As a last minute adventure, I decided to go to Moshi with my teacher's 19-year old "son" who has been kind enough throughout this whole trip, to show and invite me into his home, tour me around Arusha and explain as much as possible, why certains things are the way they are in Tanzania. As a brief background, I met Ayubu at Moivaro my second week in Tanzania and was surprised with his English speaking skills. Sure, he always says "Yeeeessss," when asked a question that requires an answer other than "yeeeeesssssssss," but he's been my Tanzanian translator, and he's very passionate about drawing, photography and his education. As his final "TOUR DE TANZANIA," he invited me to his home just outside of Moshi to meet his father, whom he's praised as being an excellent businessman. Apparently…and this may confuse many of you, he really isn't my teacher's "son." Here in Tanzania, uncles, boy cousins, etc…are all called…"brothers" or "sons." Same with the females, except, everyone is a sister. It gets really really confusing and frustrating when figuring out the family structure, because when you ask a Tanzanian how many brothers s/he has, they'll usually answer, "oooooh, so many….50 perhaps???" And that's when your mouth drops and a little chime in your head rings "not blood brothers….Karin….not blood brothers."

So at 7 this morning we set off…picked up a bus in Tengeru and made our trip to Moshi (which is "suppose" to take one hour). Arrived at Moshi and found we had to take another bus a "short distance" to a district in Moshi. This "short distance" took ONE HOUR…and then we had to take a taxi to his house. Arrival time: 10:30am. We arrive at his home and I'm expecting to see his father and step-mother…but only see an empty house and annoying little children/neighbors screaming, "Mzungu! Mzungu." We spend a good..what…hour…waiting for the family to return. In the meantime, I'm introduced to the television and I plop myself down to watch the Tanzanian version of MTV…which is quite a shocker; I'm not sure if it's because I haven't watched TV in three months, or because African women can really really really shake their bootie. We get a call from Ayubu's mother, who invites us to the family's Petrol station where she works. Now…Ayubu had mentioned to me that his father was a businessman…owning 4 petrol stations and 4 commuter buses. I was expecting a Petrol station like Mobil…but when I look back at that, I think…"Karin, you're in Tanzania, you're not suppose to expect what you're expecting." A taxi picks us up..we drive to the Petrol Station, which ends up to be a one tank station where neighboring stores pick up petrol for cooking and other activities (i.e. paint solvent, etc.) We hang out…like all Tanzanians do on Saturdays/Sundays….hang out until noon. We go back home and Ayubu tells me we must visit his other relatives. As part of this festive occasion, Ayubu and I walk to his grandmother's house to pick up his camera…we buy a roll of 36..and proceed our way through the village; stopping first at his cousin's home (click click…photos here and there), then off to another cousin's house (click, click, drink soda..click click)..then back to his home where we proceed to take nearly 28 photos posing next to the family's lemon tree, the family's car, the neighborhood wild-dog, the family's bedroom, the family's phone, the family's dismembered truck, me eating the banana stew, me holding a globe…you get the picture.

So in Africa, when someone says we must leave at 3:00pm to arrive in Arusha, I register that in my head to mean…5:00pm. At 2:57pm, Ayubu's stepmother requests that we go into town to buy me a gift. Ayubu looks at his clock, says "We must go now." But his mother shakes her head and says, "Hamna shida (no problem), we have time). We proceed for about…one hour through the village looking at four different shops before the mother decides which shop isn't ripping her off. We buy a kitenge and kanga and then proceed our way back to the home when Ayubu receives a phone call…his father is finally at home. The time? 4:00pm. So I finally get to meet Ayubu's father…the real purpose of this whole trip. At 4:25pm, his father finally comes out and we talk briefly; my Swahili isn't too grand, and his English isn't either. We finally decide it's time to leave…5:00pm. And Ayubu and I make our way back to the bus station where we wait….and wait…and wait.

To make a long story short….I arrive home at 7:30pm. And it's dark. Really dark. I figure it's probably not a good idea to be walking in the dark the day before I leave for home…so I run. Run run run run run…and then I arrived home, safe and sound. It might seem that I was annoyed…but in truth, I enjoyed it so much. It was my final goodbye to Africa…it was an experience that was a culmination of what it means to run on African Time. I saw beautiful landscape, ate authentic Tanzanian food, visited relatives who asked me to return so that they could slaughter a goat. I mean, it was a good way to end my trip here…a sort of pinnacle of Life in Tanzania.

So in these last few hours….I realize I am not ready to leave, yet. I am going to miss Tanzania very much. Three months went by so incredibly fast. I write the old volunteers to see how things are going for them in the States and they say it's hard. It's hard to talk about what we've seen. We've all done so much…from taking care of AIDS patients, building a chicken coup, a water tank system, a playground, changing diapers for orphans, dancing to Yellow Submarine with the special needs children to spending hours upon hours just…WAITING…all I can say is that this experience was undeniably the best thing in terms of making my spirit, my drive a little stronger. I feel exhausted…but in a good way. I feel like I've accomplished a lot with the help of volunteers, friends, co-workers and family…and this is empowering.

Thank you so much again for your support and love. I am off to Amsterdam tomorrow…meeting up with Greg and then we're off to Germany to see the chaos and obsession of….the WORLD CUP. Cheers to the end to quite an adventure….Nakupenda Tanzania….Kwaheri…kwaheri…kwaheri…Nitarudi.