fupi lakini tamu

i believe chris will be writing a soothing explaination of the differences between tanzanian and kenyan politics in an effort to alleviate the worries of our friends and family. i will instead write on a fairly trivial subject. so throughout my travels, there's always a type of awkwardness i feel because everyone else seems so adept at doing things that are unfamiliar to me such as: somehow squeezing my body in between two people when given only enough room for maybe my neck, but not my entire butt. i stuggle and apologize and settle myself on the edge whereas a tanzanian woman with hips that make my sizeable hips look waif-like will look at the same size space and without thinking plunk herself down and somehow make space. walking in the incredibly uneven streets is a stuggle for me, whereas women here can not only carry a baby and an entire tree but wear heels without stumbling. anyway, so all of these things and today i saw a man running to catch a dalladalla that i was sitting in, he prepared to leap smoothly into the moving vehicle and instead ran smack into it, provoking the laughter of the entire car. not nice to laugh at other people, but it is nice to once and a while not be the source of clumsiness.