Reverse Reverse Culture Shock.

On our two recent trips home, I have become painfully aware of my Tanzanian weight gain. Visits to dressing rooms in stores have precipitated quasi panic attacks followed by copious alcohol consumption to ease the pain (which of course foils the longer term weight loss aims...alas, its a vicious cycle).

Our very weight conscious world and obsession with body image stands in direct contrast to the value people place on weight gain here - to carry a few extra pounds is to be healthy (and wealthy). A few weeks ago, our houseboy left his first wife and quickly thereafter found a new wife. He shared this news with great excitement, saying, "the new one is really fat, just like you!" um, gee, thanks. But this was a sincere compliment as far as he was concerned.

Fair enough, different strokes for different folks. But the worst part is that I seem to have gained weight in ALL the wrong places - as evidenced by how clothing is displayed to customers in local shops.

Does anyone remember when stair masters fell out of favor in the US because of wide spread fears of "shelf butt"? Well, I can certify that this is a part of the world where shelf butt is sexy. There ain't nothing sexy about a thick wasted woman here (ho hum). This place brings on a whole new meaning to the saying "Baby Got Back."

De Colores.

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Photo Credit: Andrei Sinioukov

Once Upon a Time...

Someone had a dream.

To turn this:

 and this:

and this:

Into this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

As if the use of scrap metal to construct adorable home design objects is not inspiring enough, it turns out that the welders and artisans behind these works are actually a group of adult polio victims who arrive to work mostly via this mode of transport:

For more information about this workshop of wonders head here. To see their gallery or to make any last minute holiday shopping requests, head here. We are happy to support this great cause and would be happy to carry home any desired objects to friends and family back home, just drop us a line!

Inspired Fashion.

I have spoken in the past about the importance of the kanga and the kitenge cloths as a centerpiece of Tanzanian dress. One of my favorite pasttimes here continues to be digging through piles and piles of kangas or kitenges in local markets and finding new and inspiring designs, patterns, and sayings. it provides a nice afternoon distraction.

While strong on cultural interest in these traditional cloths, I find that I am short on inspiration to actually do anything useful with them, and as a result, I have piles and piles of kangas and kitenges sitting in my closet not being put to any productive use. As a marked contrast to my own creative design limitations, I am highly impressed with those that can create fashions suitable for Western audiences out of something so basic and traditional. One recent example proved blog-worthy.

Under the brand name, Ole Africa!, a friend of mine has worked in collaboration with a local tailor to create a custom clothing line from kangas and kitenges. The result is wildly impressive.

For more information head here. To place your custom order ahead of the holidays contact her: oleafricadress@gmail.com.

Do You Rue?

The hugely anticipated Rue Magazine opens on line this week and it promises to be good. For those lacking patience, here is a sneak peak. 

So, do you rue?

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

When I started to blog in October of last year, I conceived this as an opportunity to connect with friends and family back home in the States. I did not hold any bold ambitions about the reach of this blog nor any delusions that my thoughts and insights about my time overseas would reach anyone beyond a close circle of friends and family back home.

But since that time, my blog has managed to generate feedback in a surprising number of ways. I have been touched along the way to find out that I have some dedicated followers and I have been pleased to learn that my posts have presented learning opportunities or that I have managed to share a new and fresh perspective on a tired topic, experiencing life overseas.

Every once in a while I will hear from a friend who casually mentions something I know I have not told them directly, and it quickly becomes obvious they have read about my experiences on my blog. Thanks for reading friends and family.

But there was one time, when I received the below message in response my post entitled East meets West, and Back Again:

Dear Meghan,

Thank you for blogging yours truly and the SFW [Swahili Fashion Week] on your blog...much appreciative.

Warmest regards,
Mustafa Hassanali
Fashion Guru/Managing Director
Mustafa Hassanali HAUTE COUTURE

Thank you Mustafa, this message was truly inspiring.

Then there was the time when I received a personal phone call from the owner of Le Corsica, he informed me that when he read the contents of this post to his mother, she cried tears of joy and pride.

Thank you, P.F. I remain dually impressed with your culinary adventures in Dar es Salaam (and a superior darts player).

But two weeks ago, in response to my post Fanciful Excuses, I received perhaps what is the best form of feedback possible. A mere sidenote mention of a broken Lululemon messanger style bag, generated the following message from Lululemon's Online Community Educator, she wrote:

"I’m sorry to hear about your experience with our bags. I would love to know what bag specifically you have had issues with, as it sounds like something worth passing along to our Quality Assurance team.  We are dedicated to producing quality items, both clothing and accessories and I’m sorry to hear that you have had these issues.

Have you gotten a chance to return the bag to a local store?  If not, we’d be happy to offer you a refund or replacement bag. As an alternative to the style you have already tried, I’d recommend our Cruiser Backpack.  It is extremely practical and durable and my personal favourite of any of our bags: http://shop.lululemon.com/Cruiser_Backpack/pd/c/620/np/620/p/1046.html.  I look forward to hearing back from you and working to find a solution to your bag dilemma." 

Now seriously folks, this is customer service at its finest. Not only was she proactive in reaching out to me in the first place, but she was creative and thoughtful in her approach to helping me find a replacement bag, even offering to overnight ship a new backpack to my mother who could carry it with her on her recent visit here. And so it seems, I no longer have a viable excuse for not riding my bike straight to the gym after work!

But the best part, is that this backpack is AWESOME! Upon laying his eyes on it, a good friend said, I am buying one immediately upon my return to the U.S. A gentlemen in my office spotted my new backpack on my desk at work and immediately started thumbing through all of the secret compartments in deep adoration. Thank you Lululemon, I am now in possession of a highly coveted object and remain a truly loyal customer. Many, many thanks.

Perception Matters.

Traffic in Dar almost looks fun in sketch form.

These sketches of Dar street life are brought to you by Sarah Markes, who was trained at Central St. Martins in London as an illustrator and graphic designer, and who has lived in Dar es Salaam for the last seven years. Her ultimate aim is to produce a book of drawings and creative writing inspired by Dar es Salaam street life, which is supposed to be launched at the end of this year. I cant wait! In the mean time, be on the look out for updates on her work and progress here.

Books by the Foot.

I feel like a real grown up. Andrei and I just bought our first piece of furniture. It is a book shelf. And I  am in love. Upon its entry into our new home, I set about the task of arranging all of our books and treasured objects on the hard wood shelves. Oh joy. It turns out I am not alone in this rather strange idea of fun, feast your eyes on these images from i suwannee who uses her blog to showcase her fetish for artful bookcase arrangements in her regular feature, bookcase of the day, it is pure delight.

Here are some of my favorites.

Incidentally, if your book shelves at home are looking a little sparse, did you know that you can order books by the foot? I remember when Andrei introduced me to this concept, when we first started dating, I nearly choked. As we were passing a gorgeous home in Dupont Circle with some mightily impressive book shelves, I casually commented, Oh my, check that collection out. Andrei said, you know you order those things by the foot. WhAAt?! Is this a past time for the rich, instead of developing a collection over time. Andrei laughed, perhaps, but this was originally a service to set designers, or people in the staging industry. Either way, if you are looking to impress a certain someone with your home "library" this could prove a useful option. If it is not the literary impression you seek to impart, you can also feel free to order foot upon foot of books along more aesthetic persuasions, feeling blue today anyone? how about firey red or maybe just warm red? or are you looking to follow popular whims right now and go green? or how about some white on white action?  And so it seems the fun never ends when contemplating books by the foot.

Current Obsession.

I am currently listening to Micah P. Hinson's My God, My God over and over.

Check out this song here. And then pre-order the entire album here. It will not disappoint.
Happy Listening.

Fanciful Excuses.

As mentioned in my last post, I seem to have a knack for casually forgetting the positive spirit boosts regular exercise renders for me. I have been known to think up some pretty fanciful excuses to justify such indolence. But sincerely I doubt I am alone in this camp. In all honesty, one of my biggest hang ups with biking to and from work right now hangs on the fact that I do not have a properly functioning bag to carry my things.

Upon moving here instead of bringing my ever trustful, virtually indestructible, one-of-a-kind handcrafted R.E.Load messanger bag, I opted to bring a more versatile Lululemon messanger style bag. Big mistake. Lesson learned. Several months ago en route to work via bike, my Lululemon bag broke, ie: fell off my back in the middle of the street while I was crossing two lanes of on-coming traffic. (As a side note: while I love Lululemon athletic gear, this is their SECOND bag that has failed me, falling apart within 6 months of purchase after just normal wear and tear, incidentally they made good on the first sale - replacing the broken bag for me free of charge, but following the second bag failure, I have realized I should just stick with their clothes, and perhaps so should they!) The scene played out in slow motion for me.

I look back to confirm the whereabouts of my bag to find it lying listless in the middle of the traffic lane. I look up and realize the sheer volume of cars flowing at great speed towards me. I shudder when I realize my MacBook is trapped inside the bag. I awkwardly dismount my bike in a state of panic. I contemplate risking life and limb to run into traffic to save my bag, er computer. I do a double take of on-coming traffic. Oh f*ck. I decide to save myself and rush to the side walk on the other side of the street. My face grows flush and I feel a wellspring of tears building. Suddenly, someone shouts and I look behind to see someone rushing into on-coming traffic, swooping down to gather my bag (and its unknown contents) all just in time to miss on-coming traffic and deliver the bag safely it into my hands. This whole incident makes me seriously rethink some of the widely accepted stereotypes about how untrustworthy the locals are, how they will steal the shirt off your back if given a chance, etc. Humanity and decency prevail, but the bag does not survive this incident.

On a recent trip to Morogoro, I was aimlessly wondering around and discovered a heaping pile of second hand bags from the United States. I was knee deep in bags, searching in earnest for a suitable replacement. I manage to dig something out of the pile that looks like it could serve my purposes. I negotiate a price of $5.30, cough over this modest amount and consider myself lucky. Until two weeks later the bag breaks and now there is a gushing hole leaving the bag partially open at all times.And so I am once again left with a fanciful excuse to not ride my bike regularly to and from work. Ug.

I recently discovered these Makr backpacks and I am lusting over them. Aren't they pretty and perfect? These handcrafted bags are made in small batches to ensure their quality and to not overproduce. But alas suffering from a bout of indecision over the price (as well as its durability given my track record...), I missed my chance to grab one of these. And since my R.E.Load bag remains in storage for the foreseeable future, my research for a replacement bag continues...

Weekend Purchase.

I heart Dar es Salaam.

Andrei returned this week after a month on the road fulfilling his dutiful and newfound role as an international development consultant. I naively thought that his move to Tanzania would effectively put to an end such extended lengths of time apart on account of work, but alas it seems we have signed up for a lifetime of this, barring a radical career move on both our parts, which seems unlikely at best, at least in the near term future.

I have always found myself experiencing bouts of loneliness when Andrei is away for such great lengths, but also, I find that I appreciate the time to focus on myself and enjoy these stretches as periods of self-imposed “hibernation.” In his month’s long absence, I managed to discover a new gym and develop a new routine around step aerobics, I “toured” Mikumi National Park and caught a welcome glimpse of life outside of Dar, I read three books, I learned to drive in Dar es Salaam and learned how to change the engine oil in our “new-to-us” RAV4, I learned how to bet on racing goats, and I indulged regular invites to work as crew on sailing boats and snorkel and swim in the Indian Ocean.

Despite the excitement and whirlwind activity described above, I experienced a great deal of idle time and (rather embarrassingly) filled this void by indulging a long held guilty pleasure – back to back episodes of Sex and the City. This three season binge culminated with the last episode in Season 4 entitled “I heart NY,” which struck me as oddly coincidental following my recent blog post entitled the very same.

Feeling particularly restless following this episode, I stepped outside onto our terrace overlooking the Indian Ocean to catch a breath of fresh air and finish my glass of less than impressive South African Sauvignon Blanc. Our terrace was flooded with light from the almost full moon. Despite the moon’s fullness, the stars were bright and vivid, almost 3-D in appearance, pulsing in the sky. I then noticed several unidentifiable shapes in the water below. It seems too many episodes of Sex and the City got the better of me, at first I confused the shadowy figures in the water for a young, breathless couple making out, only to realize instead, that these were two local fishermen casting their fishing nets. As I watched them lay their nets in perfectly formed co-centric circles, the fact that this was surely back-breaking and tireless work momentarily escaped me, rather it all appeared romantic and dreamy from the distance off our balcony. The sound of the tide coming in and the breaking waves on the shoreline was only eclipsed by the sound of the low-flying KLM flight from Amsterdam landing in DAR like clockwork at 11:30pm.

While I “heart” NY, it can wait. I have no doubt I will live there at some point in my life. Right now, I “heart” Dar es Salaam. I still have much to learn here, and am only now beginning to overcome some of the initial shock and steep learning curves that inevitably come with the process of learning to call a new place home, especially one that is so free of any influences from the place you otherwise know as home.

Prior to our move here, a good friend who received his terminal degree in Anthropology warned, you will be surprised to find yourself in a place that is so free of American influences. He and I had formed a friendship and developed a bond by sharing stories of our travels in Honduras, he as a PhD candidate conducting his field research in the Bay Islands of Honduras in the late 1970s, me nearly 25 years later as a Peace Corps volunteer. Honduras is a country that seems wholly unable to escape the influence of the United States, thanks in part to the Monroe Doctrine, a foreign policy introduced in 1823 that essentially remains “in tact” nearly two centuries later.

Tanzania, by comparison, seems far removed from the grips of American influence. Surely there are signs of it here and there, but beyond the world of foreign assistance and international aid, you really must dig deep to find compelling signs of America’s influence here. While news of Africa barely reaches the United States, the news we receive is decidedly Africa-centric (thank you BBC World Service). The United States, long complacent in its role as the world’s sole hegemony, is quickly being usurped by the Indians, who are undeniably the heart and soul of the Tanzanian business community, and the Chinese, who are pouring money into this country in the form of infrastructure investments and in turn paving the way for formidable economic advancements in their interest. The music on the streets is of a self-described “bongo-flavor” with American music only sprinkled in on the rare occasion for other “flavor.” An American manufactured car is a rare sight on the streets here, while Toyota seems to have an almost exclusive agreement with the car dealers of Dar. Similarly, while in Central America public transit often takes the form of American yellow school bus cast-offs, here the fleets of dala-dalas crawling through the slogs of traffic are almost exclusively the hand-me-downs of larger Asia cities.

Despite this, it was only yesterday that my friend’s insights really hit home, when I learned not only that there was sequel of a Sex and the City in the works, but that it is scheduled to open in theatres today! The media coverage casually asserted, “No matter who you are, where you're from, or if you've got two X chromosomes or just one, chances are you've probably heard about the imminent release of Sex and the City 2,” further yet, “With all the hype surrounding Sex And The City 2, you'd have to be living in Antarctica if you didn't know it's opening.” Or Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

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References and Photo Credits:



http://wonderwomanvee.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/excited-com-sex-and-the-city-2/

http://www.filmofilia.com/2009/12/10/sex-and-the-city-2-poster/

http://www.refinery29.com/spolier-alert-satcii-is-low-on-plot-high-on-fashion.php

http://www.refinery29.com/the-tackiest-sex-and-the-city-products.php

http://www.filmofilia.com/2009/12/24/first-sex-and-the-city-2-trailer/

http://www.filmofilia.com/2010/03/11/8-new-sex-and-the-city-2-photos/

Objects of Desire.

Our apartment in Tanzania is a bit sterile. With a backdrop of all white walls and floors and puffy, brown leather furniture, this characterless place is begging for some design elements to make it feel like home. However, a tight budget and uncertain plans about how long we will remain in our current apartment stand in the way of my urges to go on a decorating spree. In the mean time, I cling to a few cherished items we have acquired since our arrival here. I hope to use these one day soon as sources of interior design inspiration.

 

A Japanese print bowl.  

The blue and white color palette would look great combined with splashes of red or coral.

  

Oversized floor cushions I commissioned.

I am imagining an outdoor patio complete with some plants and plush seating to hang out.

  

A silver pitcher.

Perhaps to be used as a vase and filled with flowers in the center of a table.

A large fern.

This particular plant belongs to our roommate, I cant wait to go plant shopping soon - the selection around here is fantastic!

Secondhand fashion.

Meet Boram. She is the other American “visiting fellow” at CARE in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Her fashion instincts are inspiring, but this outfit in particular caught my attention when I learned that she purchased this polka dot dress from a secondhand clothing market in Dar es Salaam for 500Tsh, the equivalent of 37 cents. Some fashionable accessories from home complete the look. I cant wait to go shopping!