Sikukuu (Holiday)

Happy Holidays folks! You know it's Xmas here when you smell pilau (spiced rice dish) spices from the jirani (neighbors). It is a food made here during the holidays. As I walked out of my flat to buy maziwa (milk) from the soko (market). The smell hit me in the face..in a good way. And as I walked I asked people Habari za Xmas? Which means literally news of Xmas..or how is Xmas. And prices for things go up here during Xmas instead of the sales that you get in the US. But I was still your happy little volunteer feeding my fellow jirani cookies and cakes (it was mango bread made with pilau spices). A few days prior some volunteers came over my place and we cooked lasagna and mango crisp (mangos are real cheap..5-10 cents each here..yup be real jealous..pineapples are 50 cents) on a kerosene jiko (stove) as there was no umeme (electricity). But do not be too jealous of the awesome fruit prices, as making lasagna here is a major feat in itself. It requires making ricotta cheese from scratch (boil milk and add lemon juice), making noodles from scratch(yummy in my tummy), and making the sauce from scratch. The only thing we had to buy was grated cheese (which almost tasted like the ricotta we made). We also went over the home of a Canadian gal who runs an NGO out here in Mbeya for a mini Xmas party complete with Secret Santa exchange. But umeme has returned and with that a volunteer who is from Korea whom I have been hanging out with. I also have met an awesome TZ gal who lives in the flats next to mine. We had some pretty interesting conversations about poor in TZ vs poor in US. Which is a foreshadow into my next topic about an interesting book I am reading which I received from a local PCV during a book swap called the Working Poor by David Shipler..about poor in America. It is interesting as they make comparisons about how poor kids in other countries can play with a tire for fun or other creative toys like taking bottles to a stick and adding wheels (which yes I have seen here in TZ) and us in America we need our Barbie dolls and Hotwheels no matter the income bracket. I am still reading the book but it shows that it is harder to be poor in America as most people live beyond their means in the States and most people have things (like cool toys, cable TV, etc) which in other countries they don't have these things even if they are middle class. Also that there are poor in America and that working hard does not necessarily mean that you get alot of money. Though being in TZ, at least I appreciate the fact that the US govt tries to help poor people with some assistance programs, they don't over here or if they do I don't see it. Anyways I am not done reading the book yet so I may be a bit premature in my assumptions as to the point of the book..but it is written really well. I do recommend it. I am going down to Tukuyu in Mbeya region for New Years Eve..till then have a great rest of the year!