thanksgiving weekend

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SO classes have slowed to a trickle and exams creep up next week, which gives me plenty of time now to daydream and nap and dance in my room. Last thursday was Thanksgiving and after class I went to a nice house in a neighborhood near campus where some foreign students live amongst chickens and children. tenesko. nice walk across a large soccer field for 20 minutes to get there. past one of the common roadside shops with lazy women behind bars passing water and beer between the bars to their customers who then hang out outside the shop for hours. I got to making pumpkin pie. bought a nice fresh, strange looking multi-colored pumpkin at the new Shop Right--the huge supermarket, well, actually the same size as an average grocery store in the US, but its so new and shiney and electronic-ified, and expensive that it looks incredible out of place. Was in a hurry though, and the place is interseting in a hideous sort of way. though most people go in and just buy water and meat because they are similarly priced to outside the 1st world South-African paradise-matic super-shop, I couldnt help but wonder what will happen to the small shops around and the butchers, and the street peddlers. (But I bought the pumpkin there anyway since I was in a hurry) Made two pies that night. most of the work done outside since the kitchen is small and we had many participants in our feast. From four continents. We had three americans, two chinese, three tanzanians, two swedes, four austrians, and one german. (i think thats it) and i had so much crust stuff and pie filling leftover after some traditional thanksgiving dishes and some non-traditional dishes, that i came back the next morning to continue pie-making.
After more pies were made (7 total), went to a nice big market to buy some kitenge cloth and a bag since my backpack i bought in zanzibar broke and my cloth bag i had bought in the summer at the beach in kigamboni also broke. very nice prices. no mzungu/white people around. good bargains. nice busy noises, but not as overwhelming as kariakoo where i havent been since once in the summer. though may go again now that swahili is good. got some really funky fabrics and will go back for more to cozy-up my next new york apartment with lots and lots fo fabrics on the wall like wall-paper. Karume market-very nice.
planning a trip for the week and a half i have before i leave this place. thinking tazara line train south to mbeya where i can get some nice pottery and ceramics and do some incredible hiking in the mountains for a couple days, and then into malawi to see lake nyasa and whatever else.

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