The beginning

I'm going to copy from my journal for each post from now on. Well, I'll embellish were embellishment is needed, but I think it will be interesting to look back at how I first took it all in and what I went through.

May 16th, 2008 (and the 17th at some point)

"Ok so here I am on the plane. We were #40 on the runway about half an hour ago. I've been speaking with a very nice man named Mike on the plane. We have an empty seat between us. I hope I make my connection. I leave Zurich at 9:35AM and we were meant to get in at 7:30. I think I will make it..."

"I'm going to miss New York and home. I can already feel my brain transitioning though. Mike is telling his friend on the phone about me. I told him about birdcalling on Letterman because he was like, 'Hey, maybe I'll see you on T.V. going social work stuff.' And I was like, 'Well, actually.' He had lived in the Bay for part of high school and then moved to Alameda for a while, I thought maybe he had heard of it. So, the plane is an hour late so far. I've already eaten one of my Cliff bars and given one to Mike. I was so hungry...."

"I've been really wanting to ask for a taxi to my hostel for my night in Dar is Swahili. It would go something like this:

Habari!? (Pause) Nzuri, asante! (how are you, fine thanks)
Nataka teksi, tafadhali (i'd like a taxi please)
Tafadhali niendeshe mpaka (please take me to)
Corner of Nyerere/Segerea in the Kisarawe/Pugu Direction
(I have in my notes it should be 1.5 km and cost 5.000tsh)

some more Swahili I am learning

Unasemaje (how do you say?)
Unasema Kiingereza (pronounced kee-een-gay-ray-za, do you speak english)
Samahani (excuse me)
Choo kiko wapi? (where is the toilet)

So, I am in Zurich now, waiting on the next plane. I've just managed to change into my flip flops under my tray table containing peppermint tea that cost $4.50 without gagging from the stench of my other shoes. When I wear them without socks they get really smelly...

Not going to lie, Europeans are pretty weird when it comes down to it. At lease Swiss people in the airport are strange. They are nice, but kind of stern at the same time, it's very interesting. They seem to be very serious people. Samyra and Hana are both very silly though... So earlier when I was writing down some Swahili phrases, Mike struck up a conversation which I totally saw coming. We must have spoken for at lease an hour or two. He is 37, was married at 18, has 7 kids (all of whose names begin with "A," Andrew is the oldest, Aaron is the youngest, 3 girls and 4 boys). Oh my god they are counting all of us "economy class" passengers on a little silver clicky thing. I do get a good vibe from this flight though, when I came in there was a little video of penguins swimming to the shore."

i need to finish this later....

Alright, so that didn't work...

Yay I'm home! Sorry I didn't blog while I was gone, but I plan on doing a little "reflection blog" for all of you (and of course telling my stories in person when I see you). I wrote in a journal everyday, so i'm thinking about directly quoting from it and maybe even scanning a couple pages in...we'll see how much energy I have. Also, this way I can include pictures and write as much as I want. If I had blogged in Tanzania I would have only done maybe 2 or 3 entries and there would have been no pictures. Ok, hopefully I'll start soon! I missed all of you! And now I miss Tanzania....

Love,
Jackie

Last night in town...

Jambo friends!

The "blogging" Jackie is back! I'm not quite sure how I ended up here again, sitting in a pile of clothing, wide-eyed and confused about what to do next. It's 2:30 in the morning here in Brooklyn. My flight for Tanzania is tomorrow at 5 PM. I think I'll probably get out of here around 1:00. I have packed my suitcase (can you believe it!?), but I still need to add underwear and sit on my duffle bad full of pillows so I can try and make it zip. Samyra and Drew helped me close it before, but like a fool I opened it up to try and fit just one more pillow. I bought 12 pillows for the girl's home because Chris said they were hard to come by in Tanzania. Man, I keep wanting to type/say Ghana.

By the way, I am going to Tanzania to do some social work research/program evaluation/manual labor/play at an orphanage that a nice young man in my class started. Here is the organization:

http://www.jbfc-online.org

Tonight I went out to my friend Chelsea's graduation party. It was so wonderful to see her and some of my other Ghana friends. So wonderful. We were at a claymation animator's apartment who happens to be magical and a family friend of Chelsea's. We watched the Velveteen Rabbit and it was so nice. At the end he mumbled,

"All the children love to watch this one over and over. Until he becomes real."

It was so sweet, we definitely were all teary-eyed. Maybe I'm not explaining that well. I don't know, there was just a very sweet feeling in that apartment, kind of like a dream.

Next we headed to a bar called Nevada Smith for our friend Cory's birthday/post graduation thing. It was very nice to hang out more with the Ghana peeps. Dipesh got me very excited about India (p.s. I'm going to India with Paul in August) and made me feel better about leaving. It's not that I don't want to go, there is just something sad about it. And I know that in two days (if I get on the internet) I will be raving about Tanzania. I think it will be absolutely amazing.

Now I am back home, sitting in my pile of clothes, thinking of what to do next. I think I will sleep. I'm going to see Sean and hopefully Ray to say bye in the morning and call everyone one last time.....and clean my entire room to get ready for the sub-letters, no big deal. Ohhhh boy, it's starting to hit me. I better hit the hay or the sack or the barn or something. I'm still not sure if I will remain a vegetarian (i have been for the last year pretty much) in Tanzania. I'll see how I feel. It's sort of a different story over there, the meat industry is not evil and disgusting. I definitely won't eat pork though, that has always grossed me out. I'll just see what my body tells me. If I crave protein, I will probably eat it. I think I will be craving Fan products (in West Africa men on the streets sell Fan Ice, Fan Choco, Tampico, and Fan Yogo, wonderful frozen confections that actually save your life), I hope they have an equivalent in East Africa.

So, ya, to clarify, tomorrow I will fly into Dar es Salaam (the East Coast, right by Zanzibar on the map above), stay in a hostel for the night, and fly to Mwanza the next morning (hence the blog title). It is right on the edge of Lake Victoria and will be absolutely breathtaking. AHHH!



Now I am sitting amongst three of the Roder siblings on our couch (my roommate Samyra and her brother and sister). Sanam was giving me some Tanzania advice because she did a med program there. Iman and I are discussing the difference between blogs and massive e-mails. Ok, I need to sleeeeep. Goodnight everyone! I will miss you all so much! I'll be thinking of you all and I will buy pretty things for you....

Goodnight! Don't worry too much, I will be having the time of my life.

Love,
Jackie