the real housewives of arusha

spent an hour last night scrubbing my dirty clothes in a bucket and hanging them out to dry. I had no idea clothes got so dirty and I will never again take my washing machine for granted. I felt all too domestic taking them down from the clothes line today, warm from the afternoon sun, and neatly folding them despite the inevitable wrinkles from hand-washing. speaking of sun, it was gorgeous today and mt meru was out in all of it’s glory! I feel like it towers over the city, begging to be climbed. I find myself trying to figure out how we could arrange to hike it, but it’s a three day ordeal and costs quite a bit of $$. It would be great to make it happen, we’ll see if we can find the time. In addition to laundry by hand, we also prepared dinner tonight for the first time. We’re finally comfortable enough in our little hostel to ask to use the kitchen, so after our evening run and cold shower (I know I said we get hot water but it’s so rare that I’m not kidding myself anymore. cold showers are right up there with one of my least favorite things but we get so dirty I’ve learned to tolerate it), we got to cookin’! we walked to a nearby…. um.. ill call it an outdoor market. essentially a bunch of food stands on a street corner with tons of fruits and vegetables. we bought a zucchini, large carrot and green bell pepper for 500 tzs which is about 40 cents we estimate. then we wanted bananas but there are so many shapes and colors and they all come in bunches of a dozen or more and we had no idea which you must cook and which you can just eat. I’ve never had so many old wrinkled women shove bunches of bananas in my face… well, come to think of it I’ve never had anyone shove a bunch of bananas in my face, but it was a comical scene the three of us standing there, being swarmed by ladies, bananas in both hands, yelling prices at us, and us trying to decide what type of bananas will be best. despite the chaos we actually picked delicious, ( im talking best bananas I’ve ever had), bananas. they are small but so good because they are a little tangy, not too sweet. great breakfast snack. we’re going to make bananas a regular part of our diet. we also bought a cucumber figuring we could peel it and didn’t need to cook it. tonight we took over the kitchen at 7:30, washed, peeled and sliced our veggies, sautéed them with a little oil and garlic and called it dinner. dr lee stopped by so we asked him to join us and he was very thankful. not exactly a complete meal, but we’re learning. so how’s that for domestic? Mom, you should be impressed : )

Roger’s no longer hanging out with us. Daaimah (our new best friend in arusha along with the 9 canadian dental, medical, and nursing students who just moved into the hostel for the next two months), had an issue with him saying he was a part of her non-profit when really he’s not (obviously… it is very important in Tanzania to associate yourself with the right people), and according to her, he kept trying to scam us. kind of a long story (do I tell short stories? no : ) but when he took us on the hike to the waterfall he wanted us to pay $50 USD each and we refused. we paid 10,000 tzs each to the hillside village we passed through (he probably pocked that, no big deal, it was well worth the guided hike, which took all day might I add, almost 7 hours of hiking), but then he also wanted $20 USD each to enter the park, which sounded reasonable because a lot of times the national parks have entrance fees, but we refused again and he took us to the waterfall anyway… point is, he was kinda shady, and though it was cool getting the inside scoop from a local in the beginning, it’s probably best we do our own thing now that we’ve got the city more figured out. daaimah (girl’s got attitude), apparently banished him from the centre house hostel where we stay and we haven’t seen him all week. but I kinda miss the guy, and his dreads, even if he was a scammer…

as with many countries similar to this, crossing the street is like a game a russian roulette. I genuinely feel concerned we might not make it across each time we walk to the hospital (which requires only two street crossing if we walk it right). today, we were at a crosswalk, not that it matters, drivers do not stop for pedestrians, period. Amy had just stepped into the street, focusing on the car that was being forced to stop by the large crowd that happened to be crossing at that time, when a bike with two people on it (this is very common here and reminds me of my college days when we used to ride on the back of lo’s bike : ) went whizzing by so close to her face I don’t know how she still has her nose. It happened so fast, and she didn’t get hit, but there was a moment I was certain they at least ran over her toes. Part of what makes it even more difficult for us is that they drive on the other side of the road, so I have to keep reminding myself to look right then left. I also very frequently have these moments of panic where I see a moving car with no one in the “driver’s seat”, until I realize they drive from the other driver’s seat : )

so it's july 1st here as i'm posting these latest updates- happy canada day everyone!! we'll be celebrating with the canadians tonight, they invited us over to their rooms/area in the hostel (yes, it feels like we're back living in college dorms), and then we'll go out to a place called via via that seems to be arusha's happening spot on thursday nights. it is another beautiful day here, considering that it's winter. im getting very used to skirts and tank tops. we're hoping to go to the craft market tomorrow to buy some jewelery and fabrics/scarves in an attempt to fit in (let me tell you, it will probably make us stand out more :)got a text from my friend andrew today who is doing peace corps in south tanzania and he is going to be coming up to visit in a few days!! very exciting, and we're quite happy he's agreed to do the 16 hour bus ride here instead of us having to go down there. also, from speaking with the canadians today i think they plan to hike mt meru (a three day expedition) and I hope to join them. thu and amy are still on the fence about hiking it, but i feel like it will be impossible to leave here without doing it, it's so close! and so tempting! i want to climb it :)finally, it's almost the fourth of july and im getting a little distraught it will be a firework-less fourth. that's basically like christmas without presents. so please! tell me of your fun fourth of july plans! i want firework stories!! and life updates from everyone please!! miss you all tons... cool stories from the hospital today coming soon...