Dirty Feet Forever

I have learned that it is impossible to have clean feet while I am here. There is constantly dirt on the balls of my feet and my heels, even after a scrub in the shower. What’s cool about it is that everyone here has dirty feet, so I fit right in! I’m being serious though. It’s like red dirt plus lots of other stuff that just stays on your foot! Getting the dirty feet is worth it though. For example, yesterday my roommate, Heather, and I went to the market for fresh fruits and vegetables. (She is from England and just calls it all veg) We got tomatoes, avocados, mangoes, green peppers, and such. It was not the cleanest walk and experience of my life, but the food is excellent, so I’m okay with getting dirty feet in the process.

There are these cute little three-wheeled cars called tuk-tuks that are like taxis, but are really like motorized open buggies. They are quite fun actually. I get nice pictures of the African women walking with bananas and linens balancing on their heads while riding in them.

I forgot to mention some of the perks to this duplex as well. Though I am sitting here with no power at the moment because we have to take our electricity card to get recharged, we have a cleaning lady and a gardener.  Our cleaning lady also does our laundry. She has to though because it is hand washed and then hung to dry outside and if you don’t iron your clothes, these things called mango flies get on them and then get on you and then lay eggs on you….Gross, huh? Her name is Frita though, and she is nice. We have to pay for her, but it is worth it of course. Our gardeners water the plants, including cacti, in our front yard. My neighbor also has a banana tree that we get to eat from! We also have guards walking through campus and also at all gates protecting us and everyone else on campus. We do have to turn on our hot water heater a half hour before using the shower in order to have a hot shower. It was nice to finally figure that out after two cold ones, but that’s okay. Overall, they take care of us out here even where some other amenities are a little scarce.