For this entire trip, I’ve had a pair of long johns sitting in the farthest corner of my suitcase. Over the past couple of days, they have earned their keep.
On the bus ride from Shinyanga to Arusha I noticed a distinct change in weather. My bare face was resting against the window for most of the bumpy ride, so as the night progressed I was able to feel the outside air getting colder and colder. Whenever I travel I like to bring a sweater—if not for the temperature then as a makeshift pillow—and I thought I was being foolish this time around. I guess not. Arriving in Arusha before the sun had fully revealed itself I was genuinely shivering. I thought maybe it was the lack of sleep and my body just doing the weird things a body does after 24 hours awake, so I didn’t think too much of it.
Monday, my first day back at school and getting up early for the bus route, showed me that the season had taken a turn for the worse. For some reason I remember 60 to 65 Fahrenheit being comfortable weather (even permitting me to go surfing in just board shorts depending on the sun’s confidence). With a slight mist and heavy clouds over head, I guess that temperature becomes rather unwelcoming. Walking to school I was shivering. The bus was alright because I was constantly moving, dealt with unruly kids. Worst of all was sitting in the open air classrooms.
Multiple people told me to go home and retrieve a sweater. I was stubborn, expecting it to “burn off” as if it were a summer morning out on the Oregon coast (spoiler: it didn’t). It wasn’t until 2ish that the warmth started to push through. Anyways, I learned my lesson very quickly and every day (and night) since then I have been shamelessly wearing my base layers and the single sweater I brought. Previously, while I was in Shinyanga, some friends had told me that the weather had become very cold in Arusha and I didn’t believe them—I thought they were just being Tanzanians, used to the hot weather and all. Frankly, I was excited to get out of the sticky, sweat inducing climate. But I guess they were right and I should’ve listened.
On the bus route yesterday we ran into an issue when the tire decided it wanted to deflate. According to the driver it was fine though because it’s one of the paired-wheel thingymabobs (like semis that have two wheels at each place rather than one), so we continued driving on it. Surprisingly, we didn’t have any problems because of it and made it to school safely.
My “work” day was a little difficult. The music room which I thought I could use as my office was infiltrated by a class of students wanting to practice their dance routine for the graduation celebration coming up in a little over a month. That was after lunch though, so I got a good morning in. Unfortunately I’m told they will be back pretty much every day and there isn’t anywhere else with WiFi, so I guess I’ll have to learn how to work with the entertaining distraction of little kiddos dancing.
Once the school day ended I went for my evening run. It was a good one considering I haven’t taken a break day for a while—10k in under an hour always feels like an accomplishment for me! Dinner was a smorgasbord of spaghetti, fried banana, goat, salad, and other small things. I’m really coming to enjoy goat meat and it’s not as scary as I once thought.
Today will be another cold morning, but I was yet again left behind with the bus route so I’m taking the chance to lay under the bedcovers and warm my bones a little before heading out for the day!