My Favorite Things (so far)

I wanted to share some of my favorite things about being in Tanzania so far!   

1.  Savanna Dry Cider - I love trying new ciders and this one is pretty delicious.  It's made in South Africa.
2. Avocados - you can't beat 25 cents for a deliciously huge avocado
3. Mangoes - Zanzibar has some of the juiciest mangoes I've ever had, but Arusha does a pretty great job too
4. Stoney Tangawizi - manufactured by Coke, this is my favorite soda of all time, which is a strong ginger soda (try ginger ale on steroids!).  I rarely drink soda in the US, but this is just too delicious to pass up.
5. Real Tanzanian Chai - there is lots of tea that tries to mimic real Tanzanian chai (like Masala spiced tea, etc), but you really can't match the chai that is made by boiling a pot of water on a burner and adding a mixture of spices (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, etc) and lots of sugar.  You would think a tea packet with all of these spices would come close, but it really doesn't.  It's all about the preparation in the boiling pot.
6. We took a Tanzanian dance and drumming class yesterday from an expert drummer/dancer, and that was amazingly fun (see picture below of the drumming).  We learned lots of Swahili songs and dances to accompany the drumming as well.  I could take this class a few times a week if I had time.

Also, I've gotten questions about my living situation here.  When I was here in 2009, I stayed with a host family in a middle class Tanzanian home.  They had electricity, a gate around their property, an outdoor kitchen with oil powered burners on the floor (no fridge or stove/oven), a TV/DVD player, a squat toilet in an outhouse, and a bathing room next to the outhouse, where I would use a bucket of hot water to bathe.  The water came from a central tap outside, which we would boil before consuming.  We also had chickens, a cow, and some banana trees.

Here I am staying at a serviced apartments place called Kundayo Apartments.  I have my own kitchen area with a microwave, small stove, toaster, hot water heater, etc as well as a TV with cable.  I also have a sitting area, a shower, and a western toilet. See my kitchen below and my bedroom area (the mosquito net is the white mesh thing hanging from the top - at night I pull it around my bed so that it creates a little tent).

Ok, that's all for now!  Happy Sunday!

Word of the day: Ngoma - drum