News Flash

March 14, 2009

Random News from the last few days:

"My" cow had a baby. I should have known there could not be a cow that fat in Africa.

Kimulimuli, the descendant of Golem (J.R.R. Tolkien apparently did not know that he reproduced) and a naked mole rat who has put on some clothes, has decided to try to be cute. He is almost as pathetic as ever, but not quite. Right now he is playing with the only toy he possesses: his tail.

Siyafu (man-eating ants) invaded my house. I spread kerosene to keep them away, it acts as sort of a Siyafu fire wall. I managed not to get bitten this time- but the fumes are getting to my head and if I lit a match I am pretty sure my house would blow up. Juster informs me that Siyafu are enemies with poisonous snakes- I am not sure what I am supposed to do with this information. I am certainly not going to import a poisonous snake into my house to get rid of them... I would sort of rather not have either. Can that be an option? I have been told that there are two occasions I am supposed to run as fast as I can to the Mwalimu Mkuu's home. One is if the Siyafu invade at night, the second is if witches show up on my doorstep. (I am serious.)

I have turned into a mama kangaroo, except I carry my baby on my back. These days, Anna and I are inseparable. She is always tied onto my back and so I take her everywhere. When someone tries to take her away or when it is time for her to go home at the end of the day she cries. Otherwise she is perfect. She is the ideal age where I can pack her around, she is potty trained, she can talk, but she is content with the small things. I took her to the teacher's meeting and she was sitting on my lap and drawing at my desk. The next minute I felt her get really heavy and I had to catch her before she fell. She literally fell asleep sitting up. She slept on my chest through the rest of the meeting. My little secret is that I want to keep her, but luckily Mwalimu Mjemah (her father) is equally as in love with her and I doubt he will offer her to me. She has given me a great "in" with the mamas though. Even though, it is obvious that she is not mine, it is still connecting to all be walking along with babies tied to our backs. It also makes them a little less weirded out that I am about to be 25 and have no husband or children.

In other news- I am building a tree in my living room. Yep. My fireplace is gray rough cement and i wanted to paint it but knew it could never look good. I decided on brown because my living room is earth tones- then I realized it looked like a tree trunk. Now I am fashioning branches that will connect to the ceiling. I am also making leaves. It will be decorated for Christmas next year. My villagers think I am crazy to build a tree in my living room, but I might as well be a bit crazy, right? I mean I am living alone in a village in the middle of nowhere.The house is mine, but it is not like I am re-selling it or living there forever. Might as well have some fun with it. So that is my big house art project.

I have started to join a new village social circle. Maria, one of my female teachers, also runs a Mgahawa (Cafe- place you can sit and drink soda or beer.) I go there with her now in the evening sometimes. It is pretty much only men who sit around at places like that, but it has made me a lot closer with the male population of my village. I pretty much disliked male Tanzanians after getting mugged, but my village men have regained my confidence. They are going to be the start of my men's group (which at my PC site visit, they said a men's group was a totally innovative idea that they had never heard of a woman starting. Empower men to empower women, right?) Maria is always there and usually my Mwalimu Mkuu, so I feel pretty good about being there. I was going to walk home the other night and it had just gotten dark, my Mwalimu Mkuu was shocked and said "Brie, Remember what happened in Dar?" (In Kis) and I was like, "Oh, yeah, but we are in the village. I thought I was safe here... ugh." He said in English which he never speaks, "You are, but what would we do if something happened to you?" Then he made my driver (Stanley) walk me home. Somehow I inherited a dad out of my Mwalimu Mkuu- he is great. Stanley is another story- He has stopped proposing and now we have some sort of friendship, which is weird because he did not finish primary school, speaks no English, and is a Tanzanian male who is my age. He knocks on my door because he knows I like to go visit people, he won't come into my house without a chaperone and I wondered how I ended up in the 1800s... but good to observe boundaries. When we go walking he walks about four feet away from me on the other side of the road as is respectful for people of the opposite sex to walk, however, he still manages to ask me a million questions about America. He and his friends are all about my age and have no schooling and he is the only one with any sort of job. They just hang out all day and I imagine, sleep around at night. So little do they know my being friendly with the white girl, they are about to start going to work for me. They think that they are just having a good time but they are about to get an AIDS/STDS prevention earful. After that my plan is to basically have them help me by being peer educators for other men in our community. After all, what else do they have to do?

Other updates: My back is peeling, I may or may not have fleas, I have living off pineapple and home made tortillas, I had a dream the other night that I was in Target and I could practically feel the new clothes, but I woke up to the same 5 skirts and 7 shirts...