Even as it gets hotter and hotter, the Christmas is fast-approaching here in Tanzania. We might not have Black Friday or the Christmas Tree in Rockerfeller Center, but I don't know of anything more in the holiday spirit than the Amani Christmas party that took place on Saturday. It was such a fun celebration of friends and family. There was dancing, an acrobatics show, jumproping, games, lots of yummy food, and of course, a visit from Father Christmas himself. And so, even in the heat, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

As part of their present, each of the kids received a new shirt, pair of pants, and shoes. Don't they look great?



The kids' dance-off--I wish I could post video because some of them are really amazing dancers:



The acrobatics show:



The dance troupe:



The jump rope performance:


Tug of war, staff vs. kids--unfortunately the rope kept breaking:



Water balloon toss:



And the traditional water bottle on your head race:



Yummy food:



And Father Christmas and presents. The kids especially were excited about getting little toy cars:

there's a new amani video out, and you might see a few familiar faces :)

I've been meaning to do a post about the food here for a long time now, but I've been pretty bad at remembering to take pictures of it all. But finally, at long last, here it is. And a special thanks goes out to David (one of the other Amani volunteers) for most of the pictures.

It is a common misconception that when people go to Africa they are going to lose weight. Here, at least, I think it is often quite the opposite. The food is quite delicious, and the helpings are huge.

For breakfast, I usually just have peanut butter toast and tea. Pineapple and mango are now coming in season, so lately I've been having a little bit of that too.

Mid-morning at Amani, we have "teatime." Some mornings we have uji, which is a thick porridge that has lots of nutrients and is really good for the kids.

On my favorite mornings, though, we have milk tea and maandazi. Maandazi are these little fried rolls, and milk tea is made with milk straight from the cow. Yummy!

cooking the maandazi

the finished product!

I also eat lunch at Amani. We have rice and meat soup on Mondays, ugali (this paste made of water and corn flour) and beans on Tuesdays, pilau (a mixture of rice, spices, potatoes, veggies, and meat) on Wednesdays, rice and beans (my favorite) on Thursdays, and makande (corn and beans cooked together) on Fridays.

ugali and beans

makande

For dinner, I'm on my own, so it's usually pretty simple. I usually have spaghetti, grilled cheese, or cereal. But my signature dish is some random concoction of whatever vegetables I have and an egg. Delicious!

Of course, there are special treats, too. One of them is called chipsi mayai, which is basically a french fry omelette. Sounds weird, but believe me, it is quite tasty.

And of course, there is always the local Italian restaurant. It's pretty touristy, but sometimes it's worth it to have a good pizza...

So there it is. Although I have already put in my order for a grilled chicken salad from the Franklin Chop House and a piece of chocolate cake with cold milk the night I come in to Nashville for Christmas, as you can see, things are pretty good here too.