Kipilefti

It’s been a week of Getting Things: I finally received a big package my parents sent to the Peace Corps address before we got site announcements (and now I have to send off a package of my own with gifts for my host family in it); I also got a box of miscellanea that my father sent by bus from Kampala to Dar when he was on a mission trip; I also got a bag that my parents packed last week, which a colleague of my dad’s brought to Dar and a very kind friend brought down for me. And then, when I went to the post office today, I got two packages with Christmas decorations in them! So my house is decorated now, even though it’s not quite the season any more. There are ornaments on a string on the wall of my hallway, and tinsel around the bathroom door because it makes me giggle. I also got a package from my mother of inauguration paraphernalia, which made me cry as I went through it. I wish I could have been there!

Highlights of Things Gotten include: solid American silverware (which is amazing: forks that don’t bend when you look at them!); a solar-powered reading light from my father, which I’m enjoying–it’s good to not have to get up to turn off the light between finishing reading and going to sleep!; Berger cookies (Bret and Jess will also appreciate them!); lots of Altoids and conditioner; and an Obama action figure and mousepads. I was also really happy to get a postcard from my piano teacher, Mrs. Gutterman (if you’re reading, hi!), who I’d been meaning to write to…

(A quick note on mail timing, since it’s been requested by several people: boxes seem to take much longer than padded envelopes (a month or two vs. two weeks) for reasons unknown to me. Postcards and letters seem to take the same amount of time (two to three weeks), with a few weird exceptions.)

Yesterday was a tired day; I didn’t want to teach, felt a little ill, stayed in bed most of the day and had grilled-cheese-on-maandazi (maandazi are sort of like non-doughnut-shaped doughnuts, just fried dough) for dinner. Today, though, is a beautiful day, sunny and breezy, and a good one. I did all my teaching in the morning; had chai with the other teachers (they’re feeding us chai now! Two maandazi and as much super-sweet tea as you can drink); went to the post office, in which a bird is currently living (it flew in the window and lost a lot of feathers and I guess Posta Mama doesn’t mind? I asked and she went into the back room and brought it out and then it got scared and flew/fell into a corner); got a lift home from a woman I’d met randomly a month or two back (thank goodness, the packages were heavy!); finished reading a trashy teen vampire romance novel; and went to the market, where I got ingredients for chili and, for the first time since getting here, milk! I’m going to drink some straight (after boiling, of course) and make some pudding with the rest…it should be a delicious night! I have provolone, so I’ll grate some of that onto the chili with my new grater. I can’t wait but the beans are taking forever so I have to. While I wait for the beans I’m going to practice on my mandolin. While I was at the Internet over the weekend I downloaded some chord tabs for songs, so now I have an incentive to learn chords. It’s going slowly, but it’s going…