Worms

I am really enjoying the fruits of Tanzania. As the days go, new fruits are in season and become very cheap. For a while it was mangos, now we’re in passion fruit season and it looks likes pears are on their way! PEARS! I never thought I’d be so happy to bite into a pear. It wasn’t even that ripe yet, but the crunchiness of it was to die for. There are really no apples here, and the ones that are here are really expensive. It was nice to eat a crunchy fruit again. OH! And it’s date season! Ever eat a fresh date? Me neither. They taste like pure candy, by far one of the most interesting and lovely tasting things I’ve ever eaten. Oranges are also everywhere right now. These oranges are definitely different from the ones at home, though – much more sour. We bought five for 500 Tanzanian shillings the other day, which is less than 50 US cents. Sounds really cheap, eh? It is cheap for right now, but you have to remember how relative the term “cheap” is. When (lucky) service workers are happy to make only 80,000 TZ Shillings a month, you realize the magnitude of “wealth.” It also makes clear the gap between the US and other countries.

But I have finally discovered the worms that I'm supposed to be looking out for in the fruit I eat. The other volunteers warned me, but I just thought I was always so lucky to never have any! Well, I think I "never had any" in my fruit because I never realized these little devils are clear - i.e., you never really see them because they are tiny and take on the color of the fruit. EWWW. I found them for the first time in a mango and I freaked out. Gross. And since, I've found them in the pears. Now I am uber paranoid about my fruit and I cut it up into tiny pieces to fully inspect every inch for worms. I'm not about to eat that. Ew. I was also cooking the other day with one of the cooks. They always seem to sift the flour, but I thought it was just a fancy culinary tactic that wasn't really necessary. Well, little did I know they were also sifting out worms from the flour. Nope - I've never done that since I've been here, but trust me, next time I go to the market I'm buying one of those. Sure, bugs may be protein, but I'll find my protein elsewhere, thank you.

What else. I’m missing tea a lot - well at least the fancy kinds we used to drink every night in college (right Alex??). There is a great black tea here called “Kilimanjaro” which we drink all the time, but it has too much caffeine for me at night. We buy fresh ginger (tangawizi) a lot for cooking, so we’ve been cutting that up for a nice nighttime tea. We haven’t bought any in a while though, so I’ve improvised using ground cinnamon (mdalasini) as tea, you know like the stuff you use in cakes or cookies? I wasn’t sure it would work at first, but it is actually quite sweet, or as we say here in Tanzania, “tamu sana.”

Mosquitoes are leaving me alone for the most part, but sometimes I don’t tuck my net into the sides of my bed, so my feet find their way out. Occasionally I’ll wake up with about 10 bites per foot which become so itchy while I’m standing all day at school, or walking around our hot and dusty campus. No malaria yet – I take those pills religiously. I’m not messing around with that. Though I do need to say, malaria isn’t as scary as people in the States think it is. Symptoms compare to the worst flu ever – but as long as you get the proper medication (which is very available, at least to those who can afford it), you will recover in a few weeks or few days.

One of our teachers at school is really sick, something is wrong in her belly. She’s been out of school for the past few weeks, and in and out of the hospital since. The first hospital she was staying at couldn’t diagnose anything and sent her home. She was feeling a little better for a while, but then things got worse. She is now at another hospital and they are considering doing surgery, though I’m not sure they know for what. Healthcare is lacking here, especially considering this is supposed to be the capital of the country. I visited Tr. Esther with some other teachers the other day. The hospital has beautiful grounds, a little Chinese looking, but we walked into one of the halls that houses at least 30 female patients. Here was our poor teacher Esther, looking very unwell, and there were 30 others in this same room. Could you imagine that? Feeling so horrible and not knowing why, and then sharing a space with not just one other, but 30 other people. I count my blessings.