(Ugali is the main staple food of Tanzania. It's a starchy, thick, sticky, non-tasting cream of wheat-like substance)
2. Not only are you not even irritated by the power outages but you begin to see them as opportunities for romantic ambience. :-)
3. A quick trip to the "mall" involves paying a man to guard your car as you ramble thru piles and piles of discarded used clothing at the local market.
4. A "good shopping day" is finding an Old Navy skirt at the used clothing market for $1.
5. You look at yourself and realize you could be the poster child advertisement for the used clothing market. Everything you have is REALLY used!!
6. Every thing that used to irritate you about living here is now down played to a simple roll of the eyes and an overused expression, "TIA." (This Is Africa)
7. You have mixed emotions about people leaving. You're sad they are going but the truth is... you REALLY want their "stuff!"
8. A simple drive to down becomes an ongoing drivers simulation exercise: donkeys, goats, chickens and/or cows crossing at any time. Men pushing carts over stacked with goods. Pedestrians, people on bikes, insane drivers...(besides me)
9. A fun game is reading the back of dala dalas to tell if you've seen that one before or to see if he's the one you wanted to shoot the other day for cutting you off in traffic. (Dala Dalas are local transit here. They often have odd/silly comments painted on the back window like, "God made me do it" or "Gangsta Luva..."
10. You find yourself loving Africafe so much that you plan to take a several month supply home with you on furlough. (Africafe is the locally made instant coffee)
11. You have to shop online for Christmas/birthday gifts for family members as you have already given them all the African "stuff" you can think of.
12. Multi-tasking means you find something else to do while on the internet to keep you busy as you wait and wait and wait for your page to upload. When your page ultimately times out you find you have your other work finished.
13. You find yourself thinking..."I'll miss my neighbors donkey breighing in the morning while I'm gone on furlough.
14. You don't even think twice about boiling your milk, filtering your water or turning on the switch to heat up shower water. It's just what you do on a daily basis here.
15. A good day is getting your clothes dried on the line before a big rain sweeps thru, food is actually on the shelves at the local store, no dala dala drivers cut you off by whipping in front of you, the ATM actually has money in it.. and it's working.
16. The ever increasing pot holes just provide more inventive fun, "Let's use the potholes and play connect the dots...." (The roads are so bad right now there are places where you literally choose which ones to hit b/c there's so many you can't avoid them)
17. You still don't know why the cars coming at you are flashing their lights or incessantly honking..but... you just don't care anymore!
18. You are so used to getting your eggs straight from the chicken that you forget about that fun, styrofoamy packaging that made storing them so clean and easy.
19. You mean everyone doesn't bleach their veggies and fruits, and wash and re-use baggies and foil?
20. Recycling means the wrapping is just as precious as the gift.
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