Kenya Dig It?

On New Year's Day, I went with a friend to her extended family's home in the heart of Maasai land, a dot in the vast bush at the Tanzania/Kenya border. The small village of about 50 people gathered at the house to celebrate. It was the single greatest concentration of beaded necklaces and stretched earlobes I've ever witnessed in person.

My classes started this week. From what I can tell so far, Catholic University of Eastern Africa is going to be the gourmet filet mignon to University of Dar es Salaam's gas station beef jerky*.

• CUEA: Lecturers show up to scheduled class time and place. UDSM: No schedule. No lecturers. Try next week. (Oh, that course has been cancelled.)
  
• CUEA: Lecturers provide each student a packet of reading materials. UDSM: Lecturers provide a single copy to a student to make copies and distribute for the other 100+ students in the class.
• CUEA: Second semester ends in April. UDSM: Second semester, due to the strike delay, begins in April.
  
• CUEA: One person per desk. UDSM: Two people per chair.
• CUEA: Regular toilets. UDSM: Squat toilets. Both: BYOTP.
  

All things, so far, have confirmed my instinct that Nairobi would be an overall better experience for me. When I left Chicago, I wanted to become part of the community and people of Dar es Salaam. Unfortunately, that was a tall order and I found myself friends, almost exclusively, with expats. But now I am friends, almost exclusively, with local Kenyans. More people speak English in Nairobi than in Dar. There are more mzungus here so I'm not such a spectacle. But, aside from these reasons, I'm more confident and adapted in Nairobi. Dar was my learning curve, perhaps.

I set out to be a participant, not an observer. I'm finally realizing that here.

*One thing that Dar es Salaam has that Nairobi does not, however, is this establishment, boasting Chicago's finest.