hanging in Arusha

Its nutso right now in Arusha. The elections just happened, and Chadema (the opposition party and the underdog) just won Arusha! People are rioting in the streets, but its happy rioting. We were a little worried earlier because people were burning pictures of Kikwete (the current prez, and whose party CCM will definitely win this election) and so we thought they might bring the army out but luckily that didn’t happen. Final election results will come out in the next couple days, but it’s a given that CCM will win. But given whats been happening today, I’m def just going downstairs to get some chakula cha jioni (dinner) instead of going outside.
Anyways, that’s whats been happening here in arusha right now. All of us wanafunzi (students) are busy writing our final ISP proposals and gearing up to be on our own for the next month! We also have presentations on our data we collected in Serengeti. I talked to Peter Jones, the owner of Ndarakwai Ranch, today and I’m a little worried. The short rains have just started in Tanzania, so the zebra have been dispersing away from their permanent water source now that new ones are cropping up. I’m a little worried that it’ll be hard to find the zebra but I’m keeping my hopes up! I’m hiring a guard (called an askari) that carry a giant gun to basically protect me from black mambas and giant ACBs (African Cape Buffalo!) but they’re also a really valuable resource as well because they know the land so well, so I’m banking that he can help me find myself some pundamilia (zebra). Also a good way to practice my Swahili. Black mambas will literally CHASE you out of their territory and they can run faster than a human. PLUS they’re the deadliest snake in the world. Hell no am I going to go trekking through the bush trying to find zebras by myself.
…Um…what else…me and another student Megan will be camping at the assistant managers house for the 20 days we’re out there. We hired a cook for our stay…otherwise we’re on our own for data collection and running statistical tests and all that! Oh and megan and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving out in the bush, which is sad, because I would kill for a turkey sandwich right about now. Preferably on a bagel. With veggies. And herb cream cheese…
On a sadder note, this semester has been flying by….I’m sad to leave the group for a month! It is crazy to think we JUST have ISP yet…I remember being at Ndarakwai for Orientation and talking about ISP…I guess I’m coming full circle because I’m headed back there! I’m currently attempting to buy myself a ticket to Spain with Ellen after the program but we’ll see if that works out….otherwise I’ll be hitting up Zanzibar (island off of Tanzania on the Indian Ocean!) for 6 days after the program for some quality beach time with Ellen and Sula. There is another girl from Bucknell on the SIT Zanzibar program so we’re hoping to meet up there as well. And then its either off to Amsterdam or Alicante, Spain for a couple days before heading back to the snowy valley for Christmas!
Probably getting a little ahead of myself right now….Baadye!