Habari gani?

Habari gani is a common Swahili greeting which means "What's the news." So here it is...

Courses at the University of Dar es Salaam do not start until September 29. So we have mostly spent our time taking Swahili classes, running errands, and going on little outings. I'm sure none of you particularly care about Swahili sentence structure or exchanging dollars to shillings, so I will spare you the class and errand updates. But here are some notable events in the past week or so...

Dis-Orientation

You know the saying, "Don't put off 'til tomorrow what you can do today?" Well, the University's philosophy seems to be the opposite: "Don't do today what you can put off until tomorrow." That said, orientation was painfully worthless.

Transatlantic Obama-mania

Kris and I went out with some friends to Q Bar, a decidely mzungu (white person) establishment. Even still, you can still find local support for the junior senator from Illinois.

Go Fish

We didn't just come here to hang out with expats, right? That in mind, a trip to a truly Tanzanian bar/restaurant was in order. Two former university students (now working for the office handling foreign student affairs) took us to a local spot. In return, we taught them how to play "Go Fish." You can’t tell from these pictures but, trust me: I've never seen more genuine excitement stem from those two simple words.

K-Life in T-Zania

My parents were right: Koreans are everywhere. Good for me and my hungry-for-kimchi stomach. Some Korean students (from Korea) invited me to Korean church. They have also been a valuable source of entertainment and hospitality, seen here inviting me to a much needed Korean dinner.

The Finnish Line

Our housemates from Finland treated Kris and me to a home cooked meal for their last night in Tanzania. See a trend, here?

Want more TanZANIA? Pics here.