We spent much of Thursday settling back into life at Kundayo and getting a lot of dirty clothes sent in to the laundry service. Socks and underwear got their usual stamping in the big red bucket with our nifty little toilet plunger. Mary Lou was off at the Albino Peacemakers, so John and I decided to go into town for lunch. We chose to eat at FiFi”s Bamboo, which is newly reopened. The prices were very reasonable and the food was outstanding. I had FifFi’s special chicken and chipsies. The chicken was fried or roasted and then buried in a thick layer of sautéed onions and peppers. It was delicious! John ordered Kilimanjaro pork, and it took forever to prepare. We had to wait and wait and wait, but there really wasn’t much else to do. We watched all the wazungu who passed by on the street outside. There seemed to be an unusually high number of them, some in groups who were likely on safari.
After lunch, John decided to get his beard trimmed and then walk to Benson’s—the big appliance and electronics store in Arusha—to see if they could fix his camera, which he had dropped at the Archbishop’s house. None of the photos he took after the lunch on the second day were visible. I found a nice green bjaji and headed to Meat King shop there. After that, the bjaji took me me back to Kundayo. John also returned soon with the news that Benson’s would call him next week to let him know if they could or couldn’t fix his camera.
After dark, I saw Mama sitting outside in her usual place and went over to greet her. After a while, Mary Lou joined us, too. This led to a longer conversation than I had intended because not only did Mama want to know about our experience at the Archbishop’s house but also about how we live at home. She was as always surprised to hear that we don’t have any daily house help and generally do all our cleaning, laundry, shopping and cooking ourselves. In contrast, she has a small army of servants who do everything for her. While we we talking, Her grandson Sydney brought her a large bowl full of fried chicken, so she insisted that Mary Lou and I eat some with her. Soon after, we bid her goodnight and returned to our apartments.
It rained hard during the night and was still pouring when we got up. The rains don’t usually start until March, but there can be occasional downpours in February, too. Mary Lou usually walks the 2.5 kms to the albino women’s sewing workshop, but this morning, she wasn’t sure what to do. There was a group of students from Colorado College huddled in the restaurant ready to go on a camping safari. They looked pretty miserable, but their guides, who were sitting on the restaurant veranda, said the rain would end about 10:00, and it actually did. Mary Lou took my umbrella with her, but she never had to use it.
Mary Lou wanted me to go to Shoppers with her after she finished her English lesson at the Albino Peacemakers. She was going to walk to the produce market near the Impala roundabout and then alert me to call Ray and arrange to meet up with her there. However, when she still had not called at 1:00, Ray came to Kundayo to ask what was happening. Anita, who has only a half day of school on Friday, was along with him. We called Mary Lou and discovered that she had lost track of time and was still at the sewing workshop. So, we drove there to pick her up and then started to Shoppers.
Shoppers is fairly far away, and there was street construction on the main road. Ray took alternate streets, which I had never been on before, so we saw new places and another big market. On our way, Anita told me that it was her mothers birthday. Then when we arrived at Shoppers, Ray stayed with the car, but Anita got out and followed me into the store. I was a little surprised, but Shoppers is a big place full of all sorts of merchandise that a little Tanzanian girl would find interesting. Right away, however, Anita headed to the greeting card section and so I let her choose a card for Honorina. At only 5000 Tsch. ($2.17) it seemed a bargain. Then we walked up and down the aisle looking at things. I had very little I wanted to buy, just some milk, peanut butter, dish detergent, and samosas for John. Anita kept looking all around. I had to go to the bakery section since that is where the samosas are sold. I had a feeling what was going to happen. As soon as Anita saw the cakes, she wanted to buy one for her mother. How could I say no, when for less than $10 I could buy a large chocolate layer cake on which the bakery would write “Happy Birthday Honorina” in pink icing? So, we bought the cake and then a big bottle of orange soda and were set to check out. Ray came to the check stand to help carry our purchases to the car and was taken aback by Anita’s shopping spree. In the car he told her that next time she was not going into the store with me, and then he turned to me and said, ”She is dangerous in a store.” Anita was unfazed and beaming as she held the big cake box on her lap.
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| Who could resist Anita? |
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| I prefer Kilimanjaro. |
The day ended with our fried chicken and baked bananas dinner and a dish of fruit salad. It had been a day of many unexpected surprises, all of them good.
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