What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Been so lazy this week to write a blog post, nothing too exciting has happened, maybe that’s why.

SUNDAY

I went to the beach with Chels. We were supposed to go to Matemwe with Mylene and Rod, but Mylene had broken out into hives Friday night and sun wouldn’t have been good for her. So Chels and I went to Paje again. We left around 10:30am. When we got on the dala dala the man told us it would be 3500TSH and we asked why it was so expensive since it’s supposed to be 2000TSH and he gave us some bullshit about it being a private bus, we were too lazy to find another bus so we stayed on. The ride was a little less exciting than last time, but it did get extremely crowded, which is expected. The man sitting next to me was trying to make room for a woman that had gotten on and he ended up sitting on my left thigh for the entire trip. We were more than happy to get off when we got there, our butts were so numb.

We walked towards Paje by Night cause we knew that’s where we were last time. There were so many people on the beach today! It was crowded with kite surfers. Paje is known to be the best spot for kite surfing, but last time we went there wasn’t much wind, so no one could kite surf. We tried to find a spot where there were less kite surfers in the water so we could go in. We went in the water for just a little bit, the waves were really frequent and it wasn’t as fun to relax in as last time. We were just waddling in the water and suddenly a kite drops and falls 30cm in front of me from way up…if that had hit me I probably would have been knocked out. The guys that dropped it didn't even say sorry, so rude. Kite surfing looks really fun, but I don’t know if I would have the arm strength to do it. It was super windy today, we were only in the water for 15 minutes and by the time we came out our towels were already half covered in sand that was being blown around. I didn’t want to lay on my towel cause then sand would constantly be whipping in our faces and we would be eating so much sand. Chels didn’t care as much and on the side that the wind was hitting her, she was covered in sand. Eventually I gave in cause I got tired of standing, but I put my towel on the other side of Chels and kind of used her as a shield from the sand haha. At one point, a couple girls were trying to get their kites up on the beach and when it fell it hit a local girl on the head and the mom kept yelling at the tourist in Swahili but she had no idea what she was saying. 

 So many people kite surfing!

 Random person kite surfing.

Myself and Chels in the beautiful, clear water.

We got hungry pretty soon, around 2ish we went to eat lunch at one of the hotels. I have been craving calamari for a long time, but have been scared to eat it cause we were told not to eat seafood, but I figured we were at a hotel and it was full of tourists so it would be safe. It was delicioussss and I didn’t get sick from it, so exciting haha! After lunch we took the dala dala back into town, this time we only paid 2000TSH. On our walk home we passed some locals and they tried to imitate Chinese when I walked past, this is like the 3^rd time it’s happened, I don’t think they’re trying to be rude but if this happened at home I would consider it racist.

Mmmm, calamari with lemon and garlic aioli. 

MONDAY

It was pretty slow at work today, there weren’t many kids so a lot of times we were seeing kids together instead of individually. One little boy’s mom was trying to explain to us that the boy couldn’t lie prone, but we didn’t know what she was saying (oh, language barriers) so she pulled the kids pants down, pushed over his diaper and showed us his newly circumcised penis. That was totally unexpected haha.

Amina asked us how much we were paying for rent and she was so shocked we were paying so much. She said that we should just tell our landlord that we were going to get accommodation from the hospital for the second month so we would need our money back. So after lunch we went home and no one wanted to call cause it’s so awkward, but finally I manned up and did it. But he didn’t understand what I was saying on the phone so he came over and talked to us, which was even more awkward. We explained it again and he was like oh ya hakuna matata it’s okay so I thought he understood. But when he left Chels was like I don’t think he understood at all, but for some reason she didn’t say anything when he was there... We talked to Preston after and he said he would call our landlord for us and see if he understood…and of course he hadn't fully understood. He said we could move out, but we weren’t getting our money back cause it was already gone and that it was a family business so he doesn’t have control over all the money, blah blah blah. So…life lesson learned…pay by month. Ugh, it’s so frustrating because people keep telling us how much we’re being scammed and for $800/month we could get a huge house with our own AC-ed rooms and even someone that would cook and clean for us!!! What a different life that would be…I really just want my own room, it’s not that Chels and I are fighting all the time, but it would be nice to have my own space and not always have  be mindful of the other person in the room. And the worst part about not moving is that I feel so bad for Mylene, it gets ridiculously hot when there’s no AC, I don’t know how she sleeps at night!

Anyways, then we went to the market to stock up on fruits and other stuff we were running out of. Our main snack here are Pringles. We bought a 6 pack the first week we got here and they were finished. We went back to the same place but they didn’t have any. Our other option was to buy 14 cans…so we bought 14 cans. Haha I’ve never had so much Pringles in my life. I got some oranges (green on the outside) and more mangoes; it was so cheap, I paid $2USD for 6 oranges and 4 mangoes, they were small but still.

Zanzibari oranges.

Chels got the worst sunburn from the beach cause she only applied sunblock once and then went into the water and didn’t reapply after and it was so hot yesterday. She was so red she looked like a lobster! I felt bad cause it was really painful. I guess I’ve been the lucky one so far, I have been hit with anything crazy yet and at the moment I’m the only one that’s free of anything other than mosquito bites. Oh those damn mosquitoes, I’ll never find a way to get rid of them.

TUESDAY

Today we saw the cutest girl with down syndrome. She was one of the last kids we had for the day so all three of us saw her together. She was so sweet and laughed easily. It’s children like these that make me love peds! Although peds here is so different from peds at home and there are times when I don’t look forward to going to work at all.

For lunch we went to a place called Palm Tree Café. We ordered milkshakes, I got a mango and it was really good, first milkshake since we’ve been here. We were worried cause they put ice in it and it was probably from the tap, but none of us got sick. Afterwards we went shopping again and bought lots of souvenirs. I know we’re shopping all the time, but we have so many people to buy souvenirs for and we’re always finding new stores with different things in them! I’m almost done my souvenir shopping though, only a few more things to get for others and a couple things for myself. I don’t know what we’ll do with all our spare time when we’re done our shopping since that’s what we do so often after work!

Chocolate, banana, and mango milkshakes.

WEDNESDAY

For once, we didn’t have Wednesday off today. We had to go in at 9 to go over our presentation with our supervisor cause we’re supposed to present tomorrow to the PTs. We sat around for 45 minutes before our supervisor finally came in, she was 45 minutes late!! And there wasn’t even an apology. She really runs on African time. It only took 20 minutes for her to go through the presentation, but then we sat there for another hour talking about random stuff awkwardly because she never tells us that we can leave. We always sit there super awkward, starring at each other until Mylene asks if we can go, but for some reason Amina won’t ever initiate it.

We went to the Chinese place for lunch again because it was cheap and we didn’t want to spend a lot of money. This time the food came a lot faster and we didn’t get charged for takeout boxes. Mylene and I had both gotten noodles and Chels got rice. We had the leftovers for dinner and I found a couple dead, cooked worms in my noodles. I was telling Chels and Mylene and Mylene sounds shock to hear it, but then she quietly says that she did in her too. I also had one in my noodles last Saturday. If I was at home, I would have been so grossed out, I wouldn’t have continued to eat the meal. But here, I just took them out and finished my food, I don’t feel like anywhere we eat is exceptionally clean. We didn’t get sick from it, we reasoned that it was cooked rather than alive so it was better and worms = protein haha. I guess Zanizbar is really changing me.

The Chinese restaurant.

Then we went to Madeira Tours to book the Jozani Tour. We booked it for Friday morning since it’s a public holiday and we don’t have to work! Chels needs USD to pay for her safari trip but all the ATMs will only allow us to withdrawal in shillings. She was telling Tony and Mary this and Tony said he had to go to Barclays anyways so we went with them. And then they brought us to their house and gave us fruits and drinks. Tony gave us a fruit called cherimoya, which we’ve never seen before. He said that they’re only available in Arusha, but he bought a tree and grows it in his yard. They were pretty tasty and unlike any fruit I’ve ever had before. Mary gave us each a shot of Sherry to drink, but it was strong so I couldn’t drink it. Everyone that we’ve met here has been so nice and helpful, they go out of their way to make sure we’re okay! Our trip would be so different if we didn’t have them around.

Outside of a cherimoya.

The inside, it's really sweet.

After we went back into town, the girls and I went to get a banana split. There was a place we always walk by that has banana splits for 3000TSH (2USD) and Chels has been wanting a banana split for forever so we went. It was good, it had one of the tiny bananas they have here with vanilla ice cream and some strawberry and chocolate syrup. It was the perfect size for a treat. I’ve been on an ice cream binge for the past week, I always want to eat ice cream. There’s a shop on our street that sells ice cream/popsicles and we’ve been saying we would try it but every time we’re going home we forget to get it. You can never have too much ice cream!

Banana splits!

THURSDAY

Went in at 730 this morning for the weekly presentation, but when we got there we were told that there wasn’t going to be a presentation today. Awesome, we woke up an hour early for no reason. Amina doesn’t even go to the presentations and they’re not relevant to OT, so I think I’m gonna stop going to them. Since we were there early and had nothing to do, we started interventions at 7:30. There were very few children again today so for the most part we saw children together. We were also told that we wouldn't be presenting today because the PTs have a meeting and didn't know when they would finish. We're supposed to present Friday now, but the way it's been so far, I don't know if we'll ever actually present. When there wasn’t a line outside anymore, Amina said she was going downstairs, so we sat around waiting to see if anyone else was coming and for her to come back. When she came back she says “Oh, you’re still here?”... haha what. Where else would we be, and why would we leave if you haven’t told us it was okay to leave since it was early still? So bizarre.

At lunch we went to Lukmaan since we didn't want to spend a lot of money. I was a daredevil today and decided to get a coconut curry calamri...hopefully I'm not on the toilet all day tonight. But it was yummy, and I even treated myself to chapatti and a Fanta Passion. I got an extra chapatti to take home with my leftovers so I would have enough food for dinner. Chapattis remind me of green onion pancakes, which are so good. I love how cheap local food is, I paid 7000TSH including tip which is ~ $4.50 USD and that lasts me both lunch AND dinner. I already spent more than usual there today because I had gotten calamari, usually we spend under 4000TSH (~ $2.50 USD) for both meals, definitely can't find something like that at home.

Tomorrow is a holiday, which means today was our last day of work this week! Helloooo weekend. Tomorrow we’re going to Jozani Forest to see the colobus monkeys and Saturday we’re going to go up and stay the night at Nungwi if we can get a good rate for hotels with Preston, Mary and her boyfriend And we’ll go to the Full Moon Party at Kendwa Saturday night. Should be a good weekend!

Vickie and Sandy get in on Sunday!! Last I heard from Vickie, she got delayed in Europe because of snow, but I haven’t heard from her again, but I think that means shes in Africa now with no internet. I’m excited to see them, it’ll be like a little piece of home in Africa. They’re only here for Sunday night though and then travelling the rest of Zanzibar for a couple days, but it’ll still be nice to see them.

It’s been insanely hot this week. I think it’s been around 45 degrees everyday and very sunny. We haven’t complained about the heat as much lately cause I think we're starting to get used it, but these last couple days have been awful, we actually feel grimy when we come home cause of all the sweat. It’s also really tiring being in the heat all the time. It’s weird thinking about how cold it is at home while we’re dying in heat! Everyone keeps telling me that it’s freezing at home, so I am happy that I’m not there for that. Instead I am dripping in sweat, but it’s not so bad when we get to lie on the beach haha. We’ve also been looking at spas in town so we can go for a massage. That would be heaven right now, oh how I miss massages at home.

Happy weekend friends!