The common bills used in Tanzania are 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, and 10000. (Divide by 1400 to get Canadian Dollars equivalent). When I get money from the ATM, it is usually all 10000. I usually get 400,000 Tsh (Tanzanian Shilling) at once. Imagine carrying that around. Actually I had just paid rent for the next three months, which amounted to 1,819,000 Tsh. Imagine getting that out of the ATM and storing it in my house. Craziness. Anyways, the reason why […]
It feels like greetings form the basis of life here. Everywhere you go, everyone you meet – greetings! Just learning them requires a whole class of Kiswahili. But I grew up with two cultures that don’t really greet people you don’t know. At least in North Van and on hiking trails in Canada, you would greet people you meet. In Hong Kong, don’t even think about it unless you want the whole bus to think you need to go to […]
so much is going on recently, sorry I haven’t updated more frequently. I have some ideas for more posts. They’ll keep coming. I promise!
Post I wrote for the Sustainable Cities blog: —————————————————————————- “How do you think the perception of space here in Dar es Salaam differs from in North America?” This question popped up during one of my attempts to understand my urban geographer roommate’s work. Leslie McLees’ PhD research focuses on investigating the meaning of space for the inhabitants of Dar es Salaam through urban agriculture activities. While this is a hard question to answer, especially since we are only brief visitors […]
I’ve been thinking quite a lot lately about myself, as self-centred as that sounds… My future, my present. My work, my personal life. It’s so wide open right now, I love it. At the same time, it feels like there’s no grounding other than my family. It’s all up, floating, ready to go whichever way, whenever.
I pass by this elderly man on the way to work every morning. He’s an mzee – a respected elder – as Tanzanians would say. He always sits on the same bench at the same spot, right after I turn the corner. Sometimes reading the paper; sometimes just staring in space. He usually wears a purple kanga (a traditional (East?) African piece of colourful cloth with lovely designs and sayings) wrapped around his lower body and a white, unbuttoned shirt. […]
I was on a conference call with my supervisor in Vancouver and my fellow Dar intern yesterday. I remember my supervisor asking if we were settling in alright; are there any daily life annoyances we want to talk about. I seriously didn’t have many (or any, to say the truth). As I wrote before, the life I’m having in Dar is luxurious compared to my time in Kampala and Nyandira. I loved both, but it’s different. I was almost over […]
I have Hong Kong feet. No, people from Hong Kong, I don’t have athletes’ foot (yeah, don’t ask me why in Hong Kong athletes’ foot is called Hong Kong feet). This morning, I was about 2 minutes “late” for work (“late” is in quotes because I’m supposed to get to work at 8 am, but since I had the keys, I had to get there at 7 am…very long story). So I was automatically walking faster. And suddenly, I realised […]
My roommate’s research assistant and Swahili translator told me what “Chinese medicine” means here. Apparently people here believe that there is Chinese medicine that can make your butts and breasts larger (according Ms. research assistant (she’s so awesome, it’s always fun talking with her), the number one criteria for beauty here is a nice bottom). Apparently, it works. So she says sometimes walking down the street, you would hear people saying mchina (chinese) to some local women, that means they […]
