Still here- Day 9

I met an angel today.  She showed me her apartment, fed me and, most importantly, gave me hope.  I have been struggling with feeling isolated and lonely since I've gotten here.  My "free accommodation" is, indeed, free but is quite far from the city center (Stone Town), where almost everything happens.  It takes quite a bit of effort and money to get to Stone Town when I want to be connected to civilization.  So today I decided to put on my Big Girl Panties and look for an apartment in town.  Everything is so informal in Zanzibar, barely any information or advertising is online- finding a place to live is almost purely by word of mouth.  You need to know someone who knows someone who knows someone who might still be looking for someone to rent an apartment.  Tricky when you don't know anyone.

So, long story short, I was given a phone number of an American named Amanda.  She is my angel.  I called her to see her apartment to possibly rent it.  Then, as I shared my pitiful story of the loneliness and isolation, she began to connect me to this community.  She signed me up to listservs and gave me phone numbers.  She even took me to her boyfriend's cousin's place to see an available apartment and translated and negotiated in Swahili on my behalf.  We ended up spending close to 7 hours together today.

We ended this whirlwind-of-a-day at a seaside garden watching a breathtaking sunset with about 20 different street venders selling food on set up tables.  As the sun went down. each table put up their own gas lamp which created this magical feel across the garden.  I ate octopus, freshly caught shrimp and whitefish.  Super delicious.  Super cheap.  And this is the best part- this event happens every night.  We chatted for over an hour, and sat amongst the Zanzibar community watching the sunset and the boats come in to dock.

This story may seem quite trivial to you, but it has shifted the direction my Zanzibar Experience is going in.  I was very bored, lonely and frustrated this past week.  This was my daily schedule:

6:30:  Start talking myself into waking up because, frankly, I hadn't slept well AGAIN.
6:45-7:15:  Choose from 3 available outfits that are weather appropriate (Ever hear of Africa hot?  Exactly...) and respectful to the prominent Islamic culture (covers my shoulders and knees) and pound coffee and a peanutbutter sandwich.
7:15-7:45:  Wait for the phone call telling us that the school bus is ready to pick us up.
7:45-8:30:  Ride to school with 20 children smushed into a 7 passenger van.
Side note:  When one of the teachers told me I would be riding to and from school in a bus crammed full of children, I wanted to cry.  American children are little hellions on buses.  They yell, they fight, they curse and yell some more.  However, these beautiful little African children are actually quite pleasant on the bus.  Every morning, I hoist myself onto that bus and find a place to sit by grabbing a small child and putting them on my lap.  They lay against me and, with the same glazed morning-eyes I have, we wake up quietly the rest of the ride.

8:30-2:00:  An average school day
2:00-2:30:  Bus ride home (a little more lively, but still quite enjoyable)

Then... I spent the rest of the day SITTING with my roommates in my living room until I go to sleep.  I wanted to claw my eyes out.  Unfortunately, living in a free accommodation far from the city and living a frugal lifestyle means a lot of cereal and sandwiches and A LOT of sitting on your computer or reading a book.  Doing this 5 days a week for 7-8 hours an evening makes me think water torture might look like fun.

So meeting my angel today has given me hope that I can find a place in this little island community.