by Sylvia

(Rachel’s note: Sylvia was going to post photos from our trip to Zanzibar last week, but she got pretty sick and was not able to sit up/do a blog post until today!)

One week ago, we took a trip to Zanzibar. Zanzibar is an archipelago that is part of the United Republic of Tanzania. We took a 90 minute ferry from mainland TZ to Zanzibar. We spent the night on the biggest island, called Unguja but took several different trips to other islands in the archipelago. About 99% of the population in Zanzibar is Muslim.

One of Zanzibar’s many attractions is Stone Town. There are lots of old buildings all made out of coral. In this picture, you can see one of them that is starting to fall apart.

Most of the doors in Stone Town were old wooden ones like this. They were very ornately carved and had spikes on them to keep the elephants away! No need to worry now, though, there are no elephants left on the island.

We went to a fish market where fishermen were selling fish that they had caught. Some of the fishermen would go out at about 6 pm and would stay out all night. Some of them would go out early in the morning, and come back at around midmorning. The fish was sold wholesale by auction (photo on left) and also directly to individuals (photo on right). I liked the fish on the right because they were so flat!

Later, we took a boat to Prison Island named for the prison built on it. However, this prison was never used and was instead used as a quarantine for people with yellow fever coming to visit Zanzibar. First, we stopped and saw giant tortoises. There were about 100 of them just roaming around in this enclosed area which took up about half of the island. They had to be in an enclosure so that no one would steal them, kill them, and take their shells. After that, we went snorkeling. It was really fun! I saw giant sea urchins with spikes about 6 inches long! But then we ran into jellyfish and Lily and I got back on the boat. 😦

Five days ago, we ventured out in search of Coco Beach, a public beach north of downtown Dar, and only about 7.5 miles from our house. We hopped on a daladala (public transport) and about 10 minutes into the trip we were stuck in traffic for nearly 30 minutes. But we successfully navigated a transfer to a different daladala, communicated where we wanted to get off and walked the rest of the way. The whole trip took us about an hour. But after all that, we were rewarded with a delightful day at the beach. (And we took a taxi home – it just seemed easier after a long day).

Checking the City Maps to Go app to make sure we were going the right way.

Walking through a wealthy neighborhood (complete with razor wire around the walls) in search of the beach.

Ah, here it is!

The girls loved playing in the waves with Jon (and with life jackets!). And yes, we did stand out.

Lunch with a beautiful view. Jon and I had fish, the girls had hamburgers. No surprises there.

After lunch, we rented a paddle boat and the girls were taxied around by Jon. The girls loved the water and I loved hanging out on the beach listening to the waves and feeling the breeze.  🙂

by Sylvia

On Saturday we took a trip to White Sands Beach.  It is about 30 minutes from our place on the University Campus.  Here are a few pictures from our day at the beach.

This is me at the beach.

It was low tide when we arrived.  It was disgusting walking on all of the trash that had washed up on the beach.

This is the ocean with Dar es Salaam in the background.

There was a cool swimming platform.  At low tide it was sitting on the sand but at high tide it was floating and we had fun playing on it.

There was an awesome swimming pool.  All of the buildings had cool thatched roofs.

By the time we left it was very windy and all of the trees were swaying in the breeze.  Lily was worried that a coconut would fall on her head.

We left Decorah, IA one week ago today! We are STILL adjusting to the time zone change – last night we were all asleep by 1 am, which is a big improvement from the 2 and 3 am bedtimes a couple days ago. The transition has been a little bumpy and I think sleep deprivation has had something to do with it. But today, our 6th day here, we are finally starting to feel a little more settled.

We’ve gone food shopping twice: once at a grocery store very much like ones in the States (similar to a WalMart because there was also furniture, books, housewares and large appliances – in fact, we even saw packages with the Great Value label!).

We also went to the local stands – a road lined with fruit, meat and street-food stands. Oh, and stalls that offer clothes, hair braiding, household goods, phone cards – you name it, you could find it at Survey and Mwenge Markets.

Thankfully, Paulina, a contact at the University, came with us the first time to help us understand how to buy things! She also did a bit of bargaining for us. 🙂

Some of our purchases: watermelon, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, garlic, red onion and avocado!

We have cooked at home but have also gone out to eat a couple times. Here we are at UDASA, a restaurant on campus. The girls shared chicken and fries (chipsi na kuku) and Jon and I shared ugali (cornmeal mush) with chicken and sauce – it was delicious. It was dark by the time we got our food, otherwise I would have taken a picture of it! It gets dark here so early – both times we ate out, we were eating in the dark at 7 pm.

Jon taught the girls how to play chess and there have been many games so far!

We left Decorah on July 30th, 2016 for a 5 month adventure in Tanzania. Jon is coordinating a study abroad program with 10 students from 9 different colleges around the midwest. We arrived after hours and hours of travel: mini-van to Madison, bus to Chicago Airport, 2 planes to Tanzania and a truck to the University of Dar es Salaam, where we will be living.

We were happy to be greeted at the airport by a driver who took us to our home which had beds with clean sheets and food in the fridge – both a welcome sight!

P.S. After a long break, I am trying to relearn how to do this! If you click on each photo, you will find a caption.

At the Chicago airport with all our belongings for 5 months!

Our new house: 24 Killimahewa Road. It is a large house on the University campus.

We took an exploratory walk on our second day. We went at noon which was not the best idea. I think we’ll take future walks first thing in the morning when it isn’t quite so hot!

We have a large backyard complete with mongooses running around!

After two nights in NOLA, we rented a car and drove east – through eastern Louisiana, Mississippi and into Alabama. We spent the next three nights on Dauphin Island, AL in a condo that was a three minute walk to the beach. We loved this quiet little island with white sand beaches, live oaks and magnolia trees. We saw lots of birds, turtles, crabs and…biting insects.

View from #307 – our 1 bedroom condo at The Inn on Dauphin Island.

The water was a little cold for swimming, but just right for jumping waves.

And the sand was perfect! We all had so much fun playing in the sand.

A group effort!

A view of the beach – check out the Great Blue Heron! It was very used to people and so cool to see it up close. The beak on that bird is terrifying!

Lily is a brave soul! And so is Jon who swam everyday in the ocean.

That’s our condo behind us.

We had a picnic one day but it didn’t last long – the biting insects in the woods were ferocious.

We took a lovely hike in the Audubon Bird Sanctuary. Surprisingly, there were not many bugs here.

We saw magnolia trees….

…and live oak trees. They were both so beautiful!

Freshwater lake full of turtles.

Quite a different understory than we are used to in Iowa!

The girls had so much fun playing in the heated pool. Equipped with goggles and face masks, they are getting more comfortable in the water.

We ate amazing fresh snapper and SHRIMP! Caught that day! In the middle was crawfish pie – we just had to try it. Girls ate mac and cheese. 🙂

My favorite thing to do – walk along the beach.

After 4 days on Dauphin Island, we drove back to Slidell, LA, just outside New Orleans. The reason: a swamp tour of Honey Island. The tour was great, but Jon and I wished we were in a canoe instead of a big power boat!

Cypress trees and and a few Cypress knees – parts of the root that stick out from the water.

Moss hanging from all the trees.

We saw one alligator. He ate a hotdog off our guide’s stick. 🙂

Feral pigs. They are pretty destructive and kind of aggressive. I’d be more scared of them than the alligators!

Last morning in NOLA before catching the train back home. We walked along the river to the Old Mint – the only mint that made both Confederate and Union money.

Taking a break from all the walking and the heat.

The French Quarter is pretty unique – we enjoyed all the iron work and balconies.

Driving back home from Chicago…

Over 9″ the next day! Welcome home!

On March 14th, we drove to Chicago, boarded The City of New Orleans Amtrak train, and headed south to warmer weather and greener pastures. We had a great week in New Orleans and Dauphin Island, AL.

Welcome to the big city! There is so much to see here…

The first morning we walked around and around looking for a fast, inexpensive place for breakfast. We happened upon The Grill and we were treated to a great greasy diner experience!

We had beautiful weather and enjoyed walking around the French Quarter (along with thousands of other people!). We enjoyed listening to the music everywhere.

St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square. Notice how green everything is!

We ate some great food while in NOLA. We just finished lunch at The House of Blues – jumbalaya, bread pudding and a hurricane to wash it all down. The girls liked their lunch, too – a hamburger and chicken fingers. 🙂

Riding the trolley up Canal Street and over to City Park. It was a fun way to see the city.

At City Park…We found a playground, but the big Live Oak was just as fun. And everything was so green!

The Mighty Mississippi.

A view from the Riverwalk area right along the river.

A view from our 23rd floor hotel. They don’t call it The Big Muddy for nothing

We had to eat beignets at Cafe du Monde, of course.

And when it came down to it, these were the highlights of NOLA for the girls….

The pool at our hotel. The girls are really having a lot of fun swimming these days.

The glass elevator at our hotel. And being on the 23rd floor was pretty special, too.

The girls and I made a trip to Nebraska last week to visit my family and attend the baptism of my niece, Aliyah.  We were pretty busy the whole weekend making stuff and playing with Aliyah.  We had a great time!

Both girls worked with Grandma to sew swim bags. It was fun to think about summer, the pool and swimming!

Lily’s bag is a beach towel folded up with a pocket and straps.

Sylvia made a large bag with lots of pockets to hold all the things she needs to take to the pool.

We made lots of baby food for Aliyah. Sylvia’s cutting up apples for applesauce.

Aliyah loves it!

Both girls had so much fun playing with their cousin.

Sunday morning, after the baptism.

Reading on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I’ve been hard at work on a book with all our Malta photos and I’m having a great time going back through all the pictures.  In the meantime, I haven’t focused much on taking or posting current photos!  But here are a few pictures that depict what we’ve been up to lately.

Science Fun. The goggles are a must – you never know when the yeast will explode. 🙂

Or when a bottle will erupt with “elephant toothpaste.”

And moving right along from science to pretzels. Kitchen chemistry takes all forms!

“You mean we have to clean up now?!”

Remember the mushrooms I started earlier in January? Here they are, popping out of the box.  They were fun to watch and good to eat!

More kitchen chemistry. Again, safety first.

And more cooking. We made food for 2 families – it was Sylvia’s idea to bring meals to our friends. Lily is cutting up spaghetti for the Spaghetti Pie.

Sylvia cutting veggies.  Or something like that.

Spaghetti Pie! Oven ready.

Lily made cookies to go along with the meal. She’s not that into cooking, but she’ll make anything that has sugar in it!  🙂