A New Route

About this time last year I described the walk between my home and school in Arusha. So I thought it might be a fair (re)orientation to start here once again, as I have a new walking route. This time, my path is between my french class and my apartment. It is a very short distance, in fact, much too short to bother with taxis. By the time I call a taxi and it arrives to pick me up, I could have already arrived at my destination twice by walking.

I exit the Alliance Francais compound, and cut through a beautiful open field with deeply etched ruts from foot and car traffic over the years. There are hills covered with light green trees behind and in front of me. I follow the path that connects to the main road where I continue on. Here there is a variety of traffic on a small two lane road: motor bike taxis, semi trucks, passenger cars, bicycles, and pedestrians. I pass a shop where there are often people sitting outside around tables (I havent figured out why yet- might be just for a soda break). After passing a preschool, I walk along a lovely roadside plant nursery boasting beautiful flowering plants in neat rows, their roots contained in plastic sacks. To my other side is a gas station and grocery store. I turn here, and on my left is a giant display of dirty stuffed animals for sale. Some of the zebras and frogs and rabbits and bears lay arranged on a tarp stretched out over the earth, while others hang from their ears from a clothes line above. Smart business placement, as there is a primary school only a few doors ahead which I will pass next. Then, a small house deemed "this and that", a gift and sandwich shop extraordinaire. This is where I take a toasted sandwich for just a few dollars after class. Next stop, the gate on the left, a complex of apartments, nail and hair salons, small grocery shop, and night club. This complex is genially referred to sometimes as one of Arusha's UN ghettos- its sister complex, in a rougher part of town, is ringed by high wall and barbed wire, stamped in block letters PPF NORTHERN ZONE. Of course, ghetto in this sense is reflective of grouping one type of people together as one done to the Jews in WW2, rather than the lack of socioeconomic status that lately defines the word.

This route is not drastically different than the one I walked before, just some of the details are different. A new school here, a new shop there. Its the same when people ask, "how are you liking Arusha the second time around??" There is a new experience here and a new friend there, but it is not so drastically different. I eat better now, I even enjoy cooking a little bit. I have internet in my apartment and a wicker chair on a terrace that overlooks a field and a small mountain and a hill with a dozen cell towers. I have access to a car sometimes, and a lot more time to myself. I realize, Arusha might seem the same for everyone here except me. As a broke student with connections, I have had the unique privilege of being somewhat socially mobile while most expats, and locals alike, do not get this experience. Its an interesting view from here, on the next path over.