this morning.

Dala dala waiting, as usual in the morning . Lots of people, obviously the bus hadn’t come for a while. Not good. Running late. Should I take a bajaji? A taxi? Ah, but I’ve been using so much for transport recently. Really should go get a bike soon. There’s a lot of stuff I should do soon.

Stream of consciousness while tapping my foot and willing the dala dala to come soon. And not be so crowded. My body was half outside the door yesterday, stuck between the conductor and another passenger.

A nice looking four wheel drive pulls up to the stop. Everyone starts to crowd around the car. I’ve seen this before, but never tried it. Impromptu carpooling*. The mzee in front asks me in English, am I going to Masaki? I replied in Kiswahili, “hapana, nashuka karibu na ubalozi” I’m getting off earlier. He said it was the same price, so why not jump in? Alright then.

All the passengers smiled and talked in Kiswahili with one another. I really should study harder (this thought runs through my mind multiple times a day). These happenings are one of the reasons I love being in Dar.

Surely, no one would pull up to a bus stop in Vancouver and ask people to jump in for carpooling. Even I would burst out laughing imagining a scenario like that in Hong Kong. Why though?

The question really should be: why not?

We’re in a city. We’re constantly in close contact. Yet, we never interact. We never care about those close to us. I’ve lived in apartments 0.5 metres away from the next door and I never knew who lived there. It’s relieving and sad at the same time.

*I suspect these cars are actually company/organization cars that the drivers are taking around. They just decided to earn a bit of extra cash.