In just a few weeks I’ll be leaving for Dar es Salaam, which is rather hard to believe. It isn’t the fact that I will be in a totally new country, meeting lots of new people that is strange. What I have a hard time grasping is that I won’t be here, in Portland anymore – no more handling birds of prey, training rats, or being driven crazy by the “gigagantosarus” song. I’ll no longer be able to answer questions about where I got a certain cut with a vague “well, I spend my days with raptors,” and thus avoid having to admit to yet again having tripped over my own feet. Reality for me right now is very much living in this wonderful city and enjoying my amazing internship with the wildlife show at the zoo. Nonetheless, in just two weeks I’ll be back in Uppsala, and a week later I arrive in Tanzania and begin what I’m expecting to be one of the most incredible experiences in my life.
The downside of not quite having going to Tanzania feel real is that it is very hard to actually focus on practical matters. I’m doing plenty of the fun things -- I’ve been reading books about the region, like “In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro”, “In the Dust of Kilimanjaro”, “Coming of Age with Elephants”, “Among the Elephants”, “The Worlds of A Maasai Warrior,” and a few others. I’m trying to learn a few phrases in Swahili. I’m sure I’ll be glad to have done these things, but they aren’t exactly essential preparation. I did make an effort to be organized about a month a month half ago, but after finding out that yellow fever vaccinations are about three times cheaper at the vaccination place next to one of the best cafés in Uppsala than here, I’ve happily postponed worrying about vaccinations until I leave Portland. It’ll work out somehow I’m sure.
24 days left!
