The 2nd Summer of 2009

And the short rains are upon us in Tabora! Woke up to the sound of pouring rain and the scent of wet eucalyptus on Friday. At least, I think it’s eucalyptus. The scent is strange but quite refreshing. On Saturday when it started raining we ran out with our buckets as did Mama Esther with hers to collect water from the rain gutters on our roof. Looks a bit muddy at the bottom but otherwise clearer than the “regular” water!

Our lights went out during the rain on Saturday and when it got dark, we realized we were the only ones on our street without lights. So we walked over to our powerful neighbour, the district commissioner (he has 5 mobile phone numbers on his business card!) and asked if he knew what was up and how we could call the electricity company. He made a couple of calls and had someone over to have it fixed in no time!! So we have lights again and a dinner invite to his house!

We finished watching Season 5 of the Sopranos on Saturday. Cameron brought seasons 4 & 5 and got me hooked! I’m really sad now. Will have to wait nearly 2 more months before I get to see season 6!! Arrghh…! I used to tease DH for reading Sopranos blogs but if our internet weren’t so sketchy, I think I’d be checking them out too now!! Sorry DH!! Although the doctors have a few seasons of the show 24 so that’s next on the dvd list.

I’ve been reading a lot too! I’ve read 6 books in the last 6-7 weeks which is more than I’ve probably read in the last 3 years put together! There was Anthony Bourdain’s book No Reservations about kitchen secrets which was really good. Then there was Water for Elephants (ok types – I wanted to see what it was about because I saw tons of people in airports reading it). 3 Cups of Tea was next about this guy who’s been building schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan (thanks to all who recommended this book! I loved it!). 60 years in East Africa which I borrowed from a neighbour – it’s about a German settler who lived in Tanzania and his account of how things were back then. Eat Pray Love – really enjoyed this one! There was an especially good part where she describes this margherita pizza experience in Italy. *sigh*. Tonight I’ll finish The Shackled Continent which I borrowed from one of the doctors here. It’s a fantastic book about the various problems plaguing African countries and about why development here has lagged behind the rest of the world. It’s extremely well researched, very nicely written and I hope you buy it!
Next up – The World is Flat or maybe Born Round written by Frank Bruni – famous NY food critic.