Weekend #2: homework and hashing.

So last weekend was super fun. Friday night, Helen and I had a quiet night in, working on homework and other projects. Saturday we woke up and walked into town and that was an adventure. There are a few roundabouts, and we had never walked in from our house before, only taken a taxi (it’s only about 3 miles away) and we got a little turned around trying to find where we were going. But it was a beautiful morning for a walk and we finally made it to where we wanted to be and popped into a curio shop to look around. We were meeting two girls for brunch and had some time to kill. I don’t know why but I love the curio shops. They’re filled with “African” things, but no Tanzanians actually shop there, they’re just filled with touristy things. But I love them anyway, they are very fun. Although I hate bargaining, and most of the shops don’t have prices on things so you have to bargain unless you want to get gouged.

But anyway, we went to the curio shop and then we met the girls for brunch; there’s a nurse from Canada who’s here volunteering at one of the clinics, and a girl from the UK who’s volunteering in one of the schools, teaching art classes and English. They’re both in their 20’s and are a crack up. They live near each other in a little village outside of Moshitown. So we ate and then went to a fabric and dress shop and looked around. Then Helen and I went back to the restaurant because our neighbors had invited us to come scout a trail for a hash on Sunday.

Hash, as in hash house harriers, as in the group for “drinkers with a running problem.” It was super fun actually. Wikipedia it, but essentially the run is supposed to go for several miles and the trail is marked with flour, with false trails and forks in the trail so that the runners ahead are finding the trail, which gives the slower ones a chance to catch up, so everyone finishes more or less together, and there is booze along the way and at the end. In theory. Our actual hash trail this time was pretty straightforward and only a few miles, but it was more hike in the mountains than run. The scenery was beautiful though; there was a little spring about halfway, and just after that a lookout where you could see Moshi and Kilimanjaro. The couple who was “haring” this hash has lived in Moshi for 10 years, he’s a physician and works with the Duke-KCMC collaboration. It was really nice of them to invite Helen and I along, we had so much fun hiking and scouting the trail on Saturday.

by the little spring.

Jess, Candy, and me at the top of the mountain.

The next morning I worked on my lesson for this week for about 6 hours and only got about 1 hour of material prepared. Yeah. I’m going to need to get faster at this. But at 1:30 I walked over to my neighbors’ house and caught a ride up the mountain to actually set the trail for the hash (Helen had a conference call, so she couldn’t come). So the hash started at this guesthouse way up in the mountain, up really rough dirt roads/paths, and we busted something on a tire when we were almost there. I am not a car person, I have no idea what broke, but luckily we made it and had a fundi come and fix it while we did the hash. So the hash started at this guest house, which is owned by some Germans who have a Tanzanian family living there as caretakers, so the Tanzanian husband took us on the trail on Saturday and Sunday to show us where to go. So the four of us set out to set the trail, got back and set up the food and drinks, and waited for people to show up. The Canadian and Brit came and convinced me to hike it again with everyone else, which ended up being really fun, but my calves are killing me today. Those girls are super hilarious, and I’m going on safari with them this weekend.

That was pretty much the weekend.