LoSarian at an African Rap Concert

First of all. Happy New Years. Especially to my family, who I did not spend New Years with for the first time ever. I missed our car nose races. That said I did replace it with me being in a room with over 2000 africans and us. Read on for details ;)

So the last thing I had talked about was me talking to the chiefs of the Messiah village and getting a marriage proposal and a sweet new name.



Elliott and Paul dressed like Messiah warriors gettign jiggy with it. (The purple represents the nice God, the red represents the angry side of god, and the headlamp represents how LoSairan and electricity cannot be seperated).

To see my friends blog about Africa go here: http://www.xanga.com/paulypocket29 If you want a different perspective.


The rest of our Messiah tour involved us riding on camel back which was so much fun. When the camels got up it was a roller coaster in itself as they lift their front legs and then their back legs which are taller than me. Riding on camel in a dessert was such an intense feeling. It felt very natural and freeing, and it hurt my thighs. At some points villagers would come out to greet us and wave at us. It was like I was on a parade.

The other group filled me in with their details finally and witnessed two actual kills on the rest of the Safari which is amazingly lucky (There guide had only seen 4 his whole life before that for 7 years). Imagine a zebra jumping onto a zebra's back. Crazy!!!

So I came back to the Arusha, now with two marriage proposals and a Messiah name and walking stick. Back in Arusha we talked to a man who helped childrens with AIDS that Ben had a connection to. It was amazing how Africa is combatting AIDS. Every meeting for anything has 5 minutes dedicated to talking about AIDS prevention.

We took a 10 hour bus ride to Dar Es Salam. It was fun seeing the miles and miles of small towns. I also saw a movie made in Africa which had some of the worst acting ever combined with the nutcracker music as the background music. It took place in Africa, and the best music they could think of useing was African!!!



In Dar Es Salam we met another man from Ashley's contacts and took him out to dinner below the United Nations Headquarters. It was a quaint little bar that played Enrique Gonzales music. Oh how I loved it when I heard Bailamos. That was when I spilled exactly what happened on Christmas Eve to the rest of the group. If anyone wants to know exactly what happened they are going to have to ask me personally :)

After that, we asked our African friend where we shoudl go for New Years. He told us the Diamond Jubilee, as it had live music. I was thinking it was going to be some traditional live music with some sweet dancing. So of course I ware my gold shorts, and a bright silkish orange shirt with giraffes on it. And take note that my hair is incredibly shaggy, and I haven't shaven yet. (Just look at that picture).

So we get ready, (Teju and I lay around along while as the non-drinkers) and then we head up. We get to this place and it ends up being a giant wherehouse. We buy our $4 tickets and head in. What I am about to describe may never do justice:

Imagine 2,000 black Afircans. And imagine them all sitting in lawn chairs. Then imagine 9 white people walking in. Ya we kind of stood out. Whenever I walked around everyone would stair at me. The good news was that they were all about my age of people and they all wore pretty normal clothes. Except for me. I was the only guy who wore shorts and the color orange.

So basicly this was where the locals really did go. I went to the bathroom and it was FILLED with pot smoke. I could barely see my pee.

So things you should know about LoSarian. LoSarian does not like rap too much (besides this one really cool CD I recieved). On top of that Losarian has never really danced to rap. He doesn't really like dancing to that stuff. Oh and Losarian is really shy around girls and asking them to dance. And finally, Losarian could not speak Swahilli. If you can't figure it out, I'm kind of out of my security circle.

That said the rapping started and it had a pretty good beat and the singers got into it. But the audience was dead. It killed my entire stereotype of black men being really good dancers (Sorry Aaron). They just sat there in their seats and didn't even move except once in a blue moon to wave their hands.

So I was kind of bummed. No dancing, and its rap, yuck. And then I said to myself, hmm, I can take this as a challenge. If I could start dancing with some women here, than I really would conquer my fear of dancing, as everything is against me. And so the quest was on.

So there are three REALLY attractive girls standing next to us, probably more attractive than Neema even, and so I set my goals high. Remeber I'm with a bunch of PLC studs here as well, like Ben, BJ, Paul, and the rest of the hotties.

So I do a few turns and shy away but I start building confidence. But then on one of the songs one of the girls grabs me (I'm calling her Neena because thats what I think she said it was). And so we start dancing.

So Neena was dressed in a pink see through shirt with this small bikini under it. She wore jeans and a red thong.

Now some further notes: Losarian has never really grinded in his life, nor bumped rears, nor really been closer than 8 inches close to a girl while dancing.

Well Neena's danceing style was a little bit different. Her legs litterly went under mine. She would go up and down and we were extremely close. Holy cow that was a new form of dancing I'd never tried. And I also discovered what the concept of grinding was.

Wow!! So I danced with her the whole night from like 12 -2. There was glitter in my hair from when our small group threw it in the air and I was extreemly sweaty. But let me say, it was one crazy night to start the new year.

I tried to get the other group members to join in but they wanted to stay in their own circle so it was just Neena and I.

Looking into Neena's eyes was the best part. She seemed to say so much to me, despite the fact there was no way for us to actually communicate.

Neena also taught me how to holler and say Ye Yo (kind of like He Ho) so we would yell that out loud throughout the night.

Eventually Neena did a crazy head shaking move, but little did she realize I could pull that one back on her.

So eventually Neena and I got our friends together near the end and we all did the train and did a dance circle. Paul poored me with water at the end right before I went into the middle. When I danced with my sandles in the middle, I started slipping and sliding in a very non rap way. I think about 50 people were watching us instead of the rappers. Isn't it strange that African's view of white people dancing came from me :).

So I had to go home with the group as it was really unsafe for me to stay alone at night. I said Asanti Sana (Thank You) to Neena and left. It's weird that was all I ever will say to her and I will never see her again. I had such intense feelings.

On the way out a fight broke out and a man threatened to rob us. I thought he said "You Rock" so I laughed, Eric informed me of my error later on that night.

The group also informed me that while Neena was grinding me her boob had actually popped out of her shirt and she was nipple grinding me. I was not aware about that but it seems to be group consensus.

I took a shower when I got home to get the sprinkles out of my hair. Only the hot water ran.


The next day we took a Ferrienzibar a beach resort island off of Tanzania. I stood on the edge and looked out at the ocean for an hour and half. That was such a great way to start the new years day. I did a lot of thinking about my place in the world.

We are now in Zanzibar ready to relax for an entire week. Maybe I'll start reading the 6 books I brought :). But I'm sure I'll still go find those crazy adventures some more. Paul and I have already decided that we are going to go to clubbing tonight :) I also had the best tasting shrimp ever. It was chinese pineapple prawns. I am a big fan of seafood so it's going to be so fun eating when you can get lobster for $5.

As for what I have been thinking about philisophicaly:

I find that my love for people is stronger than I could have ever imagned. It is so strong that all my fears disapear in an attempt to meet them. I have discovered that my life at home has been tied to so many things that don't really have that much direct importance to me: bussiness, academic fame, girlfriends, pulling amazing things off. I hope when I get back I can start applying more purpose to my actions. And remember that I am doing things for the entire world.

I hope to find more ballance in my life. Seek out some people who I seem to keep leaving behind, despite how important I realize they are (Tyler, Lisa, Jimmy, Hallie, Cameron, and a lot more). I've decided that I need to start going the direction I want to go in engineering. I want to start working on Magic Eyes this summer (those pictures that are 3d if you stare at them long enough) (I know enough prgramming to make them).

I now know that I want to see as much of the world as possible while I am young. I also know that meeting real, actual people is much more important to me than seeing tourist sights. I also know that the natural beauty of countries caputres me as well.

I now know I want to live on an island forest when I grow old.

I now have a role model in Paul and BJ.

I now am looking more towards my passion than my purpose. The Messiah people, across the world told me their purpose in life was to be inter connected with others, just like mine. The question is now, how do I want to do that.

I see that poverty is not of people's own laziness. When there isn't enough water to make crops, nor any jobs to pay money, people are forced to be poor, starving, and homeless.

I see that my school at CU in engineering is shut off from the world. And to remember that the things I learn as an engineer will help these people across the world.

I now know how lucky I am to get an education, as most people my age would do ANYTHING to learn, and value it higher than I ever will.

I now know that the world will become a global community, as that is what every person wants, it's boundaries of social upbringing, "politenes", comfortability that hold us back. I know that these boundaries will be broken.

Looking at the ocean or stars, I know I am free and can do ANYTHING I want. I can change the world as I see fit. And I thank god, my family, community, and friends for giving me that opportunity.

And to think our trip is only halfway done and I've already changed so much. Where else is there for me to go :) By the way Garrett and Hayden, I got you guys some sweet masks that match up together (don't forget about Age of Empires 3).

This trip has been absolutely amazing and thank you all for your comments. It warms my heart reading everyone of them. I look forward to seeing you again in person.