Looking over my blog I noticed that I haven't done much reflection lately. It is mainly photos and captions. I blame this partly on the fact that I was drowning under the load of being a first year teacher and partly on the fact that I have wonderful people around me that I am able to process and discuss things with :)
Normally I don't really care much for my birthday, not that I don't like it just that it isn't a huge thing for me. But for some reason I've been talking about it for weeks. And part of me couldn't sleep last night.
Yesterday in preparation for my birthday I went to the market. Going to the Central Market is quite the experience. When I say that people don't have space bubbles I'm not joking. I politely tap them on the shoulder, and with my best French accent say, "pardon". They look at me as if I asked them to do the impossible. I then have to resort to pushing, literally pushing them out of the way. This of course is not thought of as rude in anyway. Now that I have a full time job I cannot travel to the market until an hour to it closing. This means that the floors have seen an entire day worth of waste, chaff, and questionable liquids. I always seem to forget about this dreadful part. Shoes, proper shoes would be the answer, but with the forgetful nature I have they are left at home. I do my best to gingerly walk along the piles of stems and crushed leafs, hoping not to splatter my legs too badly. With all this said you may be asking, why I still go. It is simple. It brings me joy to travel to the market. Walking amongst the vendors picking up some new Kirundi words as I go. I am the only white person within the expanse of vendors and shoppers which makes me feel somehow small and yet very brave. I also am able to feel like I belong here. Every other woman my age travels to the market to load up on the essentials. But I think the thing that tops it off is the price. It makes me happy when I can buy 6 mangoes, 2 pili pili peppers, a liter of oil, 6 limes, 8 cilantro plants, a big squash and 6 limes all for about 5 US dollars.
With the shopping list you may have guessed what is on the menu for today, SALSA. I decided that some fajitas and salsa would be the answer to the question, what's for dinner?
Today, after washing my clothing; my birthday present to myself, clean clothes, I will travel back into the market for some fun clothing shopping with the ladies from school.
After which Isaac, my fiancee, will be joining me for a cooking session. He's bringing the goat meat to put into our fajitas, and I'm very excited about that!
It sound like it's going to be a great day. Hope I'll remember to take photos to show you in the next post.
Normally I don't really care much for my birthday, not that I don't like it just that it isn't a huge thing for me. But for some reason I've been talking about it for weeks. And part of me couldn't sleep last night.
Yesterday in preparation for my birthday I went to the market. Going to the Central Market is quite the experience. When I say that people don't have space bubbles I'm not joking. I politely tap them on the shoulder, and with my best French accent say, "pardon". They look at me as if I asked them to do the impossible. I then have to resort to pushing, literally pushing them out of the way. This of course is not thought of as rude in anyway. Now that I have a full time job I cannot travel to the market until an hour to it closing. This means that the floors have seen an entire day worth of waste, chaff, and questionable liquids. I always seem to forget about this dreadful part. Shoes, proper shoes would be the answer, but with the forgetful nature I have they are left at home. I do my best to gingerly walk along the piles of stems and crushed leafs, hoping not to splatter my legs too badly. With all this said you may be asking, why I still go. It is simple. It brings me joy to travel to the market. Walking amongst the vendors picking up some new Kirundi words as I go. I am the only white person within the expanse of vendors and shoppers which makes me feel somehow small and yet very brave. I also am able to feel like I belong here. Every other woman my age travels to the market to load up on the essentials. But I think the thing that tops it off is the price. It makes me happy when I can buy 6 mangoes, 2 pili pili peppers, a liter of oil, 6 limes, 8 cilantro plants, a big squash and 6 limes all for about 5 US dollars.
With the shopping list you may have guessed what is on the menu for today, SALSA. I decided that some fajitas and salsa would be the answer to the question, what's for dinner?
Today, after washing my clothing; my birthday present to myself, clean clothes, I will travel back into the market for some fun clothing shopping with the ladies from school.
After which Isaac, my fiancee, will be joining me for a cooking session. He's bringing the goat meat to put into our fajitas, and I'm very excited about that!
It sound like it's going to be a great day. Hope I'll remember to take photos to show you in the next post.
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