Yes, We Have No Water

Laundry Room

Bathroom

We woke up this morning and Zach and Brennan and I went on a quick jog around the university.  It was good to get out and see some life in the morning and the temperature was quite decent (probably around 75).  We came back to find that the water was out in the dorms, which is not too big of an issue except for the fact that I was drenched in sweat and really wanted a nice shower.  So, I took to taking a shower with a bucket.  We keep extra jugs of water filled in the washroom so that when the power does run out, we still have water to wash our faces and do our laundry with.  (Laundry is an challenge that I have yet to undertake).  We will see when our water comes back on!  But, on the plus side, we do have electricity, and I managed to get our converter working and I charging my camera on it. 

Last night we all went to UDASA, which is a bar just outside the university.  The bar boasts a projector with a big screen where they show local sports games on TV.  We watched the REAL Madrid vs. Spain soccer game and ordered some food.  It was my first introduction to ugali, a stiff cornmeal mush made from white corn and rolled into a huge ball.  Basically, it looks like a snowball as big as your hand and has the consistency of stiff mashed potatoes.  You are expected to use the ugali as a spoon, rolling it between your hands and scooping up beans and meat with it.  It is fairly tasteless, and could use some salt in my opinion, but it is good once you dip it in meat or gravy.  There was a little mix-up with the check as we were charged an outrageous amount for our chicken (they charged us 23,000 shillings for 2.5 orders of chicken which were supposed to be included in our meal price of 5000 shillings).  But, we ultimately had to pay and laughed it off when we realized we had paid about $25 for 7 of us for dinner-far cheaper than America!  Our meals at the cafeteria are the cheapest and usually cost about 50 cents or a dollar for rice, meat, and a drink.  You can always get fresh fruit at the cafeteria, which is especially nice (bananas, papaya, watermelon, and cucmber).  Meals out at restaurants typically cost a little more, around $3-4 a meal, but it is still very cheap.  The conversion rate here, if anyone is wondering, is about 1500 shillings to 1 dollar.  We’ve been getting very good at doing math in our heads!  This morning I had some cereal, milk, and a banana for breakfast which I purchased yesterday at the store.  I’m not quite sure if I’ll ever eat that again here.  Warm milk on cereal is definitely not that great, and although I thought that the cereal would mask the taste of the milk, it clearly didn’t.  If there is one thing that is for sure, it is that I am definitely going to be calcium deprived here!  In Ecuador, they had cheese in just about every soup and rice dish.  And plus, we had milk at breakfast every morning.  But here, milk is never served with meals and I have yet to see any cheese. Good thing I brought my vitamins!