This is Tanzania.

There are moments when it just hits you like a ton of bricks…this is Tanzania. And this is home for the next school year. Now as I am about to recount the happenings of this morning, it is simply to relay the tales of our adventure. I have nothing against this country or these people or WorldTeach, just to be clear. And this is in no way a complaint, just an unfortunate reality. I have had so many positive experiences and wonderful interactions, but things happen…

I woke up this morning at 4:30 to be ready to go to the bus station with the three other volunteers in my region. We were picked up in a taxi, piled all of our luggage in and drove through the crazy traffic to the station. I’ve really never experienced traffic quite like I have in Dar—picture intense city traffic on steroids. (while also considering motorcycles drive wherever they want, speed limits don’t matter, passing can happen at anytime, and whoever honks the loudest usually gets right-of-way). Thankfully we arrived at the station in one piece, and since we each have multiple bags weighing hundreds of pounds total, we had two porters help us transport our luggage to the bus. So they take off running, how I still can’t figure out considering the sheer weight of the bags, and take us through the mobs of people and buses trying to find the right one. I must also add that there is no logical pattern or system for these buses, they all park haphazardly and considering there are hundreds of buses that depart at 6am sharp, the place was literally insane. So here we are running between buses with people shouting at us, asking us to buy bread or water, searching for our mysterious bus in the dark. Well we finally found it, and the porters piled all of our luggage next to the bus, and then asked us to pay 40,000Tsh. We expected about 3,000Tsh for one porter, and although we had two, this is quite the leap. Luckily our field director was with us, who was able to cut that in half after some serious debating…but that’s still really high. (Perspective: 20,000Tsh is about $12, and I just paid 3500Tsh, or $2 for lunch and a Coke). Unfortunately that was the least of the concern at this point, because the men in charge of loading the luggage first tried to charge us to put our bags on the bus, which we were told we did not have to pay when we purchased tickets. But during that debate, they loaded everyone else’s luggage. Then they proceeded to tell us there wasn’t enough room for ours, but of course wouldn’t open the doors to show us. And while our director did everything thing she could think of to get these men to budge, they wouldn’t. The next negotiation began, as they suggested putting our luggage on another bus that would be travelling to the same city and we could pick it up there. At this point, the whole bus is loaded and everyone is watching these four mzungus with a huge pile of luggage…parting from it would most likely mean we wouldn’t see it again. Then, at 6:01 precisely, still in the midst of discussion/pleading/explanation that we were volunteer teachers, the bus driver got on, started up the engine, and literally ran over a corner of one of the bags as he pulled out. See ya later………….

Now, I haven’t mentioned that this is a bus travelling all the way across the country to Burundi. Yes, I will be living within an hour of both Rwanda and Burundi, which means crossing the whole country. This also means there is only one bus per day, so at this point in the morning, our only option was to get tickets for tomorrow. As our director negotiated details of luggage storage and worked to guarantee space on the bus tomorrow, one of the men working who had been really rude to our director about everything started sweet-talking the rest of us. Oh we were not happy at this point, so when his friendliness switched from where are you from and what are your names, to are you married and can you buy me a drink, we had hit our limits. Thankfully, it wasn’t too much longer before a deal was made for our bags to be stored at the station overnight so that they could be loaded first tomorrow. So the oh-so-friendly man reached down for my large backpack and with very little regard flung it over his shoulder, and the strap snapped… too much. Literally my breaking point, but there were so many people around that I did my best to hold it together. So we carried everything to the office, counted 10 bags, recounted 10 bags, got a receipt, counted the bags again, and left our things under their watch. Prayers that when we get back in the morning, everything is accounted for!

And that’s that. We’re back at Msimbozi Centre for the day, just reading, writing, napping, killing time. Oh well, could have been on a bus for 10 hours at this point instead…

A few more details on this situation though: this bus leaves Dar at 6am. We’ll make one stop for sure in Dodoma (the capital city) approximately 6-8 hours in. And the next guaranteed stop is Kahama where we’re spending the night. Realistically, we’re expecting to get in around midnight. If all goes well, which seems to be rare when dealing with bus rides here, we might get lucky and get in a little earlier. It’s going to be a rough day though for sure, and unlike American buses, bathroom services are not included. Then we get to wake up bright and early Thursday morning and go to Ngara, which is only 4-6 hours from Kahama. Two of the other volunteers will be living in Ngara so they will get settled, while Marisa and I will spend the night in a hotel. We’ll be picked up on Friday by someone from the Ministry of Education, and drive directly to our house in Rulenge. Mind you, as long and potentially dreadful as this journey may be, we are still unsure of what is waiting for us on the other end. Our house is still unfinished at this point, and I still don’t know which school I’ll be at or what classes I’m teaching. AHH. So this is what they meant when they said flexibility and openness were necessary for this journey. Yep. And a whole heck of a lot of Trust. There’s no way I would still be here if I wasn’t 110% confident that God called me here for a specific purpose. I would have been in a taxi to the airport after this morning’s ordeal at the bus station….So, even if my heart explodes because I have to trust Him to literally take care of every aspect of my life in the next few weeks, it will be worth it. Right? Right.

And in case you’re concerned after reading this, my tears to laughter ratio this morning was approximately 8 to 97. So now reread the story and please laugh at how ridiculous the whole situation was. J