Kuya Says Relax

It's hard to believe that I'm going to be back in Tanzania in a week, as part of our whirlwind student trip that features stops in Dar Es Salaam, Pemba and Zanzibar.  It's been an exhausting trip to plan, both because of the classically fluid east African sense of time but also because of general buffoonery from our Champlain administration.    Steve's ulcer is demanding attention and I've had a series of cluster headaches, including a couple days when I couldn't really see much of anything except for ripples of colored lights.  In the end you've just got to let it go.  We've devoted more time to planning this trip than any trip I've ever been associated with, even going back to my Global Module days.  I think every time I've gone to Africa it's started out as an unimaginable clusterfuck, but in the end it always turns mystic.  The students will learn so much, and it will be utterly transformative.  So, in the end it's worth all the colored ripples.

I'm on my way, brothers.  Trying to keep in mind, "pole pole."

Oh, and the obscure reference.  Kuya Mbogoya is our contact in Dar Es Salaam, who has proved immensely helpful.  Although no one can compare to the mythic Kombo Bakar on Pemba, who Steve may try and sneak back in his luggage.