I woke up this morning feeling very tired and slow. I tried to get a workout in, but was sweating so much without doing very much. I got ready for the day and started with some project work before heading into town to run errands. On the way, we passed a couple of Muzungus (white people) who looked lost. We stopped to help them and found out that they were from Spain and were trying to find the city market. So Meaghan and I took them there and they were very grateful. After our errands, we came home for a quick rest before going to Mabutini to teach the Mamas their English lessons. (During that time we got some light bulbs and we now have light in one of the bathrooms and in the pantry. We are still working on the other bathroom and the kitchen because the sockets are broken. Very exciting.) We stayed there for quite a long time and by the time we got home we were both very tired and decided to make a nice pasta dish and watch a movie at home, The Constant Gardener.
The Yogurt Mamas doing their homework
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
I was feeling a little bit better this morning after having a good night’s rest. We had a full day of project work around the city and spent most of it walking. By the time we came home we had just enough time to grab some dinner ingredients, bathing suits, and Swahili books. We went to our Swahili lessons and then for a quick swim at the International School’s pool and then to Claire’s place to make dinner. Some very exciting news that we heard was that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were visiting Mwanza for the next 2 days and were actually staying at the Tilapia Hotel. We were very tempted to go there to see if they were having dinner at Tilapia, but decided not to be celebrity stalkers. After getting home that night and changing into our pj’s, Meg and I got a text message saying that Ben was going to Tunza and that we had a ride there if we wanted. So seeing how this was now our second chance to meet a celebrity, we jumped on it and got dressed quickly. At Tunza, we kept our distance from Ben because he had tons of people going up to him and harassing him. I was again feeling very tired, but at the end of the night Ben and I were standing next to each other and he turned to me and introduced himself. That was pretty cool, but I didn’t have the guts to ask him for a picture. I was exhausted when I got home, but happy to have gone out to see my first real celebrity in person.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
I was not feeling well when I woke up this morning. It felt like the beginning of a cold, which I get at every season change. Throughout the day I felt worse and worse so while running our errands in the city I stopped by the Nyakahoja Clinic to get checked out. I had Malaria (2 rings) which explained my tiredness over the last few days, and also a sinus infection. I’m not really sure if I actually had a sinus infection though because the doctor only felt my glands and looked at my tonsils saying, ‘they’re a little pink’. So I took the Malaria and anti-inflammatory medication by stayed away from the other ones prescribed. The interns here before us warned us of misdiagnoses just to sell more drugs and make a profit from patients.
Some of the errands that we had to do included getting signatures from Kivulini, Tukwamuane, and a doctor from Sekou Toure Hospital for a grant proposal to expand the yogurt project to Mahina. When I got home from the clinic, I had a quick turn-a-round to head to Mabutini to teach our English lesson. I wasn’t feeling too bad, just tired with a sore throat. When we got home we stayed in for the night and watched a movie with our dinner and headed to bed nice and early.
Mamas making buns to sell with the yogurt
Thursday, September 13, 2007
I had a slow start this morning, feeling a little bit worse and the rainy weather outside didn’t help. We spent the morning trying to fax the signed letters for the proposal but the numbers we not working and we ended up scanning the files and emailing them, which actually was a lot cheaper than faxing (up to 3000 Tsh a sheet, ~$3/sheet). Meaghan was also not feeling that great because her throat was randomly tightening up, making hard for her to breathe and eat. So I forced her to go to see a doctor and he gave her some anti-inflammatory pills which seemed to help. While Meg was seeing the doctor I had gone to a new internet café to scan and email the letters home. The internet was the best I’ve seen so far and the place was empty. It was great and even though a bit far from our apartment, it is close to a grocery store and our Swahili class, we will definitely be going there again. After getting the letters sent home, Meg and I went home to grab a quick snack before our Swahili lessons. We learnt all about verbs in the present tense. After our lessons, we went to Tunza for our yoga lesson on the beach and some archery lessons with some of the Massai. I brought Janine and Jan (manager and owner of Tunza) some yogurt to sample, and they really liked it and want to begin serving it to their customers for breakfast.
Friday, September 14, 2007
There was a huge thunderstorm last night and the rain was teaming down on the roof above us. I have never heard rain coming down so heavily for the entire night. It was a relaxing sound, but also made it difficult to sleep because it was so loud. This morning the repair man came with Pendo (our housekeeper) to change the light sockets and bulbs in the kitchen and bathroom. Afterwards, we headed to Mabutini to drop off the Mamas English tests (we are planning on doing lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays and having a review test for the Friday). We also had to pick up 5L of yogurt for the children at Forever Angels. The container was quite heavy and Meaghan and I took turns carrying it, but for my turn I carried it on my head like a true Tanzanian. We had lunch at home and then set off to the orphanage for the afternoon. We spent the evening on the roof of Claire’s place with a bunch of her CRS co-workers watching ‘Derailed’ on a projection screen. It was a very enjoyable evening.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Today started off very slow, but I was feeling much better. I made a big breakfast of crepes for Meg and I and procrastinated having a cold shower. We finally got out to the supermarket to restock our very bare shelves. We were waiting to hear about our potential camping trip for one night. We finally got the call and Claire, Meg, and I met up at Tunza to go camping with Major and Jan. There were supposed to be a bunch more coming that evening, but they all decided not to come. We camped in Igombe at a historic site on Lake Victoria, only 45 min. out of town. We bought some fire wood, set up our tents, made a stew, and cooked some tilapia fish. The night was a bit wet and cold, but inside my sleeping bag I was nice and toasty.
Getting some fire wood from a local resident
By the fire while camping in Igombe
Sunday, September 16, 2007
We woke up to another rainy morning and decided to sleep in for a while and have instant noodles for breakfast. We took a while to pack up and clean everything before heading back to Tunza. Once there, we gave the new-born pups their first bath and it got us very wet as well. They are so adorable and have grown so much in one month. Jan was nice enough to offer us a hot shower in one of his resort rooms, my first hot shower!! It was amazing. We stayed there for a little bit and grabbed a quick snack and hot tea before heading home to experiment with a home-made apple crumble that turned out to be pretty good. Meg and I were both very tired from the camping trip and so we went to bed early to rest up for another busy week ahead of us. Ruben (a Danish medical student) will be coming to stay with us on Tuesday until we leave in December.
Giving the pups their first bath
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