During the trip, I am a total slacker, but my husband will make arrangements in every detail, and I will be more fearless or even worse. Many times, I basically go out without thinking. Therefore, although I have to work and live in Africa thousands of miles away for two years, I still haven't done much homework. I just casually asked my colleagues who have been or have been to Tanzania when preparing clothes: What's the climate like there? What do you need to prepare?
Some people say that summer is hot all year round, but it is cool in the shade.
Some people say that Tanzania is a good country on the African continent.
Some people say: you can buy anything, you don't need to bring anything special.
I think, let's prepare for it in summer, and consider it a long trip. I really packed some necessary clothes, brought a set of skin care products and some make-up that I haven't used up yet, and I'm ready to go and play around.
When boarding the plane, almost 90% people came from China, which makes people wonder: Is this a domestic flight?
After a flight of 1 1 hour, the plane stopped at Addis Ababa airport, the capital of Ethiopia. When crossing the long connecting passage, almost all yellow skin and black hair are gradually replaced by different skin colors and hair colors, and the familiar mother tongue can no longer be heard in the ear. I finally realized very clearly that we did take an international flight in the past 10 hours. The wooden door of the airport bathroom is rickety, the tap water pressure is weak, plastic buckets for receiving water can be seen everywhere, and the apron outside the window is empty and simple, all of which remind us very clearly that this is a continent completely different from the environment we know.
After flying for another five hours, I finally arrived at my destination. The new terminal of Nyerere International Airport has not yet been opened. The old airport is very similar to the long-distance bus station in remote areas of China. The facilities and ground crew seem to be getting older and older. Fortunately, the air conditioner is dedicated enough, and the wind guide blades have turned yellow, but the air conditioner is full of confidence, which makes the cramped exit hall feel a bit luxurious. I didn't know until I got off the plane that about 20 colleagues on this flight went to work with us. They didn't know each other before, but now they are all gathered here. After more than ten hours of flight, everyone was a little ashamed and could hardly squeeze out a polite smile. They are a little callous to blend in with all kinds of people to go through immigration procedures. As a matter of fact, we submitted our application for a work visa at the Tanzanian Immigration Bureau in official website two months ago. However, according to the practice in previous years, it will not be available until around 1 1. Of course, this time is not unexpected. Therefore, although we have landed, we are still unable to enter the country. Fortunately, Tanzania can apply for a visa on arrival. After nearly an hour of long queuing, filling out forms and waiting, we finally got a tourist visa. However, when we checked our luggage through the customs, we were in trouble again. Several bags of metal badges we brought were found by the security check. Although we repeatedly explained that they were not commodities, but used for work, we were threatened to confiscate them, and finally we paid a fine of $65,438+000.
When we walked out of the airport, it was a long-lost heat wave, and we were sweating all at once, and the heat was unbearable. It was autumn in Beijing when we set off. In fact, there were still snowflakes on the day we set off. Some people in the street wear thin down, so we are all carefully armed according to the rhythm of early autumn in the north. Brother Chen is wearing a long-sleeved trousers coat, and now it's like taking a bath. Sweat hung dangerously on the ends of his hair at the back of his head, so I immediately took him to the bathroom and put on short-sleeved shorts.
Hot! Naked, unimpeded heat!
At this moment, I realized how unrealistic it was for my colleagues to say "it's cool in the shade". The airport is empty, and occasionally there are a few palm trees dotted in the green belt, which is completely out of reach.
There are two buses to pick us up. One carries luggage and the other carries passengers. The dean and several colleagues came to meet us by bus. The bus drove all the way, and the surroundings were still empty. Of course, there are some plants there. There are lawns on both sides of the road, and the trees are still just embellishments. They stood in the distance and watched the excitement, exposing all the vehicles and pedestrians on the road to the sun. It is not surprising that palm trees are standard in tropical areas, but some big trees on the roadside caught my attention. The leaves are not dense, finely broken and scattered layer by layer. Occasionally I see pedestrians sitting in the shade in twos and threes to enjoy the cool. I asked my colleague what kind of tree it was, and my colleague said it was called "traveler's umbrella". This name gave me some goodwill, but I never knew its scientific name. There are few buildings far from the airport. Occasionally, I will see one or two or a row of low-rise iron houses, and the sign "Wakala" (similar to our telecom) is hung at the door. From the things displayed in the window, I can roughly judge that they may be grocery stores. Occasionally, several children stood by the roadside and watched curiously as our car flew by, which suddenly made me feel as if I had returned to the northwest town a long time ago.
Brother Chen liked buses very much at that time. When he was sitting in the car, he paid attention to the bus outside the window. Every time he drives a car, he shouts excitedly: "Wow, 2000! That is the road in 2000! " "Bus rapid transit! There is also a bus rapid transit here! "
I followed his cry and looked out of the window. The bus is open and full of people, like sardines. The conductor's little brother is holding money in one hand and hanging outside the car through the door in the other, and his chubby T-shirt is floating. I just escaped from the hot sun into an air-conditioned car, and I'm still in shock. Just imagining the temperature, density and smell inside is a little dizzy.
It is naturally false to say that I am not disappointed at all. The words "poverty" and "backwardness" began to appear in my mind one after another. /kloc-I went to South Africa 0 0 years ago. Although I knew that South Africa was the oldest country in Africa at that time and could not be used as a reference standard for Africa, I couldn't help but think of the information I got before: If it was called "good", what would a truly poor country look like?
All the way was smooth, and there was basically no traffic jam. Later, I learned that it was Saturday light, and Dashi soon showed me its "blocking the city" style.
About an hour later, the car drove into a big yard, which was actually a community called "Mlimani City Villas", but because all the houses were bungalows, it looked more like a big yard. This is where we will live. Volunteer teachers will live in the dormitory provided by the school for them. Houses are arranged side by side and back to back. Each house is separated by a wire fence and has its own lawn and garage. Naturally, a circular main road is divided for the community, which bypasses the middle two rows of back-to-back houses and divides several paths to each garage. The road surface is paved with bricks. There are three types of houses, which are distinguished by A, B and C, representing one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom respectively. We rented a two-bedroom apartment as required. On the right hand side of the community entrance, there is another road leading south to the commercial circle of Mlimani City. It is said that this is the largest commercial circle in Dalian and even the whole country, but there is only a small door, which is only enough for people to push shopping carts, but cars cannot pass by. So City has two meanings here, one refers to the community where we live, and the other refers to this big business district. Insiders will know which city you are referring to by combining the context.
The road where the city is located is called Daxue Road, which faces NATO 1 km, and it is the University of Dar es Salaam and Rand University. The gates of the two universities face each other, with Dar es Salaam University in the west and Rand University in the east, where the "University Road" ends. China people in Tanzania are used to calling Dar es Salaam University "Dashi University", but we prefer to call it "Dashi University". Confucius Institute is jointly organized with Dada, so its headquarters is located in Dada, which is referred to as "Dada Confucius Institute" for short. At that time, the Confucius Institute had 22 teaching points all over the country, and Land University was one of them.
Dada University is one of the three famous universities in East Africa and the best university in Tanzania. Before I came here, I heard from my colleagues that this is a forest park. I imagine it as Alice's dream garden, with trees and manicured lawns. On the night of Dada's landing, we crossed Dada's campus and went to a small hotel called "Uphill" for dinner, where the volunteers who went to work with us temporarily stayed. They have to wait until the pre-job training is over before they can go to teaching points all over the country. It was already dark and the car had been driving for a long time. I didn't even associate this almost barren land with the "university". There are almost no street lamps on the roadside, and only trees can be seen in the faint night. Domestic universities don't have a uniform appearance, just like a woman next door who broke into your house in her home clothes. Later, I finally discovered the natural beauty of the university campus.
There is a five-hour time difference between East Africa and China. Seven o'clock in the evening here is equivalent to zero o'clock in Beijing time. After more than ten hours of long flight and alternating hot and cold, when I had my first meal, I was very sleepy and my tongue was very sleepy. The sweetness of pineapple and banana and the crispness of fried chicken and peanuts are blocked by my fatigue and sleepiness. On the bus back, the way has fallen asleep. I carried him to bed, endured a nap and began to build mosquito nets. Mosquito nets were brought from China. The square-headed mosquito net with stainless steel tube was bought from Taobao after asking the size of the bed in advance. My husband didn't build a mosquito net, and he said with guilt that he couldn't help it. I waved to him confidently: "No, how many times have I built mosquito nets?"? Nothing! Rest assured, it will be done in half an hour! " So he went to pack.
But this time, I stumbled. More than an hour has passed and I haven't set it up yet. The length and width are wrong. I took it apart and tossed it back and forth twice, but I still didn't understand it. I blame the Taobao shop: "Is this the wrong accessory?" It's not interesting enough. I bought four or five mosquito nets in this house before and after, and this time I gave them defective ones! When I have the internet, I will chase a bad review! "I was sitting beside a pile of steel pipes scattered all over the bed, so sleepy that I could hardly open my eyes, but I still dared not sleep. I was born a "mosquito snack".
My husband said, "No. Could it be that the size of the bed is wrong? "
I muttered "How is it possible" and took out a tape measure. It really is! The width of 1.5 meters is correct, but the length is only 1.8 meters. Domestic mosquito nets are all customized according to the length of 2 meters. It would be strange if I could do it right! I feel a little ashamed. I really shouldn't blame the shop owner. The mosquito net was finally set up, and 20 cm was hung at the end of the bed-it was later found that most of the mosquito nets sold locally were yurts, which were not limited by the size of the bed. I am a little puzzled: many Africans are big, how can they be so wronged in bed?
The jet lag didn't take much effort. I slept until 5 am the next day. The way is awake, so are we. It's already 10 in the morning in China, so we all get up. It was still cool in the morning, the air was fresh and it was still early, so we went out for a walk around the community and walked to the innermost part of the community, that is, the westernmost part. We found the swimming pool that my colleagues told us before, with a bunker and lawn next to it. It is a big baobab tree. Brother Chen was very happy and said that he would come swimming every day.
In the next two days, the Confucius Institute arranged pre-job training. We use the rest time at noon and night to open the mobile phone number, because there are not many areas where wireless networks are installed, and it is not cost-effective to install wireless networks at home, because we are not at home most of the time, so we basically buy traffic packages when using the mobile phone network, as well as other phone bills and SMS packages. The package is arbitrary and quantitative, which means that the traffic in the package is fixed, and whether you use it or not, the number of days will automatically expire. I first chose a 30-day telephone package, 15GB, 30,000 shillings, plus 1000 shillings, including 100 minutes of calls and 200 short messages, which is equivalent to 150. The biggest legacy of this consumption pattern is that I haven't turned on the wireless network for a long time since I returned to China, and I always surf the Internet with data on. Some local people will choose the daily 1000 or 500 shillings package. When they have no money, they will not charge the phone bill, so it is common to lose contact.
Like China, there is always business around the university. Although the scale and prosperity are not the same as those of China, it has everything. There is a micro-market on the university road, and it has a formidable name called Survey. It's across from our community. There are wholesale drinking water and wine shops, stalls selling all kinds of tropical fruits and vegetables, and butcher shops with full air conditioning. You can buy very good beef, and the price is as low as tropical fruit. There are also car shops, bars and clothing stores. Later, there was a "Best Chapatti" store on the street, which is now for sale. Chapati is a local pancake. We bought it and tried it out. People don't talk big. This is really the best pancake we have ever eaten.
Although it is too hot to hide during the day, it becomes more and more comfortable at night, which is my favorite time of the day. When night falls, the sky is low, the moon and stars are clearly visible, and sometimes there are piles of cotton wool clouds around. The dusk is getting thicker and thicker, and the air is flowing. The refreshing night wind is like an urchin, tearing at a huge cotton ball. There are a bunch of tears here, there are a bunch of tears there, and the tears are uneven. Some of them are too thick and shaky, and they feel like they are going to collapse at any moment. Some stars can see the background of the sky. The wind happily dragged those large and small cotton piles and ran forward, knocking the stars and the moon into hiding and staring at these uninvited guests. Huge bread trees and towering palm trees cackle leaves, just like children snickering naughty in the wind.
The way took the lead in adapting to life here. Every day, he seems to find something exciting. We haven't found a school for him yet. He used to follow us to work during the day and go swimming after dinner at night. After swimming, I wrapped him in a big bath towel and walked home. He asked excitedly, "Mom, I like it here so much. Can we stay here for three years? " We usually serve for two years, but we can choose to stay for another year or two. )
I understood his request as satisfaction and happiness, but I still asked him why. He said: "because it is always summer here, it is cool at night, you can swim every day, and there is BRT!" "
The world of children is very simple. They don't have so many things to refer to and rely on. It doesn't matter if they don't have what they are used to. There are new experiences here, enough to satisfy them. In contrast, adults have too many things to refer to and rely on, and are used to using experience and habits as the standard to measure the new environment. We simply and rudely divide the surrounding environment into "excellent" and "poor". Those who follow my will are excellent, those who go against my will are poor, from frugality to extravagance, and from extravagance to frugality. Therefore, many adults don't like it here, even the "old Tanzan" who has worked and lived here for many years, they always shake their heads and pout: "I don't think there is anything good, nothing!" You ask him, "Then why not go back?" They will sigh and say, "No way!" Life is so mixed with disgust and boredom that it circulates helplessly.
It must be said that children are our role models to adapt to the new environment.
We have gradually adapted to life and work here. Although the weather is hot, we don't really have much time to be exposed to the sun. We have air conditioning when we enter the door, and it will cool down at night. Basic necessities of life can be settled in the urban business district. The "largest business district" really lives up to its reputation. There are not only the largest cinemas in East Africa, but also supermarkets, bookstores, banks, mobile companies, furniture stores, home appliances stores, game halls, clothing stores and jewelry stores. And they are all indoors, connected together, you can shop, eat and watch movies rain or shine. There are bars, restaurants and Dacheng's largest conference center when you go out (ML's biggest advantage in living in our community is that you can push the shopping cart all the way to your door, and the property staff will take it away and push it back to the supermarket in the business circle. In this way, our living range is basically fixed between the university and the community, which is relatively safe and convenient. When my colleague invited us to a China restaurant for dinner and tasted the familiar China again, my happiness reached its peak. After dinner, we stood in the big courtyard of the restaurant and talked about the moon rising in the treetops.
I said, "Life is so convenient. Why do I feel that we are not in real Africa? "
The nearby climbing peak simply said, "This is also a part of Africa."
I suddenly realized. Yes, this is also a part of Africa.
Suddenly a sense of shame rose in my heart, which was preconceived by me.
For the first time, I realized that the stereotype or expectation of a strange place is a very ignorant, rude or even rude behavior: you have never been to a place, and you just sketch or "fabricate" an image of it in your mind based on other people's "one-sided words" (books, movies, photos or just descriptions), and then all kinds of expectations are derived until you find that it is not what you think. However, it must be innocent: I am like this, you and I have never met, and those expectations are only yours.
Yes, if reality is different from imagination, it must not be reality. Imagination is your own business. Whether you are satisfied or disappointed, you can only pay the bill yourself.
I decided to give up all my previous expectations of Tanzania. I understand that those expectations are just wishful thinking. Only by looking at what I see and listening to what I hear can I know a Tanzania that really belongs to me.