One Book, a Half-Asleep Request for Egg Salad, and a Really Long "Quick Nap" Later: I've Arrived.

That's right, me and my two three checked bags made it to Tanzania.

After standing in line to check into my flight for over an hour on Sunday morning (everyone in line had about 4 huge suitcases per person) I found out that there was a weight limit on your carry-on luggage-- 20 pounds.  Unfortunately, my duffle weighed around 30 and I knew there was no easy way for me to shuffle around that weight between the three bags.  So, we had to pay the fee for a third checked bag.  Which, while it was nice to not have to lug around the duffle with me through Dulles, was actually pretty annoying.  Especially because there were a lot of people who brought bags that looked way heavier than 20 pounds and didn't have to check them.  Rude.
Although a little more rushed than I usually like, I still had time to grab a Chipotle burrito, eat some of it before boarding, and shove the rest of it in my bag.  We actually boarded a little late and ended up leaving about an hour late.  I wasn't really paying attention, so I don't actually even know what caused the delay, but I'm guessing that it was the crazy amount of time it took everybody at check-in and that they were waiting for passengers to get through security.  I had a 4 hour layover in Ethiopia so I wasn't overly concerned.
A nice, older couple sat next to me.  They were friendly, but the kind of friendly I like to sit next to on 12 and a half hour flights-- they smiled, said hello, and then we did our own thing with no painful small-talk required.  The woman who sat next to me was nice enough to wake me up when the flight attendants came around with food at three really oddly timed intervals (not timed with U.S. meals or with east African times...) which led to the whole egg salad deal.

Either a bunch of ice or some really low clouds...

I had napped, finished my first kindle book, taken pictures of clouds (ice?), and eaten some of my leftover Chipotle so I could take my malaria meds with a meal.  So, I napped again.  I was asleep for about an hour when the woman next to me woke me up.  The flight attendant asked me "chicken or vegetable" but I thought she said "chicken or egg salad".  It led to a very confusing 30 seconds where I kept asking for egg salad and the flight attendant just stared at me clearly very confused and then we both just burst out laughing.  In the end the vegetable sandwich was surprisingly good anyways.


But, anyways, the second flight was uneventful, I got through getting my visa without issue, and was happily surprised to see all 3 of my checked bags waiting for me on the other side, no worse for wear.  I got to my hotel which is pretty nice and have been enjoying the shower, wifi, and mostly the bed.  In fact, last night, after I checked and made sure nothing in my bags had broken or exploded (success-- no toiletry disasters there), I laid down for what was supposed to be a quick nap before grabbing dinner but ended up sleeping until 11 pm.  I woke up for about an hour to shower and eat a quick power bar, then went back to sleep til this morning.  I guess I was tired.

This morning I put on my first skirt of the trip (this is still going to take a little getting used to) and went to breakfast.  I would say it has all felt a little surreal so far, but sitting down to breakfast, drinking tea and eating a lot of the same stuff I ate daily last summer I had a weird sort of "Oh yeah, this is where I am" moment.  I guess it's because I didn't spend very much time in Dar es Salaam last summer, so it's not as though the sights of this area were super familiar to me.  Until I sat down to my breakfast of watermelon, chapati, baked beans, and tea with milk and sugar, I could have sort of been anywhere.
I get picked up around noon to go back to the airport and pick up another volunteer, then it's off to Morogoro.  Not sure how soon I will have the internet situation settled there, so bye until then!