Mystery Food (3/19/2006)

Last week decided to stay home after trying some "fruit" that did not agree me. The Tanzanians call it a fruit but it reminds me more of a vanilla bean in appearance. I do not know the name but is a brown pod like thing about the length of one finger. The market person said they were very good for juice, just ongeza maji na sukari. Well I plopped a couple of pods into my morning ugi and it had a very nice tart flavor like a lemon. Not long after I finished breakfast my stomach started rumbling and was constrained to my house the rest of the day. But felt better the next day.

I had the opportunity to talk with the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) about my illness and he laughed then said that it sometimes happens when people try new foods. If I try it again the effects might not be as bad, until eventually there are no effects. This response of course makes me want to try the fruit again, but I fear the results. Should I try to build an immunity, and risk getting sick again? I did enjoy the tartness but such flavor can also be found in a lemon. I kept the food incase I have the courage/ stupidity to try it again.

My bicycle apparently never really got fixed, I think I will go on a tool hunt so I can remove the crank shaft myself. I now have two problems 1) the side with the gears was not pushed in far enough resulting in first gear only on the front shifters 2) the other side was not put on tightly resulting in the pedal nearly falling off on my last ride. One gear and one pedal might not be bad if I only had one leg.

Last week students missed two days of classes because of farm work. I got to supervise, this means I stood in the middle of a field and passed the rope over my head. Maybe you have seen the lines of rope on small farms that let the farmers see that they are planting in a straight line? Well the school does not have enough rope to cover the entire field so they string plant and move. Getting started was an interesting process because initially they did not have measuring sticks on both sides. The line would be made and one end would be off and the person with the stick would then walk down say why isn't this evenly spaced? So now I know how maize is planted and only the tops of my feet got burned after a day in the sun.

More good news is that the rains have come, which means that there is now water in my tank and power is a bit more frequent. The only thing I don't like about the rain is that often it comes when I teach my afternoon class. If you have never heard the sound of rain on a metal roof know that it very pleasant to listen to but difficult drown out.

I think that's all for now but I think every other week might become more frequent.