Settling in to our new home

Sep27

Yesterday, I was walking to the back of my apartment to get a bottle of water and it suddenly dawned on me that I live here. Not just that I live in this apartment, but that for the next 10 months of my life, we will be living in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Of course I planned to live here and I actively sought a grant and housing and other things to make it possible, but it was a strange moment to realize that we actually live here and that we will not be in the United States for the next 10 months. I had slowly been processing thoughts about the length of time, such as when I might see a friend again and or being happy that I don’t have to attend certain meetings for this school year. But, the reality has set in and in turn a bit of a schedule and routine.

My home office

This past week, we went to the economic capital of Dar es Salaam to the US Embassy to do our orientation and security briefing. This was the first time that Keith had been to Dar in seven years since we got on the airplane there at the end of my student Fulbright. He was able to see how much it had changed and all the growth and big buildings. We also saw a fellow Fulbrighter and enjoyed the view from their balcony.

View from a rotating restaurant called Akemi in Dar es Salaam with great food and views on the 21st floor.

A balcony view of the ocean in Dar

On my social media, I have been posting pictures on my lunch views and enjoying the beautiful Indian Ocean and the delicious fresh juice. My aunt and my mother asked me if all I did was eat and look at pretty views.

View of boats while eating lunch

Avocado and passionfruit juice

While part of me wanted to say yes and part of me wanted to say no, the truth is that we are developing our routine and the semester here does not start until the middle of October. In addition, we are waiting for our work and my research permits to be processed, so at this time we are tourists who can spend some time getting to know Zanzibar and enjoying its beauty and food. I also can spend time as a tourist working on various pieces of writing and research that I have not had the time to do in the last couple months/year and get some of that work out for review. So here is my home office that I have set up and try to get a couple of hours of writing in each morning. We also can do some preparation for our upcoming work.

Sweaty and happy after my workout

I have also gotten back to working out and doing my yoga. I found a yoga class here that meets twice a week that I hope to try soon.

On the list of other accomplishments, we are finally learning our way and I am particularly proud that I was able to find my way home the most direct route yesterday from shopping and lunch. When I ask directions, they commonly tell me just turn left or right here and then go straight till you get to whatever it is I am looking for.

The winding streets and alleys of Stone Town

I am learning that straight and follow the road have a similar meaning, but still lead to me getting lost sometimes in these curvy alleys.

Work and Play…Specifically Monkey Business

Sep18

Today, I had a fun filled day with both academic fun (for me) and personal fun. The State University of Zanzibar has several campuses. We live a few minutes’ walk from the Vuga campus. The campus I was on last year and will be teaching at is Tunguu and is 30-45 minutes by car from Stone Town. Keith will probably be teaching at a campus that is 10-15 minutes by car from Stone Town in the opposite direction, but not as far as where I will go. Luckily, we were at the Vuga campus, so it was an easy walk in the morning.

The faculty of the School of Education for SUZA are very hard working and got together on Saturday to work on the program of study and courses for the newly proposed Bachelor’s of Education in Early Childhood Education. The title of the degree is still under discussion, but they working on the structure, courses, and course titles. After several hours of discussion, the current list of courses were divided among the participants to develop draft syllabi for the next meeting. With the structure draft and syllabi drafts, they plan to consult local stakeholders for input. This was very informative for me to learn about how their program development process is similar and different from ours and to see some of the local and cultural considerations in designing the new degree. First and foremost, early childhood education as a formal teaching profession is relatively new, and formal education or even programs outside of family, friend, and neighbor care for children under 4 is also very new and limited at this time. But, their goal is to address international trends and the work is very aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Education and specifically providing SDG 4.2 to provide high quality early childhood education.

After a morning of work and some lunch, Keith and I headed out with our friend and colleague Umayra to see Jozani Forest. This was Keith’s first time in Jozani Forest and first time outside of Stone Town, since we arrived a week ago. His only other journey was the car ride in from the airport, but given that it was dark and 3am, I don’t think it gave him much of a picture of Zanzibar outside of Stone Town. We were a little late getting started for our journey to have lots of time in Jozani, but we knew we would be coming back both on our own and with different visitors we are expecting. Nevertheless, it was still really special. We got to see both the Red Colobus monkeys that only live on Zanzibar and then the Skye’s monkeys that live in various places in East Africa.

A baby colobus monkey

They were so close to us, within 4-5 feet both next to us and over our heads. We had a very nice guide who gave us lots of information about the two species of monkeys. I listened to the guide and asked questions and Keith took photos (check out his awesome photos from Jozani at www.kamacdonaldphoto.com). He focused on getting excellent photos and when we got home I told him all the information I could remember about monkeys.

Inside Jozani Forest

A family of Sykes’ Monkeys

According to our guide, this monkey is six months old because it is still little, but has its red color on the back, which is not present for the first 3-4 months.

Remember, on the right you can subscribe to this blog, so you know when I post. You can also now subscribe to Keith’s blog with a box at the right on his, to keep seeing the great photos.

Sights and Sounds

Sep15

An Anglican church steeple and a Mosque Minaret

We have been in Zanzibar for four days and I love our apartment. It is very comfortable and spacious. When we were in Washington DC, this summer we visited the National Museum of African Art and they had an exhibit on the sounds of the market in Lagos, Nigeria. It was an interesting exhibit, but also very familiar having visited many open markets in African countries. Two of the things I am enjoying are the sounds we hear and the winding streets. I will stand outside on the balcony at different times of day and look outside and watch the different people from many different places and with a wide variety of dress styles walking down the narrow passage.

One of the streets near us

Our apartment is well ventilated so we are cool with the ceiling fans and windows open, but this also means we hear lots of different sounds throughout the day. In the morning, the roosters and sounds of people washing and working remind me it is time to get up and in the afternoon we hear lots of children outside playing. At sunset we have calls to prayer from different mosques that compete for the airwaves. In the evening, we have different types of music and cats. Because this week is the Eid celebration, I am not sure if the music is just for Eid or if it will continue after the celebration is over.

Another street

To get to our apartment, we walk up 4 sets of winding stairs, but it is worth it. We just have to remember to hold on and turn the light on. This will help us get our exercise.

Our stairs remind me of stairs in a church steeple in Europe, but only 4 flights.

Arrived in Zanzibar

Sep12

We have arrived in Zanzibar. It was a very long trip: 26+ hours, 5 airports, and 4 planes. But, we have a lovely apartment with a great view and yesterday were toured around the city by a friend (who is a lecturer at the university). We got to see new things and I saw some places that I had been before. Her advice was to get lost and learn our way. Today we went looking for places and found several things we were looking for, but not the most direct way and we did get turned around and “lost,” although we knew where we were, just not where we wanted to go. But, we found our way home.

Today is Eid al-Adha and a public holiday, so we are getting a leisurely start to our time here and some time to decompress and adjust to the time change and new surroundings. We met our landlord who seems very nice and we got one phone on internet so that we can use a hotspot to get online with our other devices. Tomorrow when things open again, we will get our other phone online and shop for some things that we still need.

Please check out Keith’s (my husband) blog at www.kamacdonaldphoto.com for more about our trip and follow his adventures too. He will be posting lots of great photos that show more about the island and experiences. His photos will be awesome and he is a very engaging writer too.

Here are a few pictures from our place.