Immigration offices, fashion shows and dangerous (?) walks

Immigration Office visit number one:On Tuesday we went to the immigration office to extend our visas. We were told to go about a week before they expired, and this should cover us legally. (Of course, we grabbed a cheap and tasty meal at the immigration canteen first :0) Some interesting conversation took place between 6 of us Americans on one side of the counter with our Tanzanian supervisor, and at least four immigration officers on the other side of the counter. Apparently, several of us were in the country illegally because as students we need a resident permit. This results in a 400 US dollar fine. Awesome. However, we explained to the officers that no one had informed us of this necessity, not even the people at the airport who gave us the stamps and wrote cryptic messages in our passports. So the fine was waived. But we were still required to pay USD 120 to remain in the country legally until December. One officer told us, “yes, we do not make clear our laws until you get into our country.” A little indignant at the discrepancies between what we had been told in the US and in TZ, and the prices some of us were charged and some of us were not, we left a bit distraught with a warning that we better come back soon to resolve the situation.

Immigration Office visit number two:We heard through the grapevine that those of us that are interning at the Tribunal could get a letter that would waive the residence permit fee. We acted on this quickly, got the letters and went back to immigration to ask for our visa extensions. In a matter of 20 minutes the issue was settled. It IS all in who you know. One officer recognized us from our first visit and asked where the rest of our group was. Eunice was quick to respond that we were in a different group, which will hopefully deter the search for our still illegal friends until they figure out a solution. I really appreciated getting a small taste of what so many people struggle with daily in immigration offices all around the world.

Who needs power during a fashion show:
We made clubbing our full time job last night. We started out around 8pm at Maasai camp for a peace concert and fashion show to support Tanzanian children. The models were strutting their African styles until Tenesco (the beloved Tanzanian power company) chose to cut this neighborhood’s power. Strangely enough the music kept playing while the lights were out, so I for one stayed pretty alert. Of course, it lit up pretty fast in the club as people pulled out their cell phones. About 20 minutes later they were able to get the generator running and the show continued. This is Africa.

walking:
Sometimes I wish there was a map for us of Arusha that laid out where it was safe to walk. As you may have heard, one of the girls got mugged walking down the street one night last week. The incident left us all with more questions about this developed place we live in that sometimes gives us a false sense of safety and efficiency. But the same could be said for any city really. This morning my good friend Victoria and I went exploring the “suburbs” of Arusha. We found ourselves in some pretty impoverished neighborhoods that are well hidden from the main streets. Suddenly all eyes were on us, what are these muzungus doing in here?? This was the first time I have felt less safe because of a language barrier. We left both neighborhoods pretty quickly after realizing that we could not communicate well with anyone. In the first neighborhood, an older woman and I greeted each other in Swahili and she asked me where we were going. I told her sheepishly that I didn’t know, we were just walking. Walking wapi she says. WHERE? Was I imagining the concern in her voice? Then I couldn’t comprehend the rest of what she told me, so we apologized (as people should do when they cant understand one another) and both kept walking our separate ways. But just for a minute because I had a nagging feeling and so we turned around and left the neighborhood. Just as well, we probably looked really stupid for all our hesitation. The next neighborhood we saw people washing clothes in a beautiful stream surrounded by banana trees and a family of baby ducks taking a stroll. We came to a bridge across the stream and considered taking it until we noticed the gaping holes and cracks in the thin boards. Hesitation again. I looked around me and noticed some people standing around watching us. One woman in particular (oh how I wish I had a picture of this) stood looking intently at us with one hand on the head of her child next to her and one hand extended and point in the direction we had walked from. At first I couldn’t tell if she was kicking us out of the neighborhood or keeping us from danger. But after the sight of the holy bridge I obliged quite quickly and we left. Interestingly enough, as we walked we saw a brand new bridge up ahead that was sturdy and made of thick concrete.

doing fine

I hear that there may be some worries about my non-blogging recently in conjunction from coming home from such a heavy place as Rwanda.

Turns out, I hardly have time to use internet lately, and our one accelerated class paired with still interning at the UN is proving to be way more demanding than we had previously anticipated. Also, Susan has been here in Arusha with me for the past 5 days and I have been trying to soak up as much time with her as possible (I realize this was the most time we have spent together since I visited her in Kampala last Christmas!)

Otherwise, things are great here, keeping me laughing as usual. I am really enjoying my housemates and our sometimes comical and frustrating situations. A circus moved in across the street from us. And I went to a movie for the first time here (the sound is only a little off :0) We literally climbed into kilimanjaro this weekend, by way of some centuries-old tribal caves, trekked to see the beautiful Ndoro waterfalls, and then learned to make chipatti from a family who we couldnt communicate with aside from gestures and laughter.

Last night we participated in the traditions of Eid by paying respects to our "elder" (our supervisor at work from Tunisia) by way of visit with chocolates and kisses. She and her kids had made us bite size cupcakes and lemongrass tea.

Still missing new friends in Kigali, but really enjoying having the rest of my graduate class here now. Arusha just keeps getting better :0)