Arusha: a Lesson in Problem Solving or Rolling with the Punches

“I always have a plan B and C, because A never works here.”
-my wise classmate Melissa Martelly

Yesterday we spent a relaxing couple of hours by a beautiful lagoon style pool at Arusha Hotel. Inspired by hunger pangs and a sense of relaxation Eunice and I decided to splurge on a double decker toasted ham and cheese sandwich with brown bread. About 20 minutes later the waiter brought out a covered plate and with a lavish flick of the wrist he revealed… a handful of fried cheese poppers. Our looks of disappointment must have clued him in, and he was very sweet and apologetic. He still didn’t seem to totally understand so we obliged and ate the cheese poppers. Feeling sorry for ourselves and still in the mood to splurge we ordered a slice of their highly lauded apple pie with ice cream. Ten minutes later with another flick of the wrist and a declaration of “apple pie” from our waiter, we found ourselves looking at a brownie and melted ice cream. As it turns out there are a couple people here who don’t totally comprehend the concept of ice cream and had microwaved the whole plate.

We found out later from our friend Ben that there is an ex-pat legend about Arusha Hotel’s kitchen. Waiters write your order and then proceed to tack it onto a roulette board in the back with all of the other orders, whereby the cook does the honor of choosing your fate with a quick spin of the board.

As long as we can laugh, right?

Speaking of laughing, I had an interesting conversation with a woman from Nairobi the other night. She was telling us about the Obama hype in Kenya. Of course, kids are being named after him left and right. The unusual thing is that they are taking all three names: Senator Barack Obama.