The Weekend (and Thursday)

Thursday

A friend of mine from work was nice enough to drive us to another intern's birthday party. On the way back home, we pass a hotel, and he goes, "oh, a concert!" Apparently he had just heard music and thought it was a concert, so we all go there. It turned out to be a private party for the World Bank, but the people were really nice and let us stay.

Friday

I almost died. Well, realistically I suppose the actual chances of me dying were not as high, but it is the second time in my life in which I really thought that I would die. We were going to a farewell party for Sylvie, and she had a friend who was willing to drive us. I didn't realize this at the time, but he was really drunk. Apparantly he and his friends got into a fight with some other guys because his friend hit their car and completely dented in the door. They were arguing, and then Sylvie tells us to get out of the car because she heard some very alarming words in Swahili and was worried that they would start fighting with weapons. We tried to get out, but then the driver got offended and yelled at us. Then he starts driving recklessly, at 100 km/hr on the dirt roads in Arusha, flying over speed bumps, driving on the wrong side of the road, trying to pass and cut people off on a one lane dirt road, turning without slowing down...the car had no seat belts, so I really thought this was it, and I was thinking what a stupid way to die this was. Luckily, I didn't die, and we went to karaoke.

Saturday

We watched the East African South Rugby Championship at the stadium in Arusha. I used to think football was a rough sport, but it is nothing compared to Rugby. The players would get up and wipe blood off of their legs and then keep playing. Mauritius won, and a helicopter came and carried the MVPs away, then back. The trophy was surprisingly small.

Sunday

We went to a sport bar to watch the game, and had an interesting conversation with a Tanzanian guy. Apparently he doesn't pay taxes, and can park his car anywhere, anytime, because the police like him. Also, he can leave his valuables in his car and it won't get robbed because the street kids will guard it for him. His friend meanwhile, shakes his head and goes, "this is corruption, you see how corrupt our country is?" They were a very funny group. The first guy then says that Arusha is a very dangerous place, which is why he always carries a gun--then he shows us his gun. He said that Arusha is the only city in which you can shoot someone in the face in a bar and be back on the streets the next day. He then offered to take us on road trips to his village and etc. I went back to work on Monday, and one of my Tanzanian coworkers said never travel anywhere with anyone who has a gun, since if they have a gun, they either stole it, are really rich, or they are a bandit, or some combination of the three. My Tanzanian coworker is very sweet, I think she does worry about us. O_O