Sweet Home Arusha

Arusha… It is the safari capital of Tanzania and home to 300,000 people, including us, for the month of June. We departed Moshi on Wednesday morning and hitched a ride to the Kilimanjaro airport, where we had agreed to meet up with our A Broader View Volunteer in-country coordinator, Nelson. Much to our surprise, much of the scenery we encountered on our initial drive from the airport to the town of Moshi now seemed rather normal. And now that some of the initial culture shock of Tanzanian life had waned, Jeremy and I realized just how beautiful Northern Tanzania is. Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru tower over fields of corn and sunflowers, a bright blue sky contrasting rolling pastures of green.

We were greeted at the airport by Nelson’s “colleague” Bryson (really just his brother…) promptly at 1:00 PM, and we proceeded to drive about an hour into Arusha, serenaded throughout the drive to soothing gangsta rap tunes. Oh, we kid! Bryson is a nice guy, and he did his best showing us points of interest as we made our way through town. Bryson didn’t quite know what to do with us, so he brought us back to Nelson’s house, where mass confusion awaited. We brought our bags in, which Nelson’s sister told us to put in “our room” around the corner. Then some Canadian volunteers arrived fresh from Zanzibar, as did Nelson, who explained that “our room” was really “their room” for the night. I would have been more alarmed about where Jeremy and I were going to be housed, except that Nelson’s sister had prepared for us a delicious meal of peas, carrots, and potatoes, which I was thoroughly enjoying during all of this planning and discussion in Swahili. Finally, Nelson explained to us that there had been a slight change of plans, and that we would not be staying with the host family whose name we had been previously given. Instead, we would be staying with “an older lady who lives by the ShopRite and other stores that Westerners enjoy.” OK, sounded good to us!

So Nelson transported us across town – which by the way, is much larger than Moshi, hence causing Jeremy and me a bit of anxiety – to the home of Mrs. Mastafu. She greeted us at her front gate, and she was exactly as Nelson described: a nice old lady who lived alone (except for a house maid) and spoke excellent English.  Jeremy and I both commented to one another that we were happy to be spending a month in such a nice, quiet home. Nelson’s place was rather like a college dorm, with volunteers always coming in and out. And let’s be honest, we’re too old for all that!

Mrs. M has a very nice home for Tanzanian standards. It includes four bedrooms and cable television, a point Mrs. M made as soon as we were settled. Speaking of cable television, which we now have learned is blaring at all hours of the day except in the rare instance when the electricity is out, it is most likely that Mrs. M has the TV set to whatever cable channel is playing a WWE wrestling match. She goes crazy for that shit! Since Jeremy and I both admitted to never watching WWE, Mrs. M took great care of us by narrating each plot twist of the matches. We thought it was important to be polite and watch with her on our first night, but considering we have now been here five nights and WWE has been blaring for three of those nights, we have learned to excuse ourselves after we finish dinner and the initial bout is wrapping up.

Speaking of dinner, it’s definitely been hit or miss. On night one, we choked down a stew of bananas and beef. Bananas are a staple in this household, and Tanzania in general. However, they aren’t the glorious, sweet Chiquita bananas that taste great in a peanut butter sandwich after a long run. These bananas are grey and essentially a substitute for potatoes. They are the main starch and ingredient of the meal, and there is no other way to say it – they don’t taste good. After this first dinner, it is safe to say that Jeremy and I were terrified of the month ahead. And in five days, we’ve had banana stew twice now, the second time with fish, which was much better than the overcooked beef from Night 1. This evening I learned we would dine on banana stew again tomorrow evening, this time with pork. So, we’re looking at a rotating menu of bananas one night, something decent the next. For example, we enjoyed our “Chips Mayai” or eggs and French fries.
And the peas and carrots combination was pretty good, although not as good as Nelson’s sister’s dish! Finally, tonight we experienced rice pilaf and goat, which we ate in the traditional Tanzanian fashion, with our right hand. It actually wasn’t too bad, although I definitely made a mess!

So yes, it is safe to say that the food at home – and the television programming – are not the highlight of our first week in Arusha. Still, we are very comfortable here, and Mrs. M is really a very sweet lady. And lucky for us, there is a French wine bar and restaurant just a few minutes’ walk from here, should we ever need a crepe and a glass of Bordeaux!