Purpose:

"Peace requires the simple but powerful recognition that what we have in common as human beings is more important and crucial than what divides us."
-Sargent Shriver


Thursday, May 31, 2012

Picture(s) a Day for the Month of May

May 1st:  'Winter' is coming and the corn outside my house is dying.  Yea, that green thing is my house.

May 2nd:  My neighbor Raymond got all dressed up to see his Bibi in town.  It will also still fit him in 10 years.


 May 3rd:  I've got mail... from Cara and Brett.  My Mom and Meli later added to the new competition of 'awesome boxes.'  More competitors are welcomed

May 4th:  Visiting my sitemate Nora in Itiso, Chamwino.
 ....and this is how we opened our wine that night...

May 5th/Cinco de Mayo/Tyler Keyser's Half-Birthday: This day was epic and included an entire day's hike, visiting a strangers home on the top of the mountain, and carrying their gifts back down to the vill.
 The home we visited at the top.  The wonderfully welcoming family gave us corn on the cob and squash for a snack, then got all dressed up for pictures.
They then gave us gifts of sugar cane and a live chicken before we headed back down.  The chicken loved checking out the view and didn't mind that I fell multiple times on the steep trek.
 
Our tour guide/trooper for the day, 'Jackson.'

 
May 6th:  Cooking dinner at Nora's crib after failing to get a chicken to kill.

May 7th: My broken toe and blistered feet, solved with sandy sandals and a rubber band!


May 8th: Jump rope time with the neighbor kids.


May 9th:  The acknowledgement page of a nursing student's research page ended with: 'Also thanks to be sent to the cooker for their good preparation of food and available all the time.  Not only this but also for providing a boiled water.  So as to be out of water born infection.'

May 10th:  Move over daisies, sunflowers are making a comeback

May 11th:  Saturday=Movie Day with the neighbor kids.  This weeks showing, Tangled

May 12th: I made American food for my neighbors Happy, Frank, Raymond, and Baba Mushi.  Yes, that's the Mr. Potato head Masai version Raymond made, and the delicious cornbread and spaghetti I made.



May 13th:  Who says you can't eat healthy in the Peace Corps?  Mandarin, biscuits, kale, avocado, tomato, peanuts and baobob juice.

May 14th: Watching the vijana play soccer at the primary school next door

May 15th: Hanging at Mama Sara's duka with a tangawezi soda

May 16th: At the primary school chatting with the teachers pre-soccer practice.

 May 17th: My walk home from the hospital every day.

May 18th: Dani/Farida/Fritto came in town for a night of soup, garlic rolls, carrot cake, two bottles of delicious Dodoma wine and girl talk.

May 19th: Saturday when all PCVs in the region are in town= Zanzibar mix at Roses, hike with the besti's to 'Pride Rock,' Eric/Copper getting his Tanzanian teenage boy on, and shot gunning beers pre-Club 84.


 May 20th: This day will get a future blog...in the meantime admire one of the many fun critters I get to hang with every day.  This day is was a praying mantis.

May 21st: When you work with an NGO and have your big Annual Work Plan meeting in Morogoro, these get to be your digs for the week!  I got four channels on that TV, lukewarm water that only turned off 1 day, and a western toilet that flushed 3/6 days!

May 23rd: Tanzanians are chatting loads about President Obama's recent support of marriage for all and the election.
Co-Worker:  How does your President support a man marrying another man?
Ellen:  Well that's not entirely true.
Co-Worker:  He doesn't support it?
Ellen:  No, he thinks a woman can marry another woman too.

May 24th: Best thing about the I-TECH meetings, Morogoro....gorgeous.

May 25th: Getting our Logic Model on

 May 26th:  I returned to Dodoma for some friend therapy of sticking toothpicks up our noses using only our mouths and taking culturally inappropriate pictures with the oddly realistic cardboard cut-out at the local watering hole.

 May 27th: Nora required the room to watch Downtown Abbey.

May 28th: What did I do today?  I played with Harry Potter leggos, so yea, I was productive.

May 29th: Rainbow Primary School Life Skills Club: Meeting #2.  We made a club contract, listed what we wanted to learn in the next few weeks, and played 'steal the bacon.'



 May 30th: My veggie Mama.  She hooks me up with all my seasonal fruits and veggies for the week for under 5,000 Tsh.

May 31st:  Alive, well and 7 months in (20 to go).  Time is flying.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

bay-oh-bob

Maji ya Baobab

Incredibly nutritious.
Incredibly delicious.
Incredibly cool looking tree.

Recipe:
5 cups of Baobab seeds
10 cups of water (+3 more cups if you like it watery)
1 cup sugar
A few pinches of tumeric, food coloring, or any other spice that's oh so nice

Buy a bag of baobab seeds or powder.
Pour into water and boil for 30 minutes.
Keep a watchful eye and stir occassionally.  Make sure it doesn't overflow.....like it usually does when I make it.
 Take out all of the seeds.

 Nom nom nom.

Add the sugar and all of that other goodness.


Put it in the fridge or drink hot.  It's high in Vitamin C and is a great superfood.
Who says you can't eat right on a budget.
And yes, this was the batch I found a worm in the next day.