In Tanzania!

So, I haven't written for a very long time. This summer, I will be interning at the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania, so I figured to start writing again. So far, I have been here for about a week.

Day 1: I was fortunate to run into a bunch of other interns on the same flight, so I was less worried about transportation from the airport to Arusha. When we got there, the UN did send a van to pick us up; there were three men with machine guns to escort us. I was dropped off last, at this hostel, which sucks. If you ever go to Arusha, do not stay at Arusha Backpacker's Hotel. Other people seemed to think it was okay, but I was mad because they ripped me off. I reserved a single room, but they gave away my room. Of course, while the UN guy with the gun was still there they were like, "Oh, single room, yes", but as soon as he drove away, they said, "sorry, we have no more single rooms, you have to stay in a double". Which I would have been okay with, except they made me pay for the double price. At that point, it was 10:30 pm at night, my driver with the gun just left, so I didn't have a lot of choices. The next day, when I tried to take a cab to my workplace, which is supposed to be 2000 shillings, they told me it was 5000. Since I knew better, I decided to just hop onto the shuttle with the other interns (I hadn't reserved the shuttle, but fortunately there was enough room for more people), and then they tried to convince me that "those people" were not going to the same ICTR as I was...

To be honest, I have stayed in worse hostels in Europe (louder, dirtier), but when you are traveling it is not too bad. If you have to get up at 7:30 am to work, it just sucks.

Anyhow, that day I found some people to live with, so I moved out of that awful hostel and into an apartment. My apartment is really cute, it is in a yellow building and a 20 minute walk to the ICTR.

At work, I initially got assigned to a team in which the supervisor was on vacation, but then got transferred to work on a really interesting case. Right now, I think I have the perfect amount of work--I am doing interesting things, but it is not too overwhelming. I am really glad that we have internet in our office, so I feel somewhat connected to people back home.

During this first week, I went to the central market to buy produce with the people that I live with. It is a huge market, and you have to haggle for everything, which can be fun. Apparently they call everyone who is foreigner a mzungu, although they also shout China at me every now and then. The fruit here is really sweet, especially the pineapple. As for restaurants, they are quite affordable; there is a lunch place that I have gone to almost everyday called immigration cafe, which is 2000 shillings for a meal, about $1.33 US. Last weekend, I went to a really good Chinese restaurant, called Dragon Pearl, and a pretty good Indian restaurant called Big Bite. More later!