Random convos and food stories

Scene: My counterpart Tekra just realized that my friend Tala, who came to visit, was leaving the next morning.
Tekra: OH NO I didn’t bring her a gift!
Me: Its fine she is American she doesn’t need a gift, she would be mad if you gave her a chicken
Tekra: Why!
Me: Because it will poop and pee all over on the bus
Tekra: I will put it in a bag
Me: She still won’t want it
Tekra: What if I cook it first
Me: Well, if you cook it and put it in a hot pot then maybe she will want it

Scene: In the CTC clinic with the workers (convo was in English well, special English)
Workers: We are testing so many people today
Me: Good, its good to know your status
Worker: Do you need to test
Me: If you want me to I will, but I know my status is negative
Worker: You use a condom? You haven’t had naked sexual with anyone?
Me: Naked sexual? No, I haven’t been having any naked sexual

Random food stories: I went with some friends to go get rice and beans for dinner when we were in Iringa but we realized that I needed to meet someone back at the hotel in 10minutes so I told them to just bring me back food. Well, when they came back they had rice and beans in a plastic bag haha. This is totally normal here, you eat with your hands so it is no biggie to just put your food in a plastic bag or newspaper. Erin was here visiting from Germany in June and when we were on the bus, a lady came on to sell fried chicken out of a bucket, I thought “wow I want some” and apparently Erin thought it was the weirdest thing ever ha. If food isn’t sold hot in a plasic bag or wrapped in newspaper how can you trust that it was just cooked?? Think about it
On the bus to somewhere far you are stuck in a small place for a LONG time and so you get hungry, but have no fear!!! Buses stop to get more and more people along the way, but what is awesome is that you can buy food out of the widow! The food is generic; roasted corn, juice, hard boiled eggs, chips, peanuts, cookies, (in Iringa) yogurt, fruit (depends on the season), red bulls and even sometimes you can get French fries. The bus to Dar stops once for 15 minutes at a rest stop and you can get the above mentioned but also meat, French fries with egg, samosas, a full buffet (rice, uglai, meat, veggies, potatoes). The thing with all of this food is that if it is tainted with anything, you still have another 4-5 hours left on the bus so you better not get diarrhea!!
The other day I saw kids outside throwing rocks at the ground and trying to catch things and I asked them what they were doing and they replied that they were catching grasshoppers. They had different techniques that included rocks, sticks, and bottles. It was super funny to watch but after a while I wondered what they were going to do with the catch. Turns out they stick them on a bike spoke and shish-kabob them on the fire! I thought that this was super cool and asked for some when they were done and let me tell you, it was tasty!!! I told my mother this story the other day and she was horrified and I just laughed because I didn’t, for one minute, think that it was gross.