Dear Friends,
So I spent a least half an hour writing this lovely message one week ago exactly detailing my entire trip to Tanzania since I last wrote.. and I guess because I sent it only with 45 seconds left on my computers.. it didn't send! How disappointed I was to have no new messages today.. well here I go and try to recapture what I wrote earlier.. plus with the exciting 4 day safari to tell about --- since I have just returned from it...
First.. my life in Tanzania was coasting through well as always.. my Kiswahili kept on improving and my communication and relationships with he Tanzanian people were blooming.. and I returned to my work at the construction site.. leaving behind my days as a soap maker and oil presser.. to finally find the one duty that I loved in life... Mixing Mortar... Yes I entitled myself "Mortar Girl" --- Mixing mortar is the process of mixing first dirt which you move from a wheelbarrow from one end of the site to the other.. get your Simba (lion) bag of cement.. mix together with a shovel.. add water you collect from the hole in the ground that fills with water.. in your bucket and then you mix your dirt/cement combo with the water... with the crazy strength of my Kermit the frog arms... and alas.. you have mortar.. which I deliver on round discs plate (who said I couldn't be a waitress).. Mortar is used in every aspect of the building.. which I will explain later.. It would be quite a sight for most of you to see...(not the dramatic Reena in tight clothes and high heels prancing around campus on her cellphone)
Completely relaxed and enjoying my nonchalant days of going to work.. reading novels (I have finished 5).. chatting with the locals.. eventually my calmness faded as I became more and more disillusioned with the other American volunteers.. who frankly I liked all individually well enough and who keep the drama on the minimum.. but who I don't have any chemistry with and therefore everyone was pairing off and I was off on my own... struggling to use my Kiswahili to produced a substantial conversation....
Anyhow at this point I was getting a bit lonely... missing you guys.. but Off we went to Paradise on Earth.. called Zanzibar... Well the trip was a bit tiresome at first.. 8 hour bus ride and then ferry -- and I was feeling displaced a bit traveling with all Americans... but then we arrived on the beach of Paje and I have never seen anything so fabulous in my life.. cold white sand that feels like flour when you step in it.. completely deserted except for a sprinkle of guesthouses.. I stayed in one with this Swedish couple.. who cooked fabulous meals.., and I watched African woman in all their glory.. walk in from the stretches of the ocean during low tide with bags of seaweed on their heads.. and I walked out and swam into he warmth of the Indian ocean.. like a bath tub... as they chatted... I rode a bike up and down the island to find myself completely alone except the trees the ocean... the sand.. and the sky.. it was phenomenal..
I stayed an extra night at the beach while some of the others who were staying with me returned and then returned with this British couple who took me under the wing.. accidentally missed my bus the next morning but caught a different one and met this amazing Indian woman from south Africa who invited me to a wedding in Kenya.. and I almost went.. but visas were too much money...the new people gave me perspective and I reprioritized and said fuck the Americans..
anyhow I moved in with this family of cousins in their house.. leaving my somewhat "real world" abode.. my Kiswahili skyrocketed.. I was loving life.. I am so healthy and happy.. and the children here are amazing I went to meet all their mothers... and I really love this village and can't envision not returning to spend time with these people... its been absolutely amazing...and then we went on our safari.. everything I could have3 ever dreamed of tons of giraffe, zebra, elephants.. lots of lions... even cheetahs.. you name it.. so close to us.. even got to see to lions mate and get busy! it was awesome... of course I was pretty much with all the Americans.. but I found ways to keep my distance.. and all the Safari employees loved me.. it was fun times....
and now I return for a few days before I depart back to America..I am not ready to leave Africa.. I don't really miss anything western.. or even my life at home... yes the work became sort of tiresome and I am itching to get away from this group of people... 9 weeks with the same 8 Americans.. but I will cry endlessly over all the people I have met and let me into their lives.. even one of the Americans admitted how much more I jumped into the experience and how she watched from the sidelines... I mean these people are my family... I have been super generous because I love them..
Anyhow I am going to look forward to my time back in America.. and can't wait to see you all.. let me know your plans love Reena
