winding up and down

sitting on a bench under an awning, waiting with ten or so other unfortunates without an umbrella for the daily onslought of rain to stop, or at least slow enough for a sprint, i found myself pondering, once again some interesting observations. first, tanzanians appear not to sneeze. this was an extremely relevent observation as i have a bit of a cold and always attract an uncomfortable amount of stares and "pole"'s (think poor you) when i go into my frequent fits of sneezing. in my five or so months here, i have witnessed three tanzanians sneezing. it gives them a much more hearty, capable sort of image in contrast to the pale, sneezing creature that i have become. because although yes, i am in africa, it happens to be the rainy season and i have been hard pressed to find the necessary rays of sunshine. i might as well be in england.

another somewhat health related observation is that tanzanians interpret yawns differently than most americans. one day at the solar workshop i yawned. when someone noticed this, i got a hearty "pole" for my hunger. i thought that obviously my swahili is not as good as i thought because that's ridiculous, i was obviously tired. another day, another yawn, one of the deaf workers noticed this time and signed "pole" for my hunger. this required investigation. it turns out that tanzanians regard yawns as signs of hunger, not in any way related to being tired. hmm. my swahili abilities can be relied upon once again.


so many mysteries and discoveries, so little time. about three weeks in fact. hmm. chris and i had the most romantic valentine's day in our history, which to tell the truth isn't saying much but this was truly lovely. some friends here treated us to a stay at kisalanza farm which is about an hour from iringa and is absolutely lovely. to the point of ridiculousness actually. we stayed in a room in a converted stable house which had a bed with actual fitted sheets instead of just a top sheet tucked-into the foam mattress. that would have been enough for me in and of itself but there was a laughably beautiful sunset, and dinner. dinner was in the ruins of a mud hut with a restored roof, which gave it a grotto feeling, especially with the kerosene lamps and small charcol stove. the food was amazing, quiche with fresh, locally made fetta and beautiful fresh vegetables, savory scones with homeade cream cheese, a ridiculously rich chocolate cake. the only problem with the whole thing is that we stuffed ourselves so full that we couldn't actually move. the breakfast was just as lovely, which was a welcome relief because i have been panicking a bit about my daily breakfasts of two slices of whitebread with margarine. call me spoiled. but it was an absolutely wonderful time, such a nice way to enjoy a holiday we so rarely celebrate.

soon, i will see many of you. love. annie

who's to say it's not for the best?

i've been quite bad at keeping in touch lately, and for that i apologize. my birthday was quite unforgettable. chris arranged a surprise safari to the nearby national park, which was lovely despite being possibly charged by an angry elephant resulting in our being stuck in a swamp for three hours and chris getting a wretched sun-burn. but that is our style, we don't just go on a safari, we go on an adventure safari. it was great fun and excitement.

we've been focusing most of our time on the solar project, with me dabbling in some cafe work and bookeeping. our time is rapidly drawing to a close and so we're trying to ensure that our impact is as long-lasting and sustainable as possible.

i still take time for trying to absorb as much as possible. yesterday morning, as we were waiting for a dalladalla (minibus)i saw a rather horrible thing. a women climbed out of the dalladalla, the conductor went to get her parcel from the trunk. it was a bucket. the bucket fell over and blood seeped out. then i noticed that in the bucket was a pig head, barely covered by a piece of cloth, it's ear flopping all around. a way to start the day. no pig's heads before 9am please. other strange animal sitings: three goats strapped onto the back of a bicycle, chickens heads popping out of the most unlikely places, actually, most of my images revolve around animals strapped on bicycles. so to those of you who balk at doing grocery shopping on a bike, i say if some people can carry goats, or up to 5 mattresses, or large panes of glass, i can carry some flour and broccoli.

so we're looking at the end of our trip rapidly approaching and towards coming home to the comfort of a recession. if anyone has any leads on jobs for us, please let us know. seriously.

love. annie