I Know This is Home..

This feels like home to me. I can be me- ni kweli- it's true- I can joke with and tease my neighbors using Swahili and English. I feel so comfortable with them and I don't feel like I am putting on a facade. I feel like I am part of the community. I can visit neighbors at any time. When I am sick they care. The old mamas greet me as though I was their daughter- various neighbors have told me I am like a daughter to them..binti yangu..my daughter they call me..some even reference the song "Anita" by Matonya saying Anita wangu..my Anita. I have friends around my age that are Tanzanian. I have mentors in the female Tanzanian professors. Various neighbors want to actually learn how to make cookies and cakes from me. Students are my friends and some of them like a younger brother/sister but at the same time I am their teacher as well. When my neighbors see me they offer me beans from their farms. It is bean harvesting time here, I have so many fresh beans (the beans are in pods) offered by my neighbors that I think I will be eating wali and maharage (rice and beans) forever- which I don't mind as I don't eat meat. If you have any recipes involving beans email them to me..I will try and make enchiladas, chili, minestrone, maybe even some more red bean buns...