We Are Now Tanzanian

Jodie and I have just celebrated our five year anniversary of living in Tanzania. We were reflecting on how much we’ve adapted to the culture by composing the following list:

You know you’re a Tanzanian if…
1. You can wear long sleeves and a jacket in 100 degree weather (I do that all the time!)
2. You can eat animal intestines without thinking twice about it.
3. You can go to the bathroom anywhere…and I mean ANYWHERE!
4. You can eat food with your fingers and not spill a drop!
5. Warm Coke is a welcome thing!
6. Warm Coke in a Maasai hut filled with men holding spears is a regular event!
7. Dirt in our toe nails is not uncommon…clean toes never happen.
8. Head wraps have been worn by us on many an occasion and we get compliments too!
9. We have been known to carry babies on our backs!
10. Catching a chicken in the house and throwing it outside happens almost daily.
11. Saying in Swahili, “How are you? How is your family?” It is something we say to just about everyone we come in contact with throughout the day.
12. You never just walk past someone…you greet EVERYONE…I’m talking strangers.
13. Can’t start the day without chai.
14. Sitting in a room and watching a large creature run along the wall just happens and there are no responses and all screams are held inside.
15. You’re used to the cars driving past BLASTING music and public announcements and it doesn’t bother you at all.
16. You like ugali (a stiff Tanzanian porridge that has absolutely no flavor) and order it at restaurants when you don’t have to, but you really do enjoy it.
17. Taking bucket baths in cold water because there’s no electricity become very common.
18. No alarm clock is necessary in the mornings because the whole town wakes up at 5am when the Muslim prayer call is blasted on speakers everywhere.
19. If you are able to go back to sleep after the 5am loud speaker then at 7am everyone and I mean everyone has a gardener outside sweeping the gravel at 7am…and that sweeping is not done quietly.
20. Deodorant is not mandatory and with the heat and hugging that goes on here everyone basically smells the same.
21. Cooking at night just before bed in the dark is a very normal thing to do.
22. The response “No problem” is likely to be said at least four times a day EVERYDAY.
23. The word “pole” (sorry) is said to you whether you are walking fast, carrying something heavy, breaking a sweat, coughing, returning from a trip to the U.S., driving in a vehicle for more than an hour, trip on a stone, yawn, break your arm, return from a funeral, accidentally have your flip-flop slide off your foot when you are walking, rip your skirt, spend three hours in your office working with the door closed, walk home in the rain, walk in the door after going to town…shall I go on? You get the idea!
24. Mosquito bites happen. Nobody really gets used to it but you just deal with it.
25. Fitting 26 people in an eight passenger van is possible and done quite often.