After breakfast this morning, probably around 9 a.m., my mama called me to the back courtyard and told me it was time to do laundry. I was a little confused because it looked like it was going to rain, but I went and got my clothes from inside.
My mama's sister, who's visiting from Dar es Salaam, helped me wash my clothes, and I was giving them their first rinse when it started to rain. Mama Fatuma came over, and she started giving my clothes their second rinse and hanging them up. By the time all my clothes were on the lines across the courtyard, it was seriously raining. And rain here doesn't mess around: when it rains, as they say, it pours.
Luckily I had the wisdom of three women who know this weather and knew that by evening my clothes would be, for the most part, dry.
A most unstructured day for me, as this is an odd Saturday off before I leave for my site visit. A cool (60s F) day, cloudy and a good day to sit on the front bench, try to read a book, and get distracted by the hilarious village kids for hours.
I accompanied my nine-year-old neighbor Fatuma to the fruit stand down the way, on a search for bananas. My mama gave us money to buy me bananas, because I think Peace corps implores our host families to provide us with fruit. In this area, and in this season, it seems that eating fruit at meals, or even at all, is not very common.
Fatuma took one look at the forlorn, tiny bananas at the stand and walked away. When we got back my mama asked what happened, and then sent us to the second-string stand on the other side of the village. They had closed for the day, but a neighbor shouted across the way to the shopkeeper, who replied "hamna!" None.
Not a suitable banana to be found in my village today. A pretty hilarious situation.
On another note, my aunt made chipsi mayai for dinner that was out of this world. :)
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