(food, utilities, lodging, transportation)
What will I remember about our diet for the month? Starch, eggs, and Chai! We had the option to drink chai with every meal if we so desired! We also had a lot of white rice, potatoes, white bread, fried rolls, pinto beans, and egg dishes. Beans, eggs, and rice are the typical food staples of eastern Africa.
We went into town every couple days to buy food and cooking supplies at the market. At least 2-3 of us took a 5-10 minute bus ride into town and then lugged it all back to our home. We held live chickens in our laps on the bus when our cooks wanted chicken for a meal! We were able to buy eggs and bread just down the street from our home at a small convenience store, though. That store also was our source for toilet paper and bottled water. Can you believe it, 1.5 liter bottled water costs only 1,000 Shillings (0.65 USD)!?
Our pantry (aka: the floor)
Where we stored our sliced bread (above the boys' room)
We had about one to four Tanzanian women cooking our meals for us in the outside kitchen area of the courtyard. Margaret is my favorite and always had a big smile on her face whenever we would walk by while she was cooking. She knows a little bit of English, so we could somewhat communicate with her!
Our awesome cooks! (Margaret on the right)
Our lovely cooks peeling potatoes for dinner omelets
Drinks:
Chai (Swahili for tea) with brown sugar
Bottled water
Chlorinated water (we purified tap water the second half of the month to save money on water)
Waiting 8 hours for the chlorine tablets to purify our water (there is a mosquito net over the openings to try to eliminate the strong chlorine smell)
Breakfast:
Hardboiled eggs + white sliced bread with butter
Homemade porridge (similar to cream of wheat)
Fruit (oranges, bananas)
Chai, 2 hard-boiled eggs, salt, and sliced bread
The typical breakfast scene: plates, mugs, journals, and Bibles all over the table
Lunch:
Hard-boiled eggs + white bread with butter
Yams (sometimes mashed) + cooked, shredded lettuce and celery
White rice + pinto beans
Banana soup (similar to a meatless beef stew) + cooked spinach
Chicken or pig with some meals (freshly slaughtered by our cooks) + large potato wedges
White rice + a carrot/cabbage side dish
white rice, pinto beans, and cooked, sliced lettuce and celery
meat and fried potato wedges
Banana soup
Diggin' in to some banana soup
Pre-lunch computer time
Dinner:
Omelets with fried potato wedges
White rice + pinto beans
Thick flour crepes + a pea and carrot soup
White rice + fried rolls (they taste kind of like a cake donut)
Omelets with peppers
Angel hair pasta + guacamole slices
Potato chips + homemade guacamole
Pasta and sliced bread
Margaret preparing fried rolls
P. S. We were all worried about having a high-carb, low-protein diet in Africa, but our Tanzanian cooks made us plenty of pinto beans! No ugali (cornmeal) this month!
