I have been home for about a week, and I couldn’t help but notice the considerable difference in the pace of life between home and Tanzania. One way the “pace of life” of a place can be measured is through the average speed at which people walk. I was in downtown Chicago the other day and, as usual, everyone had a place to be and was walking extra fast to make sure no time was wasted. Quite the opposite is the case in Tanzania. Not only do people walk slower, but they aren’t always in a rush to get somewhere. On a typical walk through Dar, hundreds of people can be seen hanging out on the side of the road. This includes people hanging out in their shops, waiting for customers next to a bajaj (it’s like a golf cart taxi), or just talking with friends. I really appreciate this difference in culture. While this way of living may be seen as less productive through American eyes, a slower pace of life is very relaxing and pleasant. Even the restaurants were slow. Most of our meals at restaurants took an hour to come!

An elephant in Ngorongoro Crater

Another aspect of Tanzania that is simple is the cuisine. Every restaurant or food stand has more or less the exact same menu: rice and beans, chicken, goat, chips mayai, etc. Chips mayai was by far my favorite dish, and I must have had it at least 15 times in my five week stay. The best way to describe it is as a french fry egg omelette. I admit that it is nice to resume eating American food again, however, eating Tanzanian food acted acted as a cleanse for me considering I’ve been eating American food my entire life. I had an amazing time in Tanzania, and I can’t wait to make it back someday!

Cape buffalo in Ngorongoro Crater

For the last two weeks of my time in Tanzania this year, I got to live and spend time with the wonderful Mtavangu family. My mama and baba were Angela and Norbert the latter of whom is a professor at the University of Dar es Salaam. Both of them work for most of the day but it was never lonely at home; they have three daughters (Benedicta, Lucy, and Teresa) living with them as well as Bibi (Grandma), Uncle David, and Julie who help a lot around the house. I was a little nervous before I moved into their home because the idea of living with another family (especially one that I knew nothing about) felt really foreign and slightly strange to me, considering I’ve never been in a homestay before and I didn’t know how my homestay family would feel about having two people thrust into their family and home for two weeks (they haven’t hosted any Princeton in Dar student before and they later admitted to me that they were also a little nervous). But when i met them and started living with them, I realized that they are extremely kind, genuine, and great people overall. Everyone was really welcoming and nice to me and really wanted to make us feel like part of the family. My only regret is not staying longer with them. About half the time I was in their home, I was away in Arusha and with class and going to the orphanage and Mwenge, I feel that I didn’t really get to spend as much time with them as I wanted to.

Christina and my host family

One of my favorite things about my homestay experience is getting to live with one of my fellow program participants, Christina. I didn’t really know Christina before living in a homestay together Originally, the plan was to have one person living in each homestay but there weren’t enough homestays available for each person to have one. I really likes living with another person because it felt nice to have someone there with you when you’re living with a family whom you barely know and you’re both going through roughly the same experiences. This was especially true for us; neither of us know too much Swahili and when there weren’t any English speakers at home, we could communicate with each other and be confused together (this is all just my personal opinion; I’m sure living on your own would be fine but personally, I would prefer living with another person). We also had a lot of time to talk to each other and bond every day during breakfast, on our walk to school, and during and after dinner We talked about our lives, the class, and our families in America; we even discovered that we love the same era of music (we both agree that Earth, Wind, and Fire and the Bee Gees are pretty top notch groups). I don’t think that I would’ve gotten to become friends with Christina or even know her if I hadn’t done this program and lived with her. That’s one of the great things about Princeton in Dar; I’ve met so many people who are very different and have different interests that I would not have met if it wasn’t for this program.

Christina and I holding a neighbor’s week-old baby

“quickly has no blessing” is the rough translation of a Swahili proverb often used in Tanzania. After two years of taking Swahili in the academic setting and now having spent 5 weeks in the culture, I can say that this saying does Indeed hold true for the people of Tanzania.

I grew up traveling across multiple cultures, including moving from the states to Hong Kong and various places within the states itself. All these moves exposed me to different cultures, but nonetheless I was nervous going to Tanzania. The end result, however, was fantastic. When I first heard that saying I assumed it just meant the general lifestyle but not the general attitude and characteristics of the people. To me the saying is really a representation of the people and not their practices. For example the traffic is terrible and you can’t help but feel anxious during the heavy times of rush hour. Walking is even fast and it seems as if no one follows such a proverb.   But when you get to know the culture an people of Tanzania, it becomes clear that it is more about their views and not about their practices. I would like to give two examples. First, the people of Tanzania were, in my experience, the nicest people of any culture. The general atmosphere of Dar Es Salaam and its population was that of peace and relaxation even through the hectic environment found in the city. As cliche as the saying goes, everyone seemed to be much happier even though they had substantially less. This lesson put many things into perspective and their General attitude about life was one example of them following the proverb.

The second: my fall. During a cave exploration In the northern part of Tanzania, I had an accident and broke two ribs. After an interesting experience with the health care system I only had the two ribs and some cuts and bruises. The thing that struck me the most, however, was the way that everyone treated me throughout the whole process. The doctors were kind and also curious about the event. The people driving me from place to place were always apologizing, even though the fall had obviously nothing to do with them. My tour guide even wanted us to call him after we found out if I was ok- I won’t forget the general care and worry that took over his face when the event happened. Finally, even the taxi drivers wanted to know what happened, also profusely apalogizing for the accident.

To me it was the last example that struck the whole idea of Tanzanian culture home. The people were genuine and had great priorities. To them, people mattered the most and life was simple. Throughout my travels I haven’t met a group of people who were so down to earth, peaceful, and genuinely interested in what was going on with other people. These types of culture definitely exist, but the Tanzanian people exemplify it.

Quickly has no blessing does now mean slow down on the practical side, but more so slow down on the personal side. Enjoy the company of those around you and develop deep personal relationships that matter. With these you will be able to find peace, even if you don’t have much else. This was indeed the biggest culture shock for me and will have lasting implications on my experience in Tanzania and In future countries.

So as the people in Tanzania would say  “haraka haraka haina baraka” and remember to take value in those around you.

Though the entire trip has been amazing, one aspect has stood out as one of my top experiences here. I have always enjoyed working with wood. I grew up helping my dad build furniture and decorative pieces in the make-shift wood shop he had set up in our garage. His hobby had partially turned into my own. When things got busy with school, I had to step back from all that, but here in Tanzania, I finally got another chance to make something. Even better, I learned from some of the expert carvers at Mwenge, the woodcarvers market where we were teaching English.

Rabia and I got our tools and were ready to work!

My friend and co-teacher at Mwenge, Rabia Khan, took these carving classes with me. We both decided to make elephants, which we were told were one of the easiest animals. The carvers in Mwenge take under a day in total making elephants. They work on sets of their carvings at a time over just a few days, and end up with 10-20 beautiful elephants in no time. We, on the other hand, took roughly eight days, working about two hours each day, and that is with the help of our carving instructors. Big difference in time, but hey, we are just learning how to carve. That’s to be expected.

Anthony and Chapa making the rough shapes of elephants

Antony and Chapa were our teachers, with our friend and co-teacher Rajabu helping out and hanging around with us through our carving journey. They took the lead in making the general shape of the elephants, but then they handed over the tools and let us refine the lines, taper the bodies, and chisel out some of the features. By no means did we make these elephants on our own, but we definitely learned the techniques for carving and how to make a good looking elephant.

Taking some of my first swings, shaping my elephant

Going to Mwenge most days for a couple weeks, we really got to experience what it was like to work there. We were not just tourists. The other carvers, English students and others, began recognizing us and greeting us when they saw us, not with the intention of selling us their products. I really felt like I got to know the community in Mwenge on a deeper level. Being there through dinner sometimes, I ate with the carvers once, but I have also gotten snacks that we would not have found being there only at night. One of these was Kashata, a softer version of peanut brittle. After buying a small piece, I bought a bunch more so that the rest of the group could taste my delicious find. Many of them really liked it, and even bought more for themselves when they had the chance.

Our completed, polished elephants!

Working with these men, learning from them, was quite the role reversal, because for the first couple weeks in Dar es Salaam, we had been their teachers in the English class that the carvers market has every night. Taking the carving class from them, we had an even better chance to get to know them and learn from them. Not only did we learn to carve, but we also learned some more Swahili from them practically every day we went. This small group setting also allowed us to help them a little better, speaking in English and explaining what we were saying or asking, with the help of Rajabu. The relationship that formed over these five weeks was one of mutual benefit and respect, and I very much appreciate having had the opportunity to learn to carve from these wonderful people and great teachers.

Finished with our carving class! What an amazing experience!

When you hear the word safari, what do you usually think of? For me, an average American college student, I think of going out into a conservation area and seeing wild animals. While this may be one (American) definition of the word, the Kiswahili word “safari” actually means a journey or trip. This whole experience in Tanzania so far can definitely be described as a safari.

On the way to class at the University of Dar es Salaam

During our course we have learned a lot about Tanzania: its history, its politics, and its culture, to name a few things. My favorite parts of the course, however, have been the supplementary field trips that have provided us the opportunity to see what we have learned about in the classroom brought to life. Rabia has already talked about why Zanzibar was so awesome, but I want to talk about our trip to Ngorongoro Conservation Area near Arusha in northern Tanzania. The entire trip to Arusha was fantastic, but I thoroughly enjoyed the (typical American) safari we took. It was amazing seeing all of the diverse wildlife coexisting so naturally! Not to mention just how gorgeous Ngorongoro Crater and the other parts of the Conservation Area were even without animals. It was breathtaking! And undeniably one of the coolest experiences of my life.

A view from inside Ngorongoro Crater

The week of our excursion one of the concepts we discussed was that of neoliberal conservation. According to “Neoliberal Conservation: A Brief Introduction” by Jim Igoe and Dan Brockington, this is the theory that opening up conservation areas to private foreign investors will help benefit both the environment as well as the local people. However, as the article mentions, this is usually not the case when put into practice. These conservation areas usually benefit the foreign investors at the expense of the local culture. Reading this article for class helped me to better understand the theory, but it wasn’t until we went on our academic safari that I really comprehended what they were talking about.

Our group were only two jeeps out of several hundreds observing the wildlife in the park that day.

While I definitely saw the way the local Masai people were being pushed out of most of the conservation areas, I was way more captivated by the conservation part of “neoliberal conservation.” The animals were everywhere, and there were so many different types! I saw 4/5 of the traditional Big Five (the animals that are the most dangerous for people to hunt): lion, rhino, cape buffalo, leopard, and elephant. Only the nocturnal leopard went unobserved. It was really wonderful seeing these animals, especially given how rare some of them are nowadays (the rhino especially). Besides these, I also got to see zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, warthogs, hyenas, flamingos, rabbits, hippos, gazelles, antelopes, ostriches, other cool birds that I don’t know the names of, and many more! I saw so much up close that it all felt a little surreal just how amazing this place was. Pictures really don’t do this place justice. I am eternally grateful that I got the chance to experience this safari within a safari.

A small sample of the vast number of animals here in Ngorongoro Conservation Area