5 December 2009
Today was a pretty slow and relaxing day. We went to town this morning to look into a kennel that a guy called us about after seeing one of our fliers around town. It ended up being pretty much a piece of trash that he was asking $400 for, so we obviously didn’t take him up on that. We had a couple other errands to run in town and then went home to relax a bit. We went to Maasai Camp last night with a couple friends of ours here, which is kind of like a club where locals and tourists come together to dance and socialize. It is normally not my kind of scene, but last night was a Michael Jackson tribute and there were not many people there, so Zach and I had fun dancing, hanging out with friends and meeting new people. We were out late and had to get up early so we were pretty tired today and spent most of the day reading. I just finished Plain Truth by Jodi Piccoult, which I really enjoyed and I am going to start reading A Shackled Continent by Robert Guest now. I try to alternate novels with informational books so that I don’t bog myself down with one depressing book after another.
Yesterday we got a Christmas tree for our apartment. We went to a “nursery” on Old Moshi Road and got it for about $4.00. It is pretty small and has a cactus-like trunk and small leaves all over it…definitely a Tanzanian Christmas tree J. We put a few ornaments on it and when we track down some lights (hopefully!) we will put up a picture of it for everyone to see.
Since I don’t have much more to tell I thought today I would write about the pushcarts that you find all over here. Since many people in town have lots to move around and transport, but don’t have cars, pushcarts are a very useful and common way to get things done here. Although many people will pile a bicycle seat high and walk beside it, tipping hazard and loading capacity still make pushcarts a superior option. The pushcarts carry sugar cane, clothing, fruit, chickens, just about anything and everything you can think of. For big loads there are often two men moving it along and for those that don’t, as they pass you say a sincere “pole” (pronounced poh-lay) to them as they pass. (This is their word for condolences and is often said in passing to strangers who have hard work or a cough or if they fall down, etc. People most often say it to us when we are walking up the steep dirt road when we work when it is really hot or really muddy. We also get it a lot when we tell people that we are volunteering, which I think is pretty funny J.) On the streets that are downhill the pushcart driver uses the momentum to kind of glide down the road. If there are two men one sits of top of the cart and just rides while the one in front steers. When it comes time to slow down the driver takes his weight off the front bar so the back end of the cart starts to drag on the ground, which is padded with pieces of scrap tire. This process does not happen quickly, though, so it can often be more dangerous to get in the way of a runaway pushcart than a dala dala or motorcycle. Although I think pushcarts are an incredibly eco friendly alternative to motor transport, the strain that it puts on people here is not healthy, and unfortunately, the day when they are not a necessity here seems a long way off.
(The picture here if of a pushcart near Clock Tower (one of the busiest areas in Arusha). It is full of I think onions or maybe potatoes and bicycle, obviously, but either way, this is definitely a load that deserves a “pole” in passing.)
Written by Whit
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