Moshi means smoke

I think the reason that this town is named Moshi is because of the clouds that are around Kilimanjaro for most of the day. I guess its possible that they are referring to the smoke from the rubbish piles being burned, but not very likely.

Moshi is a fairly small town, but also a very busy one. Our volunteer houses are in an area called Soweto, which is about a 20-25 minute walk from the 'downtown' shops, restaurants, and markets. The volunteer projects are scattered throughout different parts of Moshi. My orphanage is about a 20 minute walk from home, while others are walking over an hour to get to theirs. The whole town seems fairly stereo-typical to me. The shops are little one-roomers and when you walk in, everything is behind counters and you point to what you want to look at or purchase. Outside on the sidewalks there are venders sitting on the ground selling shoes, fruits, vegetables, and jewelry. There are also a lot of men with sewing machines on the sidewalks. You can buy fabric, bring it to them, and then pick up your clothing item the next day. Three girls from my house and myself have just had skirts made and I am very excited to wear mine. The fabrics are beautiful. Everything here is very inexpensive. Venders get excited when they see Nzungu walk by and will try to call us over to their booths or stores, and often raise their prices (until we bargain them back down). Deli Chez and The Coffee Shop are two restaurants that we frequent. We have met there around lunchtime every day so far. The menu at Deli Chez has many different options including Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, and American foods. Everything has tasted very good so far. Yesterday I had a toasted Banana and Bacon sandwich, and I recomend it! At the roundabouts in town, lots of businessmen hang around. These are usually boys around my age who will relentlessly advertise whatever junk they are selling, especially if you humor them and chat. They try to sell things at about %400 profit, but are very offended when you let them know that you know it is a rip-off. One of them got very angry with me when I told my friend that it was a rip-off, and accused me of ruining his business. I tried to make it into a joke, so now we are rafiki. It was an interesting experience.

I really do love this town. Everything is pole pole (laid back, basically) and there is not a lot of rush to get anything done at any certain time, which is very different from home. The people are very friendly, and the kids looooove to talk to the nzungu (and I love to talk to them!). Today as I was walking to town, two little boys came up to me and I asked them 'How are you?' and one of them kissed my hand! It was adorable. Today was my first day walking places alone, but I felt very comfortable and safe. I have not encountered or heard of many bad people here.

My friend Hayden (he works for a skydiving company and is from the UK) has Malaria....I hope I'm not next!

The traffic here is insane, the opposite of pole pole. I think that cars change these people's personalities. I might need to change my quiz to 'How long until I am hit by a car' because it may be more likely than malaria!

Kwa Hari, Abby