the city. When she started driving for an even lower rate, I said, “Priska, for real, I’m ok with the Mzungu rate.” It was a difference of $1.

My cab driver, Wallace, was equally awesome. He discussed the history of Dar, his favorite foods, origins of Swahili words and architecture. Wallace offered to take me to Subway (as in the American sandwich chain) on the way to my friend Pam’s house. “You will like it,” he said. “Americans know their sandwiches.”

“Wallace,” I said. “I am American.”

And then began the conversation on how much he loves Mr. Obama and how much I do not look American.

We drove along Dar’s picturesque Ocean Drive. Ocean Drive stretches along the coast and features the Presidential residence, palatial homes and- as luck would have it- my friend Pam’s modest-yet-beautiful apartment. Pam and I are friends from Johns Hopkins where she studied family health. Pam oriented me to the city, took me on a quick walk along the water and introduced me to a cliffside restaurant. I kept saying, “Pam. I am so lucky. What are the chances that you would be here? That this would be so beautiful? That we would get paid to do this?” She said, “I know. It’s crazy. I feel the same way.” Here's Pam at our seaside dinner date:

I was nervous about coming to Tanzania. And, thinking more broadly, about coming to Africa. A piece of me is constantly wondering if this will all end in disaster. But after weeks like this past one, another part of me knows… I’ll be just fine.

Xo

Shannon

to Tanzania

En route to Tanzania today.

I'll be in Dar es Salaam for at least a night to visit a friend from Hopkins.

Then to Iringa for a couple of months (with questionable internet/blogging access!).

All are welcome to visit as I don't know a soul in Iringa, my Swahili is horrible and the region is supposed to be exceptionally beautiful.

Shannon

Lucky me

A year ago, I was writing about how fortunate I felt to celebrate a birthday in Baltimore.

This year I'm in Nairobi, Kenya at a conference on water. There's a new slew of friends for another fun birthday.

Earlier this week my boss said: "Shannon, what if for your birthday we all go to this really great restaurant that's across from a game park? The food's good. It'll be fun."

Me (eyes very wide): "Game on! Yes! AWESOME!"

As a special birthday bonus, Kenya's newspaper "The Standard" published another op-ed today. This time, it's on latrine maintenance (no online link yet!).

I am among the luckiest soon-to-be 28 years olds in the world.

xo

Shannon

For fun: some photos of Lake Vicky

Somebody had to say it.

To those of you who know me, you know how overwhelming and wonderful it was to see this in Monday's paper.

xo

Shannon