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Little Things

February 10th, 2011

1) Every day at 6 PM a man in a green uniform, complete with beret walks out to the little flag pole in front of the guest lodge.  Whether or not anyone is there, he stands at attention and toots a little whistle.  He then lowers the Tanzanian flag, folds it up, and toots his whistle again.  The whole process is vaguely adorable and sad at the same time.

2) Did you know that, in Tanzania, it is not un-couth to pick your nose in public?  Well, it’s not.  Rather than be grossed out, I’ve decided to take part.  I apologize in advance for my behavior when I return home.

3) There is one spot near camp where you supposedly get the best phone reception.  At night, the sky alight with stars, you can walk past this spot and find it aglow with cell phone screens.  Oh, nature.

4) Being a scientist, you are supposed to not interfere with your subjects.  In doing so, though, I became party to petty larceny the other day as I watched Yalimu trapse around with a red t-shirt he had stolen from the beach and then found the male I was following, Maat, chomping on a mango he’d taken from someone’s cooking area.  I resolved to say something if he went back for seconds, but instead the sky opened up, I got soaked, and he disappeared.  Yalimu sucked the shirt into little pieces by the afternoon.

5) There is apparently a time for men to bathe and a time for women to bathe.  An unspoken rule, if you will.  I always seem to be bathing with the men.  We are mostly far apart, but I worry I’m being lewd by showing leg skin above the knee.  I also find I don’t really care any more.  Let them have their show.