We just want to warn you, when we come back to the States, you might not recognize us...we've basically become African! We've received a few lessons from the nurses and other hospital workers. It all started with carrying a bucket of water on our heads. Here, the women carry everything on their heads, from food and water, to huge bundles of sticks. We've started with the basic bucket of water, carrying it for the nurses from the huge water tanks to their houses. While we haven't spilled any yet, we still need two hands and walk very slowly...Other experiences include wearing kanga wraps (all woman wear them) and getting our nails inked, which is their version of nail polish (the first time we saw it on a woman in the hospital, we thought she had some sort of nutritional deficiency that had turned her nails a funny color!!) ...we've joined in all the fashion trends!
I think our ultimate "becoming African" experience was being taught to cook and eating what seems to be the national food here, ugali. It's a kindof thick paste made from maize. The closest comparison we can come up with is grits without much water added. Tanzanians could (and most do) eat it 7 days a week and be very happy! It's often eaten with some sort of meat or sauce. One evening we went over to one of the nurse's house, and a bunch of them taught us how to cook ugali with "small fish." While Steph sat outside and cooked the Ugali, we prepared the small fish, which are about an inch long, by ripping off their heads and pulling out the lungs and stomach. When they were ready to go, we fried them!
The next step was eating the meal, something we were all dreading a little, having tasted ugali before and not loved it...not to mention the crazy small fish! They set up 3 small stools for us in their kitchen, and everyone crowded the window and door to watch us eat. You don't use utensils, and everyone eats out of the same communal dish, by balling up some ugali, then using it to pick up the fish. While we didn't really enjoy the food, we were able to choke it down, which was good because we had a decent sized audience!
Between eating, speaking and dressing African, we're starting to blend in here. I would think that if you passed us on a dirt path, you might not even realize we aren't Tanzanian...minus the whole being white thing!
PS We're posting pictures of all the events (if we can get our internet to work!)
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