Layovers, LJS, and Lots of Legs

Well, we made it to Morogoro safely. It was a long trip filled with awkward sleeping patterns and much anticipation. We left the Waterloo airport Tuesday morning and arrived in Minneapolis an hour later. We had a 3-hour layover there, where some of the Starbucks enthusiasts (myself included) enjoyed our last cup for about a month. We also watched CNN while waiting, getting updates about the swine flu's spread andlso watched a 30-40 minute long live police chase of a semi-trailer with the actual owner of the semi hanging on to the back. Everyone at our gate was watching in excitement, and luckily he was able to jump to safety before we boarded the plane.

The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was about 8 hours, and we were all spread about the plane so everyone just watched movies, met a few new people, and tried to get some sleep. We arrived to the Amsterdam airport at about 6:00 Am their time had more than enough time to walk around and check out tacky souvenirs, such as tacky wooden tulips and clog keychains. Another thing we had noticed by this point was that we had only seen a few people (approximately 10) wearing protective masks, and they were just at the MSP airport coming off of a flight from Asia. When we boarded the plane at Amsterdam on our way to Kiliminjaro and Dar, everyone was pretty exhausted. Many of us were able to sleep for much of the 10-hour flight. We arrived to Kiliminjaro and had to wait for about an hour for passengers to exit and also for the plane to refuel. We then traveled about another hour and a half to Dar es Salaam, where we boarded a large van with all of our luggage and traveled to the Catholic guest house an stayed for the night. The rooms wre nice and spacious, and we were able to take showers before turning in for the night - it was also our first night under the mosquito nets in Africa...

The next morning, we woke up and went to breakfast at the guest house, sharing the dining rom with almost 2 dozen other travelers, some of whom we recognized from the last flight. We had toast, hard boiled eggs, and watermelon, and left for Morogoro. Sadly, this was my first hard boiled egg - I was hoping my first new experience in Tanzania would be something more exciting than a different way of having my eggs done.

We were finally on our way to Morogoro. The ride to the Lutheran Junior Seminary tok approximately 3 hours because it took an extremely long time to get out of the city of Dar es Salaam. The city was much different in the daylight, and we were able to see all of the markets along the way. On the way out of the city, vehicles drove literally within inches of each other. On the highway, we saw men riding bicycles carrying gargantuan bags of coal on the back of their bikes... uphill on their way to Dar es Salaam.

Once we got outside of the city, the rest of the drive was gorgeous. I never would have guessed that Tanzania was this green. I sat up front and was able to learn some more about the issues surrounding Tanzanian culture and news from Dr. Strickert and Pastor Hafermann. Finally, we arrived to the Seminary, where would be taking classes and call home for the next 3 weeks. One of the first things I noticed upon entrance were the giant baobab trees. There was a change of plans as far as the rooming situation goes, and now we all have our own individual rooms intermingled with the other people staying at the seminary. Luckily, Mara and I have a door in between our rooms so we can visit. The dormitories are set up into blocks, with the buildings labeled A-F. Mara and I are the only ones from our group in block B. Apparently our block is closest to the entrance where most of the wildlife enters, including monkeys and cobras. Hooray! We were also introduced to our first millipede (about 4-5 inches long, black with red legs). He was a cute little fella. Mental note: the millipedes are fine, but the centipedes are poisonous.

After a short amount of time to deposit our belongings into our rooms, it was time for lunch. We walked around the seminary and made our way to the dining room, where we were served rice, beans, meat, spinach, and papaya (good for settling the stomach and apparently the seeds are good for treating worms). Lunch was delicious and looking around the table after lunch, everyones glazed over eyes signaled we were ready for rest. While it seems the jet lag on this trip was not as bad as we had expected, I think everyone is a bit tired and adjusting to the new surroundings. Now we have some time to just check out the seminary, nap, journal, and hang out until tea & coffee at 4:00 and dinner at 6:00.

Peace,
Anna