Eggplant and Mango

So I’ve had a little bit of time on my hands here in Tanzania.  And yesterday, after studying, reading, checking my email, coloring, and working on my paper, I officially ran out of things to do.  So, I decided to cook.  I bought some eggplant and garlic and made myself some lovely ratatouille with pasta.  It was delicious!  Plus, it’s kind of exciting because I get to introduce the family to new foods. 

This evening, I just finished making a batch of mango jam.  And let me tell you, I think it’s going to be delicious!  It was incredibly easy: 3 mangoes, 1 c. water, 1.5 c. sugar, 1 tbs vinegar, and a pinch of salt.  Just simmer away until it thickens and voila, jam! 

Today I woke up and did some laundry.  I only managed to wash my underwear since I just didn’t have the motivation to do all of my laundry (it would have taken me hours).   I studied for our human evolution final and read a little.  Then, I went to church with Mama Frida.  We went to the church on campus and it was in all Swahili, but it was amazing how much of it I could understand. I especially liked listening to the choir.  The service was a little long (10:00-12:30) but I enjoyed getting a taste of the Tanzanian culture.  I haven’t heard from Liz or Abby yet, but apparently the church service they went to today goes from 10:00 to 4:00.  How crazy!  I ate lunch at the cafeteria as usual (rice and beans).  It’s really nice to have a communal eating area.  There is always someone from our group at the cafeteria so you never have to eat alone.  Then I went back to the Godde’s and worked on REU applications and my paper.  Again, it’s wonderful to have a communal place to go to.  Most of us go to the Godde’s house to hang out at least once a day, so there are always a ton of people there!  I came back to the house after that and now am helping Diana cook dinner.  We are having rice, leftover eggplant, cabbage, and meat.  This evening Lauren and some others are going to a pizza restaurant in downtown Dar and another group is going to Samaki Samaki restaurant at Mlimani City.  I didn’t really feel like spending money, so I’m just staying in. 

So I know I’ve talked about having so much downtime on the program, but having downtime here is so much different than downtime in the field.  In the field, we were all together.  So even when no one was doing anything, at least you had the company of everyone else.  Here, with our homestays, we are so much more isolated.  I wasn’t homesick at all in Tarangire, but here, I definitely am.  Maybe it’s the fact that the end of the program is so near (less than two weeks!) or maybe it’s just the fact that I get lonely not seeing everyone.  Also, this is random but I never realized how close we are to the ocean.  I understand that Dar is on the coast, but I never realized how close the university was to downtown Dar.  Traffic is so bad in Dar that it usually takes us 40 minutes to get downtown.  But the other day I was running up a huge hill outside campus and when I got to the top, I could see the ocean!  It was mind boggling!  Hah, oh the things you continue to learn here, even after 4 months. 

Hope all is well back home.  Miss you guys!

Erin

Swahili Word of the Day: Embe [EMM-bay] = mango