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

P.S. - To get to Kojani from Chake Chake, all you need to do is on any bus going to Konde, Wete or Micheweni. The stop to get off at is Kojani, then you just walk east toward the water for about 10-15 minutes and you're there.