Sorry for the Delay! This is the second time I've tried to post this one.

Hello again all! I tried a week ago to post this, but ran it didn't seem to work, so I hope it does this time!

"As you've probably noticed, this site has changed around some and with it went this journal for a while. But - it seems to be back now and we can only hope that it lasts.

Zanzibar, however, has been up and running this entire time. We've blown through two homestays on two different islands, Swahili classes, and a coastal ecology seminar. That's a lot of ground to cover.

My first homestay was here in Stonetown with the family of a local government representative. There were two very sweet, english-fluent sisters (16 and 19) and one adorable little brother (6). We lived in a townhouse packed onto a narrow street that consisted of our house and a closet-sized grocery shop. There was one main room where everyone ate, chatted, hung out, and watched TV. Oh man did they love their TV! My sisters and the neices who lived with us (to go to the better schools in the bigger city - they cooked and cleaned and did laundry and were just awesome) all loved Bollywood, so there were endless musicals and music videos playing. Certain nights, however, everyone would drop whatever they were doing (which was nothing anyway) and all crowd in to watch a Thai soap opera that was dubbed over in English. The acting was terrible, the dubbing even worse, and the plot itself was absolutely ridiculous. They loved it, however, and I loved to hear my younger sister translate the events to her mother and grandmother inSwahili as they unfolded in English.

My next family was much smaller, with just a 23 year-old mother and two sisters under 2 and a 28 year-old father. There were many good times with card games that I'll have to recount later.

Today we woke up late and rented out a cheap boat to Prison Island which is pretty close. All around the island are beautiful reefs and beaches. We spent a day snorkelling, swimming, lounging, walking and snorkelling.

Tomorrow we're heading to Jozani Forest (URL) for four days"

But now we're back from Jozani, which was probably my favorite place of all time. We saw huge families of monkeys playing and running and sleeping in the trees right over our heads! Some even saw mere feet from us or ran across our paths!

The last day, a few friends and I went for a walk and found a tree that was considerably larger in circumference than my dormroom freshman year. I climb up into it's branches and had enough room to settle in and lay round up there for a while.

While in Jozani, our class did research on Mangrove conservation and forestry, as well as observations on the Red Colobus Monkeys and various bird species. We also celebrated a birthday, caught up on sleep, and watched The Lion King projected onto the side of our house.

I hope things are going well for everyone! I miss you all!

Comments

Posted on 3/07/2009 by

Beth Adams

Yea! It's great to hear from you!>Thanks for updating! It's unseasonably warm here (around 70) So we got out & worked on the yard. Dad cut down the middle shoot of the apple tree. Lots more light & air now - that ought to help it. We had windows open, really nice! Miss you! Love, Mom

Posted on 3/21/2009 by

Bill Grafflin

Hi Maggie. Grammy and I are in Florida for 10 days -- sort of our Spring Break. Well, it is Spring today, so I guess that makes it official. The weather here is in the high 70's, while at home it was in the 30's and in the 20's in Muskoka. It sounds like you are having a good time AND learning a bit, too. What a way to get an education! We miss you, and hope to get caught up on everything when you get back. Pitt won their first round of the NCAA basketball tournament and play again tomorrow. Love, Grammy and Grandpa G.

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