| 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!
Today was a pretty important day. Around 25 Maasai men and women showed up to hear our presentations at camp. Each of us gave a ~5 minute talk, which was translated for them, about what our research was and about some of our preliminary findings. I didn’t feel nervous at all… I even got asked…
Right now I feel really great because I washed my clothes this morning, which I haven’t done once in the past month, and because I just got out of the shower! I also did my last interview with a Maasai woman yesterday, which feels great. It’s nice for once not to have festering and unclean…
Today I did my final interview. At the Boma there were some really tiny kids with shukas on, who were scared of me! I walked towards one of them and he ran away… I don’t think he had seen a white person before! I’m really happy about the quality time that I have gotten to…
We received the news this morning that Obama won the election! People are very happy about it here, as am I. I do feel as though I can’t fully partake in the celebration though, partly because I don’t have any money for booze and I feel bad asking people for some and partly because for…
Today I went with Sarah to a Boma where I previously conducted interviews and we cooked lunch! We got there and the Maasai people were chilling outside of their tool/kitchen plaster shed. There was the ‘Baba’ of the Boma, who was carving the handle of a firewood chopping machete (it was a tire, rubber handle),…
I really should take a shower today… it’s been quite a few days now. My hair is especially greasy and I am feeling kind of downtrodden and tired. Thankfully the showers here are all-cold and provide the perfect antidote to those feelings. I think that my research is going well. Right now I’ve been screening…