Liquid weapons

Just when I thought there was not really much to report for the day (only last two paragraphs), I made an interesting discovery today. Just before I left my dad asked me if I didn't want to bring a 15-inch bush knife - oh, wait, no. He asked me if I didn't want to bring a pocket knife. I said I would have liked to, but couldn't find mine (story of my life). He gave me a small one he had, but told me to put it in the luggage to be checked, otherwise they'll take it. Of course! Like I wouldn't know that. They will also take your nail clippers, your water and your coke – essentially all the times that the average Joe would use to bring down an airplane.

That they take the water really infuriates me. I have noticed on long flights that I have less problems with jet lag and on a trans-Atlantic flight I used to drink about 1/2 gallon of Gatorade and probably about the same amount in water. With all the extra food I was bringing and sometimes a laptop it wasn't unusual that my carry-on was heavier than my checked luggage!

So anyway, they do that stupid thing of taking away all your 'liquids' above 100 millilitre. Fortunately none of my bottles were bigger than that but I was supposed to put it in a clear plastic bag, conveniently sold for one whole euro where the line forms. What a rip-off. After all, I didn't make their stupid regulation. Anyway, the guy who had to special examine my bag was stressed, which is why I didn't want to start a discussion about why I don't consider sun screen a liquid. I had waited in line already long enough – of course because of all the morons like me who refuse to follow the silly regulation and put the so-called liquids into a plastic bag.

Anyway, back to the point. Now, three weeks later, I am looking for my pen that I have seemed to misplace (story of my life). So I am looking through my backpack that I also happened to have in the plane. Found my red Swiss Army knife. It had been there all along, including in the airplane from Frankfurt to Kilimanjaro. So what are those dudes at the airport paid for? That I get dehydrated during a flight and a sunburn in Africa???

I have now two more months to think about how to test the safety checks for the return flight... This, btw, isn't the first time I made the interesting discovery that the so-called security measures, especially since 9-11, are just a way of making money (think about all those nail clippers etc that people had to replace since then. Along with all the drinks that passengers have now to buy at the over-prized airports). In 2003 I flew with an expired ID, a bread knife on board and all that with a one-way ticket from Atlanta to LA. Another incident where people made money off of an unsuspecting passenger. Because I noticed that my Swiss Army knife was still in my carry on when I had checked my luggage, so I sent it via Mail from the Atlanta airport. Yes, the same knife that now traveled on a Condor flight from Europe to Africa. I should have tested it back then already and saved the couple of bucks for shipping.

Jack guessed the Mikefruit – no, wait. Mike guessed the Jackfruit and deserves a soy ice cream. Jack, was the fruit named after you??? The Swahili name is fenesi.

I am starting to get a feel of what some the difficulties are with the biogas project. It's basically coming down to the fact that materials are rare and expensive. For example, to increase the performance of the systems it would be good to have the plastic tube that gets filled with the manure, to be at least 1.2 metres wide. However, they currently use sheets that are only 90 centimetres wide. They come from far (Dar es Salaam) and are apparently the only thing available. To get a bigger gas storage tank approved (which is basically a plastic container like a trash can) they would have to rewrite the grant proposal and it would take forever...

Well, short entry today. I was looking into ways of maybe making the cooker simpler and also see if it's the most efficient in its current form. There also may be a leak somewhere in the test system. Any volunteer who wants to run around with a match and find it?

As good as it gets!

So far I have bored you with a candlelight dinner during a power outage and taking a full bath in a bucket. But today I had the ultimate! I came home from my run (having unsuccessfully tried to use a couple of phone booths on the way to make a call to the US) at dusk. And of course we had a power outage. And the shower wasn't repaired yet. So I got to enjoy a candlelight shower in a bucket. How much better can it get? It was almost a disappointment when halfway through the shower the lights came back on.

Today at work we looked at most of the remaining biogas systems that COMPACT has currently built. They seem to work, but aren't not too powerful. Maybe boil some water for tea or 1.5 pieces of meat (one woman said that the second piece of meat she put on after the first one was well done did not get cooked more than halfway through). So there will be some work to do in order to make the systems better.

It's always interesting to see the different farms and how people live. It is quite an experience to stand in the kitchen, testing out the equipment, while looking at the cows peacefully chewing their grass in the adjacent room, separated by a wall with one hole (no window or anything!). The cows probably think the same thing and may wonder why the heck humans are so silly that they need cookers in the first place.

Remember the reunification DVD I was talking about? News travel slower in some parts of the world and today someone asked me "There is East and West Germany, right?" On the other hand he did seem to know the chancellor is female. I can't say that I knew much about Tanzania, either, before I decided to do the thesis here.

Ok, and last but not least a little quiz. The first person to guess the name of the fruit in the picture will get an ice-cream when they get down here! And just for good measure I may exclude people who are seriously planning a trip down here... Anything to prevent a real winner from having to endure the dangers of half-frozen ice cream that is sold by guys on bicycles in the streets. What is ice cream in Swahili? I don't know - the ice cream bicycles say "ice cream" on them!

Speed limit for pedestrians

The other day I was in a hurry to get home. I was walking fast, so I could go for a run. That is a concept that is rather silly – sorry, I have to come back to that Bauman story again... But when I walk fast, people ask me what is the hurry? "Pole pole" they may add, which doesn't warn me that I am about to run (or walk) into a pole, but simply means "Slow." A lot of the lifestyle is based on pole pole and people often don't understand when you are in a hurry.

Even the people that run home from work do so at a leisurely pace, except some try to race me when I come by for a workout. It's kinda funny, and I am always astonished how well they run, considering their lack of good shoes and running in long, uncomfortable work clothes. And recently I tripped over a speed bump on the side walk. It was clear sign to me. Pole pole.

No power, no water, no phone

On Saturday the shower broke and since then I have been taking my baths in a bucket. Sort of. Only so many parts I can stick in at once. The first time I washed my hair using this method I was just hoping my head wouldn't get stuck. "Mzungu drowned in bucket." Actually, that would be a funny headline. The shower was supposed to be repaired today, but you know how it is with Plumbers. Add to that the African timetable and I'll be happy if it's done before Christmas. But "hakuna matata," no worries.

I meant to go for a run today, but it wasn't the lack of a real shower that kept me off the road. I simply fell asleep when I came home. Sometimes, like last night, I am still struggling with that rooster set on snooze alarm next door. If the owners don't turn it off soon, I may have to do it myself. It may make a nice Christmas present, too. A baking waking clock....

I have talked over my thesis topic with Vicky and after approval/correction by my prof will share it here. It'll be fun! I went to work this morning and regretted not having my camera. It was a clear morning and the recent rain fall came down as snow up in the mountains, so Kili has a bigger white blanket than when I came here. It looked outstanding.

Today I met another German who is doing some research into renewable energies for her thesis in political science and African studies. Very nice person and speaks Kiswaheli fluently!

I, on the other hand, am not making that much progress. For example, some corrections from my greetings entry a couple of days ago are on order so you won't get killed next time you visit a Swahili speaking country. The answer to mambo nis actually poa and while siku does mean day, 'Habari za siku' is only used when you haven't seen someone in a while, so it translates to more like "what the heck happened to you?" A simple "Good day" would be more like "Habari za leo," which doesn't ask what the news from the lion are – leo means today.

Speaking of today we did a bit of hands-on. The cookers for the biogas project still need to be made simpler and more efficient. There is a test system on KIDT and plenty of clay to play with....

When I came here I had bought the Spiegel, a weekly news magazine. It came with a very interesting documentary about the reunification on DVD. I finally watched it a couple of days ago. I remember being in Berlin for the first time in 1993 and talking to some people that were part of the demonstrations. I had never met anybody who was actively involved in anything like that, so it was fascinating to listen to their reports – how the police would go after them and the people's fears and hopes. Now I got to watch some of it in (literally) moving picture. Amazing what the will of the average Joe could accomplish 18 years ago.

The phone is not working and today we had a power outage that lasted all night, not just the custom 30 minutes. It produced a romantic candle light dinner. It is nice how you can always get something positive out of unusual situations!

Trip to Arusha

I am glad I am based in Moshi (which means Smoke) and not in Arusha. The latter is the town I visited today (Saturday). It's actually more scenic, as its higher altitude (1300m versus Moshi's 800m) makes it greener. But it's also bigger and due to being a hotbed of Safari's everybody want's your business. The encounters are always nice and people don't harass me too much, but it does get tiring to explain what I am doing in Moshi for the fifth time in 30 minutes...

Today I just wanted to walk around a bit by myself, also with the goal of looking for a bicycle, since Arusha is bigger than Moshi. But the prices quoted were even higher. The "just walking" turned out to be rather difficult. Even when I checked at one bike store, they walked me to several others. A gigantic chain... But bikes were either too small or too crappy or both. I stopped looking when they were showing me an obviously used bicycle, trying to tell me that it was new... When I said it wasn't they 'proved' it to me by leading me to the area where the mechanics were. They were in the process of assembling new bikes. My comment that they were completely different models didn't puzzle them....

Oh well, I eventually just got away from downtown and walked into the surrounding hills. That was much better. No hassles and a very scenic view to the rain forest. I also came by the Arusha Convention Centre, which currently hosts the Rwanda trials. That of course happened 13 years ago. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for Darfur justice to be made? Compared to those two disasters Iraq or Afghanistan seem rather smaller problems. I do admit I did go to an Anti-Taliban walk in 1997 (or maybe it was 1998) and haven't been on a Darfur one - actually never heard of one being organized.

There were some interesting job offers posted. 124,000 Swiss franks for a translator job (spanish-english-french). Some law attorney jobs in Sierra Leone, and while the salary range didn't seem too high (40,000-60,000, with one for a deputy registrar being somewhere inn 90K range), but a daily living allowance of $115 doesn't seem too bad, either... Of course all were posted last year - one even in 2004!

The trip to Arusha to look at the bio diesel generator was postponed to "maybe" Friday... It's the whole reason I didn't cancel my Saturday trip, as who knows when I really get to go to Arusha. Apparently it's also possible to sit in as a visitor for the Rwanda trials Mo-Thu.

I made another attempt at buying at bike Sunday. I am glad I went for a run in the morning to get my exercise in, though. They sell either new crap from $100 or used bikes from europe/us, around $170-200, but in bad condition (bottom brackets loose, spokes missing etc). I saw a nice bike (Shimanore Deore DX!), but pointed out all the shortcomings (chain slipping due to being worn, bottom bracket loose, missing spoke...). They said they can fix it. I said, ok, I'll be back when it's ready and test it. They of course wanted me to wait there, so we walked to the mechanics place. Of course, they couldn't fix it all, though it was fascinating to watch the mechanic work. They said it is working fine - even though I demonstrated it to them 4 times it wasn't. Once I almost crashed into a street vendor when I was trying to give a very vivid demonstration. By now they will hopefully gotten the message that they can't sell me stuff that isn't working... In the worst case I'll never get a bike. I can take the KIDT bus for free, so at least that part is taken care off...

50 ways to greet your Lover

The greeting process here is an art in itself. The main stay is the word Habari, meaning "News." Habari as a greeting is often not used by itself, but can be combined with the words for morning (asubuhi), day (siku) or evening (jioni). This is answered by nzuri (good). But then it continues and habari can be combined with another word like leo (today) or a variety of others, meaning 'how are you'. This is always answered by nzuri (good). Hands are often held throughout this. But there is also Hujambo (How are you), which is followed by Sijambo (Fine). And then there is the informal mambo (hi), which is answered by, I think, bora (the word for best), if I understood correctly.

The problem – well, one of the problems – is that people tend to shortcut Hujambo to Jambo. So then it sounds close enough to Mambo that I don't know how to answer it...Salama ("Good day") is also used (and answered by the same). With Dora's sister Salomi, the word Salama and the Italian sausage Salami I have to be careful I don't get confused!

Things change when I get greeted by kids, so it seems really a bit complicated... I have a decent dictionary that explained some of the things, but when you are just trying to figure what they said in the first place and then go through the possibilities of what you should answer, it can take a while for my little brain to process it.

And then sometimes people just say "Good Morning," in English. I then usually reply in English, too. Except when the taxi drivers are asking me if I need a ride (even if I just cross the street). I stay with "Hapana," the Kisuahelian word for no. But I think they finally figured out that I am no business for them and leave me alone.

I went for another run yesterday. I came home fairly early (4pm), but waited a bit until it had cooled off. Then I left and saw some dogs that looked tall like goats. Initially I thought I should turn around and go the other way (not being fond of dogs when I am running), but saw other people down there and decided to go anyway. The dogs turned out to be goats (which I guess explains their goat-size size), accompanied by some vultures wading through the trash. Then it started to rain and I saw a very pretty rain bow towards the mountains. For a second I hesitated, wondering if I should return to get the camera. But my egoistic side won and so you just have to trust me that it was beautiful. I did see one of the vultures the next day, though. At least I think it's a vulture - I didn't know their legs get that long.

Today we went to the biogas sites. Very interesting. I finally came into some of the typical, rural villages. People are very poor here. Also, it's already in the flatlands, so it gets less rain than in the mountains. There are irrigation canals for the big sugar cane fields, and residents can use the water for normal use, but not bigger-scale agriculture. Basically, whatever they can get out with buckets. The second problem apparently are moskitos (yes, yes, I know it's spelled mosquito in English, but for once there is a German word that is shorter than its Engl counterpart so I am going to take advantage of that, OK?). Most houses have some screens, but they aren't as tight as the moskito net over my bed.

Anyway, we visited two sites that are still under construction, although in the second manure was already filled in. The third site was ready to use, but the demonstration of the main cooker failed, and the COMPACT people had to take it with them for repair...One of those biogas projects gets propelled by 1-2 cows and can provide enough energy for the cooking needs of a 2-3 person household. I am not sure if it wouldn't make more sense to build a bigger system and connect multiple households. This would also help with the current problem that some farmers are apparently overwhelmed with the technicality of the system.

The first picture is from the site that is almost finished - they already started filling it with cow manure. Inside (hard to see) there is a long plastic tube, where the manure gets filled in. The gas (mostly methane and CO2) leaves through some pipes. The solid part can be used as manure (higher quality than what was put in). There is water with the methane gases, so that gets removed and the gas can then be used for a cooker (second picture - the smaller cooker was used b/c the bigger one didn't work).

On Monday and Tuesday I will be in Arusha with TaTEDO, to look at a biodiesel plant that is supposed to provide energy for 5,000 house holds. So I will be gone Monday and Tuesday and without internet over the weekend, it'll be a while before the next update. Now that I have a good connection here at the office, there is no need to spend 500 shilling (50 cents) for 30min in an internet cafe. The connection is so slow there that you can actually see the bits and bytes walking along the cables.

Michelin Man

White and fat like the Michelin Man, that's how I feel, for several reasons. For one I have been here for a week without doing any exercise. Sure, I have been doing lots of walking with a relatively heavy backpack in pretty warm temperature, but I still don't consider it real exercise. Secondly I have been eating lots of delicious food. Dora always overloads my plate. In the first week I didn't mind, as I thought that plenty of food should make for a healthy body. But now I am trying to cut down, especially because we eat on the later side for me (around 8pm).

And white because on my few exposed parts of the skin I put on sun screen - SPF 50, the kind that doesn't really disappear, no matter how hard you try to rub it in. And then the rest of the skin is covered with clothing, so doesn't get any sun light, so no photosynthesis, so this part gets really white, too...

To not become an advertiser for Michelin (bicycle) tires I decided today to go for a run. The view from the place I stay and during the run is rather nice. I didn't bring any running clothing, but my pants are the kind where you can unzip the lower part, so I had some shorts. I went for a 30-min run, stopping only once - there was a soccer game going on. I think skill-level wise I could have kept up, but the pitch was...well, let's call it poor. Almost like playing in the savannah, I guess. I would have been afraid to twist my ankle at every step.

I continued my run home, at some points cheered on by some kids. "Ah, Mzungu exercising!" It made smile and think about the book of Dieter Baumann (5,000m Olympic gold medal at 1992 Games) that I once read, where he said that people generally run to commute or get something done - not just to go for exercise (and on one of his trips Baumann was joined by a gas station owner to run to the next city; the African was 'complaining' that Baumann could have at least carried some water (to make the trip more purposeful...)


Work was funny today. I took a bus at 7am to be there at 8, b/c I was told we may go to see those biogas facilities. Well, at 9:30 I was just poking on what's going on with the trip. Ah, I was way too impatient again. The answer was that "we will have to wait and see." Ok, fine with me. The trip never happened and we may wait and see if it happens in two days or next week.

I am hearing some rain. First time in six months - I bet the local farmers are happy! Tonight I also took some pictures from the "Daily Dani Dinner Show." It's quite a treat and if you ever happen to be in the area, stop by and watch it (it's free!) For some reason Dani doesn't like to eat his dinner and he always puts up a fight - the end result can be seen on his shirt....

I finally ate with my hands today. After all how hard can it be to gobble up some 500 degree hot juicy beans when you get chapati (a pancake that is not written chapata, as I did the other day) as a spoon. Yeah, right. But I managed OK, though at the end of the chapati, there were still plenty of beans left... People also eat things like rice with their hands. Frankly, I think even chopsticks would make it easier for me. So I guess I should be hosting the "Daily Bjorn Dinner Show" soon.

Heading off to bed now and looking a bit puzzled at my left leg. Several moskito bites. How did they get there???