My Birthday... and the Mwanza Charity Ball

So as some of you might know, yesterday was my birthday. My first birthday celebrated away from Kitchener/Waterloo... So I thought I should tell you about my day. I got breakfast made for me by other volunteers. It comprised of french toast with syrup, eggs, and BACON, as well as apple juice and excellent Tanzanian coffee. (do you notice that my beloved OJ is missing from the list? That's because there is no such thing as decent OJ in Mwanza... :( but the rest was absolutely amazing, so I really can't complain at all...) I hung out with the little kids doing chores at Starehe all morning. Then I took a dalla dalla to Mkuyuni, the next suburb on the way to town, which has more stuff than Nyegezi. I hadn't stopped here yet. I found a great little fruit and veggies market with better prices than in town, and bought a black belt for 4000 shillings... i.e. $4. I needed it for the big evening. In the afternoon Tini helped me iron my suit (the suit that I had made for me in town from a very nice and skilled local tailor who somehow managed to produce a really good western-style suit for really cheap) and my white shirt, so along with borrowed shoes I was ready to go for the Grand Mwanza Charity Ball in the evening. It just so happened that the ball fell on the night of my birthday. It is an annual charity event where all the big-wigs (i.e. mostly all the Wazungus of Mwanza with a few non-wazungus)spend their money for orphanages and schools, including the one I'm at. Tini and I went together and met up with a few of her friends from town. There was a nice dinner, a live band playing, dancing, and a good chance to meet people who are also staying in Mwanza like me. I made a couple of friends. There was an incident with a drunken young woman trying to throw herself on me to induce me to get drunk on konyagi (the local liquer) which she had had much too much of already, and I guess I was looking like I needed to lose my innocence or something- very strange. Anyways, it was all in all a great day( minus the drunk girl). I also got calls from familyand a few cards/emails within a week of my birthday which I really appreciated. A bit more excitement in a day than I'm used to having... hahah.