We left Decorah, IA one week ago today! We are STILL adjusting to the time zone change – last night we were all asleep by 1 am, which is a big improvement from the 2 and 3 am bedtimes a couple days ago. The transition has been a little bumpy and I think sleep deprivation has had something to do with it. But today, our 6th day here, we are finally starting to feel a little more settled.

We’ve gone food shopping twice: once at a grocery store very much like ones in the States (similar to a WalMart because there was also furniture, books, housewares and large appliances – in fact, we even saw packages with the Great Value label!).

We also went to the local stands – a road lined with fruit, meat and street-food stands. Oh, and stalls that offer clothes, hair braiding, household goods, phone cards – you name it, you could find it at Survey and Mwenge Markets.

Thankfully, Paulina, a contact at the University, came with us the first time to help us understand how to buy things! She also did a bit of bargaining for us. 🙂

Some of our purchases: watermelon, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, garlic, red onion and avocado!

We have cooked at home but have also gone out to eat a couple times. Here we are at UDASA, a restaurant on campus. The girls shared chicken and fries (chipsi na kuku) and Jon and I shared ugali (cornmeal mush) with chicken and sauce – it was delicious. It was dark by the time we got our food, otherwise I would have taken a picture of it! It gets dark here so early – both times we ate out, we were eating in the dark at 7 pm.

Jon taught the girls how to play chess and there have been many games so far!