I Scored at Nane Nane

So last week, I got my first taste of how Tanzanians do holidays. I mean, Christmas doesn't really count, as people here play Christmas songs year-round and some of its thunder becomes stolen. Plus, a lot of families can't afford presents, its like Christmas is almost an elitist holiday. But last week there was the true national holiday of choice. Its called "Nane Nane", and if you would read a book, you'd see that this means "Eight Eight". Guess which day this holiday lands on? (Hint: Not August the 9th.)

So Nane Nane is also known as "Peasant's Day", which means that its pretty much a come-one-come-all celebration. You know, "for the peasants". In a shockingly unusual display of organization, the local government here in Bukoba set up this awesome festival grounds about a week before the actual holiday. Then, every day until Nane Nane itself there was some form of local entertainment, a lot of drinking and dancing, and the merchants had little booths to sell their special goods. Honestly it felt like a county fair, but without the Gravitron (I hate that thing...does anyone think that it is fun to get yourself so dizzy it takes 3 hours of drinking water and laying in a cool room to feel like you are not still spinning? I think that this is the opposite of fun).

Me and some friends met up a few days before the climax to check it out, and I ended up buying a few things, including possibly the most delicious hot sauce I've ever had. For those of you who have eaten extremely spicy pho, this hot sauce gives all foods that same taste. There were some man-thong type underwear that had the word "mwanaume" written on the band, but the price was a little steep (Mwanaume=Male). After shopping around, we found a little table in the middle of the grounds, and ordered some Kilimanjaro brand beers. To be honest, a large group of white people is always a little out of place in Tanzania. But the six or seven of us camped out in the middle of this local festival, we got more stares than usual. After half an hour or so, these three guys at the next table over called me to come talk to them. They were quite drunk, but were still sufficiently shocked that I knew their tribal language, as well as Swahili. So I chatted with them until I was thirsty enough to return to my table and my beer. A little later, one of the three started walking towards our table. Now what usually occurs at this point is that I am asked to purchase the guy a beer or konyagi (imagine the cheapest gin you've ever had. Now pour the cheapest vodka you've ever had into it. That's konyagi). Seriously, we all get asked to buy drunk guys more liquor all the time, it's become routine. So imagine our collective confusion when he just hands me a 10,000 shilling bill (this is a decent amount of money here; its the largest bill). We were with a Tanzanian girl who kept telling me to "give it back it is probably counterfeit". But the man wouldn't take no for an answer, so overall I actually came up at Nane Nane. I'm still a little weirded out, but nothing bad came of this gift. My guess is the guy was too drunk to remember he gave to me, like when Ivan gets a little tipsy and buys everyone Patron shots. But my good fortune didn't end there, the waitress was super nice to me as well, and I ended up getting a free dinner. This really just means some sticks of meat and a few fried bananas, but it was cool nonetheless.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the festival itself. Its a little harder to cruise around here with a camera than it is in most developed countries. In general, the amount of unwelcome attention that taking photographs in public places brings usually isn't worth the pictures themselves. Maybe if I get enough demand (Andrew and my parents, really) I will spend a day cruising around Bukoba taking pics of the market and such. Until then, stay in touch.