Sharing Culture Part 2...Thanksgiving!

Well, this is almost a full week overdue, but better late than never. Last Wednesday Charlie and I traveled to Dar Es Salaam to prepare for the arrival of his father and uncle. After a 13 hour bus ride we made it on Wednesday night and Fr. Jerome was waiting to pick us up from the bus stand and take us to our air conditioned room at the guest house! That was very welcome after the hot ride.

Thursday marked Thanksgiving! Of course no one around knew anything about this holiday and it was hard to exaplain. We had a busy day just walking around town, but unfortunatley we were unable to find any turkey. But since we couldn't find any turkey we decided to make the day as American as we could. So Charlie and I had pizza for lunch, a hamburger and fries for dinner, and went to the movie theater to see the new James Bond. All in all it was a good day. We also met all of the other Americans that we know who are living in Tanzania! (that is 3 total :) ) Fellow Johnnie '04 grad Dave Sexton met us for some ice cream in the late afternoon (he has just finished his training with Peace Corps and was on the way to his site) and we met Sara and Cara as well.

Above is the picture of us at our thanksgiving dinner at Steers fast food restaurant after the movie. Below are my traditional "before" and "after" pictures of my Thanksgiving meal plate. not as exciting this year as in years past, i must admit.





Here are some pictures from earlier in the day on Thanksgiving when Charlie and I went to the Tanzania National museum. Charlie is pictured with the lion that belonged to the first president of Tanzania (Nyerere) and i am pictured with a gun from WWI. There was a pretty neat timeline of history of the country.


Friday night Charlie's uncle and father arrived and on Saturday we all took a trip to the beach!

We ate lunch on the beach and we all took a little dip in the warm Indian Ocean. It was much warmer this time than it was when we went in mid-July. And though it was raining most of the morning, and off and on again as we were driving to the beach, it cleared up enough after lunch so we could have a good couple hours to swim.

Here is our hut that we ate in on the beach. Great food. Great service. And beautiful weather with a nice breeze from the ocean. It was a good day.

On the way back home, we decided that it would take too long to wait for the ferry, so we would drive around the tip of the peninsula to get back. After the hard rains in the morning the roads were pretty wet! It Since there was a lot of construction happening on these roads, they didn't quite have their drainage problems figured out. The compact clay soil doesn't absorb much of the water either. We were happy that our car had 4 wheel drive! Some busses weren't so lucky. It made for good entertainment for some people, though. All along the drive there were people just sitting along the side of the road watching the cars drive through these newly formed lakes. It was neat to be able to see another side of the city, too.

The McCarrons left on Sunday morning to spend a few days in Hanga, but will be passing back through Dar Es Salaam on their way north to visit Kilimanjaro Region tomorrow. Since classes finished last week at my primary school, I decided to stick around the city and just relax. It has been fun eating good food, traveling around by public bus, and doing a lot of walking and seeing many parts of the city. I think I know Dar Es Salaam better than i know Minneapolis now! I have definately spent more time traveling around here than I ever have in the metro area in MN.

I will return to Hanga probably by the end of the week. My next update will probably be from there! There are plenty of projects that I have in mind for the school when the kids have left for home. I think I will begin with painting my classroom. I have heard that the rains have begun in Hanga, too. This means everything will be turning green, and our hydro-electric dam will be more opperational too.

Thanks for reading. Look for the next update soon from Hanga!