Tanzania 3 : Michael 0

I'm stuck in Dar, still waiting for results from my post-electrocution-exam. Yeah, I go shocked. Lightning went through a switched-off circuit-breaker, a switched-off outlet, my computer and about 2 feet of air before hitting my arm and exiting through my foot. Score one for Africa

I'm mostly ok, Dr. said residual pain may take 6 months or more to go away, just wanted to check that there is nothing serious going on. In the mean time, Dar has treated me to a nice case of Giardia. Score two for Africa. Hooray for parasites.

And my laptop got fried. Game. Set. Match.

Last shot for Email

Dar is flying by, once again I spent way to much time in the lounge trying desperately (and futilely) to catch up on all the news and such that passes me by, instead of accomplishing the list of things I wanted or needed to do in town. Bollocks

Things to do in Tanzania

There was a check-list of things I wanted to do in Africa once I leaned I was going into Peace Corps, it went something like this:

Raft the Nile River
Go on a Safari
Ride and Elephant
Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro
Swim in the Indian Ocean
Play with some monkeys
Visit Unguja and Pemba (That's Zanzibar, yo)
Make friends with some cool people

That list is going pretty well.

After I got here, there was a list I started to compile of things I didn't want to do in Africa. It grows just about every month, and it goes something this:

Malaria
Get robbed
Acquire some obscure tropical illness
Be struck by lightning
The Hivvy
Get into a car wreck
Intestinal parasites
Be attacked by animals
Schistosomiasis
Get arrested
Spend more than 24 hours on a bus trip


Unfortunatlly that list is not going so well.

Play-doh creations

Steph is a play-doh ninja. Observe:

Hippo


Edvargus the Giraffe


Tasty ice-cream


Looks good enough to eat


Snake therapy


You may notice Steph doesn't appear in any of these pictures. The creations just appeared when we turned around. Like I said, Ninja.

Fish Phest Lindi 2007

It looks like Stevie making a sloppy pass at Jen, but he just sat down and is stone-cold sober, mid sentence and blinking. Truth.


Five hot girls showing Dirty South pride, modeling the latest in 'beater fashion.


MC Masasi rocks a beat


Dancing to Thriller


Except Thriller wasn't playing on the stereo.

Hey baby, there's a snake in my bed. Seriously

Somebody is hiding


There you are!

Apparently not very venomous according to a book, but I wasn't taking any chances. Luckily, when I shooed him out he was very shy and non-aggressive,

More "Bowling in Africa Mayhem"

Steve pantses Rob. Rob picks up the spare. 'nough said


Alex collapses


Thomas bowls with his Harry Potter wand...
and picks up a strike.


Thomas's throw...


...And the follow-through!

Bowling in East Africa

We found a bowling alley in Dar, and decended upon it in force.
Here is documentation of the damage:


Steve show us all his graceful followthrough... to a gutter-ball




When bowling in East Africa, proper attire is necessary. Rob and Clayton model the current fashions.



This photo is incredibly... Thomas. Look how unfazed he is as Rob molests him


Good idea: Naming each bowler
Bad idea: Letting Peace Corps Volunteers name bowlers.
Behold our bowling prowess!

A life of what ifs....

I've been struggling to feel some sense of closure on the whole mugging issue. Though I wasn't hurt very bad, it certainly got me thinking about the "what if" situation. That then cascaded into a whole introspective quagmire of "what ifs".

What if I had taken my first peace corps country assignment? How would I be feeling right now if I was in Turkmenistan? Who would my friends be? What would my life be like? I don't feel un-happy with Tanzania, but the thought has crossed my mind, even more so after I met a couple who had just COS's from PC-Swaziland.

Then hanging out with new volunteers who just swore in, it made me think back to when I was still a newbie. Then I thought what would it be like if I was in that group, or what it would have been like if I was in the group that came before me.

I still think that I'm pretty happy where I'm at right now, but my mind is wandering. Now it's movie time. So no more posty-action today.