Last day in Arusha

So here we are... Our time volunteering is over. Bittersweet for sure. Quite the eye opening experience. Glad to have done it. Looking forward to our vacation and then home. Miss family friends pets and American food for sure! Here are some parting words:

Things I won't miss

- smells: occasionally a whiff from a wood burning fire but mostly constant body odor, rotting veggies and general bad smells. There is one pharmacy that always smells so foul. I was wondering what the hospital smelled like and then I realized anatomy lab! They wash the floors w formeldehyde. I'm so sensitive to smells!

- power going out: and water for that matter. The inconvenient times it went out : at the supermarket, during dinner, at work, during a shower, during a movie, during a workout, the list goes on


- no gym: working out is integrated into my life and now Matt's . No gyms here really. I did a few home work outs but mostly a lot of walking. I miss crossfit

- the noise and busy-ness: people here are crowded and always talking, even at home w construction and what not. I like reading and peacefulness there wasn't much here.

- pollution: and dust. Asthma and allergies out of control

- being the center of attention: no blending in here. We were constantly being stared at, talked to, someone trying to get us to buy stuff

- the lack of treatment for animals: I didn't like seeing all the hungry strays

- the sickness : stuff that is preventable in the US

- the traffic: almost died every day! Would it kill someone to put a traffic light up or a stop sign here and there

- hand washing laundry: so much effort and in dirty water then it rains and then the line falls down.. We really have it easy at home

- the risks: between traffic and work risks ( infectious diseases, drawing blood on HIV + people) and random mosquito borne diseases , rabies it made me worry

-poverty: I see a lot in the US but without government aid sometimes it felt hopeless here

The cultural manner differences: from shoving off the daladala to sitting super close to me and not having sense of personal space to treating animals without respect

Things I may or may not miss

-the daladalas: so exciting and convenient but so cramped and broken down

- the food: some was tasty and I liked the fresh tropical fruit, the giant avocados, the fresh cut French fries , the chai tea, the chili sauce ( pili pili ) even the instant coffee was good but a lot was repetitive and bland and not something I will look for in the US .

- the wildlife: I obviously loved all the safari animals, but the bats, snakes, mice, bugs I could live without


The things I will miss

Safety: terrorism and violence is non existent here. No one has guns except military and they are old and rusty. The worst people would do is pick pocket you but no one even tried w me. I felt very safe sleeping at night even tho everyone knew where we lived. People just don't do horrible crimes here. Felt safer than Chicago or Indy

Cheapness: everything was less money here except safaris . Food and drink was cheap. I even got a massage for 25$ . Nails done for less than 2$! I like cheap for sure

The people! : yes there were some annoying ones buy my stuff! But mostly everyone was super friendly , welcoming, and wanted to say hello. They are very proud of their country. They smiled a lot. The staff at the hospital grew on me, the people in our house were great, and I made some foreign friends. The people here are not killing each other they are helping each other.

The sense of community: as I said even in poverty they aren't hurting each other they seem to help in any way. From giving an old lady some money for the bus, to pushing cars out of mud, they were there for each other. They especially helped other's kids. Kids usually take the daladala to school by themselves and people on the bus would sit them on their laps- even the daladala money collector would help them cross the street or carry them off the bus when they got off. I saw a lady hand a random kid a lollipop through the open bus window. Today I saw a man carry a scared kid over a puddle then go about his day. I loved it!

THE KIDS: cutest kids I've ever seen. Either staring w soulful brown eyes or smiling a huge smile they were so adorable. They always said Hi, how are you, and good morning ( even at night haha) and would yell it til they got a response then they were so happy. I loved hearing them belt out songs at the top of their lungs in the morning at school. I loved our neighbor kids who glared longingly at
the pool. I loved Matt's kids I met.

The environment: from the cool animals to the tropical plants to the weather ( when it wasn't raining it was sunny w a cool breeze

The medicine : such a change of pace from the hypertension and COPD that I see everyday back home. Now getting to learn about a lot of tropical diseases and treatments and the way culture figures into the medical treatment here

Helping others; I guess I kind of do this in my job but here I was purely around to do this!

The variety of things to do: restaurants, safaris, hiking , and so much more if we had time

The expat community: even though I wasn't really part of it I enjoyed watching it at the restaurants including some of the same people I saw every day while they were conducting business at restaurants etc

The free time: after work didn't have to worry about doing much- no crossfit no Cooking no chores really. I did a lot of reading since everything else was usually not available

The "newness": so much to explore , so much stimulation of the mind!

Hanging out w the love of my life: we never get to spend every day w each other as Matt travels for work and I sometimes work weekends. Matt put 110% in here and I was very proud of how hard he worked! Not going to lie sometimes this wasn't a walk in the park as we both have tempers, want to be right etc and with our environment here some crabbiness and bickering occurred but overall we bonded sharing this experience of a lifetime and will treasure it forever!

This was life changing and eye opening and Tanzania will have a soft spot in my heart. Til we meet again!

I will try to keep writing about the rest of our travels as i want to start journaling my traveling. Thanks for reading and for all those who donated - I know the kids were appreciative! Xoxo