Rock and Roll Literally

So last night we had small earthquake. For those of you that haven't looked at a map to see directly where we are...Tanzania is right on the Great Rift Valley. About 3 weeks before we came there was a pretty big quake registering 6.6 on the Ricter Scale....where's Ned Field( a seismologist I dated) when you need him? Anyway, it was a pretty cool feeling...we were all safely in bed which seems to be the prefered location...the bed shook and kinda rolled. Pretty exciting for this Midwesterner. Nell and Pearl had no clue, except when it came time to make their coveted toast in the morning and we had no power. What seemed like big news to me wasn't to the rest of Moshi...business as usual commenced outside.
I took a cab into town, not quite ready to brave the "dala dala" ( local VERY crowded somewhat smelly buses) alone. I sat at the local coffee shop and watched the weather change back to beautiful. I have a small list of household items we need so I was daring myself to go negotiate (as EVERYTHING is a negotiation) these puchases.
Here's the scene, I walk into a stall for lack of a better desciption, pick out my purchases and am told it will be 30,000 TSH (tanzanian shillings) equivalent of about 30 dollars. HA..I told him I would give him 7000. Done. There are no hard feelings in these negotiations.....just a fact of life. My friend here told me that whenever buying something he hasn't purhased before, he calls all his friends to get a range of prices. Can you imagine the time involved in this....thus the reason trying to get a lot accomplished here is difficult.
The environmentalist in me is feeling satisfied here, I hang my clothes on the line, have no dishasher and no car(yet). The simplicity of life and it's daily tasks feels familiar....like I should have been born in another time. As you can tell I am really enjoying myself. Nell and Pearl are in school all day today...which offers me the time to explore and learn. Nell has signed up for gardening...the Montessorian in her is screaming to come out. Pearl takes satisfaction on getting to stay all day and the fact that there is a "duka" (store) on campus that I let them get ice cream from after school. All is well here in Tanzania.
Love to you all,
Sarah