Khanga

It keeps getting steadily cooler here, reminding me that it is in fact winter. I'm glad that I brought a jacket and mainly long pants, but I am getting antsy about stocking up on beautiful scarves and fabrics. There are so many pretty khanga fabrics here. Here's what I know about them: they're printed in big blocks, and when you buy them you buy two: one to wrap around your waist, one to wear as a scarf/shawl. Women usually wear a t-shirt and skirt, and then wrap the fabric over their clothes, and I can't tell whether the whole long thing is wrapped around the body (skirt/scarf) or if they're cut apart and used separately. The funny thing is that my landlady told me most of them are printed in India, and then shipped here where they're sold for cheap. They would be much more expensive if they were actually printed here. I've seen a wide variety of prints, colors, and patterns, but my favorite is the one with a huge picture of Obama's face and a map of Africa. It says something in Swahili, but I'm not sure what. I've seen two of those so far--one on someone's wall as a decoration and one that a woman was wearing.

I would love to wear them myself, but I have a feeling that a skinny white redhead would stick out even more wrapped in a colorful khanga. We'll see.

I'm also planning on going to the vegetable market this weekend. I've managed to vary my diet so I don't get scurvy, but I would like to cook some veggies at home. The amazing thing here is that it's actually real food--in the US, all you're eating is chemicals, processed stuff, and fake substitutes. I looked at the ingredients of my bread just yesterday: "flour, salt, fat, sugar, yeast, eggs." Period. I asked for butter from the corner shop and got a two pound brick of unsalted butter wrapped in paper. Real food! Don't get me wrong--there's still margarine, and there are still chips and cheese puffs and other stuff like that, but you can eat real food for very cheap. I don't have to worry about checking everything for high fructose corn syrup. The pop is better, too, because they use real sugar--all of it comes in glass bottles that you have to give back, and use a bottle opener to get them open. No plastic, no screw-off lids. Oh, traveling.

QUESTIONS!
1. Yes, I've met the other interns. There's a whole "army" of us here working. Everyone is nice, but the group is a little diffuse--we all live in different areas, plan different things, and go different places. Usually a couple different groups go out to eat for lunch together, and many are getting all sorts of trips set up, but we're not a huge group that does everything together. Lots of people go out after work, too, but that's not really my scene. I'm as much a loner here as I am in the US. : ) I don't ever go anywhere by myself, however, because it's simply not safe. [family--don't worry about me! I'm being smart!]
2. My landlady is fantastic--very nice, very helpful, and very funny. We chat, hang out, she introduced me to her family (her kids are really cute, especially with their little-kid-accents when they call out my name to see where I am) and it's all good. I know she's taken lodgers before, but I think it's a summer-type-thing. She's helping me set up the safari, too, because she's lived here her whole life and knows practically everyone. We took a taxi one morning to work because she had two flat tires, and by the end of the ride (speaking in Swahili to the taxi-driver) she determined that he knew her entire family in Arusha. Now I have a safe taxi driver that I can call, that is stationed right by my house.
3. Safari (one day) looks like this: the car picks you up at your home at 6:00 am, drives out to wherever, the cost includes a $50 park entrance fee, you hang out with the lions for a few hours, and then drive back and are back around 7:00 pm. That's as far as I know, at least, for just one day. There are lots of different safari packages, but they're all customized to the individual/group. People can camp for a few days, which I would love to do, but it costs an arm and a leg. If that's what you're coming for, it's a great opportunity, but if you're traveling on a shoestring because you're a poor intern, you take what you can get. : )
4. DVDs will be another adventure. I don't really know what that's going to look like.
5. Life is still an adventure, really. The only thing I do with confidence is open doors at the UN.