A small request

It's 1:30 in the morning. I just wish these cockroaches would stop
crawling across me. I think that's what I get for sleeping on a
concrete floor. At least it's cool and comfortable here.

5 weeks + Foods

This is my new countdown. 5 weeks from now, I'll be flying back to America for the first time in (at that time) 522 days. The trip will last for 2 1/2 months, and I don't know if I will keep up the blog during that time.

However, when I do come back to Africa, I think I'm going to move on to Blog 2.0. I'm going to start fresh on Wordpress (yes, it has some pros and cons to it, but is better suited to the new direction that I want to head) and try to reliably include pictures in my posts as well as start doing categories and tags.

Anyway, as I count this down, I might as well include some lists each week, so here goes:

The most interesting foods that I've eaten during my time here.

1. Roasted termites - no matter how many people have tried to tell me that they're delicious, I don't believe them
2. Fish eyes & brains - they're pretty greasy, but it was texture more than the flavor that got to me. All the same, it's an insult to the host if you leave the best part of the fish on your plate.
3. Vegan brownies - I think that if I worked at tweaking the recipe, this could actually work, but my single attempt didn't bake very well
4. Roasted pork - doesn't seem that interesting, until you bite into one of the "potatoes" on the plate, only to discover it's just a chunk of gristle. Pigs are not even close to lean here.
5. Pasta with peanut butter and balsamic vinegar - I like to try mixing random foods together. This one was not my best combination
6. Mac & Cheese not made from a box - I still prefer Kraft, but it's nice to know that it's possible to do it
7. Goat stomach + intestines - I managed to chew half a bite. I still get nauseous at the smell of it.
8. African samosas - I usually associate samosas with India. Which is why it's always surprising to bite down on a mouthful of ground beef. Still pretty tasty.
9. Kitumbua - This is a deep fried rice pastry. I think the rice is really good at soaking of the oil. Clogs the arteries like no other, but man it's delicious
10. Hummus, Guacamole and tuna/egg salad sandwiches - all ingredients homemade (except the bread). Pretty killer combination.

Of course, I am proud of the bread-baking, pancake making (especially with bananas), chapati burrito preparing and other recipes that I've mastered since coming here as well. I hope that I didn't miss any of the exotic foods from my time here. I did leave off foods that I found in Nairobi, Mombasa and other cities that were certainly impressive, but not exactly representative of the bulk of my cuisine here.

Working in town 2

The first part of my journey was to follow up with several of the dealers from last week. I was greeted by smiles everywhere that I went and most people replied that they were still making their decision as to whether or not to buy it.

I decided that the next step was to visit more stores in other parts of Arusha. I first ventured to TFA (the Tanganyika Farmers' Association), a large agricultural store, which is owned by Tanzanian farmers to see if they would have ideas about where I might be able to sell the charger. The clerks were busy, but the one who approached me said that I would probably have really good luck at an electronics shop near the main bus stand. But he couldn't give me any name or an exact location. Unfortunately, there are dozens and dozens of shops in that area and I wasn't sure I would have enough luck to pick the right one.

Before leaving the area, I stopped by an electronics shop that I noticed nearby. I showed the charger to the clerk behind the counter. He was impressed and he called the manager. A man named Najib came out and asked me a few questions. Then he turned and said "How long will it take for you to deliver five?" I promised him delivery after two days so that he would be ready with the payment when I arrived.

Then I was on my way to the bus stand and I noticed Kilombero Market. I knew that this was not the main market, since it was just outside the downtown area, but I discovered that it was actually somewhat bigger than Soko Kuu (the main market) and had a steady flow of bicycle riders going into and out of the area. I wheeled the bike through the market, trying to take in the whole scene. There were lots of fruit dealers and clothing stalls and cookware shops and hawkers selling fish and salt and lots of miscellany (the stench of rotten fish was overwhelming), but I couldn't find any kind of electronics shop. I asked a man at a clothing shop and he directed me to an electronics dealer right outside the market. I showed it to a man named Ali who said that he liked the design and invited me to return again so that he could think about his decision. He seemed genuine, so I'm looking forward to seeing him again.

After that, I made it to the bus stand and visited a few shops trying to find prospective dealers. Some of the staffers gave me helpful references, but many of the shopkeepers had gone to lunch, so I couldn't make very useful connections, though many people were impressed with the design, which was useful for raising the company's profile in town. At one shop, they owner suggested that I bring it to their in-law's shop down the road. They sent their son (probably 18 years old) to show me the shop. He asked me questions on the way and when we arrived at the shop he took the lead on the sale. The shopkeeper seemed interested, but I was much more interested in Juma, the boy. We are going to look at if we might be interested in hiring him in some sales capacity.

My last two stops were both bicycle shops where we had left samples. The first one told me that he was having trouble selling it because of the price. I was surprised by this because the electronics shops that have been so optimistic are known for selling lower priced goods and have had no problems with our price point, while this bicycle dealer sells products to people that cost much much more, but he was having trouble selling it. As we continued talking, I learned that he hadn't really made efforts to sell the charger and I was pretty underwhelmed with him as a salesman. The other shop said that they were still trying out the product but hadn't made efforts to sell it yet. They were impressed with how it had handled the tests, so that was fairly promising. Still, I'm even more hesitant about giving samples to dealers rather than selling products outright (I have always been fairly skeptical).

Once again, I was pretty dehydrated and just overheated, so I decided to go back to the office. I was proud to be returning with an order this time, and I had a plan to go out with some gatorade the next time I do this (and something to plug my nose when I go back to Kilombero Market).

My apologies that this post and the preceding one are identical to the ones on the GCS company blog. I guess work is most of my life these days :)

Working in town (Addendum)

Sorry, I deliberately left this off the company's blog, but then I forgot to add back in when I posted it here. Anyway, here's one last part of my story.

---

As Brian and I were walking along in the market a car side-swiped me. It was traveling at less than 5 MPH and mostly got the bike. I didn't so much as have a bruise or scrape. Brian had some choice words for the driver. I just kinda shrugged and told him that I could sympathize with the difficulty of driving in that part of town, because of the narrow roads, crowds of people and animals, bicycles, motorcycles and push-carts all competing for space. It's like they say over here: hamna shida (basically the Arusha equivalent to hakuna matata; too bad Disney didn't make a song about that one too).

Working in town

Yesterday I went around town to show the GCS phone charger to shop-keepers around Arusha. Brian from Anza Technologies was following me to learn a bit about how we interact with dealers.

Our first stop was a bit uninspiring. I had visited Tahfif Goods on the main street through town last week and promised to return to show him the charger hooked up to a bicycle. I brought the bike into the store and showed the shop-keeper how it worked. He told us that it was a nice design, but he wouldn't be able to sell it in his shop. I looked at the shelves in his shop, which contained water boilers, Arabic schoolbooks, bottles of castor oil, all manner of posters and tons of other knickknacks. I couldn't solve the mystery of how he decides what is appropriate for his shop, and what wouldn't fit in. Still, he advised us about another shop that he thought might be better suited to the charger.

We continued up the street and saw a shop that sold all manner of electronic goods, so we decided to try the shop. Unfortunately, the shop had two parallel counters with a narrow space in between. I was trying to demonstrate to staff on both sides of the counter, but maneuvering was proving difficult. Everyone in the shop seemed intrigued as we showed them how it worked and told them the price. Two customers asked for my card, and I think there's a good chance that we will hear from them. The leading clerk told me several times that he was not authorized to make purchasing decisions and I'd have to meet with another staff member who was out of the office at the time. I left my card and asked them to be in touch, but I expect that I will have to follow up if I want to find the manager.

Then Brian and I headed towards the market, which I knew would be our best bet, since so many people ride their bikes to the market and shop in that area. We visited a solar goods shop called Takule Distributors first. The lady was awe-struck by the demonstration and assured us that she would have our manager call us as soon as he came to the office next week. I think we will hear from them soon. The nice part about solar goods shops is that they often have customers who don't have connections to the national power grid, who are searching for off-grid solutions for their electrical needs.

Then we went to a phone accessories shop outside the market. The shop-keeper definitely thought it was cool, but he just chuckled and shook his head when I asked if he would like to buy any. As I looked at the accessories he had on display, I noticed that everything was pretty flashy (well, I think a better word is tacky), like phone cases, headphones and so on. I think the fact that our charger isn't pink and glittery would have meant that it wasn't going to fit in at his store. But then, it seems like a shop selling fashion, rather than function.

After that we visited Malabis Solar, which was just behind the market. The shop keeper, Ayman, definitely lit up when he saw me demonstrate the design. He was very shrewd and grilled me on the design specifications. It was my first time all day discussing the product in English, rather than Kiswahili, since most people study technical features in English anyway. He bought a charger and told us that he expected to be in touch shortly to place an order. Right outside the shop, some men about my age stopped us and asked us how much we were selling the bike for. I explained to them that I wasn't selling the bike, because I needed it to demonstrate my charger. Their interest was piqued, so I showed them how it worked and told them that they could purchase their own from Malabis Solar. They definitely seemed interested.

My next stop was a phone/electronics shop where I was told that they really liked the design, but the purchases officer was out for the day. I'm sure that we'll hear from them soon. Down the street, I stopped at a solar shop where they told me that it was a nice design, but they wouldn't be interested in selling it. I decided to try a hardware store further down the street. It seemed like a longshot, but I had visited it before and I knew that the staff was friendly. The elderly couple behind the counter were definitely impressed. They said that they wouldn't sell it, but that they were confident that their son would in his phone shop near the market and gave me directions to Yusuf Communications.

I visited one more shop near the market where the man's face lit up when he saw me. He was impressed when I visited him last week, and seeing it on the bike, he kept saying it was brilliant. He was closing for the day to go to the mosque and he told me that he was going to call me very soon. Then, I raced over to visit the social security office to finish processing the company's registration. I arrived at 3:56, only to find out that the office was closing at 4. I was actually a bit relieved. I couldn't process my paperwork, but I managed to pick up a form that I needed without having to wait in line (lines move very slowly in that office). Sadly, that means one more trip to complete registration (this will be my 5th visit).

Then I headed back to the market to visit Yusuf communications. I greeted the shopkeeper and told him that I had just spoken with his father (personal connections are invaluable here) and showed him how the charger worked. He smiled and checked his cash-box. At that point, his face fell a bit and he promised that he would call me early the next week to place an order for at least 10.

I wanted to visit a nearby bicycle shop, since I had visited most other types of shops, but not the obvious candidate. Unfortunately, I realized that I was a bit dehydrated and feeling the effects of the afternoon sun, compounded by the sensation that something mild was probably living in my stomach. Moreover, I took note that Friday afternoon was probably bad timing for this type of mission, so it would make sense to make another venture and I might set up even more dealers. Still, I think the most valuable takeaway from the day was how many people saw our charger and the company and the potential for raising our profile in the area through word of mouth. I felt that I was entitled to a small celebration, so I treated myself to a Pepsi from the restaurant in town where they keep them so cold that you can feel the day melting away.

Confession

Well, I'm really happy with my job at this Global Cycle Solutions. Tomorrow, for a bit of show, I'll be biking around town with some products trying to raise our profile and set up some dealers. I love riding my bike (okay, borrowing Jodie's bike...but still). I've probably always been a big bike rider, right?

Not exactly. I didn't really learn to bike as a little 5 year old. Or even before my 10th birthday. I couldn't ride a bike when I got my driver's license. I learned to ride in the summer of 2006. I was 20. It goes back to the fact that I am a notoriously bad student. I always have to learn at my own pace. With things like math or geography, that tends to be at a pretty enthusiastic pace. Tasks that take a degree of dexterity tend to move at a glacial pace (I had to wear velcro shoes until the 5th grade because I refused to learn how to tie my shoes before then).

My friend Molly was walking her bike home, so I decided to give it a try. Molly is 8 inches shorter than me, but I didn't even raise the seat. After a bit of patience (and a dose of encouragement from Molly), I finally managed to figure it out. It was even more exciting when I got to try it out on a Daniel-sized bike.

So, these days I am an avid bike rider. But I wasn't always this way.

Names

Well, since I've come to Arusha, I've generally lived my life as Daniel (with some variations such as Dan, Don-nee, Dan-yelly and other interesting takes on the pronunciation) as opposed to in Maktau where the majority of people called me by my given Kenyan name, Maghanga. (It means witch doctor or herbalist. A man on a bus decided I would be his namesake one day, and it stuck. Later on, the other teachers concluded that mixing chemicals, which I did on a daily basis, was similar to mixing potions, so the name was completely appropriate).

A lot of people have three names: a local name, an English name and their family name. The local names vary from tribe to tribe and always carry some nice meaning. The English name seems a misnomer, since some of them (such as Gladwell, Crispus, or Staford) have probably never been given in England, but I suppose they come from English words. And of course, the family name which can be useful in guessing if people are related, however, most people only use the first two, so it's harder to reach that conclusion.

But there are other names too. Many people take a name for their first-born son (or in some areas, they take the name for their first born child even if it's a girl), so if the first born son is Peter, then the parents of Mapeter and Bapeter (pronounced Mapita and Bapita) as a contracted form of Mama of Peter and Baba of Peter. My coworker Philemon (that's his English name) is sometimes called Bachu (his first born son is Choosen, which is pronounced Chosen) and although I pass his wife's shop nearly every day and talk to Machu, I never knew her name. Today, as I was processing Philemon's social security paperwork, I saw spouse's name: Petromila. I think I'm going to keep calling her Machu.

What did I just eat?

I'm not quite sure what I just ate. It's probably a fruit. I'd say it's about the size of two footballs with a deep green outside (I only ate a small piece of it). I think it's actually a black solid with green bumps all over it. Then, when you cut it open, there's all these yellow things inside of it. They're about the size and color of pineapple cubes. Except they're not juicy, and they have a pit inside, kinda like a litchi. It tasted kinda sweet and definitely exotic. I'm pretty sure that I won't eat it again, but I'm wondering if anyone knows what this fruit is.

Birthday Adventure

My 24th birthday was definitely a wild ride. I'm also glad because I feel like I haven't had a good adventure to narrate on here for a while. Fortunately, my birthday was on Good Friday this year, so I had Friday and Monday off of work.

Festivities actually began on Thursday evening after work. Since I would be leaving on Friday morning to go to Mombasa, Jodie and Reuben (we all went to the same university and now we work together and share a house) decided to do a little birthday dinner that night. So they bought 20 chapatis from the shop near the office as well as some vegetables and we all cooked up some chapati burritos. Reuben also put on some macaroni and cheese that was an extra special treat. The neighbors came over and we enjoyed the feast and joked around for a while.

Then Jodie and I went to meet with a lawyer en route to Via-Via, which is the best Thursday night club in Arusha. The lawyer had just straightened out my immigration status, and we wound up spending an hour there talking business before going to Via-Via. First thing that Jodie and I did upon arriving at Via-Via was to order drinks and grab a table far enough from the music to sit down and talk business (I sadly have a remarkable track record of picking all the wrong settings for business discussions). Fortunately, it started raining soon, so Jodie and I decided that we had discussed enough business so we decided to find some shelter and wait out the storm. At that point, it was getting close to midnight, so the music started going and people started migrating to the dance floor, but I still wasn't feeling the music at that point (actually, I think I wasn't feeling the dance floor, since it was dominated by expats and had a very un-Tanzanian feel to it).

I had another beer and was surprised that I could feel its effects already. It was actually somewhat reassuring. I've scarcely drank for some time now, so my lack of tolerance for alcohol served to remind me why my bank account doesn't empty so quickly as some of my friends'. At that point, I moved to the dance floor and was definitely enjoying the music (there was a much better balance of Tanzanians and mzungus by this point). It also helped that Reuben showed up with our neighbors at that point (they had some major car issues en route to Via-Via). I had one more beer before deciding that I wanted to dance at the edge of the dance floor where I could enjoy the rain and music simultaneously.

At that point, it was approaching 2:00 and I needed to catch a 7 AM bus, so I decided to call it a night. Jodie also decided to pack it in, so we said good-bye to everyone else and went out to find a cab. I stopped Mic (our neighbor) and asked him for the keys to his house so that I could use my phone charger (his charger had become lost in our house, so I had left mine with him; losing stuff in our house is no mean feat, considering that it's 2.5 rooms). Jodie and I found a taxi outside where he gave us a really good price, so we agreed and went out. We both kinda knew that since drivers don't know where our house is, they will raise the price when they drop us off, so we always make sure they start really low so that we wind up near the fair price. This driver started lower than usual, but raised it a bit more. I thought about fighting, but with the heavy rain, I felt like he had earned the fare. Jodie and I ran to the door to avoid becoming further soaked. At that point, I realized that I didn't have Mic's keys. Most likely, they'd fallen out of my pocket when I was taking out the money to pay the driver and I hadn't heard it over the roar of the storm.

I sprinted after the taxi driver, but he was already gone. I didn't have his number and wasn't sure how I could track him down. I called Mic and told him to look for a black taxi and check the front seat to see if his keys were there. He called me two minutes later and said he was with the driver and found his keys. I couldn't believe that luck. I sighed a heavy sigh of relief before realizing that my phone battery was already dead, and I wouldn't be able to get his charger. I decided that sleep would cure everything, so I just threw my things in my backpack and started getting ready for bed when I saw Mic's charger. I decided to steal it for the weekend (well, trade for it since he had mine, and I wasn't sure he'd be back from Via-Via before I left for my bus) and I went to bed awash with relief.

I rolled out of bed at 6:10 AM and left the house without waking anyone else. I was impressed that it was still raining (it's definitely planting season over here) and threw my pajama pants over my shorts so that I wouldn't freeze on my way to the bus. I found my bus easily and only had to wait ten minutes before we left. It only took me five minutes to fall back to sleep. The conductor woke me about half an hour later to sell me my ticket. I paid groggily and went back to sleep. After another half hour, more passengers got on, and one of them told me that he had the ticked for the window seat, so I slid to the adjacent seat, but couldn't fall back asleep. I pulled out my book and started reading.

At the border, we picked up a few more passengers and it became clear that there was one more passenger than the number of seats, so I offered to stand. The new conductor (they switched shifts after entering Kenya) refused to hear of it. He asked for my seat number and I saw a young girl sitting in my seat. I was worried that he would send her off the bus, so I lied and told him I couldn't remember and tried to insist on taking the aisle. He demanded my ticket and saw that it didn't have a seat number, so he had to go and chase down the other conductor before I could react. It was hot and miserable at the border, but he found the conductor and returned to inform me where I was supposed to sit. Then he turned to the girl and asked for her ticket, which she produced (much to my relief) and found a woman in that seat. This went on for two more iterations before he came to a policeman sitting in a seat, and he hopped up bashfully and took his position in the aisle. In all this confusion, I realized that I had taken out money to exchange at the border and set it on my lap (the money-exchanger was about to arrive when the ticketing situation got under way) and forgotten about it. In all the shuffling, it had gotten lost (it was 50,000 Tsh or just over $35, which was the sum that I had intended to allow myself to spend on this trip). I asked around my seat and people mumbled that they hadn't seen anything. I accepted that I had only myself to blame for this and settled down, hoping the bus would pull out soon. After a bit more sitting, we were moving again.

The next bit of excitement was when we were an hour into Kenya (about 20 km from the village where I had taught in 2009) and I saw an elephant. I hadn't seen one since I'd arrived in Tanzania, and I realized that I still couldn't get excited about seeing one. Just after that, we saw a car broken down on the side of the road, 15 km from the nearest village (which was Maktau), so we stopped for 45 minutes and several men on the bus went to help the driver get his car running again. I kept on reading. As we drove through Maktau, I noticed that it was a lot greener than I remembered, which made me smile. My heart especially went out to the donkeys, cows and goats who had endured even worse food shortage than the villagers during my time there. We rode on down the miserable road, and I was thrilled when we pulled into Voi at 3:00, since it was my first opportunity to grab food all day (not a great selection, albeit, but at least something to put in my stomach and fight off the dehydration). As we pulled out of Mombasa, the conductor came up to me and handed me some money. He asked if this was the money I was looking for. I counted the 30,000 and told him that it was most of it, and thanked him profusely. I couldn't believe my luck; I had written off that money as a loss. I was glad as we made good time heading to Mombasa, and I alighted just before the station so that I could stretch my legs a bit.

My first stop was Nakumatt to bring some supplies for my birthday dinner. People seemed excited about nachos, so I sought out the supplies. I spent a while looking for seasoning, which I couldn't find before heading to the checkout counter (I also treated myself to a book, since I had only packed one). I thought I'd picked a line that would go quickly, but I felt uncomfortable as the woman in front of me (a British woman) berated her son the whole time and she kept stealing longing glances at the bottle of vodka in her cart. Then, as she was checking out, her rewards card made the computer malfunction. She then spent the next thirty minutes criticizing the clerk (although she admitted that she had been told multiple times to go get a new card at no charge) while he tried to get the system running again. I realized that my luck had run out (still, finding the keys and money earlier in the day was a good price for a long wait in the checkout line).

Unfortunately, I didn't have the time for this delay. The delay meant that I was leaving the supermarket after dark and setting out for the Likoni Ferry to get to my friend Jonathan's house (a Peace Corps Volunteer from my training group). The Likoni Ferry has lots of pickpockets, on top of several safety risks, and it's in one of the worst areas of Mombasa. I was glad I didn't have a big suitcase or anything. I decided not to show my anxiety, and everyone left me alone. Then I made it to Jonathan's house and was grateful to be welcomed by friendly faces. Everyone was worried about me since it was so late, and I basically collapsed and they all set out on the cooking (this was probably only the second time that I opted to sit out a PCV cooking adventure). They did a fantastic job with the nachos and we all caught up as we drank some wine (I realized that in that 24 hour span, I had consumed more alcohol than I had during the rest of 2010 combined). I told them several of my stories and they filled me in on some of the goings on with Peace Corps since I had left.

It was a small gathering, but there was one unfamiliar face. There was a girl named Mariel who was not with Peace Corps but is working on a Rural Internet Kiosk project. I was definitely interested in that work, and it was nice to talk to people working on lots of different projects. It was also nice to joke about the monkeys who were running around outside the house. At that point, we were all feeling pretty exhausted (combined effect of a food coma from the massive quantity of nachos and from the wine), so we actually turned in at a reasonable hour.

I'm actually just going to bullet point the rest of the weekend, since I feel like this post is already pretty long.

Saturday
* Mariel made grilled cheeses for brunch on Saturday morning. Delicious. I even did a little work, even though I'd sworn to myself that I'd put off work tasks until after the weekend.
* Went to the beach on South Coast. It was nice to sit and hang out with people. I met a bunch of interesting people there. I even gave out my business card to a few people. Yikes, it feels weird giving out business cards.
* I got into an intense religious debate with a Kenyan. I think that he and I both enjoyed the discussion. Unfortunately, everone else at the table felt really awkward as we went on.
* I met a Ph.D. student doing research on how non-profits in the area are using internet media in their models. I tried to convince her to look at for-profit models as well (i.e. GCS), but to no avail.
* I went into the Indian Ocean, although I opted not to swim. Sad day.
* Went to a supermarket where the line moved much more smoothly. Phew.
* Helped cook up beef teriyaki for dinner. Mariel was surprised when she learned that any of the guys could cook. We told her that we were perfectly happy while she assumed we were ignorant and did all the cooking.

Sunday/Monday
* I played half a match of cribbage with a volunteer. Man, I haven't played that game in ages. I'm pretty rusty.
* Headed to Mombasa in the afternoon (I really didn't observe Easter at all), unfortunately, the matatu driver dumped me off 2 miles from where I told him to leave me, so I had to walk back and got to town just in time to catch one of the last matatus to Voi.
* I stayed in Voi Sunday night so I could get a later start on Monday. Unfortunately, the ticket seller wouldn't budge on the price, and I nearly missed the bus arguing, so I overpaid by about a third for my ticket (I think I could've gotten a better fare leaving from Mombasa) and was left with 18 Kenya shillings (about 25 cents) in case of emergency. Mercifully, it was mostly uneventful.
* The bus stopped in Maktau, and my friend Mwachofi who runs the cafe saw me and came on board to greet me.
* The bus broke down at about the same point where we saw the dead car on the trip to Mombasa. Fortunately, another bus from the same company passed 30 minutes later, so most of us crammed into that one.
* Made it back to Arusha in good time and I felt much more relaxed than I had for a little while.

I am really grateful to Jonathan for being such a wonderful host all weekend. I also want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes on my blog, on facebook and over email. I had a great birthday. Also, I wanted to post about Ijumaa (my cousin Dave won the contest for naming my dog with his suggestion of Friday=Ijumaa a la Robinson Crusoe), and I even had pictures of him sitting on my lap (he's way too big to be a lap dog, but he doesn't know that) to post, but I'll have to do that a bit later.

In any case, I'm really excited about being 24, I am entering this year with a lot of optimism.

Tanzanian dinners

Last year I was having lots of trouble keeping healthy eating habits. It wasn't related to my salary and it was only partially related to the food shortages in my community. It was mostly just a lack of desire for food on my part. I wound up losing 45 lbs in my first six months in Kenya.

Fortunately, I've turned all that around. I put some of that weight back on (since I was at a rather unhealthy level) and now I'm eating a lot more regularly. Part of that has come from sharing a house with 1-4 other people (currently there are three of us living there). We've started making a bit of a schedule. Tuesday is kuku mbili (two chickens) night, since we go out to a bar run by one of our co-workers and he cooks us two delicious chickens for a better price than they usually run in town. Friday is "chakula cha asubuhi kwa chakula cha jioni" (breakfast for dinner, but it's awkward since it literally translates as "food of the morning for food of the evening"), which usually features french toast or pancakes (and sometimes eggs). We're also looking to start a vegetarian night (there isn't really a kiswahili word for vegetarian), although a lot of nights wind up being vegetarian anyway. More likely, Jodie and Reuben are going to push for a nyama nyumbani night (meat at home); that just requires planning a trip to the butcher or, more reliably, the supermarket. We've also talked about starting pizza night, but that might require going out, since cheese is the main limiting factor near our house. In the meantime, we'll probably keep up pasta night (which isn't regularly scheudled, but we tend to have pasta at least once a week). And most importantly, I think we need to start a weekly chapati burrito night.

I know what you're thinking. This menu doesn't sound terribly Tanzanian (well, obviously the names should sound Tanzanian; and kuku mbili night is definitely Tanzanian food). In truth, a lot of our cooking is a bit un-Tanzanian. Many Tanzanian dishes require a healthy dose of solid fat (think Crisco). We typically get that for lunch (and my stomach does not usually thank me for it). So dinner is our chance to shake things up a bit. Now that Jackie's gone, we don't get our salads anymore (I should revive that practice too since we have lots of balsamic vinegar).

Now I just need to work on that regular exercise thing a bit more (I do lots of walking, but not enough time on the sports field).