The other day I put on a clean pair of socks. I have spent over a month living in hotels and traveling first from Washington, D.C to Dar es Salaam then to Dodoma by bus (10hrs) back to Dar by bus, then to Mwanza by air and finally my home by ferry and bus. I had packed my hiking backpack for ease of travel, yet I failed to recognize that one pair of socks for 4 months of travel was a poor decision. Although, I wasn’t really planning on starting a workout group either. Four other female volunteers joined me for T25 workouts after training most days. I was so thankful for the motivation! But I am even more thankful for my clean feet that are now embraced in fresh, clean socks!

I have been in my house for less than a week now and I am trying to find comfort in being uncomfortable. It’s obvious to all that I am not a Tanzanian, which brings a level of discomfort especially when my inclination as a pseudo-introvert is to be a wallflower and observe. I had one older woman ask me surprisingly, “are you a nigger?” after finding out that I was from the U.S. I think the Dutch student with me lost her jaw to the floor. I have forced myself to walk outside of the hospital gates every day, hoping that some will become desensitized to my appearance and hoping that I will gather knowledge about the outside scenery. The Duka Dawa (“pharmacy”) with white walls and blue paint – what do they sell inside? The three shops across the road, one with buckets and empty plastic water bottles, what services do they provide? Outside the hospital gates, there is a corner for boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis) and private taxis. Second-hand sandals for sale on a tarp, a barbershop, a hair salon, many stands for purchasing phone vouchers, and a small outdoor market, along with many other stands and stores that I can’t quite decipher. I have become most familiar with the women in front of the market, nearest the road, who sell avocados the size of grapefruit and mini snack sized bananas. I haven’t the courage to buy a watermelon due to its weight and I am unsure of the quality of the knives in my kitchen drawers. I have done 3 walks through the market now: dry beans, rice, tomatoes, and onions are staple products. Today I saw flour of different varieties, ginger, and some stations with other packaged merchandise that I couldn’t make out. I am sure toilet paper is for sale somewhere, but I still have one more roll so it’s not a dire emergency.

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The electricity (for the town) has been shut off most days from the time that I wake up until evening. My refrigerator doesn’t keep cool, but I guess that doesn’t matter so much if there is no power 12 hours out of the day. The hospital runs on generators. I wonder if this is normal? My last decent cooked meal was on Wednesday. The young woman who was looking after the house made rice with an African style meat, potato, and carrot stew. She also made plain pasta for that night. I kept the leftovers in the toaster oven, as to avoid unwanted roaches. I couldn’t quite stomach the meat the next day, so I dumped the rest outside in the trash pit and unexpectedly fed a couple of feral cats. She also made some ginger-spiced tea that helped to curb my appetite the following day. Saturday she advised me to buy sugar, salt, cooking oil, and bar soap. I obliged since she was nice enough to accompany me on the 30-minute walk to the larger market in town. I also bought bread and coffee. We took a dirt path parallel to the main road, which wound between houses. We encountered numerous groups of children no less than 4 in a pack and not older than 6 laughing and chasing each other, chickens with young chicks, goats, ducks, older children fetching buckets of water from a deep well, women washing and hanging clothes to dry in the arid sun, and men of all ages going to and from town by bicycle with various cargo strapped to the back. I probably should have also bought rice and beans to cook since Sunday I was on my own. But I still had some leftover tea and I broke into my stash of emergency turkey jerky which was not all that appetizing considering the US price I paid.

Of course on Sunday I had power all day! I was thankful that there was a broom left on the front porch since I don’t have access to the back door where most of the cleaning supplies are stored. I swept away dirt from the floors and inadvertently invited a small lizard inside after he fell from the crease in the door and scurried across my foot. I think that brings my count to three. I am hoping that they are each situated in different rooms to keep the other insects in check. One I know inhabits the bathroom and each time I see him it reminds me of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series when she is living in the Caribbean and she greets the lizard every morning in the shower, so I do the same. I also browsed power point lectures and resources for teaching and training on the labor ward, studied Kiswahili, attempted to start a budget (and got as far as opening the model excel spreadsheet), and read through the Peace Corps Tanzania cookbook. I am in awe of those that cook without electricity or a gas stove, although acquiring a list of ingredients seems to be most overwhelming. I have never been a meal-planner or one to purchase ingredients for the sole purpose of following a recipe. The easiest recipe I found was for wine: juice, sugar, yeast. Further research revealed that I could substitute yeast for a slice of bread, which may be useful since I will likely not finish the loaf I bought on Saturday, but that is called hooch and not wine and probably tastes like the moldy bread and rotten fruit that its made of. Today after work, I visited the lady in the back of the compound with two full chicken houses. I talked with her daughter in Kiswahili, and I will find out tomorrow if I was successful in ordering some eggs. Avocado, eggs and bread will be a decent meal for tomorrow. And surprisingly, I still have power and clean socks.