Yeah milk!

For those of you who don't know, when I was back in the States I used to drink at least one glass of milk every day. Since arriving in Tanzania I've only had a glass a milk a couple of times when I've visited in Masai villages. It is usually something I look forward to. The grocery store here sells the shelf stable boxed milk. It's not really very tasty. I can't complain too much though because I've gladly used it for cooking or baking for the last year. But I've missed having a glass of milk that tastes like milk. A friend told me about a shop that sells fresh milk every day in town. It's a place I passed a million times and never realized milk was among the many things for sale there. The first few times I went I bought a few liters to try and make cheese with my friend Sue. We made a mozzarella that wasn't so bad but so far haven't had success with any other cheeses! Over the weekend I bought another 2 liters and decided to use them for drinking. I had a busy weekend so it was Monday night before I was able to boil the milk so that it would be safe to drink. Then I had to let it cool. Tuesday night was my first time to have a nice, cold glass of milk. It was wonderful. I liked it so well that I had milk with my dinner again Wednesday night. I am thankful I didn't discover the milk duka when I first came. The milk is fresh from the cow and very thick. Since I was used to drinking skim milk at home I probably would have been disappointed on how different the milk tasted! Now that I've gone without for a year it seems like the best drink ever!

Painting

Saturday I decided to begin painting the house. I decided to start in the guest room. The project seemed like it would be fairly simple as I've had lots of practice painting at my parents house over the years. I knew it would be time consuming since I anticipated painting by myself. I borrowed some paint brushes from a friend and then went to a store that sells paint. Thankfully I called my friend Linda to ask about which brand of paint to buy before actually purchasing the paint. The Coral paint colors seemed nicest; she told me that it is basically painting with colored water! She gave me the preferred brand and a few other pointers. I made my selection, bought rollers and then tried to buy a paint tray. I used the English word since I wasn't sure what it would be called in Swahili and then began explaining it's use as the man seemed confused. As I continued my description he began laughing and told me that there aren't paint trays in Tanzania. All the other men in the store (I was the only woman there) also began smiling or laughing. I amused them further when I questioned how to paint using a roller without a paint tray. The man told me to use a bucket and dip the roller into the bucket. I was really, really hoping they had a bucket there I could buy. Not only do I only have laundry buckets at home, but I was still hopeful that the bucket he was talking about in some way resembled a paint tray. Unfortunately they didn't sell buckets. I went home with my paint and began washing the walls and getting everything ready. My friend Kadeghe came to use the computer. While Kadeghe was there Tisho showed up to help me paint. Kadeghe ended up helping too. It was his first time painting. He seemed enthusiastic about the process but never seemed to grasp that paint doesn't wash off certain surfaces (like his clothes) well. Kadeghe used the roller first. It was crazy how much paint came off onto the wall since there was no way to get the excess off. Thankfully Tisho knew what to do. If it had just been me and Kadeghe there would have been problems! I didn't have a ladder but with standing on my tip toes on a stool I was just able to reach to the top of the wall to paint. I moved around slowly cutting in with a paint brush so that Tisho could come through with the roller. Instead of getting another stool he just jumped! He reached the top with no problems, but ended up exhausted by the time we were finished! It was amazing to watch since I struggled with reaching the top from my stool. Since I probably won't have Masai with me every time I paint to jump to the ceiling I should probably either borrow or buy a ladder.