Lunch at the Hasty Tasty

Hello from Iringa, Tanzania! It's two weeks today since we arrived in Iringa, and every day and every moment has held a surprise. Today was no exception. After our daily shopping excursion to the Iringa Central Market to buy tomatoes and peppers, we stopped in at the Hasty Tasty for a bite to eat and promptly ran into some folks from Keene, NH, who are here with Global Volunteers. He's a retired surgeon and they were volunteering at a hospital/medical center 50 kilometers away.

For anyone who's ever visited the Hasty Tasty before (it's featured in the Lonely Planet), you might remember the owner/operator who looks more like a transplanted New Yorker than a local, you'll also remember he's as jolly as they come, proven by the fact that when we went to pay our bill and discovered empty wallets, he said, "No problem! Stop by any time!" We must confess that the reason for the depleted cash supply had a lot to do with a local named Mgotcha (NOT a joke) who keeps trapping us with enticements. If he doesn't get us, he has a buddy close behind named Mr. Cheaper (also NOT a joke) does the follow-up presentation. Our house is filling up with batiks and banana leaf pictures.

Tomorrow we get picked up early in the morning by Bega Kwa Bega folks (one of our sponsoring agents) to drive two and a half hours (on Tanzanian roads...30 minutes in the US) for a worship service at what is know here as a "preaching point." There will be breakfast at the pastor's home served by the women of the congregation followed by singing and dancing to lead us into the church. Two hours for the service won't be unusual, but rest assured that with all the singing and dancing, clapping, drumming, and bell ringing, no one will fall asleep. Afterward we'll have dinner at the pastor's house, a tour of local projects jointly sponsored between the ELCA and the ELCT, then another bumpy ride home. It's through the mountains, where--as Russ says--there's scenery that would light up the eyes of real estate agents in New England. It will be breathtaking.

Then Monday will arrive, and maybe we'll even have students.