It was another relaxing day in the office yesterday.
My morning went as usual. My duolingo habit in the morning is actually really helpful these days. I’m starting to expand my Swahili vocabulary, and although I still struggle to speak it, I’m finding that identifying words spoken to me in Swahili is becoming less difficult. Sometimes I’ll learn a word or two in my morning practice and then hear spoken throughout the day—it gives me a sense of progress that’s often times difficult to find in learning a new language.
My day at work was used to continue writing a report. I’m enjoying this task a lot because it’s really straight forward and at the same time challenging. I never really wrote much in the way of scientific literature in college—that’s more of a research thing—so now I’m finally gaining that skill of how to manipulate scientific language in a way that requires precision that can’t lead to misinterpretation. It’s straight forward because there are only so many structures and patterns you can follow, but it’s difficult because in doing so I need to ensure the structure and wording means exactly what the data shows.
I’ve been told before that everything just moves a little bit slower in Tanzania, but I really hate to throw that stereotype because it infers laziness which is not at all true about the people I’ve met here. Yesterday however, I felt no shame in complaining about the time management when it came to lunch. I was feeling extra hungry because the day prior I had only taken breakfast (Tuesday and Wednesday I had eaten like a king at all the events and wasn’t too hungry come Thursday), so I was eagerly awaiting lunch. At noon I sent an order to a restaurant through means of my coworker. I sat for three hours with only one thing on my mind: the arrival of my food. For those three hours I was cursing the pace of life, but I couldn’t help feeling grateful when the food finally did arrive. My rice, meat, beans, veggies and juice which more than adequately filled me up costs only around $1.50! I’ve been away from home for long enough now that my guess may be inaccurate, but I would think this might cost around $10 in Portland.
I stayed at work later than normal, near to 6:00pm. My productivity really slowed toward the end of my day, but there were some things I had promised myself to get done and I wasn’t going to leaving without finishing those tasks. Finally, having only one easy task left, I resolved to go home, go for my run, and simply do it later in the evening. Right as I hit the last little stretch of my run, the sky darkened with clouds and rain began pouring down. I got back to the hotel hastily and wasn’t too wetted by the rain. I was still a bit bummed because I had planned to go out to get my favorite dinner, but it seemed the rain would stop me. Someone must have been on my side though because after I had finished showering and completing my final work for the day, the clouds disappeared and the night sky was black and dry.
I walked over to the nearby restaurant that has, hands down, the best mishkaki I’ve ever had (I guess I’ve only tried it at 4 places now that I think of it…). It was pretty late for a dinner, past 8pm even, and I got home feeling pretty sleepy. I didn’t have to do much but brush my teeth before I went to sleep.
Today I have absolutely zero plans for the day. I hope at some point I will do laundry and go for a run, but even those might be exchanged for something else if I find it more entertaining. I wish there were movie theaters here, because that’s the sort of vibe I’m feeling today, so I guess I’ll just have to be creative.