Salama kabisa.

Alright I need to just post this one before it gets any longer! We havent been doing anything too interesting the last few days (data analysis and writing our papers) so I have had time to procrastinate by creating another looong post. Apologies :)

gonna miss this....

The last two weeks have been fully dedicated to Directed Research (DR)! We first had to draft our DR proposals before heading out into the field to collect data for 8 days. Although I was a little jealous at times of the WE and WM groups that got to see wildlife everyday, I was very content roaming around the Tanzanian countryside, meeting and interviewing tons of amazing individuals and families (plus, we didn't have to sit in a car for 8 days and count/gender herds of animals and livestock all day, phew). Here's a run-down of the last 2+ weeks!

On Monday April 9 we had an intro class about writing our DR proposals and met with our DR groups for the first time to figure out our projects! Mwamhanga, our EP prof and my DR advisor, is very easy going and let us basically decide stuff on our own. 
 

Tuesday April 10 we had a randomly scheduled but nonetheless very interesting EP travelling lecture in the morning to see some examples of environmental conservation in practice in the Karatu District. First we went to a primary school where we planted papaya trees (my favorite stop of the trip). After that, we went to a woman’s house who had a crazy system set up for using livestock manure to produce natural gas for cooking and heating her house (no foul smells, surprisingly!). Our third stop was at a brick-making business that is more energy and resource-efficient for making the bricks used for building houses. We then learned about more efficient stoves that are being sold to houses and restuarants that use less wood for fuel.

Myself and Jen with out baby papaya tree, which we named Sipaya :)

April 11 we had a statistics lab (fun....) and worked on our DR proposals, which were turned in at 10 pm.

Bright and early on Thursday, the other groups went out for their first day of data collection, but we (EP) drafted our interview questions in the morning and compiled them in a survey, then went out after lunch for a test run. My fieldwork partner was Sarah, a gal from Missouri who goes to Colorado College. We went to Kilimamoja with Niko, the designated guide for interviews there, and talked to a few families, realzing that our group's questions had to be revised and shortened...a lot... which is what we did that night in preparation for our first real day of field work. 

A little debrief:  Mwamhanga has four guide/translators that he uses for DR. They are all in their 20's or 30's, with backgrounds in wildlife or environmental conservation. The eight of us girls are split into four groups of two, and go out each day with a translator/guide who facilitates our interviews of people we meet throughout the different villages.  Along with Niko, the others that we got to work with were Julius, Harry and Sixbert. Each group of 2 to go to one of our interview sites -- Kilimamoja, Mto wa Mbu or Esilaley. Because Esilaley is so spread out and thus less easy to get interviews, two groups would go there every day.

As I sat (procrastinating from doing data analysis) I tried to type up this blog, but realized how incredibly difficult it would be to accurately describe the last week and a half of my time here. I felt bad cutting out sections here and there about the amazing people I got to meet, yet I fear that a tiny paragraph would not be doing them the justice which they deserve. So I tried to pick out the interesting ones or funny ones or favorite families, but it felt wrong to only tell you about some people and not others. But I also knew that I can’t write about each and every person Sarah and I interviewed, and their story and their family, or this would be a record-setting post (I was strugglin with this, as you can see...)

 So, for lack of better idea, I’ve spared you the novel and just decided to include some things I learned and a handful pictures that might give you a glimpse into the last 8 days which I’ve spent walking around rural Tanzania, seeing beutiful places and homes and meeting people.  It occurred to me one day while staring at the beautiful clouds over the mountains and day-dreaming (at times I think I was slightly delusional from the heat) that I was so incredibly lucky to have such an amazing opportunity. When I'd get tired, or too hot, or hungry or annoyed, I'd remind myself that this was something that most people in the world would never ever get the chance to do or see in their lives. To say the least, it’s been an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience that I am so grateful to have had the chance to take part in!

If I lived in Tanzania, I'd probably build my home in this part of Mto wa Mbu -- the Rift Valley Escarpment in the background, Simba River nearby and Njoro Spring for fresh water...too beautiful

It was so interesting to interview people and hear their ideas about climate change. Different people doing EP research are looking at various things: people’s knowledge and awareness of climate change, their coping strategies (on a household level or as pastoralists or farmers) and gender roles.  The interviews were conducted by simply walking around and stopping at random houses where people were around to ask them our questions. You see, its quite different here from back home -- for one, people are home during the day and they are willing to talk to you and even let you into their homes.

We have one big questionnaire that each group asks to maximize our sample size (which each of us then used bits and pieces for our own projects). This also made it interesting because we got to hear some interesting stories! However, this was hard at times because it usually took around 30 minutes and some people didn't have that much time. We asked their age, how many children they have, the tribe they’re part of, how long they’ve lived here, their highest level of education and main source of income. Then we asked a slew of questions about the natural water sources in the area, their household water use, their awareness of climate change and either pastoralism or agriculture-related questions, depending on their primary source of income.

Some people were unwilling to answer our questions, others simply obliging, and then there were the mamas who welcomed us into their homes and wanted to cook us ugali and chai. Although I don’t want to pick favorites, I must say, it was usually the families with little kids running around and being goofy that were the most memorable. The kids usually started out so skeptical of Sarah and I, sometimes even confused, but by the end they would warm up to us, smiling and playing peek-a-boo from behind their mama’s skirt. We’re basically like a spectacle (I swear, even the shoats and cattle look at us weird) and we frequently had curious little kids following us and playing with the straps and buckles on our backpacks, being amazing at our water bottles (not one but TWO -- maji mbili!). At some of the houses, there’s cute little half-naked kids running around (I can’t help but worry about the health hazards that entails). We also saw plenty of kids sucking on batteries (the first time we saw this was on our second day when a little boy, about 3 or 4 years old, was sucking on a D battery…dropping it on the dirt floor then putting it back in his mouth... we saw it many more times and all parents seemed to be completely unfazed by this, much to our dismay.) 

Walking around each village, we encountered chickens and dogs roaming about freely, kids in colorful school uniforms holding hands on their walk to school, and people riding by on bicycles with jerry cans strapped like saddle bags to either side on their way to collect water. Sometimes kids who can't be more than 3 years old ride on the back metal rack of a bicycle (like what I have on the back of my purple Schwinn), just holding on tightly as their dad or big brother. Anywhere you look, there's a mama carrying her complacent baby in a sling of fabric wrapped around her back as she walks somewhere (I want to learn how to do that so when I have kids one day I can do it... The mother and baby look so cute and comfortable!). I can't get over how beautiful these people are nor do I ever think I could tire of the breathtaking scenery...I just wish I could take more pictures of them without being a creep.

All in all, Sarah and I spent a total of 2 days in Mto wa Mbu, 2 in Esilaley and 2 in Kilimamoja. As a whole group, we met with elders and village leaders in each of the different towns to ask any questions we wanted. Then one day Sarah and I got to map the dams in Esilaley using GPS (quite inefficiently, as most of the day was spent getting our landcruiser unstuck from the mud after 3 days of rain), and our last day of DR was an unexpectedly epic trip where we got to go on this amazing hour-long hike to a hidden spring in Esilaley to get the GPS points...it was quite the adventure :)

I was surprised at how many people in the villages which we were studying have access to a water tap as their main source for household use. In Kenya, the Maasai all got the water straight out of a river or pond or spring, which were contaminated from excessive human, agriculture and livestock use. So far from what I’ve seen, most people here have access to either their own tap on their property, or a neighbor’s or a community tap at a nearby school (besides the Maasai, actually, who live further away from the main road and are much more spread out because of grazing their livestock)... Some Maasai have access to water from community water tanks, whereas others still travel either walking, via bike or with donkeys carrying the water jugs, to natural or artificial water sources (dams and boreholes) to fill up for their daily needs. The increase in number of water taps has been beneficial by drastically reducing the amount of time people must spend collecting water (walking there, filling up and returning home) – most people told us it takes them less than 10 minutes to collect water, whereas old research I found shows that the responsibility of collecting water often requires so much time that it detracts from the women and children’s ability to work or attend school. Other things I’ve realized (this is preliminary, haven’t run any stats on it yet) are that women and children are most commonly the ones responsible for collecting water – the children most often attend school, but the women are almost all “stay-at home” moms in a sense, because it is their job to collect water, make food, tend to the house, care for the kids, and other things of that nature. Also, the higher the level of education a person has (you’d be amazed how many people have only gone to primary school or haven’t attended any schooling), the more they know about the environment, conservation and climate change.

Everything in Mto wa Mbu is so much closer together, so we were always able to get a lot of interviews on those days.  There are many people from various tribes, and all different types of houses. These pictures start on Day 3 of DR because that was when Sarah decided to start asking our interviewees if we could take their photograph to remember them. Some didn't want their photos taken, either because they "hadn't prepared themselves or their kids" or they thought we would try to sell it for money. Although they frequently didn't even look at the camera for the picture, they loved to see it on the digital camera screen and we are happy to have the bit of memory of these people whom we met.

This home was our 2nd stop in Mto wa Mbu. We interviewed this father who was 50 and had six children. He is part of the Chagga tribe and is a farmer.  He (any many others) told us that he believed that praying to God was the only way to mitigate the effects of global warming. Meanwhile, his three adorable little grandchildren ran around giggling, singing and dancing.

We then continued on to another home where we spoke with this man Jumani Shaba (sitting next to me). He was 48, part of the Tsawe tribe, and farmer with 5 kids. His brick house was huge and had a personal water tap on his property, and he told us he farmed on 2.5 acres. He knew that climate change is caused by harmful emissions from industries. A slew of neighboring children gathered around and sat quietly and listened while we asked the man our questions.

late afternoon in Mto wa Mbu....deceiving clouds that did not bring rain. Here where we sat to rest, people were selling tomatoes and fish along the side of the road, mamas were washing laundry in buckets to the left, and the 3 little kids played in the dirt while older kids played soccer with a make-shift ball of rolled up plastic bags wrapped with string on the other side of the road.

This mama, Regina (pink shirt on the right), had six of her own children. She is a farmer from the Mbugwe tribe and didn’t really know anything about conservation, wildlife or the environment. The younger kids all got a kick out of Sarah and I speaking what little Swahili we know.

After a non-program day on Sunday which we went into Mto wa Mbu and ate pizza and shopped, we got started on a full week of field work. On Monday the 16th, Sarah, myself and our guide Julius walked around Esilaley where many Maasai have settled to try to find some pastoralists to interview.

This woman, 30, was single and owned her own home -- a rarity in Africa. As you can see, it was a very nice home! It was interesting to see the different styles and types of home within villages and among the different communities. She, however, didn’t know much about the environment or climate change (common for women here).

 After a few interviews near the road, we headed out into the vast expanse of Maasai land to the Maasai bomas and were reacquainted with the swarms of flies which like to call bomas their home. It was an itchy and uncomfortable afternoon as we interviewed different Maasai men and women and learned about their level of education about environmental conservation, househole roles and strategies for coping with lack of suitable grazing pasture  and water for their livestock.

Julius and Sarah traversing Maasai land. Beautiful mountains to the right, and the Rift Valley Escarpment to the left made for quite the beautiful scenery (although few trees meant no shade, and it was HOT).

note the closed-mouth smile (I was avoiding flys getting in my mouth haha). All the kids just stood around watching us as we interviewed the man to the right of me, despite the fact that none of them knew any english. We realized that the Maasai are much less likely to send their kids to full schooling because they think it decreases their appreciation for their culture, and thus they know less about the environment and conservation. However, these people are still crazy smart and resourceful and I have mad respect for them (don't think I could be Maasai though...not tryin to share my husband with a bunch of other women and I would go crazy staying at the boma all day with those flies... no thank you.)

Sarah and I....and a termite mound. These things are freakin huge and all over the place!

This beautiful mama, along with most of the elder Maasai people, have little schooling or knowledge about climate change and the environment. She was very welcoming and kind to us.

As we sat interviewing our last subjects of the day, Pascal, our driver who dropped us off that morning, called Julius to find out where we were so he could come to pick us up.  At that moment, I began to wonder how on EARTH they know where/how to find us at the end of the day! We are literally dropped off out in the middle of nowhere, and usually travel quite far and randomly from where we started...there are no addresses or GPS or really any notable markers (“we’re at that one boma….with the thatched roof….there’s some mountains behind us..?” haha). Nevertheless, Pascal always shows up, like a godsend at the end of the long day, and we hop into the car and get to rest on the drive home.

After the first few days, we had already observed some patterns: many people believe that the only thing that can be done to reduce the effects of climate change is to pray to God. They think that the lack of rain and increasing temperatures are due to peoples sins and just the work of God. This was a little disheartening to hear because we know the reality of it and that it's more or less our fault.... Other people think that the increasing winds were blowing away the clouds, causing the temp to increase and rain to become more infrequent. Some people did recognize the importance of conserving wildlife for the benefit of future generations. Others didn't even know their own age, let along anything about wildlife or environmental conservation. In general, we realized that the level of awareness a person has is generally related to the amount of schooling which they've gone through. 

On Tuesday the 17th, we had our focus group discussions (basically a Q&A) in the different villages and learned a lot from speaking with the elders (who have knowledge on how the climate and rainfall patterns have changed over the years) and village leaders.

Speaking of rains, it turns out I was a little misinforming with my last blog's statement about rain. Although it is technically “the rainy season”, that title has grown to have little value because of the erratic, unpredictable and unreliable rains that East Africa now receives. At the time of my last post, it had rained briefly each afternoon for the previous several days, but was followed by another dry spell of over a week. Wednesday morning we woke up to it pouring for the first time (apparently it had been the whole night, but I sleep with earplugs in because of the dogs that bark incessantly all night and the roosters who are unnecessarily early risers). It also poured all night Wednesday into Thursday morning, and again Thursday night into Friday morning. This is good for all the farmers because the prevailing drought conditions have prevented any crops from growing... Up until these rains, all the crop fields of people who rely upon rainfall to water their crops (i.e. everyone) were nothing but little sprouts, despite the fact that its nearly the end of the growing season.  However, the downside to these now unpredictable, unreliable and heavy rains is that it can actually be detrimental because of the fact that it sweeps away soil and its nutrients, which then get deposited in bodies of water and jeopardize their quality. Oh, climate change....

 This rain was a bit problematic for the next couple days of DR. On Wednesday, Sarah and I got a break from interviewing to map the dams in Esilaley that are used by the Maasai and their livestock. We dropped off the other groups then continued way out into Maasai land, and stopped to pick up (what seemed to a be) a random Maasai man from nearby the building where we had our focus group discussion the day before. The man told Yohana, who then informed Sarah and I, that the dams were very far away and difficult to find, so he would guide Pascal. We drove off, following a non-existant road, and proceeded to get stuck in the mud after about 15 minutes. Pascal, Yohana, our guide Sixbert and the Maasai man tried to dig us out. They were quickly assisted by a few friendly maasai who were grazing their livestock nearby and stopped to help. After about 30 minutes, we were unstuck and continued on our way, only to get stuck less than 10 minutes later -- this time much worse -- in sticky black soil that caked to the tires and bottoms of our shoes. Four Maasai men came by to help and a few others filtered over from the boma nearby, all volunteering their services.  One bossy elder mama showed up and was directing everyone to gather rocks as Pascal used this crank contraption to raise the car up.  We all piled rocks and gravel under the tires, one by one until we were ready to attempt getting it out of the mud. It took quite a few trials to finally free the car, which would’ve been impossible without the help of the friendly Maasai people. After we freed ourselves, we welcomed another random guide into our car and drove on with to the long-awaited and sought-after dam. It was overflowing with cloudy brown water due to the previous nights’ rain, but we got the GPS points and a brief educational lesson from the Maasai (with the help of Yohana and Sixbert translating) about the different dams, when they were constructed and their uses. They also showed us an area that was formerly a dam but collapsed one year from floods, and then we dropped off our guides and had to call it a day.

Pascal and the Maasai trying to get us unstuck....an endeavor that lasted well over an hour.

On the 19th, we went to Kilimamoja for the first time since our DR-trial day. The village is mostly Iraqw people who rely mainly upon agriculture for their livelihoods. The houses are relatively close so once again, we were able to get plenty of interviews. While walking among houses that morning, I noticed my toe on my right foot was feeling strange right along the edge of my big toenail. After further inspection, I decided it was probably a jigger (a little flea that lives in the dirt and will burrow into your skin to lay its eggs)....being terrified of parasite-thingys, I tried to keep my cool all day until we got back to camp and had Cecilia and a few others check it out since Whitney was away on her "days off". Ceci said wait and see if it developed more, but nothing showed more so I just let it be....

This beautiful mama we met in Kilimamoja had three adorable daughters who were so smiley and sweet.

On Friday the 20th, Sarah and I went to Mto wa Mbu with Harry to do more interviews. Driving there was treacherous due to the heavy rains from the previous three nights that made the roads all flooded and muddy. I wonder how well some of these houses hold up during weather like this... I’m sure some were very damaged or flooded.

some boys walking down the muddy road

We got dropped off in the middle of this beautiful banana tree forest... Everything was so tropical and humid and peaceful, just the sounds of insects, birds chirping and running water...it was unreal!  The mud was super sticky though and caked to your shoes, making it extra difficult to walk on this already slippery surface  (I nearly wiped out on multiple occasions, but my graceful nature managed to save me). It felt like we were in a different world in there! I was loving life….until the mosquitoes came and attacked my ankles. Luckily not many people lived amidst the forest, so we only interviewed two people before we emerged out the other side of the banana trees onto the red-soil road and began walking uphill towards the Rift Valley Escarpment. Everything was glowing green and more lush and beautiful after the rains! 

emerging from the banana forest, looking to the right...this is the direction which we headed.


This day was the first time Sarah and I met anyone who was well informed about climate change! On our way up the hill, we stopped at a home where we spoke to an old man that was 70. He surprised us by telling us about the relationship between industries in developed countries and the climate changes affecting not only Africa but the entire world. I was shocked that we learned this from someone of this age (normally the elders have more “traditional” views such as God's will and people's sins are the causes, etc) and we enjoyed hearing what he had to say about the need to encourage wise development practices in developed countries.

this is the one man who we talked to that knew about our role in climate change and what climate change was on a global scale (rather than just the fact that in rains in some parts of TZ, like on top of the escarpment, but no longer rains in others, such as in the valleys)....despite the fact he knew we were partially responsible for ruining Africa's climate, he was incredibly kind and welcoming to us.

It was getting really hot and humid, so we veered off the road to go see the Njoro spring, where the people in this region get their water. A bunch of women were washing clothes right in the Simba River, which is fed by the spring but was solid brown from all the soil washed in from the rains.  After a few interviews, we ate lunch on some rocks down by the river, then continued interviewing for the rest of the afternoon.

after we finished our interview with this woman and her friend, we were walking away and Harry asked us if we noticed that the friend's hand had been bitten off by a hyena...literally, all she had was a thumb because when she was young she got attacked! On the bright side, their kids were freakin adorable.

At our last stop, we interviewed an old Iraqw woman who was 84 and definitely looked it. Iraqw is such an interesting language with lots of rolling and some throaty/scoffing noises.

While we interviewed this elder mama, there were some absolutely-freaking-adorable baby goats that were playing around on their wobbly legs and jumping on and off of the rocks.

Some of her grandkids...as you can see, their clothes are all dirty and holey, and they often had no shoes on their feet or any toys to play with, but I swear, kids here are some of the happiest little kids. It's heartwarming... especially the girl with her baby goat. I want one :)

Saturday the 21st was our last day of DR field work—woo!! We all planned to do a half-day then meet up around 1 at Pizza Point for lunch. Sarah had decided the night before that she wanted to scope out this spring near Losilwa to get the GPS points to complete her data collection of water sources in the area. Our original plan was to do interviews for a couple hours then go map the spring. However, our driver Boniface, who knew where the spring supposedly was, suggested to Cecilia that we do the spring first, then interview with any extra time. We turned off the main road down towards Maasai Village, and drove on and on for about 20 minutes over the bumpy and little-traveled car path until we reached our destination: a tourist lodge called Eunoto. We got out and spoke with the man who was at the reception desk (literally no one else was around—workers or tourists—the place was empty). Harry and Ceci spoke with the man, Emmanuel, then relayed to us that the spring was an hour long hike away. Were we up for it? Youuu betcha! Ceci decided she would come along, so the 5 of us started on our way, walking first down the gravel road before turning off into the wilderness. We descended into this amazing palm forest with the hugest palm trees I have EVER seen. The ground around them was swampy, but our path was higher up along the rim of this kettle. I was simply amazed at the tropical beauty and had to thank Sarah for 1.) being my DR partner and 2.) deciding that she wanted to map this spring... We had no idea what we were getting ourselves in to, but that hike was definitely one of my favorite things I've done here in East Africa. It was so beautiful and untouched by man....completely peaceful -- or as they say in kiswahili, salama kabisa.


Lake Miwaleni, fed by the spring we were in search of.



 The hike continued on, requiring us to scramble over and between large boulders while climbing up and curving around the lake Miwaleni. There was smelly baboon poop everywhere and our guide said that hyenas and babs are found around the area (no sightings for us, however—thankfully, after seeing that woman yesterday missing her fingers from a hyena). We descended a small hill into a banana tree forest with wet, slippery mud just like the previous day's adventure. The fertile soil stuck to our shoes and we tromped through the forest, saying "Shikamo" to the elder farmers we encountered, who welcomed us warmly. We learned that a banana tree takes 6 months to mature, then 2 months to produce its huge bundle of fruits, after which it no longer produces any more. Emmanuel stopped suddenly to point out a plant growing. “You know this plant... marijuana?” Sure enough, there were about 5 plants growing just on the edge of the banana forest. Surprised because of the harsh penalties for drugs in TZ, we asked whose it was or if it was just growing there. “That old man over there that we just spoke with,” our guide responded.

on our way back from the waterfall, Sarah took this picture of where we had just hiked too. See the dark green patch on the side of the mountain to the left? Thats where the spring is. Best. Hike. Ever.

 We continued on through the field and entered back into a forest again, crossing over a small turbid stream. The path got narrower and much less obvious (although it wasn’t exactly obvious in the first place) and soon, our guide was tromping through a river about 3 feet wide and less than a foot deep. We followed suit, but Ceci and Harry we less obliging because of their footwear. Ceci and I giggled as we stepped into the cold water and our feet sunk in the muck, mud oozing around our toes. She almost lost a sandal for good, but salvaged it and after a minute we exited the water and continued climbing up and over more huge rocks. We were headed uphill, following the river, when we caught a glimpse of the waterfall in the distance. It was a beautiful sight, cascading down from on top the mountain, so we continued on until we reached a suitable point for registering it in our GPS. We stopped to take photos and rest for a few minutes before turning around and heading back to the car.

Cecilia, Harry, Emmanuel, me and Sarah. The waterfall (kinda hard to see in this pic) is between Emmanuel and myself.

The hike back was just as beautiful, although it went so much faster than the way there – always seems to be that way. My toe, which Ceci and Christian had said earlier that morning was probably just infected, not a jigger, was starting to hurt pretty badly (probably wasn't the best idea to tromp through a mucky stream...whoops).  We got back to the car and washed off our feet, then gave Emmanuel some of our packed lunches and decided to interview him since we wouldn't have time to go out and do any other interviews because of how long the hike took. We thanked him profusely for bringing us on such an amazing adventure -- Oh ya know…just hiking through the African wilderness, NBD.

We headed off to the pizza point to meet the rest of EP and celebrate the end of DR field work. Sarah and I shared a delicious cheesy pizza and couldn't help but brag to the others about our unexpectedly amazing morning and epic last day of DR.

Sarah, Karianne, Julia, Laura, Maggie, Katie, Emily and Me! After our delicious lunch at Pizza Point.

When we got home, Whitney had returned from her days off and I had her check out my toe. Turns out it was a jigger, and she thinks it had popped, so she dug out the egg sack with a needle. It was not a very pleasant experience to say the least, but I’m glad its out (Thank GOD) and now I just have to keep my foot very clean and hope it doesn’t get infected!  I also got ANOTHER nairobi fly bite (this time on my left eyelid, thankfully it was small and is pretty much gone now) AND a burn on my right shin thats turned into a nasty blister...I'm just fallin apart. Hoping to be back in normal condition by the time I return home.

Sunday was our much needed non-program day. In the morning we went to Gibbs farm (a tourist lodge) for a tour of the self-sustaining farm and coffee plantation. Bought some coffee for my momma (surprise!) while others enjoyed fresh-brewed cups. After Gibbs, we went into Karatu to shop and Happy Days for a few beers. After we got back, Paige, Katie, Sarah, Ally, Sarah, Emily and I went for a walk around the big outer loop—it was so beautiful!! Walks will definitely be happening more before we leave! (less than two weeks....ahh!)

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were days dedicated to data analysis. Real exciting stuff =  time for me to work on my blog! I know this became another long post, but just think...it may be the last!

On that note, I want to say thanks for letting me share my experiences with you all through this bloggy blog. This has essentially been my journal along this trip -- I’ve just been writing things in a Word doc everyday or every few days and sharing (some/most of) it with you guys. I’ve toned down a lot of the emotional stuff and really personal memories to reduce the sappiness, but now comes the time where I must reflect on the last three months I’ve spent halfway around the world, in a different hemisphere and in a very different time zone. I've never done anything like this before, and had my worries and doubts before coming here, but I can confidently say that I wouldn't have done it any other way.  Despite all the crazy differences I’ve encountered and experienced here, the striking similarities which we share with all of the people whom I’ve met are undeniable.  Regardless of skin color, socio-economic status, level of education, religious views, and just general ways of life, we all share the same desire to just live a happy life. It’s funny, too… I’ve realized how many of the people I’ve met here in Africa seem to be succeeding at this, more so than most of us in the U.S. They are not caught up in worrying about who has the nicest house or clothes, or who has the fanciest and newest gadgets, or who said/did this ‘n that. They are simply living day to day, happy to be alive and thankful for their family and their food and the roof over their head. They are doing something right here, let me tell you.  Also, the “old” people also really don’t look that old…I can never tell someone's age, and still to this day haven’t figured it out what their secret is – maybe it’s the natural, unprocessed foods they eat, or the fact that they don’t have sedentary lifestyles but rather walk or bike everywhere…I don’t know. I also admire how they don’t complain or have any excuses – they share what little they DO have because that is the way things work around here. They are eager to go to school and learn every day, and take the time to welcome any person, stranger or friend, into their home regardless of what they have going on that day. Everyone looks out for each other.

I think we, as individuals and as developed countries, have a LOT to learn from these people whom we tend to push into the back of our minds and forget about. I know I’ve gained immensely from living here – what began as “outside my comfort zone” has now become my home and paradise. Being away from the hussle and bussle of life back in the U.S., I have had plenty of time to reflect on things I’ve done in my life and contemplate what I’m doing, as well as to think and dream about my future. I plan to make some changes in my life – for starters, complaining less (my problems aren't sh*t compared to what people go through here), associating myself with positive people (why waste my time with jerks or being unhappy?), and most importantly, living more sustainably because I have seen firsthand the effects of our wasteful lifestyles on the rest of the world.  I hope that maybe, seeing some of my pictures or hearing some of my stories has inspired you to do the same—it’s the least I can do for these amazing people that have changed my life while graciously hosting me in this unforgettable country for the last semester. I also hope that someday, you or your kids will have the opportunity to see Africa -- and not just on a safari, but the real Africa, and it's people. That's where the true beauty lies.

if you do come to Africa, please don't look like big idiots (or make your kids look like idiots)

Alright, enough of the sap. I may be able to squeeze in one more post before I leave Africa, but I’m not so sure. I know I’ll be soaking up every last bit in my remaining days here, so if I don’t get the chance to post, I apologize. However, when I get back I’ll finally have the chance to share more of my pictures from throughout the semester!

In the mean time, we’re writing up our DR papers and getting ready to present our research to the community on May 4^th. Luckily its been raining these last few days so it's been pretty easy to focus on our writing. It's pretty crazy that we leave TZ on the 7^th -- it seems so close, yet far away... still haven't quite figured out how time works. This week has already flown by and I know that with ongoing preparation for our big presentations, time will only continue to fly by. 

While a couple students changed their tickets to stay in East Africa for a little vacation time, I chose to extend my stay in London for a week back when I booked my plane ticket in November. My parents probably weren’t too pleased with that, but it’s my money and I figured hey, since I’m already on this side of the pond, I might as well do some exploring! I’m staying in London the night of the 8th, then hopping on the good ol' Megabus (who knew they had Megabus in the UK?! I can officially say that I'm now their #1 supporter) and going to Paris to meet up with my friend Molly, a fellow Tommie who is studying abroad there this semester.  We’re flying (quite cheaply) from Paris to Dublin on the 11^th and exploring Ireland until the 16th, when we both hop on a plane back to London to catch our flights home!^.  

I’m looking forward to seeing my family, relatives and friends in Wisconsin before I head back up to Saint Paul around June 1 to work for the summer!!! Oh, and pretty excited to see all you crazy Minnesotans as well :) Good luck to all my friends studying for exams (haha...suckaaas! no tests for me!), and congrats to those of you who are graduating this year--I hope to see you before you venture off to grad school or whatever endeavors you are pursuing.

Baadaye...see you later :)