...... and back again.

Already my standards have changed...

Case in point:

I was getting breakfast at the YWCA today (my choice budget accommodation in Dar these days). Nothing fancy, just 2 'donuts' and a cup of tea. Said donuts are really just fried bread with a hole in the middle. They aren't really sweet, either, as they don't have any frosting or delicious filling. But hey, for Tanzania, it's not a bad attempt.

To this, you may be thinking, "Justin - you're in Tanzania. Why in the world are you choosing to eat DONUTS when you could be soaking up the culture and enjoying the fabulous local cuisine???" Great question. But there's really nothing else to choose from aside from Tanzania's version of a tortilla (which, while usually delicious, I had eaten for breakfast the last 3 days in a row). And I'd be careful about throwing around the word 'enjoying' when speaking of Tanzanian food; while there are the highly occasional surprises, the food is mostly bland and quite short on options.

At any rate, the kind lady assisting me opened the glass cabinet that housed the food, stabbed one of the fried goodies with a fork, and plopped it onto my plate. Little did I know that I was going to get a little extra protein with my carbs, because a roach -about 3/4 of an inch long- crawled out from his little hiding spot on the bottom my donut and scurried to the top. I guess he needed to get a better view as to what the hell was interrupting his morning snack, and he wiggled his antennas around wildly to make sure we understood his frustration. The lady, upon seeing this, picked up the donut (roach and all) and proceeded to put it back in the case where it had come from. All without a moments hesitation, mind you.

To her credit, she was nice enough to pick new donuts from the other side of the case this time. Maybe the roach hadn't made it over there yet. I don't know. But I do know that I ate them without another thought. Except to ponder if the 'fried crunchies' on the outside of the donut were actually roach eggs or something. (I mean, I seriously doubt it - but the mind does wander a bit at times...)

So with that, I am going home. I am bringing two pairs of clothes and some souvenirs, and am leaving the rest in Tanzania for my return in January. This is by far the least amount of stuff I've ever traveled with abroad - It's a REALLY cool feeling (: Though I have to admit it's not too hard a task since I've got a closet stocked full of my stuff waiting for me. It's like I have two homes now and I can travel to either one with hardly any planning needed. Which is wonderful, I really don't like planning...