Arusha Nite Life

Last night we went to a restaurant, Via Via, to have some drinks and listen to reggae. This was our first time experiencing the hoppin' Arusha night life. We danced with drunk tourists and the locals. It was a ton of fun- but not all play. I met a woman in the bathroom from South Carolina who is working with an NGO here focused on business and micro-financing. I got her contact information as it might help with some of our research here. Funny how connections are made.

We have just been hanging around the school for most of the week, and will be here this weekend. Next week I will hopefully start moving forward with my research projects. Right now I am thinking that I will assess the funciton of the school's wastewater treatment system which is supposed to be a wetland system. I also want to look at the springs in a local village that people use for drinking water, and see if their coffee bean shelling process has an effect on their water supply.

On Wednesday we attended Peace House's opening flag raising ceremony for the second semester. Saying the school has no religious affiliation would probably be lying since the kids pray before and after everymeal, and someone gave a sermon about obidience at the ceremony. Alot of fire and brimstone stuff. Later that morning a group of us went into town to attend some of the Rwanda trials. The East African International conference center is located in Arusha, and that is where the United Nations have taken up court as the Rwanda Trials Tribunal. All we had to do is show our passports and we got to sit in the gallery. Not too much happened as they weren't sentencing that day and only got through one witness before lunch time. After lunch we went to the craft market and I was searching for a certain fabric for a skirt I had seen a woman wearing last week. It had a picture of a choo on it. A choo is a toilet. How fantastic would it be to wear a skirt with a toilet on it! Amazing right?! Don't worry all the women in the stalls who had their wares for sale were laughing at me too...But one shop owner named Victor is hopefully on the hunt for that pattern for me, and it would make my day!