Time for some updates

Time is a wonderful and mysterious concept.  It never actually stands still, yet many people including me, often take it for granted.  Thinking that time would stand still and wait for me when I am on Pemba, I wasted a lot of it.  I was one inch punched in the face with the sudden realization that today marks the 5th month that I have been in Tanzania.  Looking back, I see that I have changed drastically.  I've become a more content version of my previous self.  I can actually take care of myself after 23 years of existence. I also like to think that I have become a better cook (more to come later in the post).  Overall, I think that I have become a better version of myself from 5 months ago.  I now know more of what I want out of life, seeing a clearer path of life that I want to take, although this is still quite hazy.  But time really has fly by me these 5 months, only realizing this after I have been talking to some friends from back home these past few weeks.  So hopefully for the next 19 months or so, I hope that I will not be wasting and watching the time fly by as much as before.

Well here are some updates:

23-11-2013 -

This Saturday started out as normal as any Saturday can be in Tanzania.  I woke up in a sweltering hot room, lacking any mean of ventilation, door shut due to a possibility of the invasion of the rodents, lying in a pool of my own sweat.  The first thought that came to my mind was, "Did I forget to turn on the fan last night? No that's impossible because the fan is always on in my room."  It took me a while to realized that there was no electricity in my house, along with the other houses in my village.  This was both a blessing and a curse.  A curse because I was not able to play any tune on my computer, which I forgot to charge the night before.  A blessing because this actually forced me outside into the community.  Without any electricity, I was not able to cook my own breakfast, so naturally I went over to my neighbor to try and score some breakfast, since they always asked me to join them for breakfast lunch and dinner.  I was not disappointed, as I came inside their house, I was greeted with a fragrant scent of fresh baked breakfast rolls and chapati ya maji.  The meal was a typical Tanzanian breakfast with rolls, chapati, and of course the ubiquitous sweet Tanzanian chai (tea).  After breakfast, I hung out with some of my neighbors and other random villager under a tree.  This was when the day started going south.  For some reason they thought it was appropriate or funny to ask me to read random Chinese scripts that they found on various packagings.  At first I thought OK they just don't know that I do not know Chinese.  Even after I explain that I do not know Chinese or Korean or Japanese, they continued to have a discussion on the various East Asian languages. Then some of the people there had the audacity to started saying the whole Chingchong thing.  And the Tanzanian version of Chingchong is even more annoying and disgusting to the ear than the American version.  It is not even Chingchong, it is just random mumbling and murmuring at attempting to sound "Chinese".  I immediately gave them the "WTF", and no they did not stop.  I then gave them the "Ain't nobody got time for this" face (according to a fellow Peace Corps volunteer). They still did not stop, feeling disgusted and angry, I made it known the group and left abruptly.  At home, I just needed a way to chill out and cool down, but with the sweltering heat and the lack of any electricity to power my fan, I was left with only one option.  And that was to head toward the beach and go for a quick swim.  I packed my bag and climbed on my trusty bicycle, and started riding toward the outskirt of town.  Now this was the first time I attempted to go to the beach all by myself so it took me almost 2 hours to find the correct way to go to the beach, seeing as how I got lost numerous time.  But all was well when I finally reached my destination.

Time for a little rest

The view after an arduous bone jarring journey

The high tide covered much of the intertidal zone

As I arrived at the beach, all the local fisherman had left due to the incoming high tide, which was perfect for me.  I was able to swim and enjoying the beach all by myself.  You could say that this has become my own private beach.  This was what I needed after a much heated day, pun intended.  After I cooled down significantly, I started to head back to my village, which only took 20 minutes of slowly riding down the bone jarring road.  It can be safe to say that I will visit this beach more often in the future.

A private beach all by myself

With no one but the my shadow

25-11-2013

I have a special something for everyone today.  Yesterday, I was giving the opportunity to purchase 3 spiny lobster for a mere TSH 8000, or about $5.  Yes that is $5 for about 2-3lbs of spiny lobster freshly caught in the back yard that is my neighborhood.  The Asian slickdealer in me immediately jumped on that deal, because you know as they say "Buy now think later."  And that was exactly how this whole deal was.  I did not know how to cook lobster, I had a slight idea of what I wanted to do, so immediately I contacted my mother in the States.  This was how the conversation went "Má, cách nào nấu lẩu tôm hùm?" Within minutes, my dear mother replied a whole quick recipe on how to make Lobster Hot Pot. "Con làm tôm cho sạch để ráo sau đó ướp gia vị để cho thấm khoảng 1 tiếng .Bắt nồi bỏ dàu ăn cho nóng đập tỏi phi cho thơm bỏ tôm vào xào cho thấm sau đó cho nước xôi vào nấu nêm bột chua nêm nếm vừa ăn là được."  Well that all sounds pretty easy but I did not have some of the ingredients she mentioned so I decided to make my own recipe based on her.

Ingredients (easily found on Pemba):
2-3 lbs of Spiny Lobster
1 bag of clam
TSH 2000 worth of meaty white fish (don't buy the Scombridae available in the market, the dark meat does not go well with this hot pot, but you can if you want)
1/2 lb of octopus
2 skewers of snails
Salt
Pepper
Cooking oil
Garlic
Onion
Tamarind
3-4 bundles of Lemongrass
Carrots
Chili Pepper
Lemon juice
About 2 Liters of Water (Boiling)

So the previous day I had prepare and marinaded the octopus.  I simple put in a couple pinch of salt, pepper, about half a lemon worth of lemon juice, 2 cloves of mashed garlic, and some cooking oil in a small bowl.  I then add the octopus (beaten and cut into small bite size pieces).  Put this in the fridge or freezer, whichever you have available.

The octopus after a 24 hours marinating period

Next up I prep the clam and the snails by giving them a thorough cleaning in a small bowl.  Then I immersed them in boiling water and let them soak until I am ready to cook them.

Soaking the snails and clams

For the fish, I sliced them thinly similar to how one would slice sashimi.  This would allow the fish to cook quicker for some hotpot dipping action.

Fish sliced into dip-able size

Now to prepare the tamarind stock.  This extra important because it gives the hotpot a nice little sour kick.  Now on Pemba, they would sell tamarind by the kilogram.  So I bought about 1/4 kg and this was way more than I needed, but hey it was pretty cheap.  I filled a cup with boiling water then I dropped in a sizable amount of tamarind, I imagined how the soup would taste with the amount of tamarind being put in.  So I just guestimated by ear.  Then I started stirring the living pulp out of the very tamarind seed, to get all the flavor into the water. I did this for about 5 minutes, every now and then I would put in more and more of the tamarind, until it was a dark enough color that I thought was sufficient for the soup.  Then leave this on the side.

Start mincing the onion and garlic.  I used a whole bulb of onion and 4 cloves of garlic.  You can also dice the carrot at this time, into whatever shape you prefer.

Now I started heating some cooking oil in a pot that will be used for the hot pot. You can use however much oil you want, as this is mainly to extract the flavors out of the garlic and onion for your stock. I used about 3-4 tablespoons of cooking oil.

While the oil is getting heat up, I started preparing the lobster first give them a thorough scrubbing, who know what kind of gunk they have sticking to them.  Then you continue by cutting the head off.  I sliced the head in halves just so that during the cooking process, all that juicy goodness will flow out easier into the stock. I also halved one of the tails to be used in the stock.  The other 2 tails I left alone to be grilled for later usage.  You can give the head and the tail some flavoring of your choice, but I opted out of this because I thought there was already enough flavoring going into the soup.

Defrosting my lobsters

Now onto the fun part.  The oil should be adequately heated up by now.  Drop in those garlic bad boys that you have minced earlier.  Make sure to keep the heat low so that you won't burn the crisp off these bad boys.  When the garlics are starting to turn golden, it is time to drop the bass on those onion, constantly stirring or turning them around.  Wait until the onions are about translucent, drop the lobster pieces in and give them a quick stir fry.  By now turn the heat up a bit.  You can now put in some salt and pepper if you did not flavor the lobsters beforehand.  When the lobster pieces are turning red, add the 2 litters of boiling water.

Remember the tamarind juice that we prepared earlier?  Now you can easily scoop the the seeds and discard of them. What are you waiting for, drop these bad boys into the stock pot.

You can now start tearing or mashing the lemongrass so that you can easily extract the flavor.  After mashing the lemongrass, you can add them to the stock pot.  Of course you can add the carrot at this time also, to give the soup some more sweet sweet flavoring goodness.

By this time, you are probably forgot all about the clams, snails and octopus right?  Well you can start adding those bad boys, don't forget to give the clams and snails one final rinse and drain.

Now it is time for the most important ingredient of all, the chili peppers or the pili pili hoho.  This is up to your discretion. Use however much chili peppers that you think you can handle or enjoy. For me personally, I only used half of a chili pepper.  Mash the pepper with a spoon and add these smashed chili pepper pieces to the stock.  Let everything simmer for about 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, now is the time to add salt to flavor to taste.

10 minutes before serving, add the fish fillet that we prepared earlier.

There you go, a full blown recipe for a Seafood Lobster Hot Pot, made with ingredients easily found on the Green Island of Pemba. Enjoy.

Seafood galore

I thought that this hot pot was a hit with many people in my neighborhood.  Also, I like to think that I have successfully introduced lemongrass to the cuisine of Pemba.  Hopefully

30-11-2013 to 3-12-2013

I've been writing post cards to my friends around the world, about 30-40 cards total.  So if my cards somehow make it into your hands, please let me know, and it'll be cool if you can write back.  I'm looking forward to some responses :)

An example of a Pemban postcard

Well Peace Out
- The Village Cook

Diving into Knowledge

As I am sitting in my living room, pondering how to write next week final exams for my form I and form III students, my mind began to wander. Wandering around the brilliant island of Pemba. I have not been back to my house for over 72 hours and yet my mind is already wandering off to some other place, looking for the next thing Perhaps it is due to my living arrangement, aka the forever alone life, or perhaps it can be contributed to my soul being a legless bird who has trouble finding the right perch. My village has much to offer me, ranging from flying foxes to bush babies or even honeybees carefully nesting on a secluded mango tree in my back yard. Exciting as my village can be, there is just more to Tanzania, specifically Pemba, that I have yet to explore. Let's recap what has happened since the last episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Pemba:

After returning from a week long holiday, my school was opened for exactly 3 whole days, not one not two but three whole days. During those three days, I tried my best review what was forgotten during the long break. But really what kind of student would listen to his or her teacher for 2 periods that are smacked between two really long school breaks? The result of my futile attempt was disastrous at best. The best part of the 3 short days of school was my introduction of Halloween to my Form I students. I had to act out being a zombie/ghost/ghoul for the students to understand Although none of the student caught on with the whole Trick-or-treating thing, although there were plenty of snacks at my house, o well.

For the majority of the week following Halloween I was cooped up in my house. I finally had time to do some serious cleaning and exploring the labyrinth that is my house. This can mostly be contributed to the fact that I had some important visitors from the Peace Corps. They swung by just to check out if I was alive or not, needless to say they were satisfied that they did not have an injured or dead Peace Corps Volunteer on hand. Of course they were really surprised with the condition of my humble but spacious abode, clean but not too clean that it looked like I intentionally cleaned my house for their arrival.

For the weekend, I visited a resort with the fellow islanders. It was just what I needed after being cooped up in my house for so long. After over a year of inactivity, I decided to go SCUBA diving again. Boy was it a blast. I have no idea why I stopped doing that, but I do know that I am hooked again. I can foresee a future on this island that involves me diving a lot, or at least being in the water more often. At the resort, I had a lot of time to think, yet for the most part, I just let my brain wander freely, not caring for the mundane troubles of the world. It was a blissful experience in a place distance from the distractions of the world, separated by both a physical and a metamorphic forest of serenity. Just what I needed.

Minutes before the sunset on a walk down the beach

Such serenity cannot be captured with a mere camera phone

Sitting under such majesty can make one question many things.

But in the end, the mind just drift off to nowhere.

I can just lounge here all day long.

Now I am back to the world of examinations and deadlines. But somehow I feel very contend to be back home, to my humble spacious abode. :) Here is my bicycle that I bought from a used bicycle store on Unguja, fitted with a basket, fenders, and even lights. The ultimate in utilitarian gadget, although it is missing a rear rack.

Have a good day

Until next time,
Just Son

The Suited Up Sardine with the Cello Had Crabs

After a short hiatus of being lazy, I have decided to continue with more tips and guides on living on the island of Pemba. Honestly, I have almost fallen into a deep deep trap of not writing and almost given up on this blog, but do not fret, for this blog will continue to live on. And without further ado, let's read on:

After the field trip to Vumawimbi Beach with some of the Form IV students and several of the teachers, I was enlightened with the fact that people on this island actually do eat invertebrates, namely the Pinnidae Mussel or commonly known as the Pen Shell, Panga in Kiswahili. Excited with this fact, I immediately sought out a prospective student to assist me in the excavation of these mussels in the next few days. The student did not disappoint me after all. A few days later, during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, I embarked on a journey with my student, along with my trusty mask and snorkel. It turned out he took me to what could be one of the best kept secrets of Pemba, Kojani Island. It is a mystical place where relatively few outsiders have stepped on its soil. These islanders usually keep to themselves, they even consider the residence of the main island of Pemba to be outsiders. With that in mind, I did not dare to venture onto the island without any invitation from a local (heeding the warning of my student). Between Kojani and Pemba is a relatively flat lagoon that host a wide variety of habitats, namely Eel Grass and Mangroves. I feel like I can almost walk from Pemba to Kojani if the tide was low enough, but I will save that for another day. Upon arriving, we were greeted with the low tide, so naturally we quickly waded through the Eel Grass bed before the returning high tide. Along the way to the lagoon, my trusty student managed to recruit more helps to assist us in our collection process. The process of collection was quite simple because these mussels usually live in small colonies under the sand. So all we had to do was look for small organic openings in the sand and start digging them up. We spent about 30-45 minutes in the water before the high tide returned, and we managed to collect a gazillion mussels. That day, I had a mussel feast with my neighbor. I made two separate dishes: baked mussels with sea salt and pepper & French styled Moules. My neighbors' jaws dropped so hard that they left several holes in their courtyard when they tasted these dishes because it was so strange for them yet according to their words, it was the most delicious dish they have eaten (I can contribute this to the fact that they do not have that many variety of food here, or rather they do not cook much beside ugali/rice and some meat/fish/octopus sauce). But hearing that made me felt more confident about my cooking.

Fast forward to about 2 weeks, I was greeted with another school holiday. This time it was about 2 weeks long so I decided to embark on a journey to the main island of Zanzibar, Unguja. During this visit, I met up with 3 of my regional Peace Corps neighbors. One major break through for me was finding both fish sauce and instant noodle (if you have chatted with me recently, you would know that I've been craving these two items for a while now). On a related note, I've finally found sesame oil on Pemba, I now have all the ingredients I would ever need to cook up all my favorite dishes. Continue on with my adventure on Unguja . . .   I also bought an awesome Raleigh mountain bike for 70,000 TSH or about 43 USD, not a bad price at all especially with brand new tires and wheels too. While I was visiting Unguja, I happened upon Zanzibar Fashion Week. One of my compatriots and I were deciding on whether we should join in on the festivity or not. We were on the verge of not going, but when we met up with our other compatriot, her friend invited us to the fashion show and the after party, all for FREEEEE. (I knew I had to go, I would most definitely kick myself in the butt if I look back 30 years from now on my private island and realized that I did not go to a free event full of models). That night was such a crazy safi night, with the grand opening of a roof top bar on top of an already fancy bar (If you ever get a chance to visit Unguja, visit the 6th Degree Bar, it is a beach front bar with very chill bartenders who would teach you a lot of Swahili, o and did I mention free fast internet?), an awesome fashion show showcasing several local designers (I really liked the Upendo collection, you should look it up), and best of all mingling with the designers themselves and the models. The best part of the night was the unlimited free beer (I was really pacing myself so I would not make a fool out of myself in front of the models).  I managed to somehow landed in the right place at the right time, because I was able to have a dance party with some of the best looking people in this world.  But alas, all parties must come to an end, and so my mini vacation in Unguja also came to an end, but boy was I glad to go back home after a week of jelllyfishing around from place to place.

After a week long absence from my village, it was really nice to be back in my own house again, under my own roof, in the comfort of my bed. But as soon as I was at home, I was bitten by the Car bug, well the bicycle bug now. I had to modify the bike somehow, to my liking. So the very next day, I spent an entire day buying parts (fenders, basket and a rear rack) in Chake Chake, and installing them with the help of a local fundi (technician). While in Chake Chake, I managed to purchase an enormous Cellos, a Tanzanian brand of plastic wares (especially buckets). I bought the enormous Cellos with the purpose of turning it into a water collector. The best part about buying this enormous barrel was lugging it back from Chake Chake to my village. Imagine being in the back of a pick-up truck with 20 other people and a giant plastic barrel in the middle of it. We were cramped like sardines for at least half an hour. But I am glad I did that because lately the village have not been receiving water from our pipes, so everyone has been resorting to using their own reserved water. I sure hope the pipes get fixed soon because I don't want to see anymore girls carrying heavy buckets of water on their heads.

Fast forward a few more days, I was invited to my neighbor house to eat dinner, and alas I was greeted with crabs. I was overjoyed when I saw them but I played it off and acted nonchalant. They thought that I did not know how to open up the crabs and eat them, boy were they wrong. It turned out that the technique that they use to pry open the crabs were not the greatest, using a knife to cut open the crab . . . Seeing how cumbersome this knife technique was, I showed them a technique that have long been passed down to me by my own father who got it from his father who got it from his father and so on . . . Now I can proudly say that I did make a different in Africa, well at least when it come to teaching the local how to open up a crab for consumption, this could potentially put a dent in the local crab population.

This weekend, the school had a Form IV graduation ceremony. The students here have their graduation ceremony right before their equivalence of the High School Exit Exam. So a student can technically walk for the ceremony, but not really graduate from high school if he or she was to fail the NECTA (National Examinations Council of Tanzania) Exam. This is an interesting system, but I guess this way everyone can celebrate the festivities right before arduous 2 weeks long examination period. I hope that most if not all the student will pass their exams (this is my highly optimistic self talking right now).

As with every ceremony, we have food, a lot of food. 

The students are helping out with peeling a lot of tomatoes for famous Tanzania mchuzi (sauce).

What is a Tanzanian ceremony without a huge pot of Mchica na Nyama (Vegetable and Meat)? 

Yup, all of that oil is for making Pilau (Rice Pilaf),

I guess it is our "Fifthy" Graduation.

The awesome student who assisted me in gathering a sack full of mussels. 

Some of the boys wanted me to take their pictures.

My first time suiting up in Africa, boy was it hot. 

So happy . . . 

I really need to teach them how to smile in pictures.

I was the token Mzungu so I was constantly pulled left and right for pictures.

So many different cameras to look at

I wish them all the best luck 

One of the first students to show me around the village 

All the girls wanted to take a picture with me 

"I don't usually cook, but when I do, I'll use the biggest tool they have." - The Most Interesting Cook in Pemba 

Right after the ceremony, I was invited to an event of some sort on Sunday. I did not know what it was, but I told myself why not since I would probably be lounging around my house doing nothing anyway. Well the event turned out to be some sort of dance party. There were music, drumming, and even singing. In the village square, there were roped off area designated for dancing. I was confused but I partook in the festivity and had a blast with everyone. All in all it was blast.

In other news, I have successfully introduced K-Pop to my neighbors. That's right, I showed them music videos of Wonder Girls and Girls' Generation. We even had our private dance party inside their court yard. I hope this will make a lasting impact on the music culture here, instead of focusing on American Crap Top 40's.


Well until next time,
The Mussel Snorkeler

How to travel around Pemba

Finally, today is the day that I will actually talk about a topic that is pertaining to the title this blog, The HITCHHIKER's guide to Pemba. Yes I am talking about traveling around on the tropical island that is my home, Pemba. If you would have to ask me what is the easiest and best way to travel from the middle of Pemba such as say a village near Chake Chake to the northern part of the island to visit various tourist sites, I would give you a simple answer, “Join the Peace Corps”.

Well, it is not that easy. But since I am already a Peace Corps volunteer, this method has proved to be quiet effective for me. I did not need to pay to ride a dala dala. I did not need to ride in a dala dala packed like sardines. I did not have to ride in a dala dala that stops every 2 minutes to pick up and drop off passengers. Here was what I did:

1. I woke up early enough so that I can be on time to teach at my school, which is a long 3 minutes walk from my house

2. I taught my first and second period of Form 1 Chemistry.

3. After I finished teaching, I went outside and chatted with the students and my fellow teachers.

4. As the dala dala arrived, get in the front seat of the dala dala next to the driver.

5. Enjoy the ride to North Pemba.

Ok, I will stop messing around now. All in all, today was a great day for me.  I was able to go on yet another field trip with my school.  We went to the amazing Ngezi Forest in the northern tip of Pemba.  It was quite a refreshing trip because this whole week was really hard for me, with my crazy irregular school schedule.  To be honest it was starting to get on my nerve, so this field trip was a good break from all of that.

Inside a fare pote type of structure just outside the forest of Ngezi as we were waiting for our guide

 Inside the Ngezi forest, there were a wide variety of flora and fauna, but I was not able to see any that were of interest to me.  Well I lied, I did see a specimen of Teak (Tectona grandis) and a specimen of Mahogany (Calophyllum inophyllum).  Beside those two particular plants, I did not see any other species of flora or fauna that caught my eyes.  One thing that really bugged me during my visit to Ngezi was the fact that some of the students and and teachers were uprooting seedlings.  I did not know how to address this during the walk, but I plan to address this issue at a later time in the future.

After visiting the forest, we went on a relatively long bus ride through the forest.  As I was sitting in the very front of the bus, the whole experience felt like an Indiana Jones movie, as we were trekking through the small dirt road in the jungle, bouncing up and down as the tires travel across every bumps and pot holes.  Alas, we finally made it to the lighthouse, Ras Kigomasha, and what an amazing site it was.  This lighthouse was built in 1905 by the Chance Brothers.  I am to believe that this lighthouse is still active, due to its current condition, but then again I am not sure

For a minimal fee of 500 TSH or $0.31 USD per person, we were able to climb the tower to get a view from the top of the lighthouse.

The endless spiral staircase

 It was very scary to climb the lighthouse, but I fought back my fear and ascend the tower.  Luckily I did, because the view was amazing.  It was like switching from a CRT television set to an Ultra HD 4000K television.  My eyes was blown out from the clarity of the scenery.

The view from one of the small windows along the spiral staircase

 And here we are at the top at last.  If any of you ever get a chance to climb a lighthouse, do it, it is worth every aching muscles in your legs.

Ultra HD 4000k eyegasm

The clear fringing reef

Who need a fancy DSLR when the scenery is just that awesome

And of course the required selfie

 After taking this selfie, I realized that I have done this exact pose in a wide variety of places.  It got me thinking of making an entire album dedicated to this pose.  I guess this can be hashtagged as #Lonetraveller.  But that will be for another time, another day.

Some of the Form IV students in my school

He was really adamant about having a picture all by himself

My attempt at being artistic.  I shall call this "The Grated Life"

Last #LoneTraveller picture before my descend

 After descending the long spiral staircase, I was greeted with a friendly fellow.  It was as if he was mooing me to come and pet him.  Naturally I complied.

The flag of Zanzibar waving to greet all visitors of Ras Kigomasha

After our short stint at Ras Kigomasha, we jumped on the rickety bus to venture toward another location, Vumawimbi  Beach.  This is one of the most pristine beach that I have been to, and that is saying a lot.  It was a shame that I did not pack my snorkeling gear, but from the view on top of Ras Kigomasha, it looked pretty interesting.  During our stay there, I was introduced to a delicacy by a student, Pinnidae mussel.  All you had to do was dig up the green pen shell mussel from the sandy beach, pry it open and wash away the sand, and just gobble down the sweet nectary flesh of the adductor mussel.  I was able to deduce the genus of this sweet delicacy to be either Atrina or Pinna.
Well here are some pictures that I managed to snap before the torrential rain

Of course I cannot go to a pristine beach without the #LoneTraveller pose

After a fun field trip, I was able to visit a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer on Pemba, as she lives really close to Vumawimbi and Ngezi.  It was really good to see her because I did not see her or any other volunteers for over 1 month.  It was nice to vent and catch up with her.  All in all it was a great end to a fun day of adventures.

Until next time

The Lone Traveller