Arrival and first impressions

Hello! I arrived safely in Arusha two nights ago. The journey was very easy, with only one connection in Amsterdam. Much to my surprise, over half of the flight to Tanzania was full of tourists, both European and American. Brandon and I thought this might mean that Arusha itself would be full of tourists. However, having now been here two days, it's clear that we are pretty rare in the town itself. I guess everyone from the plane went straight to safari... The locals here are very friendly, smiling and greeting us as welcome visitors. It's funny because one of the only Swahili words I knew before I arrived was "jambo," but I have quickly learned that this greeting is only reserved for foreigners that are presumed not to speak Swahili! I am trying to learn a couple of words every day, but certainly most people in this town speak English, so it has been very easy to get around. Everywhere we walk, Brandon and I acquire a few friends that walk a few blocks and chat with us. They especially love to talk about Obama.

Lots of things about this place remind me of India:
--There are school girls in their bright uniforms holding hands on their way to school.
--Women balance huge loads of vegetables, laundry, or whatever on their heads as they walk from the market to their village.
--There's lots of good Indian food! I've already made friends with a nice Indian man named V.K. who owns this popular Indian restaurant in town. They have some seriously tasty food, and I plan to frequent his place (called Big Bite) often.
--The power goes out here without warning. In fact, we've arrived during Ramadan, so the power is out as a rule for the whole day. This has made doing anything during the day quite a production, but it's a nice change of pace. My head lamp has become my most prized possession, because otherwise I'd be sitting in the dark after sunset.

Another funny comment about Ramadan: the muezzin have been preaching from the minarets both nights that we've been here. The first night they started at 4:30 and I thought, let's just wait to see what happens tomorrow. Well, last night, the hollering started at 3:30am. Remember that scene from My Cousin Vinny, when he asks if the train comes through at 5 every morning, and the guy says no, but then the next night the train comes through at 4? Definitely last night I woke up and felt like I was in that scene, and thought, "we've gotta move." Seriously it felt like the imam was chanting from inside our room. It finally stopped at about 5am, but this certainly hasn't helped us to get over the jet lag!

The people here wear a great mix of tribal and Western-style dress. There are lots of bright beautiful African dresses, as well as a nice mix of Masai tribesmen who come into town. The Masai men wear these shoes made of tires, they look super uncomfortable, but I guess help when they are herding their cattle on inhospitable terrain.

That's all for my initial impressions. More to come later!