I ran over a hedgehog

I have been living in Tanzania for six months. Everyday I feel more and more at home with my surroundings. My life has changed so much here compared to life in Southern California. But just as I begin to think that I am adjusting to life in Tanzania, something will happen that brings everything back to the reality that I am living in a whole new country and life is not at all like it used to be. Here are a few examples:

• I was speaking at Pastor Mbasha’s church on Christmas Day. A few minutes before I got up to speak a bug that I have affectionately named “the flying black golf ball” flew into the church. Pastor Mbasha was praying a blessing over the word I was about to share and I heard a buzzing sound kind of close to me so I opened my eyes…there it was right between Eli and me. I grabbed Eli and he opened his eyes and started to laugh. He whispered “Don’t fear” to me. I made a face and he said it again. Then it flew in a different direction. Eli (my interpreter) and I stood up to present the Christmas message. As I began speaking “the flying black golf ball” came back and buzzed around my ankles. I thought it was going to fly up my skirt. Trying not to panic I began to kick at it while speaking. There was a Maasai man sitting in the front row. He noticed what I was doing. Crouching low he quickly came forward and knocked “the flying black golf ball” down and brushed it away. I was so thankful that he came to my rescue that I hardly paid attention to the swarm of wasps flying around their nest inside the church just above my head.
• The other night we were coming home from Swahili class. I was driving on a dirt road. I was not driving fast but a little hedgehog came out from the bushes and tried to cross the road just as I was driving by. I felt a slight bump as I drove over him. Jodie informed me that I ran him over. I felt bad so I put the vehicle in reverse so I could see if I smashed him. As I backed up I felt another slight bump and Jodie informed me that I rolled over him again. I looked at the spot where he was lying and he was curled up in a ball….he didn’t look smashed at all. The next morning I went back to that spot and he was gone. I convinced myself that he survived being run over twice…even though Eli kept telling me that an animal came during the night and ate him.
• Someone told me that after living in Tanzania for six months I would be fluent in Swahili. That has not happened. I think if I were a more diligent student I would be farther along but all of our African workers want to learn English and they are always practicing their English on us. But in spite of not being fluent at this point we do continue to practice and work at it…just not as much as we should. The other night I was driving out the gate to run to the market. I thought I would inform the guard that I would be back shortly. In Swahili I meant to say, “I will return quickly.” But instead, my pronunciation didn’t come out exactly as it should have and I told the guard, “I will return my love.” I knew something was missed in the translation by the huge smile that came over the guard’s face. The next day I asked Pastor Mbasha what I said to the guard and he informed me…through laughter…what I really said.
• One day after visiting with Pastor Mbasha and his family we were getting ready to leave. Janet, Pastor Mbasha’s wife, came out carrying a bag with fresh eggs for us to take home. I took the bag and put it in my backpack. I forgot about the eggs…for many days. I threw my backpack around and didn’t give those eggs a second thought. One day I woke up and smelled something terrible. I emptied my trash and took my dirty laundry to the laundry area and still the smelled did not go away. I looked all over my room and finally discovered the smell was coming from my backpack. I put my hand inside and felt something wet. I turned my backpack over to discover all the eggs had broken and egg yolk was covering everything that was inside. I threw away everything except my international driver’s license. I tried to clean it off and then laid it out to dry…it is still a mess. I placed my backpack in the burn pile...I loved that backpack.
• When we were packing and purchasing items to move to Tanzania I bought more of some items than others. I thought that I had purchased plenty of hair conditioner to last at least seven to eight months. But I find that I wash my hair more here. My hair has also grown out quite a bit and requires more conditioner. I ran out of conditioner about a month ago. I bought some conditioner at a store in Arusha (about and hour and a half away). I had to buy it even though I cringed at the idea of spending ten dollars for a bottle of conditioner that was so small. The first time I used it I thought it was odd that I had to use so much when washing my hair. But even more odd was how my hair looked after it dried. Now I have always had a lot of body in my hair but even I was taken back when I saw the frizz and extreme bulk of body in my hair. I brought non-frizz gels with me from America but they just help with the initial scary frizz the conditioner creates…it doesn’t help with the extreme bulk of body frizz. Adding on top of all this frizz is the fact that I am desperately in need of a hair cut…the dead ends do not help with the frizz factor. My mom so lovingly came to my rescue and mailed me a package with hair conditioner in it…the wonderful saloon brand that will be just what my hair needs…but her package is lost in the mail.
• I know that I have already written a blog entry about the mosquitoes. But I need to mention them again. You see we have had rain…good rain…for the last few months. The rain is a very good thing here but with the rain there has been an increase in mosquitoes. They are everywhere…all the time. Before the rains we could count on them to be out in large numbers heading towards evening time, but now they are out in large numbers all the time…day or night. It also seems like they don’t mind the bug spray as much anymore. The Avon brand “Skin So Soft” does nothing for protection. I probably spray myself with bug spray at least three times a day…and still end up with multiple bites. My feet, ankles and legs have permanent scars from those little guys. I try not to scratch them but the bug spray irritates the bites so they swell up and really itch…sometimes I just can’t help but scratch. I was hoping that my new frizz hair would help serve as a net to catch the mosquitoes before they had a chance to bite me.