Monday, May 25, 2009

first post. Karibuni

We have been in Mwanza for about 30 hours. After 3 planes, 2 continents and 1 stopover in England, we are finally here.

Our stopover in England was actually quite fun and it was actually sunny there (i even got a bit of a burn, but that isn't saying much). We watched the Queen's band play some William Shatner and enjoyed a nice nap on the lawn at Westminster Abbey.

After being up and not having eaten for a properly for a few days, we were VERY happy to come to our apartment. Today we woke up and decided that we should hit the market for some food. What a plunge that turned out to be! It became apparent after a few minutes that we need to arm ourselves with much more Swahili than we have now (kidogo at best) before we give that a try again. People here are aptly aware that their government bent over backward to ERADICATE English from their country, and that the low proficiency rate in English has not come easily. Luckily Pendo came with us (the woman who washes our clothes) so we emerged with food for the next few days.

After some thought I decided to set this blog up under the title "jon heads east" for continuity's sake, despite the orientalist cliches which are nagging at me. Check out "orientalism" by Edward Said if you want to know what I'm talking about (and even if you don't). This first post isn't the most amazing one I'll make, but it will get better once I am a little more settled. Safi?