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Maasai Boma |
Sorry I’ve been really slow about these blogs. These past 3 days (Mon, Tue, Wed) have been jammed pack with such amazing activities. After our papers were done we finally got to relax and enjoy ourselves, starting with a goat roast on Sunday evening. Yes I saw a staff member, Johanna kill, skin and roast a goat. It was quite an experience, a little uneasy but I did taste it after it was cooked over an open fire. Taste like chewy chicken, but at least I tried it. Then Monday for our Swahili culture class we went to a Maasai Boma to learn about women and their traditional cultures in the Boma. A boma is a small hut/house made out of cow dung and acacia trees. It was very hot and tiny inside but the people who live in the community were extremely friendly. After visiting the boma we got to shop at their local store were they make Maasai jewelry. It was beautiful and I brought some bracelets to bring home. Tourism is very important in the Maasai community, because they depend on us for a source of income to feed and support themselves. After the boma we came back to camp to have lunch before heading off to do community service. That afternoon we went to a local orphanage to play with children!! They also needed people to paint the boys sleeping quarters and cement one of the floors. So the jeep that I was in headed off into Mtowa mbu to pick up cement and paint. Have you ever hauled cement before? Heavy as s**! (but we didn’t end up needing the cement because the person who was supposed to teach us never showed, maybe next time.) Since we had to stop in town we were the last car to arrive and there we were bombarded by 40 children wanting to be picked up, touch us and play with us, it was so cute. Another student brought recorders to donate so they enjoyed running around playing with the recorders all afternoon. We also started painting some of the rooms in the orphanage as well. It was really enjoyable and very rewarding, and we also get to return later on in the semester to finish painting and maybe start cementing.
Tuesday we woke up at 630 to have breakfast before driving 2 hours to Tarangire National Park. I can’t even describe the beauty of the park. Lake Manyara x100. I've never seen so many herds of elephants in one place. It was awesome just driving around and observing different animals. (elephants, impala, monkeys, giraffe, ostriches, and more). It was extremely hot and we kept getting bitten by these tse-tse flies, they itch like hell after. So after getting bitten and sunburned we went to a lodge in the park to get drinks, food and swim. SO MUCH FUN! I swam and went tanning out by the pool and got myself a shirley temple YUM. We then stopped at a local store to check out tanzanite. Tanzanite is Tanzania’s famous gem stone but it’s resources are in decline. We went to go see it, to see if we were interested in buying it, but it was very, very, expensive so I bought some postcards instead to mail home. Wednesday was our next day off. In the morning they organized an early bike ride around Lake Manyara but I opted opt to sleep in instead. By 11 we were off to Mtowa mbu for some pizza and shopping. Not New York style pizza but still pretty damn good. We all then we went shopping in the market I bought fabric so I can make a dress. This experience in the market was a lot better then the last one. Or maybe I’m getting better at saying no and bargaining. I love bargaining that’s one thing I’ll definitely miss in the states. Anyway it was a lot of fun and I didn't cry this time. Now were back to classes and some homework assignments aka more papers have been piling up, but that’s okay I've had a lot of fun these past few days. Next week we start our homestays and then it's off to Ngorogoro Crater on Friday!
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