Always a reason to smile

In the midst of any frustration that I have expressed, I should assure you that this place never leaves me without a reason to smile. Everyday I find more and more reasons to laugh, sometimes just on the inside as I don't want to offend the people here because I find there way of life somewhat amusing.
Tonight we went out to town after class and then decided to stay and get something to eat at a nice resaurant in town. Because we are all getting an idea of how Tanzanian culture works, we decided that we would start by asking if there was anything on the menu that they were out of. After being assured that they had everything on the menu, we got excited about the possibilities that awaited us...anything that didnt' include rice, ugali, porage, or beans sounded great to all of us. As we began to order, the waiter decided to inform us that they are currently out of prawn and calamari. Well okay, we can work around that. So we confirmed that there was in fact other seafood, just not prawn or calamari. Yes, yes, yes, they have everything else. Okay, so here we go. We start ordering and everyone orders a Bacon Cheeseburger except the German woman who orders king fish. Ten minutes later, the waiter comes back out to inform her that they are out of king fish. So she is a little disappointed, but she decided a pizza would be just fine. Our food comes out and we all thoroughly enjoy it (minus the fact that the German doctor kept telling me about all of the tapeworms that could be living in my undercooked hamburger, but I figure I've eaten worse and continue my meal in peace). When we finish, they ask if we'd like dessert. We said we'd like to see a menu, so he brings all of us a menu to look over and walks away. After looking over the 6 or 7 options and all deciding on the vanilla ice-cream and brownie, the waitor comes back after a few minutes to take our order. As we begin to order the ice-cream With Brownie, he decides that now would be a good time to tell us that the only dessert they have today is vanilla ice-cream. Well, I guess that puts a damper on the chocolate brownie. We were all quite convinced that they could have been out of everything including the vanilla ice-cream and they still would have offered us dessert.
Afterwards, was almost as funny when we crammed six people plus the drivier into a car no larger than my toyota camry, and I was by far the smallest one in the car by almost half the size. One german, the Texan, and the boy with a Scottish accent (Scott) sat in the back while the German woman laid across their lap, while Josh crawled in the front seat, which left me in Josh's lap curled up so my feet were the dash board and my knees pressed against my chest. It was probably only a 7 or 8 minute ride back, but it felt like an eternity. When we arrived back at the school safely, the door wouldn't open so the driver had to try and reach through us and finangle it open. when it opened, I literally just rolled out on the ground, landing on my hands because my feet were still caught in the dash. It's definitley true that there is no such thing as a personal bubble in Africa.
Sometimes I don't know if it is a simplicity of African life or sheer genius that makes Africans so creative. Last night we went to supper and were just getting our daily rice, potatoes, spinach, and beans, when we came across a pot that had meet on what appeared to be metal skewers... until we looked closer only to realize that they weren't actually skewers at all but the spokes from bicycle tires. I don't know, I guess I thought it was pretty funny considering the number of times I've wanted a skewer at home and not had one. I never would have thought to take apart an old bike tire and start stabbing meat with it to throw over a fire.
This is another funny one from Paul. Paul told Josh and I a story about a time he was out in a Maasai village visiting with the people, and you might guess that there is nothing taboo in this culture about a mother just whipping out her boob to nurse her baby (Breasts are functional here so if you need to use it, use it). Anyway, Paul thought it a bit strange when one day he saw a mother holding a young child in one arm while her other son, who was old enough and tall enough to stand up and stare his mom right in the chest, stood next to her munching on popcorn while stopping every once in a while to grab a drink of milk from his mother's breast. I guess when cow milk gets hard to come by, there are ways around it.
One last short story for the evening before I head to bed. This is one from the Texan woman here who told us about her experience with the 'plumber'. As part of the organization she works for, she has her own house to live in with a few workers to take care of daily chores. One day, she discovered that a pipe barried pretty deep below the ground had a leek that she didn't think she could fix herself. So instead of trying, she decided to call a plumber. he said he'd be there around nine in the morning. As three in the afternoon rolled around, the plumber finally showed up at her gate. Being from America and familiar with the plumbers who drive big white trucks with lots of tools, she is at the very least expecting someone to come to the door equipped and ready to fix the leak. But when she walks outside, she finds a man hopping of his bicycle with nothing more than a role of tape in his hand and just standing there smiling at her. All she could think was, what is this man going to do with a roll of tape, no shovel, and a leaking pipe six feet below the ground?
I can't help but to smile at the way of life here. I don't mean that in an insensitive way, but in the midst of a country where poverty and suffering are so prominent, sometimes you just have to take the laugh where you can get it.