If only I had an invisibility cloak...

The university is in full swing now, and I am desperately trying to keep up. I feel like I've been running around all week getting my residence permit, opening a bank account, trying out classes, etc. Classes officially started last week (when I was in Malawi), but apparently no one, not even the professors, show up during the first week. This week I started going to class on Wednesday, and even then most of the professors didn't come! I think things start to really pick up next week.

I went to one class today, and it was huge. The professor said he had to cap it at 400 because there were too many people. So here I am, the only white person in a 400+ person class, thinking maybe I won't stand out quite as much if I'm squished up next to the wall. The professor says that we will elect two class representatives and asks for nominations. Some guy on the clear opposite side of the class stands up, points my direction, and says "the mzungu in the corner!" Mzungu (plural: wazungu) means European/ white person, so suddenly there were more than 400 students craning to get a better look at the foreign kid. The teacher starts rattling off in Swahili for everyone to be serious (because wazungu aren't real people!), and asks for more nominations. Then the entire class starts saying "mzungu, mzungu!" It was horribly uncomfortable for about a minute until some girl stood up and nominated herself. God bless.

When I was in Malawi, it was the rainy season so there were very few tourists. Katie & I got a lot of stares and whispers there--everyone is surprised to see a pasty white kid walking down the road. It feels like being in a zoo. In Dar es Salaam, people are used to seeing us foreigners. You still get stares of course, and people yell "mzungu!" all the time (not in a mean way, just pointing it out in case you weren't sure that you're white). All the foreigners stand out like a sore thumb, but on campus no one really cares, so I wasn't quite prepared for a return to the zoo feeling when I went to class. This will take some getting used to.

Something else that will take getting used to is the fact that people seem to instantly fall in love with you if you are a mzungu. I've had plenty of people profess their love to me on the street. Once again, this doesn't really happen with students who are used to having foreign faces in their midst. But as I was eating a delicious ice cream cone after class, trying to forget the feeling of 400 pairs of eyes on me, it did. Of course, it caught me off guard again. What usually follows is "Are you married?" and then "What religion are you?" (By that they mean "Are you Christian or Muslim?" There's really no other option). So every time I have to make up a fiancee and a church. Lying to people is exhausting... I really don't enjoy it.

You also have to be very careful about being friendly around men because many of them interpret pleasantries as interest (then come the marriage/ religion questions). It took me a while to figure out that men and women are generally not friends here. On campus people are a little more western, so you do get inter-gender friendships, but it is still not as common as it is at home. This is unfortunate because I haven't met many girls. My roommate is nice but doesn't speak and is hardly ever here. I've met a lot of people hanging out at Daruso (like an outdoor student union/ cafeteria), but they are never women. Ever.

So it seems I have a lot to get used to. Now that the students are back on campus I am learning a whole new social dynamic and trying to find my niche. It is interesting, and at times frustrating, but always an adventure.