Saturday in pictures

Today has been an unpredictable and fun Saturday. Unfortunately I woke early, but that meant I had time to mend my oven gloves and clean most of the house before I was due to meet up with a friend to go shopping for curtain material at a big market. Our shopping trip was somewhat cut short by torrential rain. Despite umbrellas and trying to find shelter, we both got soaked from feet to knees as the rain hit the ground and splashed back up. My friend’s husband kindly rescued us and gave me a lift home, so they came in for coffee (we left wet footprints all over the house, and my sandals are still drying out) and a good natter.

After lunch, I finished mopping the house and sat out on the veranda to read my Bible while the floors dried. The garden is very green and the nanny goat and her kid are enjoying the grass!

Then I got a phone call from some other friends, asking if I was home, as they were heading to town. So, unexpectedly I got to spend a fun afternoon with a family (with their three little kids) and a meal out together at a new hotel. Proved to be a really nice place with good food (though the menu is limited) at good prices and a badly translated English menu! Will definitely go there again. The most remarkable thing was that the bill came on a computerised receipt!

On the way home, I stopped to greet a Tanzanian acquaintance and chatted for a while. And now I'm sitting on the sofa, it’s dark outside and an annoying fly is buzzing around. Time for emails and an episode of ER.

(Apologies for poor quality pictures – most of them were taken on my phone).

Sunday stroll

To be honest, I never stroll! However, I thought I'd take you with me on a short walk I took this morning before lunch. The thunder was rumbling overhead and the air was heavy and oppressive, but though the sky was black over the mountains it was blue and sunny over town. I walked up the hill, through the woods to a point where I get a nice view of the mountain. Being the rainy season, everywhere is fresh and green and the scent of the eucalyptus trees fill the air. I didn't have my camera with me, but I captured a few snapshots on my phone of things I saw - the flowers and views were lovely, I saw beautiful butterflies too and also women returning from a busy morning of gathering wood jogging quickly down the path with huge bundles on their head that are probably heavier than their own body weight.

Back home

Settling back into life in Mbeya has been a rather bumpy ride, but now the way is smoothing out and life has fallen into some kind of pattern. This pattern involves a brisk and hilly walk to work from 7.45am – 8.15am (a good way to exercise and pray), a day in the office, a hot walk home and then a long evening that always seems to pass surprisingly quickly! If I’m home alone there’s food to be cooked, washing up to be done, correspondence to keep up with and people to Skype as well as ER to watch, music to write and listen to and books to read. Sometimes I have friends round – this week my landlady popped in for a bit, three Tanzanian colleagues came for a drink and cake one evening after work and another two a different evening. Today a Tanzanian friend is coming for lunch and tomorrow I’m going out for dinner with three missionary friends, so the weekend shouldn’t feel too lonely!

Thought I’d share a big cultural difference with you, one you may already be aware of but was brought home to me in a funny way this week. I was in the car with three Tanzanian colleagues (two men and a lady) and another missionary. The man in the middle put on his seat belt, which was rather loose on him, and said (loosely translated), “This belt is for Mama!” Mama is sitting in the front, and is somewhat on the large side. Can you imagine making a comment like that in England? What would the lady’s reaction be?!! However, they all considered it a perfectly acceptable joke, and if anything Mama took it as a complement. Here, when you describe people, you describe them by their size (the fat one, the tall one etc.) and to describe them as thin is something of an insult. My colleagues told me that if a lady is well rounded, people may even joke that she shouldn’t do hard work so that she doesn’t lose weight! As a nutritionist, I can’t say that fat is good, though it is better to be a bit overweight and fit than thin and unfit, however I wonder if our society can learn something from this attitude by becoming a little less obsessed with what we conceive as the perfect figure.