Wednesday, February 27, 2008

My New Uniform

I own a uniform. This uniform, of the upmost utilitarian composition, consists of the following:


  • ONE green beach hat- to protect my sensitive mzungu skin from the harsh rays

  • ONE red (tuesdays and thursdays)/ green (monday wednesdays and fridays) light synthetic long-sleeve shirt- same purpose, dark colors hide coat of dirt well

  • ONE pair of green zipper cargo pants/shorts- light material with many pockets to hide play-things from naughty children or phone/money from pick pockets

  • MISMATCHED socks- self evident

  • ONE pair brown all-purpose (walking/running/football) sambas- dirt colored to, you guessed it, hide their innate dirtyness.


This uniform is light but protecting, durable but easy to wash. If you see me out on the street (or in a photograph), chances are good that I'm sporting my new home/away jersey. And since I do my own wash, by hand, it's usually preferred to the unnecessarily large number of collared shirts in my dresser.

Of course by the end of the week (actually more like Tuesday) these clothes could be deemed biohazards with the amount of kid-snot, dirt, meat juice (from the weekly butcher donation to the orphanage), dirt, sweat, glue, glitter, dirt, food, and more dirt that accumulates on them. Luckily I now live at a place with a running (unheated) shower.



In other news, Sarah and I are alternating writing for the local weekly newspaper, the Arusha Times. Check it out (not sure if this link will stay current).

UPDATE: This is the permanent link: www.arushatimes.co.tz/2008/7/society_5.htm

1 comment:

Gliderbison said...

If it makes you feel any better, I've been operating on a SINGLE racing uniform since early April of last year (if you scan my blog from last summer, you'll find the post where I display the effects to my body (mainly my butt) that resulted from the crash that also spelled the demise of my second-to-last racing uniform). Granted, I've had regular access to a working washing machine, but still -- we don't wear anything underneath our racing uniforms. That's a lot of time logged in a single spandex garment.