Tanzanian Traffic Laws, Bucket Showers, and Swahili Lessons

I have officially been in Tanzania for more than a week. This week has brought many surprises and I've loved every second of it. (Excluding, maybe, the brief bout of sickness on Friday morning.) Last Tuesday, Kim had a meeting with the founder and director of The Foundation for Tomorrow, an organization that aims to "empower developing nations by educating their youth." Max, KNOCK's incoming Managing Director in Tanzania, Kim, and I set off on the journey to Arusha, which is a town slightly larger than Moshi, that is about an hour and a half drive away. The meeting went well, KNOCK and TFFT seem to have very similar values and everyone seemed happy with the connection; however, the most shocking part of the day, for me, was the drive. There are no traffic laws in Tanzania. And the very few laws that are in place, are more like suggestions than rules. People tend to drive on the wrong side of the street (which is especially confusing considering they're supposed to drive on the left side anyways), and they go ridiculously fast. Tanzanian speed bumps may be classified as one of the most annoying things I have ever experienced. To go over them, traffic actually stops. You have to almost stop your car if you don't want to scrape the bottom of it or fly 10 feet in the air. And, in true Tanzanian driving fashion, you always see someone fly over them while they're driving on the wrong side of the road trying to get around you.

Last Wednesday, I took my first, of many, bucket showers.  One must resort to a bucket shower when the power is out. Although bathing oneself out of a bucket of warm water may seem incredibly uncomfortable, I have actually found it quite enjoyable. One, the water is always going to be warm. I don't have to worry about rushing through the first part of my shower to ensure that there is some hot water left at the end of my shower. Two, I control the water pressure. I don't have to stand under the shower head, with water barely coming out, to attempt to get the conditioner out. And three, I don't have to rush. I don't have to rush in fear of the hot water running out, I don't have to rush in fear of the power going out (considering it's already out), and I don't have to rush in fear of the water turning off, leaving me with unbearably, scalding hot water. So all in all, I have determined that bucket showers aren't bad, but I'm definitely not planning on taking one at home.

This past Monday marked my first Swahili lesson. Three times a week I meet with Paul, who is a 21-year-old who works for Pristine Trails (Edward's Tour Company) and as a translator for Cross Cultural Solutions (the volunteer program I completed with my family five years ago). For my first two lessons, we went over greetings and started on verbs, which all of the kids at Matumaini love to quiz me on. Mama Chapu, one of the women who cooks and cleans for Matumaini and one of my favorite people in the world, loved looking at my verb list and was very excited when I said, "Ninajifunza Kiswahili." (I'm learning Swahili). 

I'm still loving my time here and I can't wait for all that I have yet to experience. 

You can find pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150297891008201.329492.642763200&l=d6cc451dbe&type=1