Party!

On Sunday we headed back to Arusha to get our new car and to go to a birthday party.

Our friends, the Petersons, live just outside of Arusha where they run their Dorobo Safari company.  My mom has led January Term trips for college students with them before and is how we know them.  The company is run by the three brothers and their families.  It was one of the brother’s son’s birthdays and so a birthday party was held for him and his girlfriend who also had a recent birthday.

To preface this introduction, I should tell you that Arusha is the big ‘tourist’ town as most visitors come here to go on various safaris and expeditions.  Because of that market there happen to be a lot of expatriates living in the area.  The Petersons were really the first to live in the area and since they moved in and increasing number of people have come to live around them. 

With that in mind you can begin to imagine the party we went to.  Though set to a background of acacia trees and African birds it was similar to a party you might find in the States.  It was a very non-African party.  American music blared through the speakers and multicolored balloons hung from trees.  Food was potluck, served buffet style the only difference being the whole goat roasted outside on a spit.  There was even a pool complete with splashing children.  One difference from American parties was that this party held a complete range of ages who all talked and mingled despite this difference.  Another difference is that there is no real drinking age in Tanzania and many of the older children were drinking, though admittedly there are underage drinkers in the States. 

Early on during the party I played a game of volleyball with some fierce competitors of all ages.  The game was identical to the one I had played for gym class except for one thing.  Acacia trees, as you may or may not know, are the staple tree of Africa and come with inch long thorns along the branches.  So to play volleyball in Tanzania you need a special kind of ball that will not deflate every time (which is a lot of times) it gets punctured with an acacia thorn.  To get around this issue, volleyballs are ingeniously filled with an inner layer of gel to protect them.  This makes the balls much heavier but works quite effectively. 

At the birthday party we met a lot of different people.  They all either guide safaris, teach at an international school or manage a business (such as exporting flowers) or are married or children of someone in one of those categories.  This was really the first time since we’ve arrived in Tanzania that we have seen and talked to other white people.  When you have been surrounded by people with thick accents, listening becomes a tiring chore and to be around people who’s first language is English was a nice change.  It was also nice to be around people who have gone through what we are going though now.  Right now we are struggling with learning Swahili (which isn’t as easy a language to learn as everyone says it is) and getting adjusted to the cultural differences.  All of the people at he party had gone through that at one time or another and it was reassuring to know that others have done it.  Also, usually being the only white people around for miles, we tend to get stared at and it was nice to be out of that kind of situation.  

The beginning is, as always, a difficult time.  We haven’t totally settled in yet and our Swahili skills are near non-existent.   I don’t really know what I will be doing yet so there isn’t a lot to do.  We are also very dependant on other people right now which is not entirely bad.  For example, even doing things like getting groceries is hard to do alone.  So far we’ve had someone go with us to the market so they could haggle and get a good price.  It is hard right now but hopefully within a month we will be on our feet and more independent. 

The real reason for our trip to Arusha was to pick up our new car – a 1994 Land Rover complete with rosary beads and fringes off the dashboard.  Though it’s old its quite nice and will do well this year. 

After staying overnight we gave Anne, on of the Peterson brother’s daughter, a lift to the international boarding school in Moshi where she goes to school.  She helped us navigate Arusha and gave us many tips for driving.  But there is so much to be said about driving here that I’ll have to leave that topic for another time.