October 10-12,
This weekend I stayed at my site- but my closest PCV neighbors came to spend the weekend with me. Josh- who I have gotten to know really well since staying with him during my early site panic and hanging out with him on weekends in town or at one of our sites- he has helped me dig a garden and fix my house up a bit. Also coming for the weekend was Margaret- who is from my group and was my room mate when we first arrived in country. She is 22 and from Michigan. Teresa- also from my group, who is 27 and from Colorado. When I say they are my closest neighbors "close" is sort of an overstatement. They are all within tough biking distance. Over rough back roads- they can each make it within a day, biking from various directions, I am sort of centrally located. This was Josh's 4th or 5th time at my site- so he knows the way well and has even given some of the toughest parts of the journey nicknames: one hill is "Kilimanjaro" another is "Mt. Meru" etc. Obviously not since we are in the highlands and not up north, but still some pretty extreme hills. The first things Margaret says to me when she gets to my house huffing and puffing is "I need a cigarette".
I try to have warm bucket baths ready for all of them when they arrive. We have a great time- mostly just talking and eating. A few of us are on the 1-2 meal a day diet, so when we get together we really eat. Those of us new ones used to make fun of the PCVs that would come help during training because they would all be really skinny, but then when food was available would stack their plates high and go back for seconds. We wondered where they put all that food, now we understand a little better the situation when you are at site. But this weekend we ate well. We made hummus, muffins, burritos, popcorn, cake, hot chocolate, coffee, etc. But Tanzanian style American cooking takes forever! Example: I say we made burritos. This did not consist in pulling tortillas out of the fridge and opening a can of refried beans. It means we pulled out the flour, the salt, the oil- lit the charcoal and rolled the tortilla dough out one by one with a nalgene bottle and cooked them each over the fire individually. And that is even before we get started with any fillings....
It was great to have people around to play hostess for. However, I was not a very good one as I only own two spoons and one fork- so one of us had to eat Tanzanian style at every meal. At night we built a fire and played cards. It was nice to not go to bed at 8 pm and still be having a good time around 11. But having company and then having them leave is even more lonely, so I am back to bed at 8.
I am getting excited for some of the tentative holiday plans I have coming up. Everything here is changeable since travel, weather, people are fairly unplanned here. But nice to look forward to some ideas that have been put out there by friends. If any of them don't work out I will try to just hang out with Zummi and Adina on the farm. Halloween, one of my favorite holidays- hoping to head to Iringa town. There are a lot of PCVs in this area and good food/Christmas shopping. Thanksgiving- this will be the first one I can remember not going to my grandparents house in Southern Oregon. So I am hoping that viewing the snow covered peaks of Kilimanjaro will be a good distraction. There is a PCV up there outside of Moshi who I don't know- but is a friend of Josh's who is hosting a gathering. I would really like to see this part of Northern Tanzania. Christmas- my friend, Greta, in my region is going to host a party at her site. New Years- there is supposed to be this amazing beach outside of Dar called Kipepeo (Butterfly) Beach. There are thatched roof huts along the beach at a reasonably priced resort we are hoping to stay in. So all in all looking forward to these trips is making time pass faster.
This weekend I stayed at my site- but my closest PCV neighbors came to spend the weekend with me. Josh- who I have gotten to know really well since staying with him during my early site panic and hanging out with him on weekends in town or at one of our sites- he has helped me dig a garden and fix my house up a bit. Also coming for the weekend was Margaret- who is from my group and was my room mate when we first arrived in country. She is 22 and from Michigan. Teresa- also from my group, who is 27 and from Colorado. When I say they are my closest neighbors "close" is sort of an overstatement. They are all within tough biking distance. Over rough back roads- they can each make it within a day, biking from various directions, I am sort of centrally located. This was Josh's 4th or 5th time at my site- so he knows the way well and has even given some of the toughest parts of the journey nicknames: one hill is "Kilimanjaro" another is "Mt. Meru" etc. Obviously not since we are in the highlands and not up north, but still some pretty extreme hills. The first things Margaret says to me when she gets to my house huffing and puffing is "I need a cigarette".
I try to have warm bucket baths ready for all of them when they arrive. We have a great time- mostly just talking and eating. A few of us are on the 1-2 meal a day diet, so when we get together we really eat. Those of us new ones used to make fun of the PCVs that would come help during training because they would all be really skinny, but then when food was available would stack their plates high and go back for seconds. We wondered where they put all that food, now we understand a little better the situation when you are at site. But this weekend we ate well. We made hummus, muffins, burritos, popcorn, cake, hot chocolate, coffee, etc. But Tanzanian style American cooking takes forever! Example: I say we made burritos. This did not consist in pulling tortillas out of the fridge and opening a can of refried beans. It means we pulled out the flour, the salt, the oil- lit the charcoal and rolled the tortilla dough out one by one with a nalgene bottle and cooked them each over the fire individually. And that is even before we get started with any fillings....
It was great to have people around to play hostess for. However, I was not a very good one as I only own two spoons and one fork- so one of us had to eat Tanzanian style at every meal. At night we built a fire and played cards. It was nice to not go to bed at 8 pm and still be having a good time around 11. But having company and then having them leave is even more lonely, so I am back to bed at 8.
I am getting excited for some of the tentative holiday plans I have coming up. Everything here is changeable since travel, weather, people are fairly unplanned here. But nice to look forward to some ideas that have been put out there by friends. If any of them don't work out I will try to just hang out with Zummi and Adina on the farm. Halloween, one of my favorite holidays- hoping to head to Iringa town. There are a lot of PCVs in this area and good food/Christmas shopping. Thanksgiving- this will be the first one I can remember not going to my grandparents house in Southern Oregon. So I am hoping that viewing the snow covered peaks of Kilimanjaro will be a good distraction. There is a PCV up there outside of Moshi who I don't know- but is a friend of Josh's who is hosting a gathering. I would really like to see this part of Northern Tanzania. Christmas- my friend, Greta, in my region is going to host a party at her site. New Years- there is supposed to be this amazing beach outside of Dar called Kipepeo (Butterfly) Beach. There are thatched roof huts along the beach at a reasonably priced resort we are hoping to stay in. So all in all looking forward to these trips is making time pass faster.
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