On Wednesdays We Wear Shorts

Upon leaving the club "Le Parte" one night, a guy named Erick came up to us and started talking to us. We sat outside the club for about an hour just talking. He told us that every Wednesday, there is a big group of people of all nationalities that play touch rugby at one of the fields in town. We decided we would try it out. When we went on the first Wednesday, I have to admit I was a little nervous. I had no idea how to play rugby. When they were explaining the rules, it seemed really complicated and I was confused. However, when we started to play, it was actually really simple and easy to pick up. After the first Wednesday, everybody went over to one of the guys houses for a big BBQ. It was a lot of fun and we met some really nice people there. We only wished that we would've found out about rugby before our stay was already halfway over in Iringa. A lot of the people that play rugby are involved with the international school in Iringa. Some of the students come out and play and a lot of the people who teach there. There are also just other people that are in town doing volunteer work that come out and play. Ever since that first Wednesday, we look forward to rugby every week. I mean, it's the one day of the week that we get to wear shorts instead of skirts! It's also really nice to get some exercise for once. I'm used to exercising everyday and it's definitely been hard to not exercise at all here. I feel really out of shape. We were sad that yesterday was our last rugby match for a while. About 30 people come out every week to play rugby and we have met a lot of different people from all over the world. I'm really glad that we found out about rugby and that we decided to give it a try even though none of us had any clue on how to play rugby in the first place. These past 4 weeks were definitely a great experience. 

This is the field that we play on. Normally we play 2 rugby games on half of the rugby field, and there is normally a group of people playing soccer on the other half:

Makete and Matema Beach

For Renee’s history class, and mine we took a field trip. We first traveled to Makete. On the first night, it was very cold when we arrived. Paulo and Peter were wearing Masai blankets to keep warm and we wanted to try it for ourselves. They were so warm! We all ended up falling in love with the Masai blankets that Peter let us use for the trip. When we returned, Renee drew a picture of all of us in the guest book. Everywhere you go here there is a guest book that you sign saying your name, where you’re from, and stuff like that. This hotel had a guest book for the guests to draw something in as well. So Renee drew this nice picture of us and then we decided to recreate it:

The next day we took a hike through the highlands to a traditional clinic. The ground was very muddy and it was difficult not to slip and fall. The views were absolutely gorgeous though! At the clinic, we learned from past midwifes about how women used to come to the cave to give birth. They would have to stay at the cave until the baby’s umbilical cord fell off because the baby is not considered human until that point and therefore can’t be brought back to the community yet.

After the traditional clinic, we continued on to a small village where there is a sacred forest. The priest was at the forest at the time, and he is the only one allowed to enter it. In order to greet the priest by shaking his hand, we had to wash our hands with this special plant.

We continued on our journey to our next hotel after that. The car ride was anything but pleasant. The roads were in horrible condition since it was raining and muddy and we got lost multiple times. Not to mention, Peter emptied one of the gas tanks and put the gas can right behind our seat! It started to give all of us headaches and stomach aches so we were forced to wrap our Massai blankets around our heads. That got us some looks going through the village!

The next day, we began our journey by visiting a sacred lake. The lake was so clear that the clouds and mountains were perfectly reflected in it. No one is allowed to swim in the lake or fish in it since it’s sacred.

We ended our trip at Matema Beach. I got my own hut on the beach all to myself! We spent about hour swimming in the lake before it was time for lunch. After lunch, we took a boat over to Ikombe village where local pottery is made. We watched a demonstration of a pot being made and afterwards just hung out for a little bit. The kids were obsessed with getting their pictures taken and then looking at them!

A Little Taste of Home

Eating the same food all the time gets really tiring. In hopes for some American food, we decided to make s’mores. We were able to buy some firewood for really cheap and found a spot on campus where we could build it. Although they don’t have graham crackers here, we found some wafers to use. We did the best we could with marshmallows and bought the brand that looked the most promising. The other brand’s marshmallows were all stuck together and Julia had tried them before in Mozambique and said they weren’t good. The marshmallows we bought didn’t tasted like marshmallows in the US, but they were good and got the job done. Everybody just stared at us as we did this. One guy even asked us if we had to cook the marshmallows. He thought they would be contaminated if you didn’t cook them before eating them. 

Culture Shock

It was definitely complete culture shock coming to live in the dorms. When we were in Dar, I’d often get asked how the culture shock was. Since we were staying at such a nice resort, I wasn’t really sure what to think of culture shock. I’d never experienced it before, but I didn’t think I was going through it then. Once we got to the dorms, I definitely knew what culture shock was. I no longer had a shower, or even hot water for that matter. We were given buckets and cups to take a shower with and we had to buy a water boiler to boil our shower water with. I had already known beforehand that we would have to wash our laundry by hand, but knowing that you are going to do it and actually doing it are two different things. The first time we went to do laundry, everybody just stared at us. They asked us how we were going to do laundry with one bucket, and then gave us each another bucket. Apparently you need two buckets because you wash your clothes in one and then rinse them in the other before hanging them on the line. We only did our laundry like that once and then we found that doing it in the shower with the faucet running for rinsing is much easier. 

Mkwawa Magic Site

Paulo originally checked out the Magic Site and told us that it really wasn’t that good of a place. We still wanted to check it out though so we went there. The Magic Site was basically a zoo in Iringa. It actually ended up making me sad to see all these beautiful animals that I have seen out in the wild, in tiny cages. The zoo used to be one of my favorite places, however I’m starting to realize just how poor of treatment these animals have and starting to strongly be against zoos.