Meat Soup...For Breakfast

I got a text last night from Halifa asking to go get soup at a local restaurant at 3:00. I assumed that soup constitutes lunch, so I figured he was telling the time in the “regular” fashion instead of based on Swahili time.

Well we all know what assuming does. At 9:00 the next morning I got another text saying that he was on his way. I was still sleeping, thoroughly exhausted from a full day at the beach yesterday, and had to scramble to get ready. I tried to put on my best awake face and went outside to meet him.

At the restaurant, we got the local goat soup, chapati, and a boiled banana. My palate was a little shocked by my choice of breakfast, but my eyes were even more shocked by the shapes of meat products in the soup. Some pieces were just regular meat on bones, others were spiny and gelatinous, others still resembled gills and perhaps tongues. The soup itself was actually pretty good, but I didn’t have the will power to try all of these new forms of meat that early in the morning (nor to ask what they were for that matter). I did the best I could, and was very grateful when they took my bowl away and replaced it with a bottle of Fanta Orange.

I ended up having a great time overall. A few of Halifa’s friends came to join us and we sat and talked (in Kiswinglish, of course) about Halifa’s upcoming visit to the States, the differences between America and Tanzania, and plans for my last five weekends in Tanzania.

I was later told by my host father, however, that the breakfast I ate is ideal for people who like to drink away their day…good thing we’re having a big party later today!