Do they know it’s Christmas time in Africa?
In Dar, yes. Let me explain: a week and a half ago, while visiting my local supermarket on my weekly shop for bottled water, candles (for the power outages), cereal and UHT milk I was shocked to be confronted by garish tinsel strung along the top of each aisle, paper cut-outs of Santa Claus and elves, and “Auld Lang Syne” and “Jingle Bells” being piped across the intercom. I actually stopped dead, then erupted into fits of hysterical giggling as I browsed the aisles, especially as I encountered a Christmas hamper-cum-nativity scene, stocked with produce as diverse as pilchards, mayonnaise and Ribena. So this is the result of globalisation…
Samaki Samaki
I thought I’d share with you all a picture of my daily lunch: walli samaki, or rice and fish. I’ve become a lot better at eating my grilled-to-a-crisp unidentifiable samaki with only my right hand then I was at first, but I still can’t stomach sucking out the eyes like my workmate Emmanuel does with gusto once in a while (mainly to scare me, admittedly). If I want to spice things up a bit, I go for ugali instead of walli, which is the maize polenta-like carb dish favoured by Tanzanians. It’s pretty much flavourless, so relies on some sauce or vegetable accompanying the dish, but fun in that it wobbles like jelly and can be sculpted into mad shapes if
you’re inclined to play with your food. The picture below is from Kivukoni, Dar’s harbour-front fishmarket, stocked every day with grouper, barracuda, kingfish, tuna etc etc. These fellas are a bit bigger than what usually ends up on my plate!
Yes, they also have Halloween here! I know because I went to a normal bar on 31 October with a couple of friends, and it turned out to be a massive party, partly to celebrate Halloween, and partly in honour of Michael Jackson. The bar was trussed out in fake cobwebs, plastic skeletons, candelabras, giant spiders, and – somewhat bizarrely – what resembled giant jungle lianas. There’s always a twist in Africa! They screened the full 13-minute version of Thriller on a big screen, and when the music video got to the famous zombies-dancing-in-the-graveyard bit, about 10 ghoulish zombies emerged from the crowd along with a young Michael and performed the dance routine to perfection. Nice!
In Dar, yes. Let me explain: a week and a half ago, while visiting my local supermarket on my weekly shop for bottled water, candles (for the power outages), cereal and UHT milk I was shocked to be confronted by garish tinsel strung along the top of each aisle, paper cut-outs of Santa Claus and elves, and “Auld Lang Syne” and “Jingle Bells” being piped across the intercom. I actually stopped dead, then erupted into fits of hysterical giggling as I browsed the aisles, especially as I encountered a Christmas hamper-cum-nativity scene, stocked with produce as diverse as pilchards, mayonnaise and Ribena. So this is the result of globalisation…
Samaki Samaki
I thought I’d share with you all a picture of my daily lunch: walli samaki, or rice and fish. I’ve become a lot better at eating my grilled-to-a-crisp unidentifiable samaki with only my right hand then I was at first, but I still can’t stomach sucking out the eyes like my workmate Emmanuel does with gusto once in a while (mainly to scare me, admittedly). If I want to spice things up a bit, I go for ugali instead of walli, which is the maize polenta-like carb dish favoured by Tanzanians. It’s pretty much flavourless, so relies on some sauce or vegetable accompanying the dish, but fun in that it wobbles like jelly and can be sculpted into mad shapes if
you’re inclined to play with your food. The picture below is from Kivukoni, Dar’s harbour-front fishmarket, stocked every day with grouper, barracuda, kingfish, tuna etc etc. These fellas are a bit bigger than what usually ends up on my plate!Street Law
Last Saturday, I was sitting outside a café on one of Dar’s leafy streets, sipping at a well-deserved Coke after visiting the National Museum (which was as random as you might expect, exhibiting Julius Nyerere’s fleet of Rolls Royces and a stuffed manatee amongst other treasures). Suddenly, a man came pegging it down the road, followed by a woman with a baby on her back, waving an umbrella in the air and shouting “Mwizi, mwizi!”. Some alert passer-by managed to stick out a foot and trip up the man, who fell flat on his face. Within seconds, a crowd of about 15 people had encircled the man, and I clearly heard the sound of the guy who’d tripped the thief up give him a massive punch. The woman with the baby arrived breathlessly and started explaining to the mob (which had expanded exponentially by that time to about 40 people, of all types, from street kids, to the old baba who’d been having a cup of tea next to me, to ladies with real Louis Vuitton hand bags) what had happened – at least, that’s what I think, since it was all in Kiswahili of course. Anyway, in less than five minutes they’d all made the thief give the lady back whatever it was he stole in the first place, and everyone was on their way again - including the thief.
Jacko Halloween
Yes, they also have Halloween here! I know because I went to a normal bar on 31 October with a couple of friends, and it turned out to be a massive party, partly to celebrate Halloween, and partly in honour of Michael Jackson. The bar was trussed out in fake cobwebs, plastic skeletons, candelabras, giant spiders, and – somewhat bizarrely – what resembled giant jungle lianas. There’s always a twist in Africa! They screened the full 13-minute version of Thriller on a big screen, and when the music video got to the famous zombies-dancing-in-the-graveyard bit, about 10 ghoulish zombies emerged from the crowd along with a young Michael and performed the dance routine to perfection. Nice!Tomorrow morning I'm off on a trip to Musoma, by Lake Victoria, for a week - more when I return!
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