Things We Do in Mtwara ...

... But Not in San Francisco

• Sleep under a mosquito net
• Kill mosquitoes with a handheld bug zapper
• Take mefloquine every week (a prophylaxis for malaria)
• Take cold showers!
• Purify tap water with a Swiss-made 10-liter water filter unit
• Collect rain water for household use (on occasion)
• Store buckets of water in case the water stops running
• Check that water is running before flushing the toilet
• Burn our paper garbage and plastic film (no garbage service)
• Wash all our clothes by hand
• Get mail at the post office (no street delivery)
• Deposit mail at the post office (no street mailboxes, either)
• Run an electric fan almost all the time, even while sleeping
• Stock candles & matches (you never know when the power will go out)
• Keep flashlights handy as soon as it gets dark
• Use adapters for three different types of electrical plugs (British, German, U.S.)
• Use a voltage converter (Tanzania has 220 volts)
• Check clothes and shoes for critters (geckos, scorpions, centipedes, et al)
• Block gaps in windows and doors with tape and newspaper
• Carry an umbrella at all times, rain or shine
• Eat peanut butter everyday for breakfast
• Ration our chocolate supply
• Buy rice, beans, flour and sugar in bulk
• Clean rice and beans for little stones and other debris
• Test the freshness of eggs with the "float test" (if it floats, we throw it away)
• Use powdered milk (imported from The Netherlands)
• Walk and drive on the left side of the road (this used to be a British colony)
• Ride daladala (minivan buses) and bajaji (little three-wheel motorized buggies)
• Take 10-12 hour bus rides to Dar es Salaam
• Do #1 in the bush on long bus rides: ladies on the right side of the road and men on the left side
• Drink Stoney Tangawizi (a strong ginger-flavored soda -- we will miss it)
• Eat chipsi mayai (an omelette made with french fries!)
• Pig out on mangoes when they are in season
• Toss our food scraps in a big composting/rotting pile behind the rectory
• Keep sweets in the frig away from the ants and rodents
• Limit our internet access, including turning off images in web browsers (our connection is metered -- we pay for every byte down and up)
• Use computers with only 256 MB memory (the ten-year old donated systems at our school)
• Buy paper phone vouchers with scratch off numbers for putting money on our cellphones and internet access
• Text/SMS more than talk (it's clunky but much cheaper)
• Use A4 size paper instead of 8½ x 11
• Visit a dispensary to see a medical officer
• Take a half day's bus ride to see a dentist
• Return soda pop bottles (remember those sturdy bottles with a deposit?)
• Clean mud off shoes as a frequent part of arriving home
• Count out squares of toilet paper
and ...

• Write a personal blog

-Earl