An Inquiry into the Nutritional Value of Luffa Cylindrica

This post is a continuation of the previous post. Read that one below first!

So luffa leaves are edible. Good.

Remember the post before "Surprise Post"? Where I typed all night long? Well we got a free ride back from Serenje to Mpelembe from no one less than the President of Mukwa Beer; Frank Somebody. Mukwa beer is the competitor of Shake Shake in the ever so popular cheap carton chibuku market. Craziest and scariest hitch ever. He had a really expensive SUV and bought Carrie and I two Heinikens each. He also was drinking Heinikens while driving and insisted on opening them all himself by using opposing bottle caps. He drove fast. Really fast. I'm still alive, so don't freak out, but he tried to average 180 kph (111 mph). He fortunately managed to avoid destroying all the human and goat life we encountered on the road. Made it back to Mpelembe in record time! When we got out he gave us his business cards and invited us to go clubbing with him the next time we were in Lusaka. My least favorite thing about Frank was that he tossed the empty bottles out of the window saying "keep Zambia clean, right?" in reference to the Keep Zambia Clean program (like Redd Up Pittsburgh, but even more unsuccessful). Whew.

Here's how Christmas went: Got out of bed, had some Christmas Coffee and oats. Opened all the presents! Carrie had chitenge pants made for me from brown cloth with a funny rooster pattern on it. They are a little big cause the guy who made them was unable to adhere to the measurements given (this seems common in Zambia; the beehive and subsequently manufactured top bars were also not made to specifications. Not even close). Admired our mildly cone shaped tree we cut from the wood, adorned with paper snowflakes and the lights that Carrie's mom sent (thank you!). We baked bread for our neighbors, the (ex)head familiy, and our friend Justin. Then we went to the paved road, where apparently rural villages go to celebrate holidays. Everyone who lives in Mpelembe was there practically. A little dizzying seeing all that colorful clothing and teeming masses out in our middle of nowhere. There were many people who brought/were making food to sell, and of course all the bars were open. We got some fritters and people watched after talking to a few people we knew. After a couple hours we went back and baked a mango cobbler for ourselves. It was delicious. I also attempted to make eggnogg!! Yes, we drank our very own raw, unpasturized eggs! It was quite good and eggnoggesque. The only problem was that the cream that I brought back to fold into the drink opened up before I could get it back. So I just drank like a half liter of cream. Mmmm. So flavor was good, but texture should have been thicker and richer. Turned out the candles and watched the Christmas lights some more, then went to bed. Oh, Zambians greet people on Christmas by saying "Christmas!"; phonetically "Ka-rist-mass-y". At least I think it was a greeting. Hmm, in light of "peleniko new years", maybe they were asking for Christmas charity from the rich muzungus.

For New Years we went to Serenje, on the possibility that there would be some people to celebrate with. We were the only ones there. Everyone else was vacationing elsewhere. We made grilled cheese - a rare treat - and drank some [Tony, when you get back to lab, tell Daniel that I finally tried Tusker lager!]. We watched a scary movie '1408' which I highly recommend if you like that genre. It was on one of the funny cds they sell here for cheap that have between 9 and 15 movies on them, so it was kinda bad quality. Oh well. Then we watched some Family Guy episodes and tried to get Carrie to watch Aqua Teen Hunger force. She fell asleep and then we missed the advent of the New Year. Oh well. Next morning we had a cheese omlette and coffee (all rare treats).

Then we came down to Lusaka yesterday so that I could put in my application for a 3 month extension of my Visitor's Permit (sucessfully! I have the reciept, so I can at least stay 3 months more [to April 21st]). Also so [that](Nonna, is placing "that" there gramatically unnecissary? I've never figured this out) Carrie could get the free (to PC females) HPV vaccine and talk to some PC staff about a bike project. Sarah, do you know any organization that would send free bikes? Carrie is having some difficulty in dealing with the one she contacted (Pedals 4 Progress). We are heading back this evening.

Diana (Carrie's Mom, not my Aunt) thank you for the thermometer (which is hung in the livingroom on a nail in the mud [it would get stolen if outside, besides, there's probably not a big temperature difference between the mud hut and the outside] Hopefully high enough so The Professor won't knock it down). Can you smell me all the way from The States? Is it that bad? Well hopefully my odour will improve with the natural deoderant you sent. Carrie is jealous of my new headlamp cause it's brighter than hers! Thanks also for the razors, as my infrequent shaving tends to grow formidable, razor denting bristles. It's funny, Siddhartha was recommended by an aquantance of mine back in college, but I never got around to reading it. So thanks for everything!

Thanks ahead of time to all those whose packages are still in the works. Carrie got a package slip in Sereneje and we are probably stopping there on the way back home, so maybe we will have more Christmas presents to covet before long!

A batch of letters from me should be going out either tomorrow or on the 18th, depending if we get to the post office tomorrow or not. So some of you can expect letters soonish! Do all countries have reciprocal agreements with the US to deliver stuff that is sent? I mean Zambia charges us to pick up anything heavier than a letter, but they deliver letters for the US at least. How does that work?

Ok we are off to the bus station. Love and holiday cheers, Doug