Posted by c.sweaney

Recently my roommate Norah suggested that I start scrubbing my toes with a toothbrush.. I suppose that would finally get my feet clean, wouldn’t it?

All cooking, even in nice homes, is done on a charcoal stove. Gas is just too expensive.

It still takes me at LEAST two tries to get our damn stove lit every day.

My kitchen used to be a prison.

Tanzania is a HUGE country. Three times the size of the UK in fact. Do not attempt to travel to AND around Tanzania in 10 days or less. Total time spent on a bus during my attempted TZ travels: 60 hours.

I shared a beer with the loveliest rastafari Tanzanian at 10:30AM while waiting for our bus to leave the station… He wore his massive dreads in pig tails and bought me cookies. He was returning home from holiday in the city, back to Mom, Dad, and his cow. He never asked me to marry him, but he did kiss my hand when he said goodbye.

I went on safari. In the Serengeti. I saw one elephant, one crocodile, two leopards, six cheetahs, 20 hippos, 30 warthogs, 40 lions, and about a million giraffes, zebras, baboons and wildebeests. It is seriously like being in the Lion King.

Lions only mate for approximately five seconds. Leopards are the shyest of all big cats. Zebras love to cuddle. Wildebeest sound like deranged cows. Hyenas start eating their pray while its still alive.

I got stuck in traffic on a freeway while staring at skyscrapers in Nairobi.. could have been in California. WEIRD!

Never thought I’d say it, BUT I miss freeways so so much. You can only travel so fast when there are speed bumps through any and everything that remotely resembles a town.

My bus on the way back to the village was SO full that they were literally lifting women and children in through the windows.

Yesterday I discovered that my neighbor’s son’s name is Boy. HA.

My workmate Juma is buying a plot of land in the village for 200,000 shillings. That is the equivalent of $100. I lent him 50,000 ($25) to seal the deal.

During my time spent in Uganda I have meet one boy who is about to go to CC, one boy who graduated from CC the year before I started, and an old friend from CC that I haven’t seen since we graduated. Wonder what that says about my school. :)

The one and only package my parents sent me has FINALLY arrived. It had a Valentine in it. Yes, it took four months to get here. Still ate the chocolate though.