Good times, New Years

This is just a quickie of a blog because January is going to busy and I don’t want to forget anything!

Christmas Eve….
I had the best time!! My 2 girlfriends (Megan and Nicole) from my region came to my village and hung out with my counterpart Joyce and her family. We went to family’s house Christmas Eve and had a wonderful time just hanging out and making mandazi (donut like goodness). We helped to make, need, and roll the dough. It was super fun and chill! Then we had beans, mandazi, and tea for a late night snack. Then we had music playing and had a dance party in the living room and on the porch. It was so fun dancing with everyone! We had a blast and so many people showed up and stopped by. FUN!

Christmas Day….
We got up in the morning and had mandazi and tea for breakfast and got ready for Church. We went to church in my village (her family’s village and my village neighbor each other). At church there was a lot of sitting and staring off into space. But then they auctioned off a couple things to raise money for the church and I bid on a handmade wooden chair…and I got it!! It was only about 4 dollars haha. It’s super cool! After church, we went back to the family’s house and laid around outside and rested. We then ate a huge delicious lunch of rice, spiced rice, beans, meat, cabbage, and tea. I was so full as usual. I think after lunch we took a much needed nap and relaxed. After we woke up, we hung outside with the family, and had a few beers with some other friends and family members who came by. Later that night, we had other dance party and set up the TV outside. They also put a couch outside for us to sit on and we watched Tanzanian music videos and a movie. But about half through the movie, we went to bed. We were exhausted!!

Day after Christmas….
We woke up and went back to our usual spot on the mats outside and laid around, hung out, and relaxed. For most of the morning and early afternoon, my girlfriends and I played random games…dozens of games from when we were kids to games like charades haha. It was SO FUN! At the same time, we hung out with the family, they made us brunch of rice, mangos, and other food I can’t remember, and then they made us a snack/lunch of French fries and soda. I was so full of fried food, starches, and sugar BLAH…but it was yummy. Midafternoon we went back to my village and stayed at my house for the night. We just chilled out and had top-romon for dinner and watched random TV shows on my computer. The next day, we got up and went to town for the usual…bank, post office, and grocery shopping, etc.

New Year’s Eve….
This time, Megan and I went to Nicole’s house. We arrived late afternoon and we hung out eating some snacks and watching TV shows on the computer again (yes, it’s one of our fav things to do haha). In the early evening one of my “sister’s” who lives in her village came to get us for dinner. We went to her family’s house and ate rice, spinach, and fish. To drink, we had one glass (it’s strong!!) of the local coconut alcohol. Not long after that, we went to another house to visit people. We were again served dinner; this time we had chipsi mayai (omelet with French fries in it) and beer. We also had a Popsicle which was so refreshing because, as always, it was so hot! After that family, we hit up another invitation to visit people and hung out with some other people. We drank some more beer….and we’re seriously full at this point (2 dinners and beer back-to-back!). About 9pm, we went back to Nicole’s house and rested to get ready for midnight. We were stuffed and exhausted, so we (again) watched TV shows. At close to 11:30pm we went back to my “sister’s” house. From there, we all went together to the village center for the New Year’s Celebration!! We had a blast!! There was drumming and dancing. I danced so much and got so sweaty haha…there were so many people, a fire at the center (to tighten the skin of the drums), and lots of dancing. It was awesome!!! Eventually, around 2am we went back to the house and crashed…slept like a baby.

New Year’s Day….
The next morning we got up and went to town. We dropped off out stuff and our hostel and went straight to the ‘fancy hotel.’ There we had the full buffet breakfast of toast, cereal, cold mild, fruit, yogurt, eggs, and sausage for 5 dollars. YUMMY. Then we headed straight to the pool. We slept, relaxed, sunbathed, swam, and read. Late afternoon, we went to a usual spot and got a plate of fresh fruit and homemade fruit juice. After the snack, we went back to our hostel to relax and watch a movie (man…we do that a lot haha). About 7pm, we went to the pizzeria and had salad (SO GOOD) and pizza! De-lish!! When we got back to the hostel we barely made until 10pm because we were so exhausted and sun-drained. I slept SO long and SO well :) I love sleeping in town….no farm animals, kids, or mamas to wake you up early. The next day we got fruit again, stopped at the market, got lunch to go, and went home.

Blogs to come in January….
- DAD’S VISIT
- World AIDS Day Event

Much love, J