Last night, I was able to Skype with my sister, Elenn’, and a bit with my brother-in-law, Steve. When Steve walked into the room with Skyping in progress, he asked, “Where are you now?” It has been a bit of a whirlwind, packing up and leaving Dubuque, Iowa (after a wonderful year at Wartburg Theological Seminary), then abut 6 weeks in Sweden with Anya (and other family guests), then 3.5 weeks in Norway, getting oriented to this research project, and just 2 nights back in Sweden for the final packing until departure to Tanzania.
Saturday mornings seem to be a good time to walk to the grocery store and bakery on the way back. It is the cooler part of the day. It is about 30-minutes of walking on the side of the Arusha-Moshi road, so it is filled with diesel exhaust and dust. This is the worst air I breathe. I thought about wearing an N-95 respirator mask, but culturally it would be a faux pas. There is so much interaction with people along the road, such as the motorcycle (piki piki) taxi guys along the way hoping that I will hire their services, or the mama with a few kids, or the grandma walking the other direction. I greet the people with my basic Kiswahili. It is important to give smiles and lovely to see smiles. Yes, a smile goes a long way! So, I expect that this limited bad air exposure won’t kill me. Fortunately, I have no respiratory issues, like asthma.
I am strategizing my shopping to slowly build up my pantry. I am walking back, carrying everything in my backpack and an extra tote bag or two. So, I actually lifted my rolling shopping cart (the smaller plastic one–which limits the volume of stuff) to see how heavy it is getting. Should I get the small Nutella jar or the one that is bigger and better value. For Nutella, I got the bigger one! And guess what I found this time! A fly swatter!
The authentic swatter next to my jury rigged swatter.
On the way back, there is a wonderful bakery. I stopped and bought more “seed” bread, a loaf of sourdough, and a treat for Swedish fika when I got home.
A chocolate croissant!
Saturday is laundry day. My laundry sieve bucket and plunger agitation (see the 2023.09.02 post) system works rather well. I have more laundry with a bed sheet, so I need to expand my clothesline.
Saturday is also getting things cleaned up. I scraped paint drips and the evidence that painter’s tape is not used here, then I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed the tub. It isn’t still what I’d like, but it is tolerable now.
As I was thinking about dinner, the power went out. So, Nutella and Marie Biscuits were enough to tide me over. I’m becoming a fan of a USB goose-necked desk lamp that Anya passed onto me. I can plug it into a power bank and read with some descent light!
I’d better get this posted before the power goes out again!
Mungu akubariki! (God bless you!)
Beth, I still stand by my earlier opinion: You would make a fabulous engineer, in your heard you maybe partly are one – in other words: I admire the swatter!
Me too. You are ingenious with your ad-lib.
McGyver has nothing on you.