Welcome to Dar

After about a 3-hour delay, I finally get on a plane in Ethiopia and head to Dar es Salaam. It's a short flight, but when I finally get into Tanzania, it's about 2am and very quiet in the airport. I pay the $200 USD to get my CTA stamp so I can legally volunteer in Tanzania and head to baggage. My suitcase is waiting for me, and since I don't see an ATM, I head to the Bureau de Change window to try and get some shillings so I can pay the cab driver. The women behind the counter is asleep, and I politely say, "hello?" through the small opening in the window. No luck. A guard sees me, comes over, and pounds on the window. The woman moves just enough so we know she is awake. She kind of shuffles over and takes my US cash. There is no sign posted about the exchange rate, so I just assume she has given me the correct amount, smile, say "thank you," and head out the door to find a cab. I ignore the first aggressive driver to approach me and settle on a nice, friendly looking driver. We drive through a dark city towards the Holiday Inn. The area near the airport is very industrial, and I keep thinking, "if it's the Airport Holiday Inn, shouldn't it be closer?" Then, I keep thinking that I am just tired and travel-weary. I should be more patient. The driver asks me some questions about where I am from and what I am doing in Tanzania. He also teaches me my first Swahili word- "karibu"- which means "welcome." (My plan to "learn" Swahili on the plane didn't exactly go as planned, but I did manage to read one of the prep books I brought about a Maasai warrior.) We get to the hotel, I check in, it's about 3am, and I stumble into my room. The nice Arabic-looking desk clerk knocks on my door and gives me my receipt. He tells me of his dream to go to the U.S. and suggests- in more of a friendly way than an aggressive way- that I help him get to America. I politely say, "maybe," and close the door. I turn on the TV, see the familiar face of Anderson Cooper and look for my toothbrush. I hear Anderson reporting about the "Batman shootings" in Colorado and take a moment to think about the irony that I am safer in Africa than I would be in a movie theater at home. I am wide awake despite being exhausted. I feel like I am just falling asleep when I hear a ringing. Am I dreaming? Is that noise in my head? It's the phone? Not my cell phone. Who in the world would be calling me right now? I kind of wake up and the ringing has stopped for a moment. Then, it starts again. Oh, it's the hotel phone. I drowsily answer it and hear a voice saying my ride is here. Confused, I am looking at the clock. I wasn't expecting to be picked up until noon. Then, another voice gets on the phone. It's Didase (whom I would come to adore, but at this moment, I really want to go back to sleep) from CCS apologizing, saying, " I know you have traveled a long way and are tired, but we need to leave now." I groggily say, "Okay. I'll be down in a few minutes." Quickly brush my teeth, put in my contacts, throw on my CCS t-shirt (thank goodness I thought to dig it out before I went to sleep), and hald stumble downstairs. I see some white faces, Didase sees me and takes my suitcase. I appear to be the last volunteer to arrive, and we all climb into a large mini-van to begin the drive to Bagamoyo. Somehow, I stay awake during the ride (shocker to most of you who have seen me pass out minutes after clicking my seat belt) and observe how driving in Tanzania is a lot like playing chicken. I try to take in the smells and sights without worrying too much about getting into a car accident. This is the first time I think that Africa is both exactly like I thought and not at all like I imagined. There is one 2-lane highway to get to Bagamoyo, and we will be there soon. We are on TFT (Tanzanian flexible time)

, so "soon" sounds good.