dispatch from dar--july 4, 2011

It's my first night in Dar es Salaam and I can't sleep. I can't tell if it's jet lag (most likely culprit), anxiety (there is a lot of work to do in the next few weeks!), or all the strange noises. It is now about 5:30am and a rooster has crowed on the hour every half hour since about 3. Super on it, those guys.

I arrived tonight around 10 and driving through the city's darkened streets, had an overwhelming urge to write here again--out of convenience and, perhaps, fear of being annoying to those who want to follow my adventure, but even more so out of a desire to share it with those that want to know what's going on here.

The past three summers have been transformational. The first, before starting Sloan, I was an ostrich in the sand ignoring the impending tidal wave of change that was about to beset me when starting Sloan. Last summer, as documented here, was another tide of change, experiencing a very difficult job, a significant romantic shift, and both the insecurity and freedom that came with both. This summer has really so far been all about adventure and designed for that purpose--I wanted to do something that scared the heck out of me, to see things I'd never seen, to try things I'd never done. And so, the road trip west, the long journey east, to Africa.

What shocked me upon arrival, though, is just how not scared I am. I credit it in some ways to a deep remembering of what it's like to be in the developing world and a therefore unexpected comfort in the muggy air and in the alternate pacing of life. Perhaps even more significant, though, is the confidence in myself. I have no idea how I will get all this work done but I am pretty sure I can handle it and I'm pretty sure that I'll turn out a pretty solid product. In fact, I feel right now I'd be better off if only I had the ability to switch my brain OFF. It--and the roosters--are not helping the sleeping!

More on Dar itself later. All I've seen so far are some roadways where half the cars have no taillights and it seems half the city's population, particularly the young men, are hanging around on the side of the road.