Market & H2O

I practically begged our team lead to let us go to the main market today. Most of the group is going on safari, but I’m just one day in Zanzibar, then starting my trek back to the US. So I was dying to make it to a traditional market to pick up a few items on my list. Having picked up on my many “subtle” hints, we were given permission and a guide to accompany us to the market. It was so funny to stop by the Mall to exchange money, and walk into a Shop Rite grocery store at the corner of the complex! A sea of dark faces passed by us at the entrance, and one of our guys commented that we weren’t being stared at. Sure enough, we found 1 in 20 people to be pale-skinned like most of us. It seemed people were accustomed to this in the area we were shopping in (unlike the area we were staying in). The first light-face that passed us in the doors of the Mall was large, round, and had two giant ears emerging from the top of his head. Mickey Mouse!

During our Tanzanian Mall experience we exchanged money, used the toilet (as it is more accurately called, not restroom), and picked up some yummy foreign snacks at the grocery. These snacks have got the worst of me yet, as I of course went for those tasty oat biscuits (with chocolate!) and proceeded to finish the box before the night was out. I got into a side conversation about my use of the water here. After spending 3 months in India, and getting sick a number of times after wading in the ocean, I am not so phased by the warnings to be super-cautious about letting the water touch your mouth. Each day I’ve got a bit more bold. First it was noticing a bit of water between my lips during shower, then wiping my mouth after tooth brushing with faucet water, then cleaning my brush from the faucet after, then straight up brushing my teeth with the water from the faucet. I haven’t died yet. And I’m certainly not gotten sick like I know very well from Indian water incidences.

Tomorrow we are going to the BEACH! We will see if the Indian Ocean is any cleaner on this side of the great chasm of water.

SHOPRITE:  In Tanzania?!?  Yes, sortof.

OCEAN:  The Indian Ocean from the west coast of Africa.

Design Production & Indian Food

The days are starting to turn to mush by the time I get to the end of the day. Reflecting on today, I can hardly remember where it started! I know I got up around 7:30am, and skipped a shower again today, although I really shouldn’t have – lol. Showers here are the same as they were in India… in one room with toilet and sink. There is a spray hose beside for “badae” purposes and the shower head is mounted to the wall with no separation via curtain, tub, nor change in flooring from the rest of the room. The shower head lets out not much more than a trickle, so I’ve been using the 1.5L water bottles and a smaller one to fill up from the sink, then fill up the big one for pouring over my hair in “shower.” I’ve been rather successful showering this way, but it does take a long time. Later today, my hot water switch didn’t work, so I went to Shannon’s room to shower, even though it’s a good 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit, I still like my warm (bucket) showers :)

This morning was encouraging again. I worked on the Visitor’s Housing and took it to a greater level of detail. James took a look at my work and we discussed the passive lighting and passive cooling elements integrated into the design. He had many good things to say about how it was designed, so we proceeded with the help and questions of the structural and electrical engineers to hash out some of the details. It is through this process that I have been able to get as far as detailed roof design, electrical outlets and lights laid out, and am about to hand it over to plumbing as well for their input/design.

I’ve been moving right along due to the nature of the building I’ve been working on and the smooth processing, so I took up an opportunity to go to town briefly this afternoon. Aaron needed to grab a few supplies from the Stationary store in Tegeta, so Jennifer, one of the kind gals that works for the hotel helped us navigate town for these modeling supplies. James drove us with his coworker Joshua, but when they dropped us off in the busy markets of Tegeta, it was Jennifer that lead our way around the vendors to the right side shop, and into its small 5’x5’ interior customer space. We ended up getting only a few sheets of paper since what we really wanted was cardboard – I suggested we use boxes, and we have plenty back at the hotel.

We’ve been using more Swahili words lately as we learn them. For example, we road a DalaDala home today (mini-bus). It is hard to remember these bubbly words that have an abundance of syllables in each word! “DalaDala bill y’all.” I use ANY reference for memorization I can think of – haha! On the bus we met a cute little kid. He was sitting on his mother’s lap, and his brother was across the aisle in front of us at first (until a man got on board at the next stop, ushering him out of his seat, and then moments later pulling him in to sit on his lap – how rude I thought, actually, it was very sweet – it’s hard to think of this happening in the States though, especially since they were strangers!). I waved in response to his stare a number of times. Then, I noticed every time my hands went to my face, as they all to often do, so did his. Hm, then when I lowered my hands down I was figiting with my fingers, and so were his. Ah-ha, he’s copying me! Sure enough, we was mimicking everything I did, I giggled, smiled, and played along. Aaron showed me how to stack my hands and let the middle fingers hang out the opposite side, making a funny wobbling movement. The kids tried to follow, to varying levels of success ,it was cute. The little one had quite a bit of fun wiggling his fingers around his eyes to copy us in our new version of wiggly glasses. All of a sudden, his mother started digging through her bag while he continued to fill her lap. The boy then pulls on a pair of cool fluorescent shades and sends another large toothless smile my direction. B) I wish I had a picture of this interaction, but on a busy city bus one has to be careful not to offend anyone and remain peaceful. Oh, but I did the best I could, with a slip of my hand, I was able to flip the switch on for my video camera and grab a bit of the sounds of the city as we road through town on the bus (dala dala).

Site Visit

Every project begins with a site visit. The twelve of us (including the two teenage sons) rode the bus 20 minutes north to the outskirts of the Dar es Salaam district. There we walked the site with James, the Kenyan-born director, and Michael, a council member of ICM Tanzania. We began the site tour at the northwest corner under a giant cashew tree. Later Aaron, Ben and I all spent a few minutes sitting in its branches, our feet hanging above others heads below. Did you know that a cashew tree produces a fruit called an apple that bears only one nut… on the top of the fruit NOT inside? This is a good trivia fact to remember when paying a high price for a can of ‘shews. That, and that the fruit is poisonous and nut roasted prior to consumption!

Climbing trees turned out to be my biggest task on the site visit. On our way up from the hotel James used a large tree in the distance to point out our site up on the hill out in front of our approach on Bagamoyo Road. This tree was located on the ridge just east of the property on what we imagined was the Oceanside of the property. Confirming this speculation would determine if it were possible to get ocean views from a third story structure onsite. Naturally, I volunteered to cross the property and climb the giant bilbao tree. Now that was a beautiful climbing tree! And I don’t mean it was anything like the swiss family robinson style treehouse type tree like our cashew tree experience. This tree was so old and over 20’ in diameter, that it was ridden with pocks, beautiful climbing grips! It was so embarrassing though. I got about 5’ in the air and got stuck trying to shift my weight to the right, well, stuck isn’t the right word, when my left hand left the tree, I swung away from the trunk and lost my connection to the tree, gaining connection between my backside and the dusty gray African earth. Aaron shimmied his way up the tree while I dusted my pride off, and I gave him a boost past my trouble spot. He made it up easy, so I tried again. Boom. I got near the same spot and reestablished that I can indeed sit on the African soil well. Argh, how can I friction climb 600’ at a 5.8 pitch, yet can’t climb a stupid African tree?! I took off my shoes and I prayed. Yes, I did. I made my way up that big ol’ beast and out cautiously onto a limb. “OCEAN VIEW!” We took lots of pictures of the site from that perspective, and got a great sense of what rooms in the third-story would be like. I hugged the tree close between my legs the whole time with a firm grip like a saddle between my hands, determined not to fall this time from 15 feet. Always an adventure you know – this site visit was no exception.

Sights in a foreign country

As we drive around town I’ve been enjoying seeing the sights as we pass by the “everyday” life of Tanzanians in Dar es Salaam. We get chuckling a bit in the bus by many of the unique store signs. I enjoyed spotting a barber shop showing a nice sign painted with P-Diddy, or the one called Boyz II Men Barber Shop. My favorite is definitely the “Sick New Shop” . I’m uncertain what the “God Love Shop” is selling, but I sure hope it’s good. There is one that got me wondering about the drinking age in Tanzania, that is the “Family Bar.” Then there is the shop I was advised us to stay away from: “White Butchery,” – haha!