Archive for 21 March 2008
You know you are in Tanzania when…
Hopefully, this is just volume 1 of “You know you are in Tanzania when…” blogs. I am banking on contributions from Dana and Johannah, the other TZ fellows for the next volumes…
1. Coworkers frequently walk by and casually mention that they have malaria.
2. The most common question you are asked is: “Are you a Muslim or a Christian?”
3. Gospel music plays full volume during the workday.
4. During traffic jams, 2-lane roads become 6-lane highways courtesy of drainage ditches, school yards, and storefronts.
5. Cell phone airtime is billed per second.
6. Getting a seat on the bus during rush hour requires running at a full sprint or climbing through a window.
7. Children greet you with: “Good morning,” no matter the time of day.
8. You get better cell phone reception than you do in the U.S., but you have no access to running water.
9. Your bus hits a biker and drives away.
10. Your taxi driver can watch TV, make videos and play music with his cell phone, but his taxi has no radio, A/C, seatbelts, locks…and often, no gas.
