I wish I was Kurt Vonnegut...

I am not feeling creative today, but am loathe to leave my blog for next week out of fear that a long weekend will prematurely sink my attempt at good communication. Thus the title - he is my hero, I just read a NYTimes article about him (Christmas gift ideas - he's got a new book coming out). And I really dig his writing style. Short chapters, lots of zingers, incredibly sarcastic and cynical and funny at the same time. He is a UofC grad (granted he seems to be not overly proud of this, but hey, in a way, I can respect him even more for that). And he swears. I like it when writers swear in their work, I mean, it's part of our language, self-censoring is bad (I wanted to use a curse word here instead of 'bad', which totally lacks the emotional meaning I had with regards to self-censorship, but I'm not sure what blog rules are. or who is reading. damn it.)

Not much is new. Am in Mwanza after meeting, briefly, the new Ambassador to Tanzania. It was a pretty shockingly whirlwind event for a Tanzanian saturday, lunch and greeting and goodbyes in under an hour. I'm used to pretty much looking for ways to draw out activities as long as possible so the day doesn't drag. But it was still fun, fantastic Chinese food is always a plus. Not McDonalds.

In other exciting food news, I tried, and succeeded, in my first attempt at dill pickles.

***side note. I feel bad writing so much about food while all my Muslim friends (I'll be honest, not many would be reading this, as most are here in TZ) are fasting for Ramadan. But hey, I'm not fasting, and food is about the greatest form of entertainment I have here, so if it's good, I appreciate it. And want to write about it.*****

I was so happy, all I would've needed to be in my athiest version of heaven is a BLT sandwich - alas, don't think that'll be possible any time soon. Now the only problem is that I have so much dill growing, I can't imagine I can eat that many pickles. You all out there, whoever that may be, send me recipes for good food using dill. Not, however, recipes using microwaves. Or refrigerators. Or anything packaged that is purchased at a supermarket.

Have also been having a lot of 'uji' lately, which is Tanzanian for - what, I don't know the english, porridge? Basically I have this flour that's a mix of finely ground peanuts, corn, and rice. I put some in water, boil until it has a nice thick consistency, add sugar, and drink for a mid-afternoon snack. It's pretty tasty, pretty easy. My homestay family waaaaay back when used to make it often (with coconut milk, drool hitting keyboard right about....now). But since I left I haven't actually made it for myself. Will see if it can help me gain weight, or at least maintain, since I plan on resuming some form of running (read: jogging) regimen when the stupid sun stops being so fierce (guess what word I wanted to use instead of 'stupid'?!).

Work is busy but good. Resumed going to meetings of a community drama group, which is fun. I'm not a drama expert, but I have a few ideas, and I like seeing how excited they all are when they rehearse various vignettes and think about how positively they will be recieved by an entertainment-deprived public (not too difficult to draw a crowd around here). On Wednesday I went to a graduation for the High School, with 68 kids finishing their exams in the coming weeks and, for the many who won't pass, starting their lives. 68 kids, all in one classroom. Sounds bad til you see that the other grades have 70-80 students per classroom. But it was nice, despite a rap that was way too long, to hear some songs and see how excited the kids are about completing. Brought back some recent, semi-fond, memories.

Am excited to get a visitor from the states this week, plans include eating lots of mangoes and speaking lots of rapid-fire American English, two of my favorite activities. If only the little Tanzanian kids would let the mangoes ripen on the trees instead of picking them unripened and eating them bitter, I'd be back in that BLT-induced heaven, with buckets of mangoes for dessert. Hah, fat chance of that.