the wanderer
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Karibu Tanzania!
I know I’m terribly late with my first post from Tanzania… What can I say, this first week has been busy, we’ve been without power everyday for most of the day since Thursday, and I’m also just having too much of a good time to want to sit in front of a computer screen and type the hours away.
Moshi so far is very much different than it was 3 years ago, in a good way. The familiarity of a second visit to this part of the world is certainly appreciated, but the overall vibe has changed for the better. Where my mom was then just beginning to put roots down and build up her business, she’s now fully entwined in the fabric of Moshi. A walk around town isn’t complete without at least 2 or 3 people coming up to her to say “Shikamoo Bibi!”. This is a very polite greeting reserved for respected elders. I forgot the extent to which I enjoy how deferential Swahili speakers are – it reminds me very much of Japan.
Getting to know my mom’s (relatively) new business partners and employees has been an absolute pleasure. Mr. Sadiki, the senior partner, Haji, a partner, driver and guide, as well as drivers/mountain guides Nassib, Azizi, and CP, and her Maasai night watchman Baraka… All I can say about them is that they all seem levelheaded, smart, caring and motivated. All but Mr. Sadiki are young (23-30 or so), but as much as they enjoy having a good time, they live to work and love what they do.
Azizi and Nassib are already making good progress in French through our day-to-day banter. Serious lessons don’t begin for another week or two, when the low season hits. It started raining 4 days ago, for about 2 hours every afternoon, although yesterday and today we enjoyed the sun, with only a smidgeon of clouds here and there. Soon it’ll be pouring rain for most of the day. We’ll be cooped up in the house for a few weeks then, and it’ll be French immersion time for the guys. I enjoy teaching them and am only now realizing the valuable tricks I’ve learned from the dozen or more language teachers I’ve had over the last 10 years. I may just be able to pull this off smoothly.
Meanwhile my Swahili is coming back to me rather quickly, which is a bit of a surprise given the lack of practice I’ve had since last time I was here. I’ve been waking up around 6-7 every day so that gives me a good hour or two of quiet time to study before anyone else is up. Waking up at that hour also gives me the luxury of watching the sunrise over Kilimanjaro every morning, sitting quietly on the terrace with a cup of hot tea as the clouds glide in to cover up the mountain for the rest of the day. It’s amazing how alive a mountain can seem when you watch the snow covered summit completely transform itself from one day to the next.
Moshi so far is very much different than it was 3 years ago, in a good way. The familiarity of a second visit to this part of the world is certainly appreciated, but the overall vibe has changed for the better. Where my mom was then just beginning to put roots down and build up her business, she’s now fully entwined in the fabric of Moshi. A walk around town isn’t complete without at least 2 or 3 people coming up to her to say “Shikamoo Bibi!”. This is a very polite greeting reserved for respected elders. I forgot the extent to which I enjoy how deferential Swahili speakers are – it reminds me very much of Japan.
Getting to know my mom’s (relatively) new business partners and employees has been an absolute pleasure. Mr. Sadiki, the senior partner, Haji, a partner, driver and guide, as well as drivers/mountain guides Nassib, Azizi, and CP, and her Maasai night watchman Baraka… All I can say about them is that they all seem levelheaded, smart, caring and motivated. All but Mr. Sadiki are young (23-30 or so), but as much as they enjoy having a good time, they live to work and love what they do.
Azizi and Nassib are already making good progress in French through our day-to-day banter. Serious lessons don’t begin for another week or two, when the low season hits. It started raining 4 days ago, for about 2 hours every afternoon, although yesterday and today we enjoyed the sun, with only a smidgeon of clouds here and there. Soon it’ll be pouring rain for most of the day. We’ll be cooped up in the house for a few weeks then, and it’ll be French immersion time for the guys. I enjoy teaching them and am only now realizing the valuable tricks I’ve learned from the dozen or more language teachers I’ve had over the last 10 years. I may just be able to pull this off smoothly.
Meanwhile my Swahili is coming back to me rather quickly, which is a bit of a surprise given the lack of practice I’ve had since last time I was here. I’ve been waking up around 6-7 every day so that gives me a good hour or two of quiet time to study before anyone else is up. Waking up at that hour also gives me the luxury of watching the sunrise over Kilimanjaro every morning, sitting quietly on the terrace with a cup of hot tea as the clouds glide in to cover up the mountain for the rest of the day. It’s amazing how alive a mountain can seem when you watch the snow covered summit completely transform itself from one day to the next.
Here you can see part of my mom's house, and upstairs the terrace, just outside my bedroom, where I get to kick back and enjoy the view.
I was pleasantly surprised last week to receive an email from an old friend asking if she could come and climb Kili with me. After a few back and forth emails it’s now set in stone, so I’ll be climbing a month later than I had originally thought I would, but I’ll be with one of my favorite girls, who I haven’t seen since I went to Milan last February. This means March will be busy, with my friend Dave coming out from LA to go on safari the first week of March, and the two of us tattooed Canadians embarking on a climbing adventure the third week. I didn’t know what to expect when I booked this trip, but it’s amazing so far and getting better by the day.
My mother’s house is an oasis. I haven’t felt this relaxed and happily easygoing in a while. There are people here all day long, until about 8pm when it starts to quiet down. Being a solitary person by nature, it was a bit of an adjustment for me, but I do enjoy the simplicity of having people drop by to say hi because they couldn’t reach either of us on our cell phones, or even spending the night in one of the spare rooms or guesthouses just because it’s late and we’ve got the room. It seems somewhat old fashioned but really it’s just so simple and normal. It can make Los Angeles seem cold and intimidating in a way. I can’t even remember the last time I dropped by someone’s house without calling first, even in the middle of the day.
My mom’s office is about a mile away from home, and we’ve been there every day since I got here. Mostly we’ve been trying to get two 11 person safaris and one 2 person mountain climb (all within the same week) to go smoothly, but there are always a million bumps along the way. I got to drive a Land Cruiser on the left side of the road for the first time on Sunday. It wasn’t as weird as I expected, and I think with a bit more practice I’ll be confident enough to drive around the quieter parts of town shortly.
I also got talked into going out last Friday with a bunch of my mom’s employees and their friends. Not being much of a club going person I was reluctant at first but eventually just decided to go with it and see what would happen… Seeing as I was with a handful of rather protective guys I was reassured and comfortable, and wound up having such a great time. I can’t remember the last time I danced all night.
There’s so much more to say about the last few days but I’ll keep the rest for the next post. Lots of laugh-till-your-face-hurts silliness, “Lost in Translation” type confusion, new food adventures, and plans for next week which include a solo safari for me to Tarangire National Park and maybe Lake Manyara, and a business trip to Mombasa for my mom.
More to come soon...
¶ 2/19/2009 11:24:00 AM 0 comments
My mother’s house is an oasis. I haven’t felt this relaxed and happily easygoing in a while. There are people here all day long, until about 8pm when it starts to quiet down. Being a solitary person by nature, it was a bit of an adjustment for me, but I do enjoy the simplicity of having people drop by to say hi because they couldn’t reach either of us on our cell phones, or even spending the night in one of the spare rooms or guesthouses just because it’s late and we’ve got the room. It seems somewhat old fashioned but really it’s just so simple and normal. It can make Los Angeles seem cold and intimidating in a way. I can’t even remember the last time I dropped by someone’s house without calling first, even in the middle of the day.
My mom’s office is about a mile away from home, and we’ve been there every day since I got here. Mostly we’ve been trying to get two 11 person safaris and one 2 person mountain climb (all within the same week) to go smoothly, but there are always a million bumps along the way. I got to drive a Land Cruiser on the left side of the road for the first time on Sunday. It wasn’t as weird as I expected, and I think with a bit more practice I’ll be confident enough to drive around the quieter parts of town shortly.
I also got talked into going out last Friday with a bunch of my mom’s employees and their friends. Not being much of a club going person I was reluctant at first but eventually just decided to go with it and see what would happen… Seeing as I was with a handful of rather protective guys I was reassured and comfortable, and wound up having such a great time. I can’t remember the last time I danced all night.
There’s so much more to say about the last few days but I’ll keep the rest for the next post. Lots of laugh-till-your-face-hurts silliness, “Lost in Translation” type confusion, new food adventures, and plans for next week which include a solo safari for me to Tarangire National Park and maybe Lake Manyara, and a business trip to Mombasa for my mom.
More to come soon...
