Today we have a little down time in Stone Town, which is nice. Yesterday we went to Chumbe Island, which is pretty much a little piece of heaven. The coral reef is a marine protected area, and it is one of the few in Zanzibar where public access is totally restricted. The snorkeling was by far the best we've done so far - we actually saw big fish because they've had time to develop without being threatened by fishermen. The colors of the fish were incredible - beautiful greens, purples, and blues. The coral too is vibrantly colored and healthy. We snorkeled for a couple of hours there and explored the rest of the island. The marine park is funded by an ecotourism project on the island, which is basically 7 eco-bungalows. The bungalows don't have windows or doors, even on the bathroom. The little power comes from solar panels, and the water for the shower and sink is rain water collected under the bungalow. The toilet doesn't flush, but is a compost toilet which turns human waste into fertilizer using compost from biodegradable food waste from the island. It's a great project, and they also provide free environmental education classes for local children, who have no other exposure to such topics. They take them snorkeling but almost none of the kids can swim, and the girls are completely covered from head to toe, which makes for restricted swimming.

Over the next couple of days we'll be working on our mini ISP, a two day project in which we get familiar with what we'll be doing for the month at the end of the program, including the living on 16 dollars a day. It should be interesting - I'm hoping to go back to Zala Park, which we visited earlier in the semester and has reptiles and other cool stuff.

So we're back from Jozani and it was pretty much the sweetest part of the trip so far. The forest was made a national park not too long ago and is part red mahogany ground water forest and part coral rag/mangrove area. Walking into one part of the forest feels like being in Jurassic Park, and other parts of the protected area feel like Lion King bushland/savannah. When we got to the forest the first day around 9 AM, there were a huge group of monkeys hanging out right next to our "classroom" feeding. So crazy, and they don't seem to be bothered by human presence at all. Last night before dinner there were about 15 monkeys just hanging outside our house playing and eating. Awesome.

We had a few lectures while there which were pretty frustrating because they were slow, dense, and classrooms in Zanzibar get hot and sleepy real quick. The instructors were really knowledgeable and had tons of experience with monkeys, birds, and even testing whether hyenas will eat gravel mixed with blood, an experiment the chief park warden carried out himself. Apparently blue monkeys are easily confused with sex monkeys (actual name: Syke's monkeys, we discovered after thinking the lecturer was joking and giggling like schoolgirls for 20 minutes).

Yesterday, a few of us went out on a special ride during free time with Salim, one of the park rangers. We rode on the back of a pickup truck out to the forest, and we rode through a part of dense forest which probably hasnt been driven through in several years. While ducking under and getting whacked in the face by branches sitting next to a park ranger in the back of a wild pickup truck driving through the forest with guides clearing the bush with machetes, it really struck me what a crazy/awesome experience I'm having right now in Z-bar.

Also in Jozani, we faked a guy's birthday so we could get cake and ice cream... we honestly thought our academic director wasnt taking us seriously that it was his birthday, until she showed up from Stone Town with cake and a card. It was sweet. The only bad part of the forest was getting supa sick the first afternoon/night. Puking and the works. I had to go back to Stone Town to see a doctor, and then get back to the forest by myself on a dala dala. It was cool but also something I would have liked more when I wasn't sick. I was the only female on the bus, but a friendly guy chatted with me about religion and then asked me where my husband was and laughed hysterically when I replied by saying I was too young.

Also, hilarious factoid to remember: The Kiswahili word tembo has two meanings: one is elephant, and the other is vagina.

On that note...

So today is my last day/night with my homestay family. It's been a really interesting experience staying with them. Tonight we have a farewell party with our families, and one person in our group will give a farewell speech (in Swahili!) Since it's in Swahili, we're keeping it simple - something along the lines of "Thanks a lot for the food and for letting us stay with you. See you soon!" My homestay mom has been especially nice to me about not eating meat - she cooks a small version of some things for me with fish instead of meat and then says "Amalya! Your food!" One night we went to my aunt's house for dinner, and she even brought a long a little container of Amalya-friendly food for me.

More when we get back from Jozani forest!

Blog!
Okay, so I'm still in Stone Town (Mji Mkongwe in Swahili) and we leave in two days for Jozani forest. We're wrapping up our 2 weeks with homestay families, and some things I've learned are:

Things that are rude in Zanzibar but OK at home:
- touching food with your left hand (used instead of toilet paper)
- pointing at people
- licking your fingers

Things that are rude at home but okay in Z-bar:
- loud burping
- changing the TV channel while someone else is watching

It's been great staying with the fam, but I'm excited to head into the forest. After that we're back in Stone Town for a week ish including Eid al Fitr (YAY for the end of Ramadan), and then we leave for Dar Es Salaam (mainland woot!)
My academic director told me one of my skirts is too short which is lame, but I can wear it when we get to Dar for a whole two weeks!! I'm pretty stoked to see what the mainland is like and also eat in public during the day. We're going on safari while we're there which is also fun.

Okaay time to go so i can hit up facebook for a few mins before my time at the internet cafe runs out.

L8a,
Amalya (my Swahili name)