Wrapping It Up

So I think I've been putting off writing this post because I didn't want to face being home. But here's the thing I realized: even though I'm not in TZ anymore, I'm never going to lose the memories or the changes that it has made in me.

Friday we had poster presentations and an academic wrap up discussion. The most striking part of the day was when we were asked "Does Tanzanian wildlife have hope?" With all of the pressures of modernization does wildlife in TZ stand a chance of survival? I think it does. People have to make an effort to save it but I was amazed by how many Tanzanians were so passionate about their protected areas and their wildlife and I think that they will figure out a way to make peace between the needs of the people and animals of their country.

Saturday we had our second home stay. This home stay was pretty much the complete opposite of the first one I went on. Right off the bat the family put us to work helping them separate the corn cobs from the plant. Once we'd done that we took the cobs into the house and laid the rest of the plant out on the lawn. Then we got the shoats and cows, lead/dragged/chased them outside and tied them up where they could graze. After we had herded the livestock outside we started to clean up the "barn." Mama Patrice patched up a hole in the wall with some fresh manure and then we scraped out the manure in the barn, piled it outside, took some of the dried manure from the other side of the pile and spread it around the barn floor. I didn't understand it but I guess it makes a little sense. When we were done with the livestock chores the boys brought out of homemade soccer ball and we passed it around for a while. While we played soccer, Gasper translated their questions for me and my answers for them. They wanted to know how old I was and if I had kids. When I told them I didn't have any kids they asked why and thought that it was crazy that I was waiting to finish college before having kids; they told me that I would be old by the time I graduated. After soccer we made tea and lunch. The tea was ginger chai and I LOVED it. At lunch the family was proud of me because I knew how to eat oogali correctly (you take a small chunk, use your fingers to roll it in your palm, hold it in your finger tips and dip it in whatever other food you are eating with it). They told me that the last students who had stayed with them couldn't eat without silverware. When we were done eating they asked me if I wanted to take a nap and I said that I was fine but then I started drifting off so I ended up taking them up on their offer. It was really funny because when I woke up Mama Patrice kept trying to tell me to go back to sleep. I was just like "I don't want to sleep anymore!!"

Sunday was our last non-program day. Since we went to Mtu Wa Mbu I took a bunch of people to the painting place to make tinga tinga paintings. All of the guys at the painting shop recognized me and told me I was the teacher now. I negotiated the prices for all of us and we got started. I ended up staying at the painting place all day (with a brief pizza break in the middle). It was a great last free day in TZ.

Monday mostly consisted of packing and procrastinating. Just before dinner we played soccer. It was staff vs students and surprisingly we didn't get our asses beat. The students actually won and the game ended in all of us enjoying free sodas. After soccer we had a delicious last dinner. The best part, in my opinion were the kabobs: there were excellently seasoned and really tender. I was really sad that I didn't get any at the first session's last dinner but happy that I got some this time. The other best part was the cake that the cooks made. They danced into the dining hall singing goodbye and carrying a cake. Esau was at the back of the line carrying the cake and awkwardly shuffling his feet. He almost got stepped on by the women a couple of times when their dance carried them backwards. It was really funny. We all grabbed cake, passed out shirts to the staff and started a bigger dance party. Unfortunately I suddenly realized that it was my turn for cook crew so I had to stop dancing and listen from a distance. We finished dishes just in time to join in for the last song. I got Sarah to dance though so I was happy (she refused to dance until I squeezed onto the edge of her chair and started dancing so her choices were fall off or get up and dance too). After the dance party I headed back to my banda to pack more. It still hadn't hit me that I was leaving but it felt good to leave a lot of my things for the staff and locals.

Tuesday was pretty much all surreal. I couldn't believe I was really leaving. When I said goodbye to Yohanna he hugged me and told me to come back and visit and then had to excuse himself. I think he was getting overwhelmed that we were leaving. I kept expecting to start bawling but I didn't.

I was in Ninah's car on the way to the airport. It was nice closure because I'd been in his car on the first drive into camp from the airport. Ninah told us that he had a quiz for us and so we all said okay. Then he told us we had to count to ten. It turned out it wasn't a quiz it was more of a game. Well kinda... He said that we had to count off and whoever got the number ten would get to come back to Tanzania soon. We all wanted to say ten so we just started randomly yelling it out and Ninah started getting mad at us and yelling "NO NO NO!!!" It was really funny. Once we'd all yelled ten Ninah told us about how he's going to visit the US in 2014. He told us that he wants to visit during the winter and go to a northern state because he wants to experience the cold. We were like "but Ninah, you'll freeze!" but he insisted he was an experienced traveler and could handle it.

When we got to the airport I was leaning on the car window watching staring at Paskal to see what he would do if he noticed me. He waved at me and told me to get in the car. I got in and we started driving away. I was like "Yes! I'm escaping! I'm staying in Tanzania!" Unfortunately I only made it across the parking lot before I had to head back to the group...

The whole time we were sitting in the airport I was just waiting for the staff to come in and join us. When we left the ground in Tanzania I was really tempted to start screaming and make them put me back. But I didn't. I dealt.

Now I'm home. It's weird because it's not home the way it was before Tanzania. I'll adjust though. Tanzania definitely taught me patience so I can handle it :]