Sokoni

Friday's Kiswahili class was on "Sokoni" (At the market). We learned how to say the names of fruits and vegetables and most importantly the phrases we need to use at the market, like punguza bei "lower your price!". We were warned ahead of time that because we are Wazungu's (white people) we would be given higher prices and need to bargain with the merchants. My assignment was to buy two bunches of okra and two avocados. I paid 1200 shillings (about $1.20) which according to my teachers was a rip off!

We used the fruits and vegetables to cook lunch on Saturday. The teachers bought 3 chickens which we killed and then cooked with the vegetables. We started cooking around 8 and finished by about 1:30. I didn't realize that cooking in Tanzania would take so long, but the food was delicious - chicken, coconut rice, pilau, beans, ugali and pineapple. And we made more than enough, probably more than most families here eat in a week.