As I find time to chill out, I am also being plagued by conjunctivitis. –___o The past week has been fun, but busy as well. My daily routine has become rather natural, wake up, shower and etc, eat breakfast, walk to school, Kiswahili, go to IMS, go to Lukmaan’s for lunch (good food and cheap as well), rest for a little, Kiswahili, go home, play with the kids in the street (probable vectors for the pink eye), eat dinner and sleep. Quite a busy, yet fulfilling schedule.
Last Saturday, I went to Chumbe Island Coral Park. Chumbe is an ecotourism destination off the coast of Zanzibar. They have a protected coral reef, a coral rag forest, and 7 bandas. The bandas are AWESOME!! They use solar power, collect rainwater for washing, and use composting toilets. The thatch roof serves as the means to collect the water which is funneled into the cistern below the floor of the banda. We snorkeled on the amazing reef, walked through the forest, and ate lunch, followed by a short class on their educational efforts in Zanzibar.
Sunday was our day off. After the extended family came over for lunch, the family took us to ‘chamba’ which means farm or the country. The adventure there was quite ‘interesting’ and included the near death of a man on a motorbike, a goat, and a hen and two pullets. We went to a small beach on a farm in the village of Fumba. While there, the kids swam and I sat on the beach with Baba and Dr. Omar. We drank miniature cups of coffee and ate date cake while watching the tide roll in. It was quite relaxing. The ride back was even more interesting as my host brother decided to let his 8 month old daughter ride on his lap and take pictures of her while he was driving! It was the scariest ride of my life.
Kwaherini!