Month: August 2012

Right now I am sitting on the balcony of my 6th floor dorm room, looking out at the Indian Ocean in the distance.  Dar es Salaam is spread out before me, with its fish markets and street vendors near the coast.  I am eating some chocolate cookies with creamed centers.  They are called “Crembia: Chocolate…

I have not been writing very much lately because I have been feeling kind of homesick as well as extremely busy.  Four hours of Kiswahili class every morning plus tons of work on research methods!  It’s been busy.  Starting next week it will get even busier, though, since we are adding two more classes on…

So I haven’t been writing very much lately because I have been so busy!  We have our first Kiswahili test tomorrow and the assignments for our research project are really starting to pick up.  I am beginning to get nervous/excited about how it is all going to turn out in the end.  I know that…

In regards to my research project:  I am thinking that I want to do something related to lactose intolerance among the Maasai.  My guess is that they are lactose intolerant because they are not of European descent.  It is interesting because they worship cattle and use much dairy.  I need to verify all these assumptions,…

Today we are going to go on an island for the whole day!  It is going to be fun to hang out with everyone.  We have been going on many little field trips to places like museums, cultural centers and bars.  I have really been enjoying the culture so far.  Everyone is very welcoming and…

I have been in Dar es Salaam now for five days! It has been great getting to know everybody over the course of the first week.  I am really excited to get to work with what seems to be a fun, curious group of people.  By curious I mean intellectually curious; I have had a…