Lisa in Tanzania - A Peace Corps Volunteer's Blog

22 August, 2007

Rice & Beans, Yum!

After 2 years of eating kilos and kilos of rice and beans you would think you would be sick of it. But everytime I see a plate of rice and beans, I can't wait to dig in!

It rained for the first time in one-third of a year the other day. Yup, we had not seen a single drop of the life sustaining substance in over four consecutive months. During that time we had seen lots of gray clouds hover around but we knew it wouldn't rain - so confident was I that I didn't even take an umbrella when going to town. Now, I'll probably think twice. Along with the rain came a cold front and we've started to bundle up again at night. The rainy season doesn't start until late November or early December so we know the rain over the next few months will be sparse and sporadic.

The past few nights we have not been sleeping well. For me it was malaria prophylaxis (mephaquin) day and paranoia is a by product of taking it. So that kept me on edge. We were in bed by 10 pm on the dot. Not five minutes later we heard what sounded like a light knock at the door. Not sure if it was a knock (why would anybody be knocking at 10 at night with no lights on inside?) or just the mango tree hitting the roof, we ignored it. After another minute we heard the door handle jiggle loudly - someone was trying to enter our house. Russ promptly got up and yelled, "We, nani?" - "Who is it?" and ran to the door. However when he reached it, there was nobody to be found. We eventually went to sleep but kept our ears open. Some time later in the night I heard sounds coming from our dresser drawer. Russ got up and took a peek and noticed something was trying to eat our cliff bars by chewing through the wrapper. We didn't find what was trying to nibble our American treats, but I did put them into a plastic container in the kitchen the following morning. Not to worry though, I feel very secure in our house. Some other PCVs left town that day so we think someone saw them and thought they were us and knew where we lived. I bet they didn't expect anybody to be in our house. But no one has ever broken in so I'm not worried at all.

Going to Arusha next week for our COS conference so I'll blog about that in two weeks or so.

2 Comments:

  • Lariam Mephaquin 250mg,Mephaquin 250mg Mepha (Switzerland)has problems with Peace Corps and US military. There are suicides and psychiatric problems associated with the drug.

    PCVs are forced to take these or return home, so the answer is to see a psychiatrist(your own, PC will just write it off) and sue. You have been affected by a drug that is required or your fired and the US government and PC are responsible.

    When you see your psychiatrist, explain the physical and psychiatric affects and let them diagnose you and see if you have permanent effects. You should sue the PC and US government because this has been known since the drug was created.

    Good Luck

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 23 August, 2007 20:35  

  • Good luck on trip to Arusha, long bus trip. Lisa & Russ, can you get back to me on the comment I left on your blog from July 27 in regards to Chris. I also left a comment on Russ' blogspot. I need to write Chris. I know if I do it by mail he won't get it for approximately 2 weeks. thanks - Deb2TZ dmscheck@harlannet.com

    By Blogger Immanuelkidugala, at 26 August, 2007 23:47  

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