September 21, Two Months Until My Birthday

Yesterday night was pretty fun. Pam has a super SAFI house by the ocean. I got to dance (Gangnam Style--Youtube it). I jumped on a trampoline and then lazed around on it. There was a delicious salad. All in all, it was a fun time with good friends. Jeff, Charles, Glenn, and Matt were particularly good bros last night. And, as usual, I had a blast dancing with my crazy girls.

Plus, I just love spending time near the ocean. I wish I lived closer sometimes, though I am also happy up in the Usambara mountains. Tanga is the best region by far.

Today has been pretty low-key. Hannah lead a Fuzzy Furry Bunnies Positivity Session. Now I'm half-listening to a session on Female Empowerment. I'm hoping to go to the safi duka today to get some food for the next month. I'm going to try an anti-inflammation diet to see if it will make my stomach problems better. I'm hoping my mkuu will understand, because I'm not going to be able to eat any food they try to give me for the next several weeks. I have a history of stomach problems and I think my food issues are being exacerbated by the way food is cooked here/the kinds of food I'm forced to eat all the time. Everything is cooked in layers of oil, simple carbs are the primary food staple, and sugar is abundant. So, in an effort to not get super-sick all the time, I'm going to have to lay off the vitumbua.

Basically for two weeks I will stick to the following foods (assuming I can get such food/get the Tanzanians to understand I can't cook or eat like they do): Lean meat, fish, nuts, steamed/raw vegetables, and eggs. After two weeks, I will also add in small amounts of fruit, and some oatmeal if things seem to go well. Then after a month I should be able to add potatoes, beans, rice, and corn back into my diet. I'll also eventually be able to cook with oil as well, but probably will need to lay-off the chipsi unless I'm out in Lushoto. That chipsi-mayai is worth a stomachache.

I hope my diet plan works, because I am nervous about the feasibility of doing an anti-inflammatory diet here. It's just not something Americans really seem to understand, let alone Tanzanians. Plus meat is expensive, lean meat is hard to find, and fish is a bit sketchy a lot of the time. If the anti-inflammatory diet doesn't work, then I will have to fess up and tell the doctors I am getting sick regularly. I'm hoping that the diet will work, so keep your fingers crossed that a month of basically only eating salad and steamed spinach will pay off.