Reflection of an autumn treat

I went back to church this morning and it seems to have helped me in making delicious food. Breakfast was peanut butter oatmeal banana pancakes and I don’t think they can get much better (unless maybe I have small pieces of dark chocolate). Before heading to bed, I baked mango bread for tomorrow. Only 1 of the 3 mangoes was actually ripe but this turned out to be serendipitous. The unripe mangoes are a little tangy so the mango bread tasted like apple cake. I was thrilled because I had wanted to bake a cake but decided on something more practical. Half of the mango bread was gone before I went to bed.

While walking back to the church to check ut the computer class and offer assistance, my usual cadre of pint-sized greeters met me. There are a few kids I always see, a few more I almost always see, and an unknown number of others. Today, they not only greeted me politely and shook my hand, a few grabbed my hands and they all walked with me a short distance down the “road.” I’m surprised they haven’t gotten over the novelty of me yet.

Anyway, I wasn’t really helpful at the computer lab other than being able to let them know the indented drop cap will not work in MS Word if there is more than one column. And I impressed them with my “fast” typing skills. I tried to explain that I leave my fingers on the middle row with my index fingers on the keys with a small ridge but I doubt I communicated the concept. At least I got my long story about Manderz’ adventure in Masai-land typed.

So the land does slope up towards the mountain…

Instead of getting up early to go to church, I went for a run! Luckily it is cool in the morning because I have to wear capris (or pants) with a kanga covering my derriere. At this point, I feel so self-conscious that I couldn’t even do just a half kanga because I felt like it shows too much by falling just above my knees. I went with a ²/₃ – ¾ kanga but still felt a bit funny when it would fly up a little as I ran. While running, I noticed that the land does indeed slope up towards the mountain and that I am severely out of shape, especially for aerobic activity at this elevation. I assume the land slopes down going away from the mountain but it’s much less noticeable than when going up towards the mountain. Though I only ran for about 20 minutes around what is essentially my “block” (fields & school bordered by small dirt roads), I am sooo happy I finally got out.

The rest of my day kind of paled in comparison. The peanuts and banana bread didn’t come put so well (edible but not great) ad laundry really doesn’t have much appeal. However, I did carry 2 buckets at the same time today. This is less amazing if you think only about te weight. It is a more impressive feat if you think about the force on each hand from the very thin handles. Usually I switch hands on the way back but this isn’t possible if you have a bucket in each hand. Since cooking didn’t go to well earlier today, I made soup, which is nearly impossible to mess up. I love homemade soup. J

Fruit crispity goodness

This morning after mass I sat outside the church and wrote. It was very peaceful and comfortable in the early morning sun. I got some more work done on the computer later when I was typing for my mkuu again. Since my time was up for the deal on the Internet, I now pay 500 Tsh for 20MB for 24 hours. It’s quite a deal when compared to 1000 Tsh for just .5 hr at the Internet Café in Katesh and I can upload several pictures with the limit.

During training, Eric (Sandhurst) had the idea to make mango crisp when the season came (mangoes were almost ripe then). I made it today. Great idea. Thanks Eric.

The bloodsuckers have sent a scout…

Daily mass is at ~06:45 so I will not be able to go when school is in session but it’s a good time to help me adjust to getting up early. Also, I still needed to meet the parish priest. I left my house just before sunrise (~06:20) and Kristen is right – very few people are out this early. It was a peaceful walk as the sun rose and people started their day. There are actually 2 parish priests here, which I learned today as they both said mass and I finally met them afterward. They both speak good English and one studied in England so it was enjoyable chatting with them over breakfast because it is much less awkward when I can communicate. One priest (Boniface) has started a computer lab in the old kindergarten classroom. When the government assumed responsibility for all kindergarten education, they had a room and a teacher with no job. The young woman now teacher computer courses to the locals so she still has a job and they can learn a valuable skill. The lab has one CPU connected to 5 monitors and another CPU is on the way to connect to the remaining 5 monitors. There is even a nice all-in-one (printer/scanner/copier) connected. It’s a pretty sweet set-up, especially for here, and rather unusual to have this far off the beaten path.

Speaking of computers, I finally got back in the computer room at school but my free 8GB had expired (likely yesterday when I was supposed to be able to get in). I had to type something for my mkuu but was able to get some of my own stuff done too.

Tonight I saw/heard my first mosquito at site. I hope this doesn’t become commonplace. Come on global cooling! Ok, technically I only need microscale cooling but I’m certainly not for global warming.

The bloodsuckers have sent a scout…

Daily mass is at ~06:45 so I will not be able to go when school is in session but it’s a good time to help me adjust to getting up early. Also, I still needed to meet the parish priest. I left my house just before sunrise (~06:20) and Kristen is right – very few people are out this early. It was a peaceful walk as the sun rose and people started their day. There are actually 2 parish priests here, which I learned today as they both said mass and I finally met them afterward. They both speak good English and one studied in England so it was enjoyable chatting with them over breakfast because it is much less awkward when I can communicate. One priest (Boniface) has started a computer lab in the old kindergarten classroom. When the government assumed responsibility for all kindergarten education, they had a room and a teacher with no job. The young woman now teacher computer courses to the locals so she still has a job and they can learn a valuable skill. The lab has one CPU connected to 5 monitors and another CPU is on the way to connect to the remaining 5 monitors. There is even a nice all-in-one (printer/scanner/copier) connected. It’s a pretty sweet set-up, especially for here, and rather unusual to have this far off the beaten path.

Speaking of computers, I finally got back in the computer room at school but my free 8GB had expired (likely yesterday when I was supposed to be able to get in). I had to type something for my mkuu but was able to get some of my own stuff done too.

Tonight I saw/heard my first mosquito at site. I hope this doesn’t become commonplace. Come on global cooling! Ok, technically I only need microscale cooling but I’m certainly not for global warming.

When you can’t find something, keep asking the locals

Since school starts in about a week, I decided to start getting used to waking up early and went to the 07:30 mass. I also hoped I could get some supplies in the village (Gocho) with a little less bother/harassment from the plethora of drunks there; for the most part, this did work out. There was just a bit of a problem finding flour as the shops I stopped at were out or don’t sell it. As I started to head home, a girl said hi to me (well, the Kiswahili equivalent) so I figured I’d try one last time and ask her if she knew where I could buy some flour (she’s probably like 10 years old). She brought me to her home but her mother didn’t have any (I think they have a little shop or café or both, I couldn’t tell). They said something about chapatti but I couldn’t tell if they were offering it or asking if I wanted to buy some so I said I was just looking for flour. This family was very friendly and seemed really happy that I am a teacher. They were so happy in fact, that they gave me 2 eggs and the mama took me to a few different shops until we found some flour. Being with a local ensured that I was not overcharged since it wasn’t where I usually buy it. In short, if you can’t find something, keep asking people and you are bound to be personally brought around until you do find it.

With my flour and an egg (& a lot of sugar), I made crepes when I got home. Definitely not as good as the street vendors in Europe but still pretty tasty with a bit of cinnamon. I hemmed and hawed about what to make with my eggplant and finally decided to make stuffed eggplant and tomatoes using some of my newly acquired brown rice. They came out superb. I think it is the best use of tomatoes (aside from spaghetti & pizza sauce of course).

…and kitty caught another mouse J

Sacrificial Slaughter

Kristen and I started the new year very relaxed as we ate coffee cake, drank hot cocoa (Ghirardelli – Kristen got it in a package from America), and Internet. We did not hurry to get to the soko (market) to buy veggies. However, I was glad to have gone since I was able to buy an eggplant (!), green pepper, and tomatoes. In the afternoon, we went with her counterpart and a few other people to a family’s house where there was a large meal prepared. I’m pretty sure they slaughtered a goat for the New Year and made pilau (seasoned rice) and some other dishes; the meat was rather good. Kristen had made a cake so we all had a small piece for dessert. The family was very kind and said that we are welcome back anytime, that today was a like an introduction. The thing is, how do you go back? DO you just show up on some random day at some random time? I guess that’s how it used to be done in America but I’m used to people usually calling before showing up on your doorstep (unless it’s family). Don’t get me wrong, surprise visits are nice, but there are unwritten rules in every society on when it is okay to show up and I don’t know what they are here.

P.S. kitty caught another mouse tonight J