Day 7: Tanzania (Usa River, Nkaoranga, Mount Meru)
Well, the electricity just went out at the guest house, which means the end of my studying time, which means time for me to journal about my day while sitting in my hot, dark room! :D Hopefully the bugs outside won't be attracted to the light of my phone and try to come in here :/
But enough about that. On to today!
This morning we had avocado juice (mixed with something else, no doubt, and surprisingly delicious) and vegetable crepes again (still tamd san...very delicious) and left the house close to 9:00 to get to the hospital, this being a very important day because it was my first full day working at the hospital!
*Present Tense Interjection*
Now I'm listening to the people in the house behind us play their horrible, synthesizer-sounding music which is pretty much one ugly measure repeated over and over (I wish I was exaggerating). Apparently not *everybody's* electricity went out 😒
*Back to the Past*
Doris and I were out on the patio behind the Female Ward and across from the Children's Ward to prime and paint about a dozen of the curtain holders and about 4 or 5 side dressers that the nurses kept finding and bringing out 😒 I should clarify...by "patio", I mean giant slab of concrete clearly intended to be the foundation of another building, but which never even reached completion on the full, laid foundation stage.
So we sat out there in the heat, priming away and taking frequent breaks so we didn't die of heat exhaustion. I eventually remembered that the Cipro I've been taking comes with the directions: no prolonged exposure to the sun. Whoops. I then spent the rest of my painting time pulling dressers over to my distinguished spot in the shade which grew bigger and bigger as the day wore on and the sun sank further behind the Children's Ward. No matter where we stood, however, we crazy mzungus always had spectators just watching us paint (and occasionally laughing :P).
We broke for about an hour and a half for lunch (where we both discovered we'd gotten pretty bad sunburns 😁) before going back to work which we continued until around 4 or so when it was time to quickly run home and change for dinner at Kleopa's.
*Present Tense Interruption Again*
Electricity's back on! Still sitting in the dark cause I'm too lazy to turn my light back on, but my fan's back on! Praise God!!!
*Back to the Past*
Dinner at Kleopa's was outstanding. First of all, he had a beautiful house (nzuri san!).
Second, Jean Pierre was there. I just realized I don't think I've written about Jean Pierre yet. He's a Dutch national who lived/worked in Rwanda until the uprising when he was forced out and moved to Tanzania with his wife. She died 5-6 years ago, but he stayed here. Apparently he mainly just stays in his house drinking and smoking all day, but comes down occasionally to get free meals. Oh, and he only speaks Dutch and French, as he refuses to learn Swahili or English.
He crashed the Preschool Graduation the other day. Just grabbed a chair in between some of the little graduating kids, plopped himself down, and relaxed. He's one of the most bizarre characters I've ever come across, and he joined us for dinner tonight. Speaking of which...
Third, the food was wonderful. Mama Ana (Kleopa's wife) made ground beef/carrot pasties, garlic potatoes, green beans and carrots, "Asian rice" (white rice with some carrots and peas thrown in), and a ton of fruit. I, of course, being the obese American that I am, put way too much food on my plate and only ended up eating maybe half of it...again, whoops. I will go down in Tanzanian history as the mzungu who never finished anything...come to think of it, I only had a couple sips of after-dinner coffee before we went on a tour of Kleopa's family's farm, so I wasted that too...oh well.
As I mentioned, Kleopa took us around to see his family's farm (lots of animals, fruit trees, and a coffee plantation) which was pretty cool. We passed someone's house where they burn cow poop to create methane gas and therefore power for their home! We also learned that pretty much everyone's kitchen is basically a shack outside their home. Very interesting!
We concluded our tour, I had Paul teach me a few more Swahili words, and then we headed for home.
Since I've been sitting in the dark for a while, I think I'll probably go to sleep pretty soon as my eyes have now gotten ridiculously tired.
Goodnight!
mjl.
Swahili I've learned so far (that I actually remember...and would like to continue remembering):
- Jambo (hello...sometimes hello, how are you?)
- Habari za asubuhi (good morning)
- Habari yako? (How are you?, Habari Zenu if more than one "you")
- Asante (thank you)
- San (very, i.e. Asante San = thank you very much)
- Karibu (welcome or you're welcome)
- this exchange (don't ask me why they say the same thing twice):
- Habari (hello, how are you?)
- Nzuri (I am fine...nzuri can also mean beautiful)
- Jambo (hello, how are you?)
- S'jambo (I am fine)
- Hapana (no)
- Kwanza (first)
- Usiku Muema (good night)
- Mzungu (white person)
- Mufrika (black person)
- Sawa (okay)
- Tamd (delicious)
- Machoka (tired)
- Kisho (tomorrow)
- Hospitali (hospital)
- Kuku (chicken)
- Simba (lion)
- Timbo (elephant)
- Baba (father)
- Chokuru (food)
- Yako (you)
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