Nate Carried a Bucket of Water and later Made a Little Kid Cry

This past weekend was mostly spent exploring Arusha a little more. Sadly, Saturday morning, Ben and Alesha left as their time here came to an end. We (Nate, Karina, and I) said our farewells early Saturday morning. Our house definitely feels somewhat empty without them, but we are readjusting and having a good time.

Later that morning, the three of us walked down into town to run a few errands. Karina wanted to buy a painting from the Masai Market, so we headed that way. The Masai Market is crazy. There are rows of little "shops" (read - shacks) that have everything from bags to jewelry to small Masai sculptures to sandals...and everyone wants you to come into their shop to buy something. It is their livelihood, so I understand that they feel an urgent need to sell their items, but it can be overwhelming with so many people trying to get you to come to their shop. We've decided the best way to handle this is to know what you want to buy, purchase it, and leave. And that's what we did. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the chaos that is the Masai market, but I do have this awesome picture of a woman walking with a basket of bananas on her head:

All the women (young to old) carry stuff on their heads, and it never ceases to amaze me. I can barely walk straight as it is, but I can't imagine carrying something on my head. They make it look so easy. The rest of Saturday entailed us having lunch, walking around town, buying vegetables from another market, and buying some more grocery type items from Shop Rite - basically an almost Westernized grocery store. We had dinner and then went back to Mount Meru Hotel to watch Manchester United lose to Manchester City (sad Nate).

You may be wondering about the title...I'll get there soon. Sunday afternoon (post church and lunch at a Chinese restaurant) Nate, Karina, and I walked up the road to get to this soccer field because Karina wanted to run. It was quite a hike which ended in a crazy steep uphill trek. We were completely winded by the time we got up to the top (before the running even began), but I like to blame it on the elevation and not on our lack of exercise since winter hit in Indiana. But, we got to the soccer field, and this was the amazing view:

Title Story Part I: On the way back, we saw three young girls (maybe ages 3, 5, and 6) carrying buckets of water on their heads. The youngest one, however, was struggling. Her bucket wasn't balanced, and every time she took a step, water would spill on her. She had this sad look on her face like she was about to break down and cry. So, my ever so sweet husband (ps - he doesn't know I'm posting this and will be mad that I'm being mushy about him) asked her if he could help her. First of all, I find it adorable anytime Nate speaks Swahili to someone, especially the kids. But when he offered to help this girl...ah, I was smitten. At first, I think Nate was just going to help her get readjusted, but she wanted Nate to help her carry the bucket, so they both held the bucket by the handle and the little girls brought us back to their home. We thought it was close by, but it was definitely back off the road a bit. Everyone we walked by (all locals) were laughing. Imagine a tall, white guy carrying a bucket of water with a three-year old girl, followed by two more Tanzanian girls with buckets on their heads, followed by another white woman. It was quite entertaining. When we got to their house, their dad came up to us and talked with Nate. He was so thankful that Nate helped the little girl and even invited us into their home. However, we had left Karina back on the road (b/c we didn't think we were going very far), and we felt that we should probably go back and find her.

Title Story Part II: When we got back to our house, we were all thirsty, so we went across the road to Veronica's "duka" (shack/shop) that has refrigerated sodas. When you buy sodas here, you have to return the glass bottles or pay more, so we sat outside the duka and drank our sodas. It was nearly the perfect Sunday afternoon. Kids began to flock to us. They got so excited to see Mzungus, but then when we started talking to them, they got so shy (very common for all the kids here). Here are some pictures:

Started with just one girl (Irene)... 

Then there were four...Check out the expression on the girl in the pink dress sitting next to Karina. 

Then, there was this boy. So adorable. Nate talked to him for a bit. Eventually, Nate's sunglasses ended up on this little boy...which was even more adorable, so Nate asked him if he could take his picture again. We aren't quite sure what happened...maybe he just didn't want anymore pictures taken or maybe Nate's Swahili wasn't exactly right, but this little boy started sobbing and ran off. It was both sad and hilarious at the same time. He lives right across the street, so I'm sure we'll see him again. Hopefully, Nate won't make him cry anymore :)