Tanzania

The end of African story. Almost.

2009-02-03T22:23:00.005+02:00

January 12, 2009 was my last day in Tanzania as a student in university of Dar Es Salaam. Who knows when will be the next time I will lay my feet on African land. I just feel that it is not going to happen too soon. Not because that I didn't like it, simple there are some very important things I will enjoy doing back home. Otherwise, exchange program in Tanzania was a valuable experience.

It was not about getting new knowledge or striving for excellence in studies. It was not about going out everyday with other exchange students just to have fun in some club. The heat and humidity was sometimes just killing, especially on those weekends spent in an empty campus after the university was closed. I got used to neverending water and electricity shortages, only rice and beans for lunch and wild animals in the bathroom. At first disturbing local people reactions, quickly became normal and at the end I was almost missing it. Beaurocracy, safety issues and too much focus on religion - never paid too much attention...

Instead, the most exciting experience was two journeys that I did together with few friends. The first one around Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and through Kenya I described before. The next journey lead me to the south: Malawi and Zambia, almost to Zimbabwe. Hundreds of hours spent on the road, huge distances travelled, new friends made and lifestyle experienced. These are the memmories, although sometimes very ordinary, that I will hardly forget. These are the memmories I will tell to my grandchildren if I happen to have some :) After all, Africa is not so different from the first sight, especially large cities like Dar Es Salaam. However, this continent is unique in its nature and culture. If have not travelled, the whole exchange would have missed most of the nice things that had happened. Then I would not be able to tell to a friend: "look, I saw this and I know how it feels there" while watching a movie about refugee camps in Africa.

I will try to find some time to post the remaining bunch of memmories from the second trip I've done in Africa. But for now I am closing one page in this book of Tanzania and openning another about my ordinary life during the economic crisis in the Baltics.

p.s. I would also like to thank to all the special people, who missed me while I was "lost" in Africa. I missed you too! ;)

Arbitražas

2008-12-19T21:39:00.002+02:00

Dar puikiai atsimenu, kaip universitete mokiausi, kad arbitražas, ypač valiutos kursų ir dar paprastam žmogui, yra sunkiai įmanomas dalykas. Transakcijos mokesčiai, automatinės prekiavimo sistemos ir tt..

Va šiandien, ruošiantis kelionei, ištiko dilema: išsiimti iš kortelės Tanzanijos šilingų (TAS), t.y išleisti sąskaitoje esančius litus, ar eiti į keityklą ir išsikeisti užsilikusius dolerius. Pagal finansų teoriją, didelio skirtumo, kuriuo būdu gauti TAS neturėtų būti. Visgi, nusprendžiau pasitikrinti valiutų keitimo kursus, ir atradau neblogą arbitražo galimybę.

Gruodžio 19d. 1 USD kainavo 2.3945 LTL, pagal lb. (Pora centų brangiau buvo galima nusipirkti USD tarkim Parex keitykloje). Tuo tarpu Tanzanijoje, keitykloje, už 1USD mokėjo 1300 TAS (jau apie savaitę). Taigi 1000 TAS turėtų kainuoti: 2,3945/1,3 = 1,8419 LTL. Užmetu akį į lb.lt ir žiū jau porą dienų kaip 1000 TAS kainuoja 1,9975 LTL. Skirtumas arti 15ct. Nemanau, kad transakcijų kaina galėtų būti tokia didelė.

Tad nuėjau, ir išsikeičiau dolerius... Doleris čia aukso vertės :)

P.S. Gruodžio 22d. 1000 TAS jau kainuos tik 1,8574 LTL. Nors ir Afrikos tempais, bet arbitažeriai darbuojasi :D

Busy days, huh

2008-12-02T21:05:00.002+02:00

I cannot remember anything else what I have been doing for the last few days, except reading articles, sitting at the computer, eating and a little bit of sleeping. Thesis, Reasearch methods, mid-term exams, projects and Civilization 4, if we go into more details. Seems old good SSE Riga days are back to Africa. Interestingly, I am not the only one around who is covered with work, other exchange students are complaining that lecturers want them to write up to two papers per course, plus exams. Well, that is what you get, when you want to have earlier exams, given that university was closed recently. My final exams are a bit later, so I have the whole week more to prepare.

I never thought computer viruses, the one that are transmitted through flash drives, can cause so much trouble. Ok, they may get dangerous if computer is connected to the internet, to download many other nice friends. So far, I have seen two computers totally crashing due to the tazebama virus and managed to fix one more. I guess, my antivirus has something to do for the first time as long as I use computers.

Besides viruses, mood in campus is getting worse, I would say. The rainy season came unexpectedly late. Many students have changed their flight dates to the earlier ones and most of them will be gone few weeks before Christmas. The campus is already empty and will get only emptier. Thus, I am waiting till the end of my studies, when I will go travelling again. By the way, I decided not to go to Zimbabwe, because it was dangerous before, but now on the top of everything there is cholera outbrake there at the moment. :( The journey should be in Malawi-Zambia territories only.

I will tell you more soon...

Finance, Finance and again Finance...

2008-11-25T20:03:00.004+02:00

Finance courses are all the same all over the world...

It seems holidays have ended and a pile of work waits ahead. Having spent the last few days on thesis and other readings, I feel like back to SSE Riga again. Afer the university was closed I managed to agree with most of lecturers upon the further course schedules. So, I am going to have my final exams in three weeks time, while mid-term exams are scheduled for this week. I even got additional assignments to do, which vary significantly. In one course I need to summarize few chapters of the book, while in other I have to choose a multinational corporation and evaluate it from many perspectives. While the grading weights are quite similar in both courses, the amount of work seems quite different :) If everything goes as planned, I should have about 3 weeks for travelling. Looking forward to get back on the road...

And damn, today I managed to twist my ankle while playing basketball. :( It means even more time spent on studying...

Zanzibar - Hakuna Matata!

2008-11-19T20:07:00.004+02:00

About 80kms north-east Dar Es Salaam, there is a tourist beloved island called Zanzibar. Theoretically it is a part of the Republic of Tanzania, however, they still have separate passport checking before entry, different looking police, car plates and many other things that makes you feel being away from Tanzania… But let’s start from the beginning.

We decided to go for a weekend trip to see what’s life is like on the island. It’s good we have Tanzanian resident permits, which entitled us to a large discount for a ferry ticket. Still, a two hour water trip cost 22K TZS, which I find very expensive in terms of African prices. The trip itself is not two pleasant, since the boat is quite small and rocky. Thanks to a short journey, too many people did not get seasick. (There is also a possibility to take an all night long ferry, which people say is not a too pleasant experience either).

After making our way through the street touts offering everything you need, starting with a 35$ 2km taxi ride to a Ronaldo T-shirt, we entered the Stone town. The city itself is very different from a typical African city – small, narrow streets with orderly built houses are incomparable with shabby huts lying with no order in Dar or Arusha. There were no problems to find a cheap place to stay, given the tourist off season and we chose “Pearl” guest house.

The first day we spent wondering around the small streets of Stone town, visiting the local market, old fort, observing cows on the football field and kids playing on the seaside. At some point I felt like back home – nice streets, no palm trees and few green fields surrounding the city. The whole atmosphere was unusual: no annoying sellers, no starring looks, no traffic mess – calm and relaxed lifestyle. Only later I found out that Zanzibar is well known for Rastas and drugs :) In the evening we watched the sunset eating ice-cream and later met our old friends Eriks in the restaurant of a fancy hotel. We listened to live Taarab music, while there were sailboats passing by in the ocean – everything seemed even too idyllic. Before coming back to the hostel, we got lost in the narrow dark streets of the town. I wouldn’t walk alone at night in any other Tanzanian city, but Stone town looks really different and we are still alive after all :)

Stone town

Saturday morning we went on a Spice tour. It was a lot of fun tasting known and unknown spices, fruits taken of from the plants right away. I got to know how vanilla or cardamom is grown as well as local kids weaved us hats, ties and jewelry. We also visited slave caves and a wonderful beach. Half of the day was spent really nicely. After coming back to the town we right away boarded a minibus to the East coast of the island. On the way to Paji, road police three times stopped the bus for inspection. I still wonder how the conductor guy managed to deal with the fact that there were two times more people in the bus than it is allowed. Maybe a fact that everyone was seated (usually two people sharing one seat) helped him :)

West coast of Zanzibar

In the Slaves cave

On the fruit tasting tour

In 2 hours we conquered 45kms distance and reached Paji where a beach party was supposed to take place. Indeed, there was a party with a white DJ and about half of the participants being tourists. We met a local guy there, who told us that he has Tazanian, American and Swiss passports as well as has lived in the US and Europe for a long time. Certainly, I did not believe any his word, but it was quite funny to listen to him. Though later we met a good guy’s friend who had a Swiss wife and small kids with funny hair speaking Swiss-German :)

Since the party finished at midnight, we decided not to rent a room in the hotel, but to stay awake until the sunrise and then go back to the Stone town. Nevertheless, I had few hours of sleep in the empty boat on the seaside. That was a little of adventure, but definitely worth doing.

The next morning, I was swimming in the ocean and climbed a palm tree to get a coconut for breakfast :)

Breakfast

I bet I had much more fun than an ordinary tourist who comes to the island to lie on the beach… Therefore, tired but happy I boarded the ferry back to Dar on Sunday’s afternoon.

Anything Can Happen in Africa

2008-11-13T13:57:00.004+02:00

Unfortunately, it happened. Tanzanian government closed down the university for infinitive time period due to the student strikes that were going on since the start of the week. All the students were ordered to leave campus within few hours and they did. There were no riots or any clashes with the police which I find quite surprising. I got a feeling that many students simply wanted to go home. Nevertheless, my exchange program is now on the "edge"...

According to the university rules, exchange students should continue with their studies even after the university was closed down. In reality, what is the motivation for a lecturer to come and teach one student in the class? And given African way of doing things slowly, I do not expect any help from the university's administration anytime soon. Furthermore, my flight back to Riga is approaching and even if the university is opened again in few weeks, there will be no time for studies left. So far I see only one thing that I could do. To call lecturers myself and try to get the material that has to be covered as well as to arrange the early examination dates. Still, I have no idea how they are going to respond. Though whatever happens next, it will be an extraordinary experience...

But before doing anything, I will just take a weekend off to beautiful Zanzibar beaches...

The Strike

2008-11-10T20:14:00.008+02:00

Unhappy about the way how government distributes loans, students of Dar Es Salaam university decided to go on strike. Everything started already on Thursday with a small group of about 80 people walking around campus, singing, shouting and waving with the tree branches. Though this strike was not authorised by the university administration, and didn't seem to be well organized as well. Only one guy was taken to hospital, because somebody thrown a bottle to him.

Preparations for the real, authorized, strike started already on Sunday evening. Some guy with a loudspeaker was wondering around the campus shouting and disturbing my evening TV-Series session :) The next day I was woken up by the noise outside. It seemed students already gathered and this time there will be a much better organized strike. While having my morning shower, I could see a crowd of about 500 people carrying some posters in the front lines. Later, I found out they had even posted sheets with their requirements all around the campus.

Strikes are common in the university so it was no surprise to see one. However, the funny thing is that university's prospectus says that if students are on strike for 3 days in a row, the university has to be closed and everyone will be sent home. Indeed, that had already happened a year ago.

So far there is no reason to believe that the strike will finish tomorrow or a day after tomorrow. And I still do not know what happens to exchange students if the university is closed.

We'll wait and see... :)

What's new in Africa

2008-11-05T17:44:00.002+02:00

Inspired by the endless joy of locals after Obama won the US elections, I decided to write few things on what I've benn doing lately here. The problem is that there is not too much and nothing especially interesting to write about.

Well, by now I have few lectures per week and they say that seminars should start soon. Still from time to time lectures decide not to show up and arranged tests had to be canceled. Most of the things I study here, I have already heard back home, thus, lectures sometimes get pretty boring. Nevertheless, lecturers here have a tendency to ask students questions much more often than at SSE Riga, therefore, I do talk during the lectures quite a lot. Furthermore, being the only "mzungu" (white person) in the class means that everything I say will be commented and discussed later on. By the way, most of the students that I know do study a lot here, many of them prepare their assignments even a week before. Indeed, the quality may not be outstanding, but the idea itself is surprizing enough due to the fact that everything is late here in Tanzania.

Short rain season has already started. Humidity reaches 95% and at temperatures of +30C you start sweating even before going into the sun. At one time all my clothes hanged inside of the room as well as the bedding got moist due to the air humidity. Huh, I often remember that it is already November back home and people there are walking around in winter coats... I still wear my flip-flops and shorts and know that it will only get hotter :)

Water shortages and electricity interruptions became quite common over the last few weeks. Actually over the past 4 days we had water for about an hour in our dormitory. Even the water tanks outside, run out at one point of time, so a crowd of people were desparetily linning up to the last water supplying places on campus. One guy told me, that his Ugandian room-mate was desperate about the water shortage and never stopped repeating that there will be bad epidemics spreading soon. Well, I still hope that it's not so bad. The only disadvantage is to go all the way to get the water and to stand in the line at 7:00 in the morning.

Having plenty of free time I even started to read books. The first one I crunched was "The money masters", written back in 1980 :) Well, at least it was interesting to read the biographies of the most famous american investors. Besides reading, I did finish watching the first season of "24" Tv-series, went out to few clubs, had an hour long religious discussion, played Heroes 5, wondered around the city, continued tearing my basketball shoes and to grow beard. Hope to move away from the campus to see more of Tanzania in few weeks time.

As I am finishing this blog entry, I already got quite annoyed with all the ants, bugs and insects invading my keybord, attacking monitor and playing in my hair. Poor computer, but that's the price to pay in order to get internet on close location :)

Plot for a Hollywood movie... Just a real one

2008-10-14T21:40:00.002+03:00

This story starts in a crowded club, on Saturday night. The camera slowly zooms a girl who missed one small step of the stairs and now is slumping down on her knees. Unluckily, she twists her ankle and cannot walk anymore. Trying to stand up while feeling a killing pain she realizes somebody has stolen her wallet. She sadly looks around, but the music only gets louder and the party goes on. Nobody cares about her problem, except a friend that she came to the club with. The party is over for the both girls as they decide to go back home.

The injured girl will have to spend a night not in her own bed, since thieves took the key from her dormitory room. She will not be able to call her friends, because they took her mobile phone as well. The same unfortunate fate followed her student ID, driving license, credit cards and insurance cards. And when the hope is almost lost, at 6 o‘clock in the morning, the injured girl‘s friend receives a phone call from the thieves. They tell their story:

They found the wallet in women toilet. They had to fight for it, because some other bad girls wanted to steal it. Unfortunately, the wallet did not contain any money or a cell phone, only a sim card. Furthermore, when the founders were leaving the club, somebody chased them, willing to take the wallet again. Thus, they had to run, and couldn‘t go directly home, instead had to stay in a nearest hotel for a night. For such invaluable effort they asked only... 100 000 TZS as a remuneration.

Since the story does not fool the girls and they are not agreeing to pay such a large amount of money the negotiation continues. After few hours of calling each other, the saviors go down to 50 000 TZS. Now an exchange has to be organized. They agree to meet at the entrance to Mlimani shopping-mall at 9 o‘clock this evening. It will already be dark so both parties have to prepare their tactics to ensure the safety. Indeed, no police is involved, because the action happens in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, where nobody trusts you even if you call 112. The injured girl cannot go to meet the thieves herself, so three her friends, all students, are going to accomplish the quest of getting the valuables back.

At 9:30p.m, three people show up with 50 000 TZS at the agreed place. 9:32p.m. they receive a call from the other party with an invitation to change the meeting place into Ubungo – the largest bus station. Students do not agree. 10:35 p.m, they receive another call, asking to go outside. This time they decide to fulfill the thieves‘ wish. The triplet stands outside the entrance, waiting for the sellers to show-up. One guy slowly passes by with a red bull can in his hands, intently observing the students. After 10 more minutes a call follows, the thieves asks one girl to come alone to negotiate with them further. They say, they are afraid of other two white people, standing next to her. Only when the girl goes 15 meters aside from her friends, the callers show up.

There are two of them. Unexpectedly, they change their minds and raise the offer price to 150 000 TZS. 10 minutes of intensive negotiation gives no result. Both parties leave the meeting point getting nothing, only almost worthless sim card stays in the hands of the students. Sometimes the greed is too high. Most likely thieves will call again; however, they already lost their chance to get rich.

A night in da club

2008-10-12T18:36:00.003+03:00

It was a Saturday night when seven of us, 4 girls and 3 guys left the roof party in campus and went to the club. Indeed, party has started long before we left, therefore, it was no problem for seven of us to fit into one three-wheel taxi Bajaji (similar to riksha popular in India). It seems we didn’t have too much beer, because Bajaji didn’t brake on the way to the club. Instead, on the way to the club we were cheered by a group of Koreans in the pick-up, few car drivers and many other people, who were definitely surprised by seven “wazungu” in one Bajaji.

Bajaji

The club we went to is called Maisha (life – in Swahili). It’s true! One can observe a sophisticated club life there. Even a 10 000 TZS (~21Lt) entrance few didn’t discourage people to come there and by the midnight the real party started. A western-looking modern club, having two floors and four bars quickly got stuffed with people. Two Djs changed shifts trying to satisfy the dance-thirsty audience, by playing mostly hip-hop songs with a solid club music flavor.

Feeling the sub-woofer down my stomach, I was standing at the bar together with Erik and wondering who showed up for the party. Yep, next to the dancing floor there was a guy, with Lakers T-shirt, baggy pants, NY baseball cap, bandanna and other attributes compulsory for the real hip-hopper. Certainly, he didn’t dance, just mingled to the rhythm, cause he had to watch after his b****es :) Down on the dance floor, another guy with a toothpick in his mouth was showing some good moves, incomparable with the ones, demonstrated by the three Indians dancing next to him. There was also a good looking girl right in front of us, dancing alone, outside the dance floor. I asked Erik if she was a prostitute (because he’s been in more clubs than I was and has some experience of this issue :)) and he answered to me that “the girl is too good looking”. But he was wrong :) The same girl strangely kept coming to dance next to us on the dance floor all the evening (at least 3 times) no matter that we were dancing in our own company. Well, she succeeded to attract two old white males and a bunch of locals to dance with her and provided me with Erik some good laugh afterwards.

Though I hardly could hear anything after leaving the club, it was quite a nice experience. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t go to such club to spend my evening. First, it’s too expensive. Second it’s too western and I am not a club music lover. Finally, I get bored after dancing for 4 hours according the same rhythm and in the same way, as locals do. Thus, I enjoyed this club as long as it was a new experience and I had a good company with me.

A little bit of basketball

2008-10-05T19:06:00.003+03:00

My morning was disappointing. Somebody during the night stole my old basketball uniform which was getting dry in the corridor. It’s not a large monetary loss, but I valued this uniform for its rich history. Then, the second time in two days I was asked to borrow some money by a complete stranger, next to my dormitory…

Luckily, I put my “new” basketball shoes inside the room for the night. So I could participate in a small basketball bonanza today. Yep, having nothing much to do around campus I was going to play some basketball in the evenings to the court nearby. This was where I quickly made new friends and, surprisingly, was invited to join the university basketball team, called “The Outsiders”. :) (I don’t know who was that smart to think of such a name). Thus, today in the morning I was going together with the team to a small tournament, organized in memoriam to some famous basketball player who passed away few years ago. I was full of excitement, willing to see the “real streetball in action”.

John picked me up with his red colored Mercedes from the campus and in twenty minutes I was on the basketball court built some 30m from the ocean. It took some time for the teams to gather, so not to waste time we started to play some warm-up matches. Unfortunately, the tropic rain came and after 10mins both basketball courts were similar to two swimming pools. Though, this was not such a big problem as it seemed for me at first. It took only 40mins for the courts to get dry again, thanks to people with special gadgets to wipe the water away. Soon the games started with 7 teams competing. So how do they play basketball in Tanzania?

It’s not exactly a streetball, but it’s definitely not a European basketball as well. For a streetball, they lack dribbling and other so called freestyle skills. Further, even though one court had lower baskets than usual, I didn’t see anyone dunking in the game (I didn’t manage to do it as well :(. And I even cannot compare this basketball to the one I used to play back home. First, it doesn’t matter how fast you are or how high you can jump. The outside court is simply too slippery to demonstrate speed… I was also afraid to jump too high, because every competing player will try to get you down by all means :) Second, tenths of fouls are part of the game. A match lasted 10 mins (2x5min) and during that time the referee never stopped whistling. Most of the fouls are done just to stop the player who is going through, because it’s simply easier for the defender. Indeed, I got a clear idea that I need much more muscles to be good on the court. Start working on this today… :) Third, arguing with the referee is common, but the way players do it differs a lot from the European patterns. People here don’t seem to get angry in the process; though they can continue talking for a longer time than the match lasts. Finally, there is much more mess in the game than I have ever seen :) No passes, no blocks, no discipline in defense, no fast brakes, just fouls. But no surprise why… Two basic combinations: 2 on 2 and a run-up that I showed to them, made my team wondering.

Inspiration came to my soul – I could make this team fly, like they show in the Hollywood movies… :D In reality, it is not that easy. Teaching those guys what I know about basketball will not change the way they understand the game in few months :) Still, they have enough stamina and speed as an ordinary basketball player needs. Even though I have never been a coach, but coordination, court seeing and a little more thinking would definitely make them play better. The university league should start later this month. Today we hardly won 4 games out of 6, so we will see the results of my efforts in the near future. :)

"The Outsiders"

Let’s finish in the way which is appropriate here – praying. Interesting ritual to my foreign eyes. After every training all the players would stand in the circle in the middle of the court, holding hands and talking about what was good and what was bad… Then, one guy will say a short prayer and everybody will go home. I was that guy already… :)

A small example of how things are done in Africa

2008-10-03T10:55:00.002+03:00

Slow down, pole pole (no rush), hakuna matata (no problems)… In other words, life in Tanzania is beautiful, no need to stress or worry about anything. And it doesn’t matter whatever you do, would it be serious business or just a meeting with old good friends. Hakuna matata way of living takes the lead in most of the situations. No exception is the university…

I’ve arrived to the campus already more than a month ago. I was told that there will be a fresher week starting September 1 and the studies will start a week later. However, the beginning of the study year was delayed until, officially, 29th of September. By that day, I managed to get a draft timetable for the classes in my faculty and even to register for some courses, though I have very little idea what the courses will be about. We were lucky with Egle to get “secret” course outlines from year 1999-2000, to get some more information than just a name of the course.

On the 29th, I woke up ready to take my first lecture here, Bank Financial Management. After deciphering the map of the classes, I showed up for the lecture some 5 minutes before the beginning. Sadly, the class was empty, even no students were there. Later that day I’ve heard a legend that one exchange student (out of some 100) had a class in biology already. Still doubting whether I went to the right room, I tried to go to one more class the next day. I even met one guy there who will study with me… We sat together for some 15mins in an empty room, nobody else showed up. Before leaving, I asked him, why you are coming here if nothing is happening. He answered: “you can always hope that the lecturer will show up, so keep coming” :). Later, in my faculty I was told that the registration is still going on, so most likely no classes will be held this week…But you should go to the classes.

I have a feeling that no classes will take place at least one more week, since the moon showed up in some Arabic country and Wednesday was announced to be a public holiday, in addition to Thursday and Friday. And I still don’t have my Tanzanian roommate, which means most second and third year students are still out of campus. They will need to come, to register and only then the studies may start, if the lecturers will manage to get back from holidays on time :)

You wake up 6am every morning together with the rising sun. You have the whole sunny day ahead. You could do a million of different things, but… Everything takes time, whatever you do. Some of your friends just sit and do nothing at all, because nothing changes here…You will join them…Life is hakuna matata :)

Travel diary: part 3, the craziest experiences

2008-09-26T11:20:00.002+03:00

Not all the experiences in the journey were that nice. Oppositely, some of them were confusing and sometimes scary, which indeed needs mentioning in the blog.

The advertising. All over East Africa I was pretty confused by strange word combinations used to advertise or just to name something. For example: “God’s glory butchery”, “A decent bar” and many other I just can’t recall right now. Though it’s not always that entertaining… Would you take a ride with the bus in Kampala station, pictured below? :)

Street kids. In Moshi and Arusha, we met a bunch of street kids several times while wondering around the city at night. They usually care a small candle to light their way and some strange music instruments used for I don’t know what. In Moshi kids were quite nice, maybe because Miriam was chatting with them in their language. However, in Arusha they surrounded us asking for money and followed all the way to the restaurant step by step. I had to look after my wallet very carefully.

Rwanda genocide museum. Back in 1994, in one month, more than 1mln people, mostly of Tutsi tribe, were brutally killed in Rwanda. During the first days of genocide more than 1000 people died every 20 minutes… Women and kids were the primary target. And it was not a professional army that executed the genocide. At that time, neighbors and even relatives became enemies who could kill each other. We have visited a memorial museum in Kigali, which has a pretty shocking exhibition of what has happened. After exiting the museum, I somehow did not feel too safe in this country, even though it seems peaceful and friendly. More about the genocide you can read in Wikipedia.

Renting the hut in Pader. Having my own house? Yep, sounds great! It doesn’t matter that the house is a simple hut with the reed roof. Even more, it was built by the refugees in Uganda. And yes, I understand that it may not be safe to spend few nights there, but we did not have anything valuable except our passports and lives :) So we were close to renting a hut in Pader when we found out that the hut is next to the worst club in town and that the owner is a prostitute. Huh, a meeting point :) As a result, we stayed in the hotel for few more nights.

Mbege. The desire to try all the exotic food is not always a good idea :). For example, the traditional drink of the tribe living in the Kilimanjaro area – banana beer (Mbege). We tried it together, tastes like rotten bananas. Looks like… :)

Bathing. Hot water and good water pressure from the tap is not what you will find in Africa. In some places the shower is just a bucket of water in the dark. I do not mind all these inconveniences and sometimes even found it exciting. However, having a cold shower in Arusha, when temperature outside is about +15 is not what you expect in Africa :)

Local transport. African buses have been already described… In addition, traffice in Kampala, Uganda, it's just terrible. In many places there are no pedestrian pavements or they are simply too narrow for a mass of people, so you need to walk on the street. The cars will usually pass by just few cms far so we had to be very cautios when walking. To cross the street is a challenge because crazy motorbike (boda boda) drivers will not stop even if the cars do.

In the dark. Basically, I felt safe most of the time on the journey. The two most unpleasant episodes related to safety happened at night in Kigali and few days later in Ruhengeri, Rwanda. I just went to check the ATM in Kigali and Miriam with Egle was standing outside. I just saw a guy with the shotgun targeting the girls. Only after some half a minute I got to know that it was a security guy, who protected the girls from a bunch of black guys who seemed aggressively approaching them… In Ruhengeri we just sat down in the local bar to play pool when we heard a loud explosion in the street, just in front of us. All the guys went out to check what happened. Luckily, it was just a car tire exploding... :)

Convoy’s. Two guys with massive guns was a part of our company on the bus when travelling at night or through the forests. I knew it was a convoy, but Egle didn’t. I could only guess what was she feeling when these guys were occupying the first seats on the bus :)

Travel diary: part 2, the most exciting experiences.

2008-09-22T13:54:00.006+03:00

Before starting I would like to thank Egle for creating a wonderful map of our whole journey. In addition you can check her blog and picasa web album to hear more about Tanzania and to see additional photos from the journey.

I have selected my most exciting experiences from the journey and decided to illustrate them with the photos. Enjoy reading :)

African nature. I have seen plains and mountains, green fields and dusty desserts on my way around East Africa. I never got bored looking through the bus window. Palm trees, banana, orange, pineapple, coffee and tea plantations, massive baobab trees – everything was new to me.

Swimming in the waterfall. Cold water, like in spring back home, a lot of little drops in the air, the brawl and the rainbow above. This was the first time in my life when I was swimming in the basin of the waterfall.

Visiting local markets. Every city in the countries we travelled has at least few markets downtown. Just approach it and there are tens of starring eyes, few guys around offering the best deals and never ending fuss. Even though within few days I started to adapt to African markets lifestyle, I will never forget the first impressions I got in these places.

The base of Kilimanjaro. The highest mountain in Africa with the snow cap rising above Moshi city leaves great emotions. The only problem is the clouds that tend to hide this mountain for the most of the day. Maybe I will come back here in December to try to climb the roof of Africa.

Rwanda’s hills. A country of 1000 hills is another name of Rwanda. Beautiful landscapes will follow you whichever way you go.

Lake Victoria. The largest lake in Africa, giving birth to the river Nile. I didn’t get an opportunity to see much of it, but a 30 minutes ferry crossing early in the morning was beautiful.

The river Nile. While in Uganda, 3 times we crossed the longest river in Africa and maybe in the world :) Nothing extremely special, except the strong stream of water pouring down the rocks under the bridge.

Food in certain places. Coffee and Bread in the coffee shop in Moshi. I read somewhere that one of the best coffee beans grow in Africa. Now I cannot argue with that, because the taste of coffee in Moshi was amazing even for me, who doesn’t like coffee at all. Pizza in Masai camp near Arusha was the best ever in my life. Erik who tried pizzas in many places around the world, including Italy, agreed to me.

Performance by Sukuma region tribe. The way people dance and play drums here in Africa is worth seeing. Nothing much to say.

Sunsets. Sitting on the hotel’s roof and admiring the disappearing daylight was another thing I adored. It’s great that here in Africa they don’t lock the exits to the roof :)

New friends. They say Africans are very friendly. And they say don’t trust anyone… Well, many people we met on the road sometimes were too friendly and I rarely went into the conversation with most of them. But the ones I communicated longer were really sincere and nice persons.

The jungle. Humid and hot air while walking between the lianas hanging down from the massive trees – welcome to the jungle. Strangely, no bothering mosquitoes around :)

Dancing in the clubs. Even after some 8 hours in total spent in African clubs, I can’t understand according what rhythm do people dance here. Most likely there is none. That’s why for me it would take a long time to learn dancing in African way :)

Playing YATZY all the way. Egle taught me how to play this game with dices. We had a lot of fun not only while playing it in our company, but also teaching locals in Rwanda and Uganda :)

Travel Diary: part 1, Road stories

2008-09-21T13:56:00.017+03:00

My journey, first planned to cover only Tanzanian cities, expanded out of the borders to Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya. I have spent 110+ hours in sophisticated African buses and travelled more than 4500 kms in 19 days. The route was as follows: Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) - Moshi - Arusha - Mwanza - (entering Rwanda) - Kigali - Ruhengeri - (entering Uganda) - Kampala - Gulu - Pader - Gulu - Kampala - (Transit through Kenya, stopped in Nairobi) - Dar Es Salaam.

My travel friends. From the left Erik (Beerik), Miriam, Erik and me. Egle is taking the pic.

Every day on road, I was putting down a story describing all the experiences I had had during the journey. Indeed, many of the things there are not worth mentioning to the public, therefore, here I will try to summarize only the most interesting accidents and events that had happened.

The first part of the story will take you to the essential thing of my journeys - Buses of Africa. Having spent more than 100 hours (almost 10 days) in buses, I believe, I am competent enough to describe most of the features one will experience when travelling in East Africa.

The journey, for white people, usually starts in the bus station. Even before approaching the terminal you will be greeted by a few local guys asking where are you going. Closer you get to the terminal, more agents (possibly real and fake) will approach you trying to talk to you and offer the best deal to wherever you go. Normally, we didn't react to their proposals and went directly to the "ticket offices", but sometimes, in the messy bus terminal we had to ask the guys to lead us to the place where the tickets are sold. The intensity of hassling differs accross the cities, usually it is much more severe in the large bus stations and in Tanzania, all in all.

Buses in all the countries we travelled usually leave early in the morning (5 or 6 a.m.) at the sunrise. Furthermore, no bus will go at night in Tanzania, maybe due to bad roads or security issues. Our journey started in Ubungo bus terminal, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. The first destination was Moshi and it took "only" 8 hours for the bus to reach it. I never thought I would ever say that 8 hours spent in the bus is a short journey, but here it is. On average, we were spending 11 -12 hours in a bus wherever we needed to reach our next destination city. And the final trip from Kampala, Uganda to Dar took us 36 hours :) The distances are not greater than 600km, but most of the roads are without asphalt and with many holes. Even the asphalt roads have speed reducing road hills next to every village. Given the stunning condition of the suspension, the majority of busses do need to slow down extremely when overpassing the hills. Unfortunately, some of them don't... :) On our way from Arusha, TZ to Mwanza, TZ we had an opportunity to experience how does it feel to go over the road hill when speeding at ~80km/h. I was sitting in one of the back rows, and after every bump my head was almost reaching the ceilling of the bus. Well, since I do some sports I didn't mind, but old ladies and mothers with kids were not too happy about such driving... After some 20+ strong bumps somebody went to talk to the driver and asked him to slow down. Luckily, he did.

Luxury bus

Comfortability of the transportation is a long story. To start with, there are large intercity busses, small mini-buses (Dala Dala's in TZ, Taxi's in Rwanda and Uganda, etc.), taxes (special cars in Rwanda) and motorbikes (Boda Boda in Uganda). Large buses can be divided into three classes: luxury, semi-luxury and ordinary, though the higher price rarely means a better quality. Moreover, we did not notice any difference between Semi-luxury and ordinary buses. Luxury buses are similar to the ones in Europe, pretty nice to spend 36 hours and not to feel tired afterwards. However, one can get a luxury bus only in the main routes where the roads are reasonably good: Dar - Arusha, Kampala - Nairobi - Dar. In other cases, we travelled by the ordinary buses and other means of transportation.

Ordinary bus in Tanzania is usually a specially pimped Scania or Isuzu bus, which is lifted higher, has a strenghened metal floor and most stunningly (as you will see later) it has 5 seats instead of 4 as in Europe in one row. Such upgrade clearly allows one to fit more people in the bus at the same time. In addition, buses here will never be equiped with the toilet or air circulation system, though they will have large windows that in most cases can be oppened. Moreover, you never know in what technical condition the bus is, but you can hope that the staff didn't forget to take spare parts to the trip. The most exciting thing about the buses is that they also fulfil the truck functions. I am not sure whether there are any extra fees and limitations on the baggage one can take, but most likely not. Finally, rural area buses do not have the max limit of people they can take. Summing everything up, we have a wonderful 12 hour journey from Mwanza, TZ to the border city of Rwanda. :)

There were about 90+ people, including kids on the bus that has 65 seats. Furthermore, I could not sit in the place written on the ticket, simply because there were sacks of sugar and colourful thread hanging above the seat. I was too big to fit in there. At the begining of the journey the bus still had some free space, despite there were sacks of wheat, luggge, TV sets and many other things all over inside the bus. I even could hear birds chirpping next to my seat, somewhere between the luggage :) However, after we crossed the small part of lake Victoria with a new luxury ferry, more people got on board. They had to sit/stand on the luggage in the isle between the seats. It was a great experience to try to get out of the bus to have a toilet, which was usually a bush next to the road :). The road itself, of course, was without the asphalt almost all the way from the start. Combination of a road holes and the extra weight badly affected one of our wheels. We had to stop and change the wheel which was totally broken. Later in the journey the driver had to argue with the officer at the weighting point to let us through, because the bus was too heavy according to the rules. Further, we got two guys with AKs in our bus to convoy us through the forest. A Tanzanian girl sitting next to me said that sometimes thieves robb buses in this area killing few people. I thought, maybe Robin Hood was not that good guy :) Ahh.. and there was an old guy with the special container for urine sitting behind me throughout the journey. The smell sometimes was not good, but if the window was open it was pretty ok :). Tanzanian busses are definitely not the bes mean to travel if you have some health problems, because they stop on average once in 4-5 hours for 20 minutes. You have to eat fast... Indeed, if you would request, the bus would stop more often, but try to get out through all the bags and people standing in the way - not a piece of cake. Finally, almost every bus journey will make you dirty. The heat and tons of dust coming through the windows sometimes made it even hard to breathe. Therefore it was a good idea to leave my Dolce&Gabbana T-shirt at home. :)

Inside the bus

Broken wheel

Other means of transportation are dedicated for the shorter distances and I spent maximum 5 hours in them. In such a short time I did not experience much things except the pain in the back, because the seats are not the most convenient. Nevertheless, a two hour journey from Kigali to Ruhengeri in Rwanda was one of the best trips in my life. Convenient seat, nice mountain roads, sunset in the sky and beautiful french songs made it an exciting experience. On the other hand, a trip to from Gulu to Pader was quite muddy. Our minibus got stuck in the mud two times and I had an opportunity to see many surprized faces when I was helping to push the vehicle back onto the road :). Though not to get stuck again we took a three hour motorcycle ride when coming back.

Helping a little

A view from the Taxi

Boda Boda back from Pader to Kampala

Summing up, intercity buses in Tanzania are one of the most exciting means of transportation if you are staying out of the main routes. Besides the things mentioned above, I will not tell you about the ~100km/h off-road driving and Erik's "[sinkamablik]" eyes after realizing that. I will also leave aside the food&stuff sellers by the bus window as well as talkative companions on the trip. Come to East Africa and get this experience :)

Even if I may sound ironic, I do not say that this or other bus journeys were bad. Not at all, I even enjoyed most of it, because nowhere else I will travel like this. Would I repeat such journey? Most likely not if it was the same route, cause it would get borring, but I will definitely take a bus to Malawi or Mozambique later this year :)

P.s. Below you can watch two videos of the speed bump and a view of the inside of crowded bus:

I am on the trip around Tanzania!

2008-09-03T16:38:00.002+03:00

Just after a three days stay in the campus, Egle, Erik, Erik, Miriam and I went on a bus trip around the country. Now, I'm in Moshi, a small city near Kilimanjaro. You can see the mountain from any street of this city :) We are planning to go to a Mwenza near the lake Victoria. Then, I may visit Ruanda and even Uganda. I have time until 29th of September when all the studies should start.

I do not have my laptop with me and no network connection on the road. So I will write a paper diary and will let you know all the good things in few weeks. I may sometimes write short notes in this blog also, if we find internet cafe's on the way.

Tutaohnana! (I will see you again)

The Taxi, beach and another way of living

2008-09-03T16:27:00.000+03:00

Again, we managed to join the company of American girls and got out for the beach. Dala Dala dropped us in Mwenge where we had to take a taxi. The principle to get one is quite sophisticated. The girls came to a bunch of taxi drivers waiting for the customers, told where we need to go and asked for a price. The guy told 20 000 TZS, so the girl started to walk towards another taxi driver. We did not need to wait for an action to begin… Taxi drivers started to say there prices and girls were shouting there price, like in reverse auction :) The final deal was down to 8 000 TZS! The best thing is that it does not matter how many people are going by the taxi – the limit is how many you can fit in :) We were 5 this time (and 6 when coming back in the evening), so it was only 1 600 TZS each… For some 40 minutes and ~10 Km of ride to the city centre. On the way, we stopped in the gasoline station: diesel for the taxi cost some 2 000 TZS (~2$) per liter. And Lithuanian taxi drivers, who use gas or Belarusian diesel, say they are having bad times :)

Crossing the river with a ferry we came to place similar to the market where we took Dala to the beach. In the place we met with a Tanzanian friend (SiJay) of one girl, Miriam. He took us to the place where we could enjoy the white Tanzanian sand and Indian Ocean. I should note that it may have been the first time I have swam in the ocean :) Sadly, I found out that there rarely exist high waves… Most of the time the ocean is peaceful with smaller waves than in the Baltic sea :(. The beach was full of local kids playing around. Once for a while they had a very interesting game you would not observe in our countries (at least on the public beach). The kids were putting some weed into the front of their shorts and “performing” so to say… :)

The sun quickly got down and it became cold! Yes… cold in Africa. I also get this feeling every morning after having the shower. Anyway, we went back to the place where we had to wait for the SiJay. While waiting I had an opportunity to talk to the local Rasta guy. He explained me the “Hakuna Matata” (No problems) philosophy quite quickly. The soul of the man has to be free wherever you are… And it does not matter whether you are in the Baltics or on a sunny Tanzanian beach :) When the SiJay came, we warmly said goodbye to the locals and headed back towards the city. It was already dark when we reached the ferry. They say it is not safe to walk in Dar after the sunset, especially for the white people. That evening we had dinner in the restaurant and went back to university passing some suburb places in the dark. Nobody except one drunken guy tried to accompany us and we did not hear any rude words, at least in English. Maybe it was because we had a local guy going with us, maybe not, I will need time to figure it out.

They helped us!

2008-09-03T16:25:00.000+03:00

The first night in the dorms I slept with the clothes on and without a pillow, because I did not bring any bedding from home. Therefore, these were the first things to buy in Dar. Rachel and Julie helped us a lot by taking to the market and showing more or less how things are done there. Though the American girls did not bargain too much with the seller, the initial price was reduced by some 5%, if at all. Nevertheless, they said that the deal is good and there is no need to press the guy hard on the price. Well, I hope the fact that girls talked in Swahili with the salesman reduced the initial price quite significantly. But you never know…
Happy about our new purchases, with hands full of stuff, we went to the high-class shopping mall Mlimani….

Mlimani – western shopping experience in the suburbs of an African city.

Air conditioned, spacious halls with the small benches to sit on; niche shops by the sides, and large self-service grocery stores in the ends of the building… I felt like I was standing in one of “Akropolis”, before the start of the day, when everything is clean and there are no crowds around.

We have went to one of the grocery stores just to check the prices of food and other things… Unfortunately, they do not deviate much from the ones in the Baltics and some may even be higher. The assortment is extensive; one can get anything from simple potatoes to the gummy bears. Everything is located very neatly with a lot of space between the isles. The customers seemed to be (and had to be) wealthy individuals, because the outfit was good-looking. A bunch of foreigners did the shopping as well. Moreover, we were there about 10 a.m., on the weekend, but I would not say that the shop was empty. We had to stand in the queue for about 15mins, despite the cashiers were working creditably.

Reading what I have written before, one may think that Mlimani is no different from the shopping malls in the Baltics, but not exactly… First, armed security guys are all over the place and will watch you closely. That was why we could not take any picture inside the shopping mall. We simply were warned not to do so by the security guy who appeared in a second after Egle took out the camera. Second, kilometer length lines of people were almost at the every entrance to the bank. Finally, clothes shops constitute the minor part in Mlimani. Instead, banks, mobile phone operators and few other service related companies dominate the shopping mall. I wonder where this wild need for such companies comes from in Tanzania…

The start

2008-09-03T16:21:00.001+03:00

It is 23:10 (GMT +2) and while sitting under the mosquito net in my small dormitory room, I start to share my experiences about Tanzania with you. Wish you pleasant reading!

Bye bye Lithuania!

Yep, the day has come when I left my family and all the friends and gone for Tanzania. After saying goodbye to my family and Tadas in the lobby of Vilnius airport, I was now alone and lost in thoughts. However, it didn’t last for a long, because it was a bad idea to put mobile, camera and laptop chargers as well as few electricity plugs, earphones, external hard drive, etc. into the hand luggage. It is hell a lot of wires and the strict security guy will (at least in my case) check thoroughly whether you are not intending to construct a bomb. Nevertheless, he remained quite friendly when doing the job and even apologized for the inconveniences :) . Checked-up I made one last though gloomy call and rushed to the boarding gates where a large crowd of people were scrambling in a long isle. My flight with Airbaltic to London went very quickly since I got to know one Lithuanian pianist who was very interesting to talk to. Landed in Gatwick, I met Egle, even with an empty mobile phone credit and together we took our shoes of for one more security check, while observed by some security guys armed with MP5. Before getting into the plane which had to carry us to Dubai, we managed to get a free copy of “The Economist” which was already promising :) . And yes, flying with the Emirates is really pleasant, not only due to delicious food or nice planes, but also a personal tv screen, radio and game computer. After 6 and a half hours, ~5500Km of flight and almost no sleep, we reached Dubai. The captain announced that it is +33 Celsius outside. Well, one may think it is normal for the Gulf country, sadly, it was only 7 o’clock in the morning :) . Astounded by the hot air wave I made those 30 steps to the air-conditioned bus. That was my only, expectedly not the last, walk on the Dubai’s ground.

Dubai airport – a short stop

The bus brought us to the gate to terminal and it took only 15 minutes of uninterrupted ride through the airport. The terminal itself was nothing special: duty free shops, selling Unilever, D&G, Rolex and etc. stuff, except the people. Lots of tired (or not) travelers were sleeping on the floor all over the terminal, so one had to be careful not to step onto somebody’s hand or leg. We with Egle, did not manage to join them, since after couple of hours we were again in the air, now heading towards Dar Es Salaam. Unfortunately, I felt asleep right after getting into the plane and woke up when we had already left Dubai. Egle said that I have missed quite a few nice landscapes of skyscrapers, mountains and red ground. :(

Dar Es Salaam – getting to the dorms

It took 5 and a half hour to fly ~5500 km to Dar Es Salaam. We got there at 15:30, local time, which luckily is the same time zone as in the Baltic States. All in all, my trip from Vilnius took more than 24 hours, but I wouldn’t say it was very tiring. Maybe the excitement about the upcoming things did not let me to get bored.

Dar welcomed us in a small airport terminal, crowded with people. My Visa was accepted by the officer and he did not seem to be too surprised to hold a Lithuanian passport. I was asked only two questions, what my purpose of stay is and whether I have a residence permit. Indeed, I did not have one, but it was enough to say that I will get such thing in the future. Let through the Tanzanian border, I have spent some 15 minutes praying that our luggage was not lost. Hooray! The conveyer delivered our bags with the full content. The last thing to do to get out of the terminal was the customs control. The guy at the gates just asked me what is in my bags, lifted the large suitcase from the ground and let me pass through the “nothing to declare zone”. The cool thing was that the customs guy was checking the content of the suitcases only by lifting them.

Next to the exit of the terminal we were greeted by the guy, named @, who was holding a sign with our names, even written correctly. We have changed few words with him and in five minutes he led us to the taxi. The taxi driver most likely was his friend who got an opportunity to earn a lump sum of money for carrying the foreigners. (We were already the second group of the exchange students arriving that day). The trip to the dormitories cost 60$ in total and it was about 40 minutes (~12km) of ride. A day later, we managed to go similar distance with another taxi paying some 8$ :)

The driving culture in Dar Es Salaam needs a separate essay, which I hope to provide you during the upcoming days. I only can say, that driving on the left side is nothing strange, compared to hundred of other different things that one can experience on the roads.
Our first new friends

A nice lady led us to our rooms in the dormitory. I got to stay in the 7th floor together with an American guy Tony. He will be my room mate most likely until the study year starts. Then all foreign exchange students should get a local room-mate :) So, Tony is one out of more than 40 Americans staying in the university for the fall semester. Basically there are three different groups of US people: Florida people, and two others. Opposite to us, they come according to the special university programs. This means they have a person responsible for their stay in Dar and have many things already organized. For example attend Swahili classes in summer, go to orphanage twice a week, get such things as a bucket, mobile phone, kettle on arrival and etc. Furthermore, one group will move out of the campus to live with families in two weeks. All in all, I felt very new and knowing nothing at the beginning.

The first students we got friends with were girls Rachel, Miriam, Connor, Maggie, Julie, Natalia and my room-mate Tony. They were living in the dorms for 7 weeks already and got to know the place considerably well. In addition, they all know Swahili quite well and can communicate with the locals without any problems. This was a clear signal for us that in Tanzania we will not survive without learning Swahili :)

During the first evening in the campus we went to have dinner (vakarienes) in the cafeteria next to the dormitory. Big portion of rice with beans and fresh mango juice left me tasty impressions. For everything, I paid less than for a bowl of soup in Amica :) Before leaving the cafeteria Americans bought some Vodka (packed in 40ml plastic bags) and beer. To join the company, we decided to try the local beer and compare it with Lithuanian one, which as you all know is the best in the world :). Three types of beer were available: the most popular Kilimanjaro and two others – Serengeti and Safari.

An evening in the dorms

Packed with some bottles we gathered in the Rachel’s room to have a small party. While the Mac speakers were playing songs from the MacBook, we sat in a circle to play a card game. I thought we will play poker or something like that, but it seems Americans like other type of the card games – drinking ones. So we played so called “Kings” where you basically just draw a card and somebody or all has to drink. Nevertheless, unlike in SSE, one bottle of beer was enough for the whole game :) The card game was followed by a concert. Tony brought a guitar, played some music and everyone was singing. That was how the little has ended. Tired after all the travels, I went to my bed and slept without waking up until the morning…

The night before the flight

2008-08-28T00:59:00.005+03:00

I have decided to add some entries in this blog in English for many of my good non-Lithuanian friends to understand.

So I am spending the last night before the marathon of flights in Vilnius. Already today at 15:35 I will leave to London, where I will meet Egle and together we will continue the connected flight to Dar Es Salaam. The sceduled arrival to the final destination is 15:20 at local time (which luckily is the same GMT +2 as in Vilnius) only on 29th of August. Thus, I will be flying/living/existing in the airports for the whole day. Nevertheless, I still hope everything will go as planned and we will reach the Dar Es Salaam airport in time. There we should be greeted by the university's representative and taken to the dorms. Cannot wait to see my new room-mate/s :) My suitcases are almost packed and I believe my mind is ready for the trip (or at least the medicine against malaria I have taken before lets me believe so).

Finally, sadly, I could not meet and say goodbye to all the friends I wanted, on the other hand it was damn hard to leave the most important ones. To those, who I did not meet before the journey I want to say GOODBYE! and to wish a warm autumn in the Baltics. I will be looking forward to tell you my experiences in the land of Africa!

P.S. I will let you know how I am doing as soon as I find the internet connection for my laptop out there... (It may take time though :) )

Biurokratiniai formalumai arba Kodėl Tanzanijos žmonėms patinka nuotraukos

2008-07-20T12:22:00.005+03:00

Praėjus tai akimirkai, kai skraidžiau padebesiais, galvodamas apie nuotykius Tanzanijoje, atėjo metas pasirūpinti dokumentais. Kadangi dar nė vienas studentas iš manojo universiteto nebuvo mainuose šioje šalyje, registracijos procedūros buvo apgaubtos paslapties šydu. Turėjau vienintelį lyg ir egzistuojantį dalyką - kontraktą tarp dviejų universitetų, kad jie sutinka keistis studentais. (Iš tikrųjų būtų smagu, kad ir žmonės iš Tanzanijos kitais metais atvyktų į SSE Rygą studijuoti. Reikės padaryti reklaminę kampaniją nuvykus :)).

Taigi dar ankstyvą pavasarį paprašėme rektoriaus, kad jis pirmiausias atnaujintų beveik metų senumo ryšius su Tanzanija. Stebėtinai, neteko ilgai laukti ir jau po kelių dienų sulaukėme atsakymo, maloniai kviečiančio mus registruotis mainų programai į Tanzaniją. Tiesa, laiške, kaip ir dera visiems oficialių instancijų laiškams, buvo duotas adresas, nukreipiantis į kitus žmones, kurie lyg ir atsakingi už mainų programas. Nieko nelaukę, išsiuntėme dar vieną laišką jau atsakingiems asmenims. Deja, atsakymo teko laukti pora savaičių... Visgi jie mūsų neužmiršo ir netgi atsiuntė application form'a su dar šiek tiek papildomos informacijos apie studijas. Įdomiausias įrašas - studentai, kurie registruojasi rudens semestrui, turi pateikti užpildytas formas mažiausiai prieš šešis mėnesius nuo studijų pradžios... Ypač smagu tai sužinoti balandžio pabaigojem kai studijos prasideda rugsėjį... :) Nenuleidome galvos, ir nusprendėme, kad Afrikoje visgi žmonės linkę nesureikšminti deadline'ų. Galų gale mėnuo šian ar ten; kai oras geras, galima ir neskubėti :)

Pradėjome pildyti registracijos formas. Turbūt nieko išskirtinio, tik įdomu, kam jiem reikia 15 mano pasinių nuotraukų, registracijos procesams? (beje, gal ir visai smagu klijuoti po dvi nuotraukas ant vieno lapo. Gaila, kad neturėjau senesnių nuotraukų, kur aš dar su trumpais plaukais buvau. Būtų galima application formoje padaryti žaidimą, surask 10 skirtumų :)) Prie registracijos formos pridėję savo pažymių nuorašą, CV ir paso kopijas turėjome paketėlį kelionei į Tanzaniją. Dėkui mokyklai, kuri sutiko padengti greitojo pašto išlaidas.

Viso proceso metu man teko keletą kartų paskambinti į Tanzaniją. Turiu pasakyti, kad žmonės ten angliškai kalba lėtai, labai lėtai... Nemanau, kad pati anglų kalba būtų problema, tačiau tai tikrai ne tai, ko tikiesi pasižiūrėjęs į energingus Afrikiečius :)

Nusiuntus dokumentus, liko laukti priėmimą patvirtinančio popieriuko. Tik maždaug du mėnesius... Per tiek laiko ne kartą pagalvoji, kad viskas gali užsitęsti tiek, jog taip ir neišvyksi. Vienintelis raminantis dalykas, buvo tai, kad bent jau gaudavome tą patį atsakymą į savo kokį penktąjį elektroninį laišką, jog mūsų dokumentai jau greitai bus paruošti. Na, ramino dar ir tai, kad, mūsų manymu, Afrikiečiai nelinkę skubėti su biurokratiniais dalykais.

Ir pagaliau! Po dar vieno skambučio, sulaukiau skanuoto dokumento kur parašyta, kad esu priimtas studijuoti rudens semestrui į Dar Es Salaam'o universitetą, Komercijos ir Vadybos fakultetą (Faculty of Commerce and Management). Įdomu, tai kad mano vardas buvo sumaišytas su pavarde...Gi visko pasitaiko :) Toliau, jau turint studijas pativirtinantį dokumentą, reikia gauti vizą iš artimiausios Tanzanijos ambasados, kuri yra Stokholme.

Pabaigai, norėčiau pastebėti, kad vis dar nežinau, kokius kursus studijuosiu Tanzanijoje. Priešingai, nei visuose Europos universitetuose, registruojantis mainų programai, neteko pasrinkti kursų, tik nurodyti fakultetą, kuriame norėčiau praleisti pusę metų.

Šiek tiek apie Tanzaniją ir Dar Es Salaam universitetą

2008-07-18T19:06:00.005+03:00

Pagalvojau, reikėtų plačiau papasakoti apie savo studijų kelionės tikslą. Kadangi važiuoju ne tik mokytis, bet ir pamatyti lietuviui ganėtinai egzotiškos Afrikos šalies, neapsiribosiu tik universiteto aprašymu - šiek tiek žvilgtelsiu į Tanzanijos siūlomas grožybes.

Tanzanija beveik 14 kartų didesnė už Lietuvą, ir žmogeliukų ten gyvena bene 11 kartų daugiau. Kaip ir dauguma kitų Afrikos valstybių, ganėtinai atsilieka pagal materialinius turtus nuo išsivysčiusių šalių, tačiau nesitikiu, kad pragyvenimas bus ženkliai pigesnis nei Lietuvoje ar Latvijoje (netgi atsižvelgiant į pastarųjų "pagirtiną" infliaciją). Paprasčiausiai, gyvensiu didžiausiame šalies mieste, Dar Es Salaam'e (Dar, Daruso), kur yra dangoraižių ir žmonės su naujais Mersais važinėja (patyrinėjau nemažai filmuotos medžiagos youtube'e). Galų gale, Afrikoje baltiesiems viskas kainuoja daugiau, gi mes vaikščiojantys pinigų maišai :)

Dažnas klausimas, kurio susilaukiu užsiminęs apie savo kelionę, ar nebijai patekti į kokį karą ar panašų konfliktą tarp tautų, ar genčių. Na, teoriškai viskas įmanoma, bet statistika rodo, kad pastaruosius 40 metų žmonės Tanzanijoje gyveno draugiškai. Na, tik jie turi virš 200 skirtingų etninių grupių ir dar pvz. stebukladarių, kurie vis dar tiki, kad smulkintos albinoso (balto juodojo) kūno dalys atneša sėkmę ir ilgą gyvenimą... Be to, į Zimbabwe ar Ruandą, kur šiuo metu ne per geriausi dalykai vyksta, turbūt neužsuksiu.

O pamatyti Tanzanijoje yra tikrai daug ko! Man, kaip gamtos mylėtojui, tikras rojus. Safaris, Serengetis, Savanos, Viktorijos ežeras, Indijos vandenynas, Zanzibaro salynas, Ngorongoro krateris, galų gale Kilimadžaras... Žodžiu, galimybių pamatyti žirafą ar begemotą, panardyti po rifus ar lipti i kalniuką nė nesuskaičiuosi. Įdomu tik, kiek turėsiu laisvo laiko, pinigų ir noro.

Na, o dabar trumpai apie Dar Es Salaamo universitetą, kuriame studijuosiu. Tai pats seniausias ir didžiausias Tanzanijos universitetas, maždaug apie 15 000 berniukų ir mergaičių ten studijuoja. Gaila, kad mergaičių tik 30% (pažvelkime į Lietuvos universitetus :). Mainų studentų būna virš 100, daugiausia iš Amerikos, Azijos ir Skandinavijos šalių. Aha, vadinasi nebūsiu ten vienintelis!

Štai tokios pirmosios mano siauros žinios apie tai, kur dingstu pusmečiui. Spėju, realybėje daug, kas bus kitaip, bet būtent čia ir įdomiausia vieta - kaip gi keisis mano galvoje jau esantis paveikslas.

Visko Pradžia

2008-07-14T22:29:00.003+03:00

O buvo taip... Vieną smagią žiemos dieną, pačiame garsiojo SSE Rygos Finansų kurso įkarštyje, buvo paskelbtos vietos, į kurias manojo universiteto studentai galėjo išvykti rudens semestrui. Iš pradžių pasirinkimas atrodė ganėtinai nemažas, 40+ universitetų, dauguma jų Europoje (ačiū gerajam dėdei Erasmus), keletas Azijoje bei kitose įdomesnėse vietose. Tačiau daugiau pasikalbėjus su vyresniasiais bendrakursiais ir pasidomėjus siūlomais universitetais, paaiškėjo, kad turbūt 95% jų nėra aukščiausios klasės mokymo įstaigos. Keistoka ir šiek tiek gaila, kad universiteto administracijos požiūris šioje vietoje nesutampa su daugelio studentų, kurie mainų programoje norėtų patirti ne tik vadinamąją "cultural experience", bet ir sugriaužti keletą aukšto lygio ekonomikos knygų. Nenuostabu, kad istoriškai nemažai SSE studentų pasilieka universitete rudens semestrui, tiesiog nenorėdami švaistyti labai brangaus karjeros laiko.

Kaip ir dera studentui, paskutinėmis dienomis prieš paraiškos "deadline'ą" pradėjau svarstyti, kur norėčiau nuvažiuoti (kadangi mokslai neblogai sekėsi, pagal "grade point average" universitetas galėjo siųsti mane toli toli :). Pirmiausia norėjau ten kur šilta, bet kažkaip daugumoje saulėtų šalių žmonės linkę kalbėti ispaniškai. Tad dėl tingaus savo būdo, turėjau apleisti šias alternatyvas. Po dar kelių Wikipedi'os straipsnių apsistojau ties trimis rudens atostogų alternatyvomis: Olandija, Hong Kongu ir Tanzanija. Olandija viliojo aukštu mokslo lygiu, labai internacionaline aplinka ir galimybe gauti Erasmus stipendiją (ne, aš nerūkau ir universitetas nėra Amsterdame :)). Hong Kong'as žinoma traukė rytietiška dvasia ir modernumu, tačiau šiek tiek gąsdino finansiniais reikalavimais. Tanzanija pasirodė patraukliausia, nes pirma, labai mėgstu gamtą, antra, tariau sau, kad jei jau nusprendžiau pasirinkti "cultural experience", tai tikrai nieko geriau už Afriką nerasiu.

Liko tik atiduoti paraišką administracijai ir pradėti galvoti apie visus rūpesčius, kurie laukia iki tos minutės kol lėktuvas nusileis už ~7000 km ir įkelsiu koją į kitokį pasaulį. Įdomu, ką ten išvysiu ir kaip mum su Egle (mano bendramokslė, su kuria prisirašėm i visą šitą košę) seksis Tanzanijoje. Bet tam ir skirtas šis blog'as, kad įdomūs dalykai neužsimirštų...Tad visiem smagaus skaitymo!