Eee! Eid!
This weekend I took off for Zanzibar (about 1-2 hours via ferry) for Eid and paradise. Word about this trip quickly spread among the foreign student population and basically everyone decided to go. I think poor Eid got hyped beyond its means. With the exception of everyone flooding in and out of the mosques, I am sad to report that there was no massive public party---although all of the little girls were wearing party dresses and every small boy had a tiny plastic gun (disturbing).
Most of the adventure included our hotel jacking up its price and us moving to another hotel and hopping between one nice restaurant, the beach, and another nice restaurant.
It's very interesting to be in Zanzibar and notice the obvious difference in wealth from the island and Dar. I think the wealth and nice things are mostly from and for the tourists. In Dar even the elite class doesn't seem to be able to support any form of luxury industry. It's so strange. Living in Dar has really forced me to reconsider what constitutes a city. Dar seems to lack all of the things that used to be automatic city connotations for me. This includes: nightlife scene, museums, public parks, theater, dance, art galleries, etc. Dar has some of these things, but on such a small scale---I think Poplar Bluff has more.
Anyway, that's all the news from me.
Most of the adventure included our hotel jacking up its price and us moving to another hotel and hopping between one nice restaurant, the beach, and another nice restaurant.
It's very interesting to be in Zanzibar and notice the obvious difference in wealth from the island and Dar. I think the wealth and nice things are mostly from and for the tourists. In Dar even the elite class doesn't seem to be able to support any form of luxury industry. It's so strange. Living in Dar has really forced me to reconsider what constitutes a city. Dar seems to lack all of the things that used to be automatic city connotations for me. This includes: nightlife scene, museums, public parks, theater, dance, art galleries, etc. Dar has some of these things, but on such a small scale---I think Poplar Bluff has more.
Anyway, that's all the news from me.