thoughts on arusha

So far, I've been in Arusha for a month and have found my time here to be quite enjoyable. My first observations were how much brighter the stars look in the sky and how small the community is. The size of the community became apparent after going out my second night and recognizing many of the patrons from my previous night out. Since the selection of night clubs is rather limited, it appears that each one has a core following of people who show up religiously each week. Unfortunately, the following tends to consist of an order of magnitude more men than women. But fortunately, the DJ's have been consistently good and play a mix of reggae, tanzanian/african tunes, hip-hop, and house.

My neighborhood, although just a few minute drive to town, has a very rural feel to it. It's fairly common to share the dirt roads with a herd of cattle or goats looking for pasture, or a mother hen and her chicks pecking for food. I've become quite accustomed to waking up to the crow of our neighbor's rooster and the occasional flock of chickens that raid our front yard looking for food scraps. However, despite the ruralness of our village, most everything you could possibly need is readily available. Around the corner from our house is a "strip mall" of duka's that hosts a seamstress, a barber (who also doubles as the electricity bill collector), a video store, and a convenient store. And within a few minutes walk are various bars, restaurants, and other service providers. As I have discovered, most villages are setup in a similar manner making each one a self contained community.

One final observation is our village's collection of ~5 stray dogs. Each occupies his own area like the bums you see in Central Sq. - Cambridge, MA -- and every night we hear them howl in unison. One of them, whom Daniel named Ijumaa (Swahili for Friday), follows us home each day as we pass by the village bar after work. Apparently, we are the few people who don't throw rocks at him so he's taken quite kindly to us.