Where Are They Now?

I've been getting pictures from my housemate Sarah showing me my clothes being worn around Musoma by various people. I guess if one has to get rid of most things that they own and leave it behind, it is comforting to see that they are being enjoyed by others.

This skirt was the first article of clothing I had made in Tanzania and it was the skirt that I wore on my lovely "Lord of the Rings" hike (Long Ago I Went on a Hike).

Do you remember the Camelot Hotel near I-44 and Peoria in Tulsa? Well, now Magesa is commemorating that grand hotel by wearing my shirt.

Finally, Sarah herself is helping Zingo live on with my "I rode Zingo" shirt. Apparently I also gave her those jeans.

I hope everyone else is enjoying the items they got from me!

Telling Time

I got a call from a friend in Tanzania last week. One of the guards at the office, the one who named his son Milton because of my dad, called me to say hello and see how I was doing. It was a lovely conversation and I enjoyed the brief chat (including video!)

At one point he asked me what time it was here and it reminded that I've never written about how Tanzanians tell time!

You know how Jesus was crucified at the "third hour" of the morning and that means 9am? Well, Tanzanians tell time the same way.

7am is 1 o'clock, 8am is 2 o'clock, 9am is 3 o'clock, so on and so forth.

My ability to communicate accurately about time was made additionally complicated because all of my clocks are in military time. So, I would see that it was 14:00, know that that means 2pm, and then have to translate that into Swahili 9 o'clock.

Thanks to much practice and "having a head for numbers" I did alright in regards to telling time in Tanzania. It is also something I miss about being there and I thought it would be fun to share the joy of telling time with math.

A New Way of Seeing Things

There are many things about life in Musoma that have influenced and changed me over the years. A couple of those things played a role when I decided to paint a cardboard box for my nephew.

1) We don't generate a lot of trash in Musoma. Food items are not often bought in cardboard boxes and we don't have packages arriving on the doorstep with any frequency. Glass bottles are returned, refilled, and reused. Trash is generated, it is just a lot less than in America.

2) I've lived with an artist for the past couple of years. She has a different way of seeing the world than I do. When we had a small hole in the ceiling and I was worried about bats coming through it, I suggested covering it with duct tape. Sarah responded with "ok, that, or a mermaid?" We ended up going with her idea and had a beautiful mermaid (whom we called "the Green Lady") guarding our house from bats. I never would have seen a hole in the ceiling as an opportunity for an art project.

So, when a small product was delivered in an oddly large brown cardboard box I decided to make a project out of it. I even sketched out my design before free-handing it onto the box. That felt like a really artistic move.

It was fun having a project to work on. It was fun that that project was mildly artistic. It was fun giving my nephew a play house. It was fun seeing trash through new lenses. It was also fun to not be intimidated by arts and crafts (which has historically been the case). And it was fun seeing the finished product.

Who knows how long it will last, but it was well worth the effort to make.

No Longer Waiting

Well, we're no longer waiting for baby.

Thursday last week my newest nephew made his debut! Now I'm working on being super-aunt and helping as much as possible around the house.

Thankfully I do get to squeeze in some times for holding this little one.