nyumba mpya

I got back to the airport for my bag so I've got 10 minutes on the internet. I've moved in with my family and they are really nice. We live in a small neighborhood called Savei and Andrew is down the street. It is about a mile from the main part of campus. My host mom, Neema, is a professor at the University of Dar es Salaam and her husband is an accountant, but he works 100 miles away so he is only home on the weekends. They have a baby named Mathew and a sister-in-law and a domestic assistant also live with us, but they do not speak English at all, so I am getting to practice my Swahili a lot! There are some things to get used to, like the bucket showers and when the water doesn't run every other day so the toilet doesn't flush on its own, but my home is quite nice.

We start class on Monday and I will be in the intermediate level with some other students from Princeton so I am very anxious and excited to meet them and have some other Swahili learners around me. Our group went into Dar today by dala-dala (their "bus" system) and we got to see the different market places and some places to eat. It wasn't busy because it is Sunday, but we stopped at basically South Africa's "McDonalds" which is spreading all over Africa. The food was good, but not quite authentic. At home my family cooks for me. The first evening we had chapati (a pancake-like bread) and fish. They do not use forks here so you have to pick the fish off the bones with your hands. =) It's a bit odd at first, but really it's not hard. I even ate rice with my hands. haha...

Generally, we have to stay home after dark so I've been studying up and doing some reading and just getting adjusted so far. What is amusing is that they just recently built a huge Western-style mall just up the street from our neighborhood (Thank you South Africa!) with their version of a target and a huge supermarket. Oh, and air conditioning. We've been there three times already. It's not so authentic, but it's a welcome transition tool for me right now.

Time is running out so I will write again soon!