Tamogotchi Love

My Tamogotchi is in love with Jonny's Tamogotchi...isn't that great?

I spent most of last week in Zanzibar with Claire and Charlotte. It was an AMAZING trip, very relaxing, and lots of fun! We stayed in Dar Es Salaam the first night at a 'nice' hotel. It is funny to think that a smoke detector, a TV with 15 channels, and a real mattress are what make up a nice hotel room; I'll be so easy to please when I get home! We ate at the hotel restaurant and had the second-nicest meal I've had since being here. The chicken had no bones in it!!!! Pretty fantastic. Before we left for the ferry the next day we stopped at SUBWAY!!! Yes, a real Subway franchise in Tanzania. I took a lot of pictures...it looked just like home! On Zanzibar we spent our time at Kendwa beach on the north-eastern coast. We stayed in a bungalow right off the beach and had a beautiful view from our front porch. We also used our amazing bargaining skills to get about $75 off of the price of our room...I guess six months of practice paid off! We enjoyed swimming in the ocean (which is surprisingly warm), laying out in the sun, getting henna tattoos, and eating on a budget (soup for almost every meal!). On Claire's birthday we also went snorkeling! It was really cool, and we found almost all of the fish from Nemo....except for Nemo. Apparently as snorkeling goes, its not the greatest in Zanzibar, but since it was a first time for both of us, we were pretty easily pleased. On the boat trip back from snorkeling, we ran into a storm. I thought it was pretty exciting but some people didn't really seem to enjoy that part. For our last night, we stayed in Stone town and ate at the night market I had been to last time....good as always. The trip home was loooooong, and I got motion sick for the first time in my life! The ferry ride was terrible. After the ferry though, we stopped again at Subway, and things started to look up! We got into Moshi around 9 and went to bed pretty soon after. I don't understand why traveling is so tiring!

Sunday night was the European Championship Final game....Germany vs. Spain. Since Caroline, Claire's roomate, is German, we dressed in the colors of the German flag and painted flags on our faces. Germany lost, but we still had a good time and went out dancing afterwards. I'm going to miss watching the football when I go home. The football games are usually the big social events of the week here...everyone comes out for them...wazungus and locals.

I have been spending the past few days packing, sorting through things, shopping for gifts, and taking pictures. It is so weird to think about going home. I am definitely ready to see family and friends, but not so much ready to switch back to 'American living.' I am going to miss so much about Moshi and the community here.

This won't be the last blog on here...but might be the last one while I am still in TZ!

See ya'll soon!