DARUSO and other eating options

We eat 1-2 meals a day at DARUSO, the government subsidized cafeteria because its the cheapest, most convenient, and most vegetarian friendly site. You can eat ugali (stiff, sticky porridge) or rice and beans, greens, or peas for about 50 cents. They go easy on the toppings, but are obscenely generous with the whites (ugali or rice). I actually am glad to be vegetarian here because the meat generally looks tough, fatty, and unappealing.

But believe it or not, the diet here gets old fast. I'm learning to branch out. Outside the cafeteria, they sell fried foods like chipsi mayai (french fries cooked with eggs) and fruit (papaya, bananas, pineapple, and mango) and vegetables. The vegetable guy flirts with me and some of the other girls sometimes, but to get extra pineapple or avocado to top my eggs and pili pili sauce (hot sauce), it's worth it.

We've become fixtures at DARUSO. We know most of the staff by name and they know us. I'm Mega Kubwa, Rachel is Reche, Conner (a girl) is Kone, and Tony is Professor J (he once sarcastically introduced himself as Tanzania's most famous rapper). People have less problems saying Julie and Natalia. It's fun to chat with the staff, who laugh at our bumbling Swahili and questions about meals, but sometimes we attract attention of assorted locals, looking to talk to Wazunguus. We've had one guy, who doesn't live or work anywhere near the school, ask us to proofread letters and a young student sit by us and ask for my phone number so that he can take me to the swimming pool. To be fair, I met him when I stopped by the pool to find out how much it costs to swim, but I don't trust a man who hangs around one of the few locations on campus where it's acceptable for woman to show their legs.

The rare, best eating days, we have dinner with our program coordinator, Mama Leah, and Brown University pays. So far, we've had Ethiopian, Indian, and American food at nice Wazunguu restaurants for free. This weekend, I hope to try expensive Chinese food on Brown.