A Very Zanzi Easter and Goodbye Tanzania!

"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard" -- Winne the Pooh

Hello and goodbye!  Ahh my final blog post, can you believe it?!  I think I did a pretty darn good job keeping this thing up during my time in TZ.  Time really flies. I am back home in the United States now reflecting on this long journey and I realize just how short the time was--it has put a lot into perspective for sure!

During my last few weeks I was busy wrapping up everything workwise at my job--I didn't even have to be physically present at the office which is fine because I had plenty to do applying for jobs and making revisions to my final paper--which my advisor was very pleased with, which makes me very happy too.  I'm somewhat of a free agent basically which I am growing more and more fond of being.  During my last few days in Tanzania I had a few big job interviews and I was really hoping for an offer as the position fit into my line of work (women's advocacy) quite well and it was the last open application that was available to me after many a rejection--my expectations were low and the stakes were high.  A week after arriving back to the US I got the position!!! I'm going to be a Global Health Corps Fellow working at an international women's advocacy organization based in DC--so I'll be hopping from one adventure to the other! It certainly has been a rollercoaster and its not over yet.  Tanzania has been an amazing experience and I think my experience there was a big factor in me receiving the fellowship offer.  I could not be more thankful and I'm very excited to begin! I hope to look back on this blog one day and say "ahh that's before everything fell into place"!  

So to fill you all in and wrap up my time in Tanzania I'll share how before I left, I recently got a new housemate Chang, from South Korea which was really nice as we were able to explore the city a bit more and enjoy eating at restaurants and going to the movies.  We even decided to go to Mbudya island (where I went previously) with my colleague Leah from work and our friend from the house Lukkman.  It was a fun day of swimming, eating, playing cards and hanging out (although I lost my shoes in the process, ha!).

Lukkman, Leah, Chang and I going to Mbudya

Lukkman and I enjoying the sand and sun in Mbudya

Mudya picnic!

Mbudya island life!

Watching the Sunset on Mbudya

Paradise pano

I'll miss the sand beneath my feet going back home to the USA

Heading back to Dar 

I also recently discovered the amazingness of street corn in Dar, so cheap (like less than 50 cents?) and so tasty with salt and lime, in my last few weeks in TZ I was eating a lot of it, Here's the main corn dude I go to get the product from, hehe!

This dude is legit

In my last post I also mentioned I wanted to take one last trip before heading home.  I originally thought I'd go to Rwanda but the ticket price and overall cost just didn't fit into my budget.  I'm finally becoming an adult and thinking about these things.  So instead of paying a lot to travel to a different country I opted to go to Zanzibar one last time for the Easter holiday.  I think I made a good choice, Rwanda, I'm coming back to see you again sometime that's for sure!!

Hopping on the mini plane to Zanzibar

Terrifying yet exhilarating being on the small plane ;)

View of the island coming in

I coordinated the trip with my fellow Brandeis colleague Lynn who is staying in Kenya and my new roommate Chang.  We arrived to Zanzibar and thank goodness the weather was not as hot as the last time there!  You could actually stand outside for a while and not feel like the sun was penetrating your mind, which was a nice change.  We enlisted the services of our friend Osama the Zanzibari taxi driver again and away we went but not before we did a bit of walking around Stone Town again, and trying not to get run over by the motorbikes that weave in and out of the small streets quite quickly despite pedestrian traffic!

Meeting up with Osama in his traditional Muslim garb, I don't know the name of it but it looked cool

Me trying to model in the streets of Stone Town

This street was actually fairly quiet, a nice change

Trekking in my elephant pants!

Posing in front of one of the famous Zanzibari doors--I was photobombed by the person who lived there emerging from their home...oops!

There, that's more like it ;)

Old Catholic Church in Stone Town

Chang enjoying the souvenir shopping in Stone Town

Trekked to the seaside in Stone Town, posing on an old canon

Clocktower!

After doing the typical Stone Town thing, we met up with Lynn and headed towards our accommodation.  We opted to stay in Nungwi on the north side of the island, which we had yet to explore, it was also due to the fact that there was the famous "Full Moon Party" taking place there, obviously as there was a full moon that evening.  The venue was great!  I wish I would have taken more pictures there.  But it was a big open air stage right next to the beach with dancing and campfires, food and drinks a plenty.  I had fun dancing but also walking to the beach and swimming in the moonlight, probably the best beach I've ever been to.  The water was ultra clear and you could swim out for quite a ways and still touch the bottom which was quite clean.  I stayed over by the ocean for a lot of the party as it was more my scene than the bumpin and grindin happening on the dance floor---getting too old for that ish.

Lynn, Chang, Osama, and I at the full moon party!

After we had our fill of the party we headed back to the accommodation where we ran into a slight altercation that is laughable now (to me) but was very obnoxious/stupid at the time.  We pulled into the hotel and the security guard said that Osama had to leave because he was not a guest of the hotel, the room we were staying in only had 2 beds for Lynn and I and Chang had his own room but Osama never registered (we found a mat and put it on the floor for him to sleep). We did not heed the warning and we all went to the room to sleep.  About an hour later the police were knocking on the door and arrested Osama! I came out barefoot and accompanied Osama, the disgruntled owner and the police back to the police office at 4 am with no shoes and no bra, great combo eh?  We got it all sorted out with some rational talking and a lot of me and Osama apologizing, it was dumb at best.  They took us back to the hotel after their "shock tactic" and we just had to give them some money and all was fine.  Thankfully I'm able to turn on the charm in times of distress to resolve situations, you kill more flies with honey than you do vinegar? Sorry I'm not sorry--you've got to work with what you got, amirite?  Anyway everything is fine now, I didn't let that stupidity ruin my vacation.  I can say I survived a Tanzanian police situation with minimal bribes made and after that night there was no more free places to sleep for anyone!

The next day we made the most of the awkward situation that unfolded the night before and got right to the tourism part of the vacay.  Chang and I went to this really neat natural aquarium near the hotel where we got to swim and feed sea turtles!!!

Enjoying the natural aquarium and literally swimming with the sea turtles--they were so sweet and ate a lot of seaweed, they came up every once and a while and squirted water out of their nose in the air, simply adorable

Chang and I surrounded by Sea Turtles, one in a lifetime experience!

Happiness is Turtle love!

After the lovely turtle experience we walked down to the beach and hung out with some locals.  You could walk along the beach for a long time and just enjoy the beautiful colors and sounds.  Ahh it was perfect!

The next day we had more beach fun and rented bikes to ride along the island from beach to beach, the ride turned out to be long and hot but when we got to the beautiful beach it was totally worth it!

Bright blue water!

We ended our beach ride at the same place we went for the full moon party Kendwa Rocks, which was much more chill the following day, more swimming more relaxing, ahh!

Dinnertime views

Kendwa Rocks beach- the setting of the Full moon party a few nights before

We rented a van to take the bikes back as we rode a long way and went back to the hotel, there we met some random people there and they told us about a really fun party at a place called Coco Bongo so we got our crew together and headed over.  It was a drama free night and we even got in for half price because we asked the right people who gave us VIP treatment, there was dancing and artsy fartsy stuff happening it was lovely!

Lynn and I at Coco Bongo.  In between a giraffe and a horse!

The time went by so fast!  The last day of our trip came quickly and we had one last stop stop before heading back to Stone Town-- a tropical spice farm!  It was awesome, we had a guide walk us around and show us the plants where we got to smell and taste each one and guess what kinds they were, we also got to buy natural perfumes and cosmetics, got to eat fresh fruit, watch a coconut man song and dance show and got decked out with some pretty palm fashions.  I loved it!!!

The coolest part of the Zanzibar trip for me--awesome Spice tour!!! Highly recommended

Beautiful view of the Spice Tour Farm

We got to see many spices growing and had to guess which was what based on taste and smell, I didn't do so well!

Our really great tour guide showing us all the different plants, which I've already forgotten, nevertheless it was very informative!

Examining plants...

There  was one such plant that they use as a cosmetic, basically a lovely orange lipstick, this guy modeled it for us, not a bad color at all wouldn't you say?  Lol

Modeling the lipstick color myself, matches my dress colors nicely ;)

Amazing nutmeg seed!  Used for a ton of different medicinal purposes

Do you see that big grapefruit growing in that tree!? It was big and green which I've never seen before, when we tasted it, it was more sweet than sour and less juicy more crunchy!

Me standing in front of the Henna tree, they use the plant to make a dye which you can see I have designed on my hand

Enjoying the adventure!

The tourist crew, the guide put starfruit slices on our foreheads, doesn't get much more touristy than that!

Coconut tree guy giving us a full song and dance as he shimmied up the coconut tree using only one hand and one foot!

The adorable hats the tour guides made us to wear

The end result!

Then it started to downpour!!!

Drinking a coconut feeling like a regular Zanzibar Spice Princess

I cut my foot somewhere along the beach in Zanzibar, luckily the island is full of smart folks who use local plants as medicines etc.  This guy was nice enough to fix up my foot

This beautiful palm accessory looked lovely with my Henna hand

Spice Princess on the move!

Goodbye Spice Farm!

After saying goodbye to Lynn and Osama, Chang and I hopped back on our little plane to Dar and I said goodbye to Zanzibar, probably forever :( Oh well, more places to see and things to do, life goes on!

These cute little planes, it felt like we were riding inside of a bus!

Goodbye Zanzibar!

 With less than one week left in Dar I spent this weekend relaxing working and attending a "Jack Daniels" festival bbq cookoff near the water with some friends! It was a fun and random night, I'll already miss the carefree life there--but it was time to go.

Me and my friends Uno and Anna at the Jack Daniels party!

What a whirlwind its been really, I don't know if anyone is reading this blog or if its simply for me to look back on years from now but I had an amazing adventure in Tanzania. As I boarded the plane back to the USA a few weeks ago I realized I came here for a reason and I accomplished my goals, now its back to "life as I know it" but it will never be the same, thats for sure. I've learned a lot during my time here and wouldn't do anything differently because it has ALL been a learning experience.  I think I'm coming back a stronger, wiser, more conscious person and its been due to pushing myself to try new things, embrace the discomfort and just get out there, while practicing A LOT of self care of course :)

Here is my advice to other American gals (especially Mzungus/white gals) coming to live in Tanzania for the first time:

• In many developed countries we white women have the privilege (usually) not to have to encounter the type of pervasive sexual harassment that I experienced in Tanzania on a daily basis. Yet it DOES exist for many women worldwide in places where gender inequality and gender norms differ.  Don't assume that people (mainly men) know when they are pushing your buttons, crossing your boundaries, or if it even matters to them that the way they are interacting with you feels uncomfortable. I experienced this a lot and its a natural thing that happens when coming to a new place with different social norms and a completely different culture.  Being a white woman on my own was also very exotic to many and so I got a lot of attention and advances. I learned quickly that you yourself are your own protector.  You will have to say NO a lot and push back from others most days, whether its when someone is charging you too much money, when some creeper won't leave you alone or someone is trying to convince you to do something you don't want to do.  YOU have the power over yourself, don't let anyone take it away or use it against you.  So I urge white women not to write this experience off but to learn from it, and better yet learn how to make things better for themselves and for other women who experience it.

• Find people you trust and stick with them, there are a lot of amazing people here, loyalty is a big part of Tanzanian culture is what I've found. Appreciate it, reward it, support it when you can.  Get yourself a good network of people that you trust and that you interact with on a day to day basis, people that will have your back, be prepared to have theirs too.  Buy and support local economies, especially those run by women.  Find out what systems are in place that are harmful to communities and locals and don't support them! Don't assume you know what people might need, ask them, get to know them, and learn about whats under the surface of things before taking action. Be an informed consumer and producer.  Learn how to barter and sharpen your skills on how to be street smart!  

• Lastly, live and love, don't let fear of the unknown or the different prevent you from trying to explore and expand your knowledge of a new place and the beauty of Mama Africa!   It wasn't until about halfway through my time in Tanzania that I began to feel comfortable and began exploring on my own. Give yourself the time you need to adjust and practice self care often.  Keep an open mind, smile and support other women and new and true friends you meet, Greet others, try to learn Swahili and do your best to push yourself out of your comfort zone. You'll find growth adventure and excitement waiting for you, perhaps some heartbreak and discomfort too but we can't have everything perfect all the time, and certainly nothing worthwhile comes easy, don't forget that! You can do it, you are strong!  I believe in you! :)

That's all folks!  Thanks for reading and following me during my adventures! Until we meet again.

Kwaheri and asante Tanzania!!!! <3 XOXO, Millie