Vacation: Part 4

Almost done...promise...just one or two posts left (I know some of you are wondering, "How long was this trip?! Isn't she, like, supposed to be volunteering or something?" I've got two words for you people: summer vacation. That's right, I'm in the southern hemisphere and as a teacher I get 6 weeks off during our summer/Christmas break. Which is pretty darn cool, although you could make the argument that it's my due given that, get this, I had exactly 124 students today in my afternoon class. Try to imagine 124 students, crammed in a room the size of a small garage for a 2 hour long math class, in the middle of a desert 5 degrees south of the equator without a hint of a breeze blowing through the windows...yeah, makes that slush ya'll have back home sound pretty nice right about now. To their credit they were perfect...I'm still thinking of how to thank them.)

Anyway, back to the journey...so we're on the train, finally, and we're feeling tired and tense (well, at least I was) about our unwelcome visitor, the last-minute rushing around, and the heat, when Dan has the god-given foresight to search out the train for the bar and comes back bearing four cokes and four beers, no questions asked. I honestly think I could've pledged my undying devotion to him when he ambled, grinning, into our cabin; by that point, I would've traded my first born for a cold drink (you see why I love Australians now?) Seriously, the way we laid into those Cokes would've been too over-the-top even for the most melodramatic coke ad and, well, the train-ride was all uphill from there. It was classic really, in a very Hemingway-esque sort of way; the train-ride across Africa, watching giraffe, elephants, antelope, donned in our best safari gear, drinking doubles of gin (well, that last would be Jason...he fully intended to reincarnate old Ernie on his way back to Namibia, right down to the khaki suits and fully-filled flask, but, alas, ended up taking the bus instead. so it goes.) We pulled into Dar a little under 24 hours later and I got to show off my favorite city in Tanzania (excluding, of course, dear old Dodoma.) The highlight for me was a trip to the U.S. Embassy to see a movie. It was a strange scene actually- we all showed up at the Embassy (having searched it out after an elusive note in the Rough Guide said that the U.S. Marine House shows movies on Thursdays) not quite knowing what to expect. The U.S. Embassy, I might add, is EXACTLY what you'd expect from an American Embassy is the best and worst ways. For example, the Canadian Embassy is both tasteful and comfortable...I got to sit in the lobby with the other Canadian VSO's and chat with the receptionist. The whole thing was the size of an average office building and was perfectly sensible in both function and presentation and, most of all, reflected the down-to-earth, middle-class mentality that I'm starting to associate with Canadians. The U.S. Embassy, on the other hand, is ostentatiously set on grounds roughly the size of the neighborhood I grew up in. There are several huge buildings, all shiny and new and intrinsically western, interspersed between lush pavilions where the landscaping alone must've cost somewhere in the neighborhood of Burundi's annual GDP. There are metal detectors, large men with guns, and several flattering pictures of president Bush. Yep, ladies and gentlemen, the American dream is alive and well in Tanzania, make no mistake about that! Ah, it's crazy the amount of money in that place (no wonder everyone in Tanzania thinks all Americans are rich!) However, there are some good things about it- namely, American movies on Thursday nights, 50 cent bottles of MGD, hotdogs (with French's mustard no less!) and all the popcorn you can eat. It also has Marines in golf-carts who drive to the gates to pick you up so you don't have to walk the whole 150 yards to the basketball courts where the movies shown. It's funny, if you'd told me when I was coming here that a highlight of my life would be the chance to drink sub-par beer with a bunch of marines...well, let's just say laughing would've been involved (probably along with a wager that I'd have to pay up on.) But seriously...going months without movies, television, magazines, books, radio (although I'm just cheap...I could get my hands on a radio if I really wanted one) and food besides ugali, rice, beans, meat and spinach...well, it does strange things to you. I found out there was a Subway sandwich franchise in Dar and dreamed about BMT's for days afterward. But I digress, moving on, we all had a lovely time in Dar before heading out to Zanzibar...I'll wrap everything up in my next post!