Mosquito nets are marvelous. I grew up around mosquitoes, and learned to feel them land on me or try to bite, so before coming here, I hadn't had a mosquito bite in years. Tanzanian mosquitoes are different- you won't see them, and you won't feel them, but their bites are infernally large, internally itchy, and to add insult to injury, they will turn vividly purple when they're done itching. Give me mosquitos from Carlisle any day. I've found that they're especially fond of the arches of my feet- maybe that's just an area I neglect with the bug spray. Perhaps if I marinaded my feet in chemicals overnight, they wouldn't bother me? Aside from keeping the bugs away, however, mosquito nets remind me of my canopy bed fixation as a child. Finally, the dream comes true.
Slowly and painfully, I am trying to learn Swahili. After learning karibu (welcome) and (thank you), the next word we inevitably all learn is mzungu, which means "white person". It's interesting to be in the racial and cultural minority, to know that you are constantly amusing
people with your cultural mistakes. As long as you smile and try, they don't seem to mind.
Today our mission was to give the children de-worming pills, which turns out to be nothing like de-worming sled dogs. For one thing, the dogs mostly don't have worms, whereas the children almost certainly do. But, much like the sled dogs, they are cooperative in almost anything you want them to do, regardless of whether they like it. Those pills couldn't have tasted good, but they chewed them down like champions, and we suggested some orange to cover the flavor.
After replenishing the antibiotic-enhanced water for the new chicks, I stayed to have lunch with Beatrice's family. She let me help her in the kitchen- the meal consisted of rice, beans, and cooked spinach, all enhanced with carrot and spices. Also bananas. Delicious and filling. Beatrice refilled my plate after my first helping, and even afterwards assured me that I had eaten very little. I was stuffed! I practically waddled out of there!
Before I left, Beatrice called me to the window and pointed out a family of monkeys who were loitering on the edge of the forest, raiding the compost. They had found some bananas, and some of them ate while the babies leaped and chased each other through the branches. Google tells me that they were vervet monkeys. Grey, black faces, very long tails. Adorable.
To return to Swahili lessons, mzungu women are much appreciated by Tanzanian men, and Beatrice's youngest son, Nicky, has told us that he should marry one. While I helped Beatrice cook today, he told me, "Ah, you will make such a good wife," so I did the only thing I could do- laughed. He also tried to give me a necklace and earrings today, but I told him I couldn't take them. He has a solution- he'll give them to his sister, and when she gives them to me, I'll have to accept. Gulp. He already knows I don't have a boyfriend, but maybe I should make up a fictional man? Tall, broad-shouldered, with a jealous disposition... suggestions?
My old roomie Amy tells me that she sent me a flock of fuzzy vibes to pull me out of my low mood, and I have decided that they took the form of vervet monkeys. So this is me sending vervets back to all of you! If a bunch of squirrels, sparrows, or... I dunno, frogs? Whatever floats your boat-- if these things show up to brighten your day-- you're welcome! Now, if you find crows dive-bombing you, or you get stung by a bee, that's not me. Unless I have cause to be angry with you-- you know who you are!
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