Hall 3

Hall 3 will always have a special place in my heart. I only spent 5 months of my life there, but it was a very significant part of my life. Hall 3 is the student block on the Dar Es Salaam University Campus, where they put the female exchange students, together with female Tanzanian students. I did one semester of my bachelor in African Studies in Tanzania in the fall of 2005. In Hall 3 I built up a relationship with my current husband. I spent 5 months in the same room as a classmate. We shared toilets and bathrooms with all kinds of girls. We had friends upstairs and downstairs and the first floor. We had a balcony with view to the Indian Ocean. We had monkeys and bush babies visiting us veeery close. And we had water shortage. In Tanzania I experienced the most extreme water shortages I have experienced during my times in Africa. Considering we were so many sharing toilets I guess it was much more noticable.

Today it is the 2nd December, therefore the picture has to include 2 things (and they have to be of the same thing). These are the two sinks on our floor that was the first place to stop on the way back to our room from lectures or town. Specially my roomate Kine went straight to the sinks when returning to the hall (especially when it had been no water when we left the building). Usually I heard her angry or disappointed shout: Hamna maji! (No water = Swahili). But sometimes you could hear an excited shriek, following by Kine rushing into the room, ripping her clothes off and heading for the shower. You'd never know how long the running water would actually run.

At night during shortages, we left the taps open, so we would be awaken by the water flowing if it happened to come. And when it did, we got up, collected water and took a shower. At 3am.

Should I repeat the fact that I love water? But I also loved Hall 3 in a funny kind of hatred-ish way.