It is done!

I have been working on this beaded belt for a while now, but it is done!  

Yes, it was all made by me and no, I did not use a bead loom.  I did it all by hand and it was awesome.  

I can even use it as a necklace :)

Moshi, Tanzania (Dec.13-15)

For the holidays Derrick and I ventured into Tanzania.  While our main goal was to spend as much time as possible in Zanzibar, we took the bus and made some stops along the way.  Our first stop in Tanzania (after a 24 hour bus ride) was Moshi.

Here Derrick is looking pensively at Mt. Kilimanjaro.  As time passes and I add more photos to my blog, you will find that Derrick likes to stare thoughtfully at many things.

Our hotel was beautiful.  The owners were also super nice and helpful.

The hotel kept leopard tortoises.

This tortoise

took really big dumps.

On our full day in Moshi we went to see a waterfall and underground caves where the Chagga people hid from the Masai during a period of warfare.

Man stares at waterfall.

Where's Waldo?...I mean Derrick.

ME!

Local Food 2: The Slaughter

I think everyone should see where their meet comes from. Of course in the U.S. this most likely means visiting a factory of sorts, which is something I hope to someday do. In the meantime I watched a cow and goat slaughter while in Ruhanga. I found this experience somewhat trying and in many ways disturbing. If you have an uneasy stomach or do not wish to look at death, gore, and blood please don’t look at this post. Many of the images and details of the process are enough to make anyone sick.

The day started out innocent enough. We took the cows out to pasture in the early morning fog.

One cow was left behind. When it came time for the slaughter it had a good sense of what was coming. Hence the running away.

The men eventually tied both hind legs and led the cow to their impromptu abattoir behind the school.

The cow was laid down and his legs were tied together.

WARNING! These photos are very graphic, so please do not look further if you don’t want to see the slaughter.

Flatbreads and Bulgur

These aren't the best photos, but I usually make dinner after dark and I'm developing a strong dislike for the flash, so there you have it.

We don't have an oven and the quality of bread loaves in Uganda is not very impressive. But to satisfy my cravings I've started branching into flatbreads. I found a recipe from a food blog I like called eCurry. I liked it so much that since then I've been doing different variations of it.

Here I lathered the rolled dough with olive oil, salt, paprika, and turmeric. I can't wait to try this with garlic and fresh rosemary.

You then roll up the dough and twist it. I don't have a picture, but it's also explained in the original recipe from the eCurry. I just think it's really neat.

We've started eating bulgur. It's not necessarily popular here, but it's in the stores and it tastes really good when prepared in butter.

Twisting the dough and then rolling it out makes the bread really flaky and yummy when it's cooked.

Local Food 1

I eat Ugandan produce on a daily basis, but I don’t always have the opportunity to see how the food grows. While in Ruhanga I encountered fascinating local agriculture and food preparation.

Banana trees

up close are especially neat looking. I love the strips of color.

Dog. Just kidding, the dog isn’t local food. This dog ate a rotten goat’s head and smelt revolting the entire time I was in Ruhanga.

Rabbit pen and Chicken coop.

G-nuts (a variation of peanuts) grow on trees like these.

Coffee beans.

Pineapple.

Listening to the radio in the kitchen.

In villages such as these, the kitchen is often separate from the home.

Corn. Or as they call it here: Maize.

Bees are kept in these structures.

This is the home of the local green grower. Funny how in the U.S. they build walls around their grow houses, but in Uganda they just grow really tall bushes.

This tree is wonderfully chimerical. I love how it looks so out of this world.

Ruhanga

This weekend Derrick and I went to Ruhanga in southwest Uganda.

On the six hour bus ride through Ugandan countryside our main source of entertainment was the view, this bag, and the television at the front of the bus. We spent too much time speculating what was going to happen in I Know What You Did Last Summer and the brilliantly named I STILL Know What You Did Last Summer. Our conjectures were correct most of the time.

We arrived at the Uganda Lodge (where we would stay the night) when it was raining, but the area was gorgeous once the weather cleared up.

Although my reason for going to Ruhanga was initially work related, I was pleasantly surprised to learn about an initiative to improve health conditions and education opportunities for the local community. The Uganda Lodge supports a school that rests just across the field, particularly by hosting foreign volunteers who donate their time teaching and looking after the students. We arrived on “Parents Day”, where children perform and are awarded for their academic achievements. They were also given a pair of shoes each, as many of them have to walk multiple kilometers barefoot to get to school.

The children are used to white people because of the many British volunteers who frequent the area. But a black guy with dreads? They just had to get a closer look. This little boy (wearing a skirt, but I promise he is a boy) was more daring than his staring peers.

The next day we went on a walk to see the pipeline being constructed in the surrounding hills to provide the community with clean and easily accessible water. Young children were typically sent to retrieve 20 Liter jerry cans full of water, often having to walk up to 4 kilometers. They had to do this about three to four times a day. And did I mention that they were normally barefoot? Because of the pipeline there are spigots scattered throughout the hills so that the children don’t have to trek as far. The clean water also decreases likelihood of malaria (mosquitos thrive on stagnant water).

On the walk we met the families and the children who are students at the school. Yes, this little girl is holding a machete.

Overall the walk was scenic and a very refreshing change from bustling Kampala.

To learn more about the community projects happening in Ruhanga check out the UK charity Let Them Help Themselves Out Of Poverty.

Thai Breakfast Dinner

I've been slowly falling in love with food blogs and I'm already crazy about cooking. So for dinner tonight I made a recipe from a Thai food blog that I really like called SheSimmers.

Called Khai Jiao, the dish is basically a thai fried egg of sorts. I'm no egg connoisseur, but I like variety and experimentation.

It's extremely easy to make and so fun to watch cook because you poor it into steaming hot oil and it bubbles up, eventually looking like funnel cake.

With the Khai Jiao we had a cabbage and cucumber salad with homemade peanut dressing.

And fried chili-lime potatoes. It was basically a breakfast and Thai inspired dinner.

This banana is an aberration.

But it was delicious.

Wedding Crashers

Yesterday was the closest I have ever been to being a wedding crasher. Derrick and I were fortunate enough to have been invited to our friend's cousin's wedding reception. This cousin is a complete stranger to me. Although she is Ugandan, she normally resides in Chicago and was marrying a white American that she met while in the U.S. My friend tried to recruit me to act as a representative to the groom's family, since none of them could make it out to the wedding. And it is very important in Uganda that the bride is not married off to some family-less, American charlatan. I was too shy to give a speech on behalf of the groom's family, but Derrick (the next best thing to foreign after the white girl) was up to the task. You'll be able to read about that on his blog.

The ceremony overall was really beautiful and very well organized. It also gave me a chance to take some photos with my lovely new camera.

Multiple cakes are ordered so that each esteemed guest of the bride and groom can take one home with them.

While the cakes were very impressive looking, the taste did not match the looks.

Everything from the table settings to the ceiling lights were decorated by the theme colors: pink and white. Here you can see the wedding invitation, addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Carr." When our friend Bridget asked if that was okay, I hesitated a bit, my thoughts stammering to find a response. Derrick brought it up later "You thought it should be Mr. and Mrs. Diaz didn't you?" He knew the reason I hesitated wasn't because we weren't married, but because I couldn't decide if I liked his last name.

Doing the wave. Yes, the wedding party dances in while doing the wave. They even have nifty silver sleeves on their left arms to enhance the wave. I don't know if this was intentional.

The bride was very beautiful.

The head table where the wedding party sat was piled with drinks and flowers.

This is the gospel group that performed. But that's obvious right?

This little girl really liked to perch herself in the middle of the dance floor.

The MC reverted to a never ending list of terrible euphemisms and awkward statements, but no one seemed to mind.

Yes, they light the cakes like fireworks. They also set off bazooka-like poppers filled with graffiti.

The first dance, done to Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On." Really guys?

Remember those cakes that go to esteemed guests?