the last few days.

My last few days in Tanzani:

Jess and Candy were going out of town for the weekend, so our last chance to hang out was earlier in the week. Helen and I decided to have them over to our house on Wednesday for dinner and to hang out. We ordered pizza from Mukesh's grocery down the street from us so we could walk down and pick it up, and since we don't know how to work our oven, I wanted to find a cake or something we could have for dessert. I texted Mr. Msangi to ask him where I could get a cake. He said any of the supermarkets can do a cake, but asked if I would like for his wife to make one for me. I said "sure!" without really knowing what to expect. In my head, we were going to get a little homemade loaf-cake type thing. We agreed that it would be delivered on Wednesday at lunchtime. On Wednesday, at the appointed time, I was at my house waiting for Mr. Msangi. I waited for an hour and he didn't show up. I texted and called and he didn't respond. Finally I shrugged and went back to school. No dessert is not the end of the world.

That evening, after we got pizza and it was staying warm in the oven, about 10 minutes before the other girls were supposed to show up, we hear a car pull up and figured it was Jess and Candy. After a minute or two, nobody knocked, so we peeked outside. It was Mr. Msangi. We were surprised, so we went out to see him, and then he pulls out a massive, decorated, legit-looking cake from the passenger seat. So apparently his wife DOES cakes, like at least semi-professionally. I could not stop laughing. It said "congratulations" on the top of it, because why else would some crazy mzungu order a cake unless it was for an occasion?? Nobody just eats cake on a random Wednesday night, right? Anyway, Jess and Candy came over and we had pizza and ate cake and drank cocoa and talked and it was great. The cake was so big though, Helen and I have still been snacking on it. This morning Helen walks into the living room with a bowl and goes, "breakfast cake continues," because we've been eating it as a meal in the morning. Ha. I love dessert for breakfast.

We don't know what the congratulations were for, but we figured that in Tanzania they only have cake for an occasion; only crazy mzungus order a fancy cake for a casual dinner party, right??

Thursday night was our last night to hang out with them so the four of us, plus another girl they live with and a Dutch girl from the doctor's compound, went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant. I have never eaten as much Indian food in my life as I have in the last month. It was really good though, and we had a good time. Afterwards, it was too early to call it a night so we decided to walk over to a nearby hotel for a drink. It was literally maybe two blocks away, and there were six of us, so we decided to go. Candy was the only one who really knew where we were going, and even she was not entirely sure, but we made it without much mishap, other than a drunk guy who came swerving into us like a zombie, which was really creepy. But overall, a really good night.

My last day in class on Friday was a little sad. I have been with the third years this week because they are back in the class after being in clinicals for the last few weeks and I wanted to see how some of the advanced nursing classes went. That meant I wasn't with the students I've been with for the last few weeks, though I kept seeing them in the halls. Some of them even asked why I wasn't in class, ha. I'm so glad I have been able to come and do this, it has been a great experience. And on Friday the dean invited me to lunch with her. The food was like what is served in the cafeteria at KCMC, although I tried a savory banana dish I have seen but haven't tried. I scooped one (large) piece of banana on my plate to try it, and the secretary saw me and took the spoon from me and added another scoop. The dish was bananas and beef and vegetables in a gravy, and it was not my favorite. It was very odd for my mouth to treat bananas like potatoes, but it wasn't bad. The dean and another teacher and I ate lunch and made small talk, and the dean gave me the address of the provost so I can submit an application to be a teacher there. After we were finished eating the dean presented me with a batik wrap, and draped it around me saying that I was going to look like a real African woman, and she wanted me to wear it in the States so that I would "remember Tanzania and want to come back." It was such a lovely, unexpected gift. I got hugs and was kicking myself for not bringing a stack of thank you cards with me, though I did at least bring small boxes of chocolates to give in return.

Kristina, me, Ms. Msuya

Today, Saturday, was my last day in Moshi. Helen and I took the dala dala into town this morning. I am glad I decided to finally do that, though it is dumb that I waited until my last day to try it. The dala dala is like public transportation in Tanzania and they are kind of intense. There were over 23 people in our dala dala today, and people were standing up inside, and at one point the door wouldn't shut so we just drove with guys hanging out of the car. It cost 400 Tsh to get into town though, as opposed to 5,000 Tsh for a taxi.

just a random dala dala, not the one we rode in.

We went to the market again for veggies, and then to a couple other shops around town. I hate bargaining, but Helen is a good person to have along for that. We ended up at Nakumatt and then came home and walked over to KCMC to see if we could catch the end of graduation. It wasn't over when we got there, but it was standing room only and we couldn't hear what was going on, unfortunately. So we came home and I spent a good 2 hours packing and trying to cram everything into my bags.

This evening we got lost on our way to El Rancho for dinner, even though it's like 1km away from our house. But we eventually found it and had some great....Indian food. Yes, Indian food at El Rancho. TIA. We were the only ones there when we arrived, and our food only took 40 minutes to come out. It was pretty fast at Milan's the other night too, actually. Usually restaurants here take a long time to bring your food out, like an hour and a half at Sikh Club, so 40 minutes was not really not bad. And Helen bought my dinner for me, that wily one. Because she is a class act. I am so glad I have had a chill roommate. Jess and Candy have told us of the drama that is their guesthouse and it made me SO GLAD it was just me and Helen in our house, and that Helen is laidback about things. We coexisted quite peacefully, which I was actually worried about, because I haven't had a roommate in 8 years, and even then it was my best friend. But Helen has made things easier and it has been nice to have someone I get along with to do things with. Or not do things with. We are both quite content to hang out on the couches in the living room and do homework in quiet.

me and Helen in front of our house. Photo by Mr. Msangi. ;)

Anyway. At times it seemed like the month would not end, but now that it is over I wonder where the time has gone. I fly out tomorrow to begin the 42 hour journey home; I think Paul's ready for that.