Habari za leo? Za shule? Za ashubi? (How is today, school and morning)
I haven’t said anything about my host family yet and since they are a huge part of my life I figured I would at least introduce you to them today. The thing is that I have so much I would like to write but I don’t have enough time or energy.
My Baba is slightly older. In his 50s I think. The house that I live at his second wife’s house and she is younger like in her late 20s or 30s. My teacher said that it is very common for an older man to be with a younger wife here. My Baba (father) also has another house and he said that he will take me to visit it later. I still don’t understand the whole culture concerning family but I take it that he is what we would call divorced from his first wife. He has a total of 8 kids but I am not for sure if all of the kids that live with us are his since it is very common for the rich member of the family to house kids from various family members. There are currently 5 kids (Katiba who is 16, Kejeli who is 10, Enoshi who is 13, Julieanna who is 1 year I think, and Monica the house girl who is 18 or older). Babu (grandpa) is also living with us now. He just recently had an operation the week I came so I thought that he was living with us because of that but now I think he might live with the family permanently but I’m not for sure. We also have traveling family members that live with us for weeks at a time and then go back home or back to school. For example, Wilfred lived with us this week and he goes to a boarding school just down the street. He is 18 and really smart. He told me he wants to study theology but I don’t think he will end up a priest since he might just be telling the school that so he can go there. Tanzanians have many ways of saying and getting things they want indirectly but it is perfectly okay since everyone does it.

We live in a very nice home. It is surround on all four sides with a huge wall and fence on top. The house is fairly new. We also have a security guard that comes at night although the area isn’t that bad. Baba is an accountant for one of the universities here so he knows a lot of the higher up people. One of his family members also is a head of the parks department here so he said that we will have to visit some of them some time. Since we do have a fenced in compound a few of our neighbors keep their cars inside our compound. Our house faces toward the large mountain range so every morning I get to see the beautiful mountains! The house has 2 African style bathrooms (2 pit latrines), a shower room (with a real European shower but I haven’t used it since I want to get used to the bucket baths), 4 total bedrooms, one large living room, a backroom with another bed and the kitchen. My house is very large compared to some of my fellow volunteers. I also have running water and electricity which only a few other volunteer’s families have. I was surprised to learn that since most of the houses in my area have electricity. I have my own bedroom with a huge bed. The other family members obvious have to share bedrooms.

The kids are a lot of fun to spend time with and they are always wanting to know what I am up to and doing. The one that I spend the most time with is Katiba. He is responsible for most of the housework that goes on even though all of the kids have to clean etc. He is also responsible for the food shopping at night. I normally go food shopping with him at night which is fun. There are no street lights or really lights of any kind other than from laterns so we have to take the flashlight to go to the nearby market. It was really strange the first time we did it but now it’s fun and I look forward to going. He is a practicing Muslim (the rest of my family is Cathlolic) and right now is Ramadan so he has been going to the mosque a lot and he can’t eat or drink anything during the day light hours. I have really learned a lot of Islam from him. I would say that about 50% of the people in this town are Muslims since there are so many mosques everywhere and you always see people on the streets with veils or the guys with the Muslim caps.

My breakfast and dinner are provided by my family everyday, but I have lunch at school. I will have to explain that later. Every morning I have a really nice breakfast. It consists of 3 pieces of bread, an African like omelette, and hot water. I should have chai (tea) but I don’t like it so they just make me hot water. They give me honey to put on my bread but they put sugar in it to make it sweeter (go figure) so I don’t always have it. They put sugar in everything. If you do have chai and they serve it for you they will put like 3 spoonfuls of sugar in it after you have put 2! They basically js like to have sugar water.
The sugar is just pure from the cane (not refined) so it is healthier but they still put in in literally EVERYTHING! Three pieces of bread may seem like a lot and it is along with the omelette. It started out being 2 pieces of bread but in the Tanzanian culture they put way more food on your plate on purpose to make sure that you have gotten enough. This is very similar to Mexicans putting lots of food on your plate. I would eat the 2 pieces of bread and clean my plate so I think they thought I wasn’t getting enough to eat and so they put 3. I feel bad not eating all of the food on my plate (although at dinner I have to leave about a cup of food left otherwise they will pile more on) so I eat all of my breakfast even though the omelets is enough. People keep telling me that I must live in a rich family because they only normally have bread for breakfast.

The house girl (who does most of the cooking and cleaning) Monica wakes up really early before I get up at 6am to cook my breakfast. She is really happy to do so. One time I had to go to school early and forgot to tell here so I went to school without eating and when I came home my Mama, Baba, brothers and here all told me how sorry they were that I had to go to school without breakfast and that if need be they will buy me food to eat or they will get up earlier!