Singida-a-gogo

So, week one of Singida down, and we’re settling in nicely. We’ve already found a new favorite restaurant, Cheshi Cliff, which is literally built into the side of a cliff. It’s about 4 stories tall, and 20 feet wide, and would never pass ANY building code in the Western world. But they have great “wali rosti” with hot peppers, and cold beer, so we’ve become huge fans. Also, the cliff offers an amazing view of the city of Singida. We’ve also settled into our hotel, the Stanley, chosen mostly because of the concrete animals in front. There are several hotels in Singida all owned by the same person, all identifiable by the concrete sculptures on display. Sadly, the Aqua Vita, which has a concrete dinosaur scene was too far from the city center to be feasible.

Interestingly, the perception that Ryan is Chinese has followed us here, and rather than shouts of “Wazungu! Wazungu!” when we walk through the streets, we more likely hear, “Mchina! Mchina!” This make a modicum of sense however, as many of the kids here have probably seen a lot more Chinese people than Americans or Europeans come through Singida. It seems that every road or development project in the area is sponsored by the Chinese government.

We’ve moved forward with setting up research here, and have hired a couple of research assistants, and started meeting local government officials. They’ve largely been very helpful, and I’m really excited to start working here. Unfortunately, we have to go to Dar for a few days to get some paperwork before moving forward (see Ryan’s blog post). People keep reassuring us, “don’t worry, it’s only a 12-hour bus ride”….great….

-Betsy