So I have had three awesome experiences with the locals this week! The first one was on Monday when I got to go talk with the Masaai for a field exercise. Only three of the ten groups got to talk with Masaai, and I was so lucky to be one of them! We got there and were introduced to a Masaai Morani (which means warrior) who was supposed to act as a translator for us. The idea was that we would go from house to house asking questions about natural resource in different aspects of their life, but something was mis-communicated and instead we just walked around with our guide and discussed these things. It was so interesting, and we still got all of the information we needed. The Masaai are famous for being relatively untouched by western society and continuing to live a nomadic pastoral life. From an anthropology point of view this is a very rare opportunity so I was pumped. First of all, they only eat milk, meat, and cow blood. THAT’S IT! “Vegetables are for the weak man.” I actually could not believe it when he told me. At one point on our walk he said something about drinking the milk and blood, and both me and my partner misunderstood him and we both thought we were going to have to go back and drink milk and blood with him. As you can imagine, I was freaking out a little bit. I mean how do you politely turn that down?!?!
Our guide was only 18 so he wasn’t married yet, but his father is the chief and has 20 wives. You can imagine the look on my face when he told me that! We were just chatting and he was like, “we’re a polygamous society” and I was like “yea I know.” Then he said my father has 20 wives and my jaw just dropped! It’s more common to have 2 or 3 but I guess the chief needs a few extra. He’s mother had 10 kids so if we do a little math, that man may have approximately 200 kids! MIND. BLOWN. Anyways, it was really cool because we walked around and talked about the culture and he showed us some of the plants that they use for daily activities and then he took me into his house and we got to see the inside of the house. It was so interesting to see such a drastically different culture from my own, and I really enjoyed it.
Then we had our home-stay with a local family from Rhotia. Our home stay isn’t really a home-stay, but we spend the day living with a family and learning about their day to day activities and participating in chores. We were in partners to help make things less awkward. My partner was my friend Annie. I’m not going to lie I was pretty nervous going into it, because we have learned some Swahili but definitely not enough to spend a whole day with a family. It turned out being so awesome. My mama had mostly grown children, but one of them was 23 and attending the local high school and he spoke English well. We learned how to cook and wash clothes and sweep the house ect. It was really entertaining for them because we just did everything wrong. They do things differently here, so when they asked if I could meat, I said yes. WRONG! Do you know how to wash clothes; sure I’ve been washing my own clothes here. WRONG! Do you know how to chop vegetables, definitely. Wrong again! Haha The only thing that Annie and I did right on the first try was wash dishes because it is really hard to mess that up no matter where in the world you are! It’s okay, because we definitely provided the family a source of entertainment for the day, and I can laugh at myself! Haha
They don’t use anything in moderation here! I put more salt in a small pot of meat than I would use in an entire day at home and don’t get me started on the sugar! They drink chai every morning around 8 or 9. Chai is just a tea and milk drink. You heat up water and then add chai tealeaves, milk, and enough sugar to have me buzzed for a week. It actually tasted horrible because it was like drinking a cup of warm sugar, but you can bet I had multiple cups anyways! Haha Other than the chai the food tasted good, but I could feel my arteries clogging as I ate! Haha It’s funny, because they really struggled with making us do work because we were guests in their house, but we were their to do work so they kept telling us to rest even though we didn’t want to. I didn’t realize this going into it, but after lunch they always take a rest as well…a four-hour rest! They get up early and work all morning and then rest in the heat of the day, but for someone who is used to a fast paced 9-5 idea of work, this was a difficult concept to grasp. So I sat around for a while; and then we did a little Swahili lesson for a while where they would teach us words or phrases. It was really cool how open they were and how willingly they opened their house to two strangers for a day, and I was grateful to them!
Then today we went to visit the Hadzabe, which are one of the few remaining “bushmen” left in the world. They still lead a hunter gatherer lifestyle which is super cool! We got to dance with them, and shoot bows and arrows, and they even let us wear their baboon hats. (That was just gross, I’m not going to lie). We also learned how to hunt for edible roots in the ground, but they tasted terrible. Also I bought what I am calling a bush violin. It was only $10 so I couldn’t resist! It’s probably the coolest thing in the entire world, but I can’t play it because it only has 2 strings and you don’t play it like a violin at all, but it’s awesome so I’m pumped about it. A bunch of people also bought bows and arrows so now we have target practice at camp all the time!
Our guide was only 18 so he wasn’t married yet, but his father is the chief and has 20 wives. You can imagine the look on my face when he told me that! We were just chatting and he was like, “we’re a polygamous society” and I was like “yea I know.” Then he said my father has 20 wives and my jaw just dropped! It’s more common to have 2 or 3 but I guess the chief needs a few extra. He’s mother had 10 kids so if we do a little math, that man may have approximately 200 kids! MIND. BLOWN. Anyways, it was really cool because we walked around and talked about the culture and he showed us some of the plants that they use for daily activities and then he took me into his house and we got to see the inside of the house. It was so interesting to see such a drastically different culture from my own, and I really enjoyed it.
Then we had our home-stay with a local family from Rhotia. Our home stay isn’t really a home-stay, but we spend the day living with a family and learning about their day to day activities and participating in chores. We were in partners to help make things less awkward. My partner was my friend Annie. I’m not going to lie I was pretty nervous going into it, because we have learned some Swahili but definitely not enough to spend a whole day with a family. It turned out being so awesome. My mama had mostly grown children, but one of them was 23 and attending the local high school and he spoke English well. We learned how to cook and wash clothes and sweep the house ect. It was really entertaining for them because we just did everything wrong. They do things differently here, so when they asked if I could meat, I said yes. WRONG! Do you know how to wash clothes; sure I’ve been washing my own clothes here. WRONG! Do you know how to chop vegetables, definitely. Wrong again! Haha The only thing that Annie and I did right on the first try was wash dishes because it is really hard to mess that up no matter where in the world you are! It’s okay, because we definitely provided the family a source of entertainment for the day, and I can laugh at myself! Haha
They don’t use anything in moderation here! I put more salt in a small pot of meat than I would use in an entire day at home and don’t get me started on the sugar! They drink chai every morning around 8 or 9. Chai is just a tea and milk drink. You heat up water and then add chai tealeaves, milk, and enough sugar to have me buzzed for a week. It actually tasted horrible because it was like drinking a cup of warm sugar, but you can bet I had multiple cups anyways! Haha Other than the chai the food tasted good, but I could feel my arteries clogging as I ate! Haha It’s funny, because they really struggled with making us do work because we were guests in their house, but we were their to do work so they kept telling us to rest even though we didn’t want to. I didn’t realize this going into it, but after lunch they always take a rest as well…a four-hour rest! They get up early and work all morning and then rest in the heat of the day, but for someone who is used to a fast paced 9-5 idea of work, this was a difficult concept to grasp. So I sat around for a while; and then we did a little Swahili lesson for a while where they would teach us words or phrases. It was really cool how open they were and how willingly they opened their house to two strangers for a day, and I was grateful to them!
Then today we went to visit the Hadzabe, which are one of the few remaining “bushmen” left in the world. They still lead a hunter gatherer lifestyle which is super cool! We got to dance with them, and shoot bows and arrows, and they even let us wear their baboon hats. (That was just gross, I’m not going to lie). We also learned how to hunt for edible roots in the ground, but they tasted terrible. Also I bought what I am calling a bush violin. It was only $10 so I couldn’t resist! It’s probably the coolest thing in the entire world, but I can’t play it because it only has 2 strings and you don’t play it like a violin at all, but it’s awesome so I’m pumped about it. A bunch of people also bought bows and arrows so now we have target practice at camp all the time!
Also, do you remember ever playing a game called popcorn in the car when you were little? Essentially you ball yourself up and then let the movement of the car roll you around. It works really well in cars that only have a lap belt and not a shoulder strap. Well, I brought it to Tanzania, because these roads are just made to make it awesome. It works especially well when we off-road or go on unpaved roads with tons of bumps! We decided to rename it eggroll (I don’t know why) and let me tell you, I’ve never had so much fun on a long car ride! You should try it out.
In other news, I got sick earlier this week, but I took some magic meds and I’m feeling 100% back in business!
Peace out cubscout,
Christine
In other news, I got sick earlier this week, but I took some magic meds and I’m feeling 100% back in business!
Peace out cubscout,
Christine
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