| the old pond / frog jumps in / plop! – Matsuo |
In the spring of 2012 I spent a life changing semester in Tanzania, studying ecology and human origins. We explored mountains, walked the paths of the cradle of humanity in the Great Rift Valley, and ate all kinds of good shit.
My girlfriend at the time gave me the perfect gift: a journal! I never had one before and kind of went crazy with it. I used it to chronicle almost every day of my life in Tanzania. That hemorrhagic spewing led to a 65 story blog, all of which is now consolidated here
Some of my best writing from this youthful time:
The Footprints of History, The Mountain of God, Cooking Maasai Food with Maasai People, Animals in a Boma, Giraffe Hunt and Goat Slaughter, Maasai Greetings and Stories, Goat Races and Bob, ‘Kilimanjaro’ and the Fish Market.
Below is the journey in reverse chronological order. Enjoy!
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…
Yesterday I had my first Tanzanian beer—a “Kilimanjaro” and today I had a “Serengeti,” both cost me little over a dollar aka ~1600 shilingi. They both tasted pretty good and I was with great people when I drank them! Right now Ramadan is going on and there is a Muslim Mosque not too far from…