July 26th

This is Ben. He gave us a tour, and I think he's somehow related to Lesikar. And that's a huge wheat field behind him.

Ok, so yesterday we went to a Maasai Village for half the day. The Maasai are a tribe in Tanzania and an ethnic group Kenya who have tried very hard to keep their traditions despite Westernization, and they have so far been pretty successful. We got a tour of the village and went to the market. The markets can be overwhelming at times because there are so many people trying to get your attention. We obviously stand out, and when Tanzanians see white people, they automatically think dollars. It's especially bad for me because I never want to buy anything, haha. But I finally broke down yesterday and bought a cloth thing there that I can use as a scarf or shawl. After the initial sensory overload, I became more comfortable and really enjoyed it.

There was one guy there who caught my attention by saying "Hello sister?" (or actually 'sistah') and when I looked, he waved me over. I hesitated, so he said "Just come and please look." So I said ok. After standing next to him just looking at the different fabrics he had laid out on a mat on the ground, I said "OK! I looked!" and started to walk away, but then went back, laughing, and he saw that I was joking and started laughing too, and shook my hand to say good one. Then he asked me where I was from and whether I was a student. He was no longer trying to sell me anything, so it was nice just to be able to talk to him. After that had a lecture and then went home.