Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Best/Worst List and Favorites

Cindy and Pat, two of my good friends from New York, took a round-the-world trip last year (I think it was last year!) and when they got home, they compiled a best/worst list. Mine is not really as entertaining as theirs, but hopefully some of you will find this interesting.

Best place to get a mosquito bite: There isn’t one. I’m not a fan.
Worst place to get a mosquito bite (so far): On the bottom of your foot! I don’t even know how I got that one. Magi doesn’t call mosquitoes ‘flying creeps’ for nothing.

Biggest cockroach that I’ve seen in my apartment: About 2 inches long.
Smallest cockroach that I’ve seen in my apartment: About the size of the fingernail on my pinkie finger.
Best method of getting rid of cockroaches: ‘Cockroach hockey.’ This is a method practiced by my Canadian neighbors. It consists of one of them holding their front door open and the other using a broom to sweep the cockroach out of the apartment. I don’t know if they yell ‘goal’ or try to make the same sound as an area buzzer, but I’ll let you know…

Biggest lizard I’ve seen in my apartment: About 6 inches long from head to tail.
Smallest lizard I’ve seen in my apartment: About 2 inches long from head to tail.
Number of lizards I’ve managed to catch: Zero

Most exciting internet-related moment of the last few weeks: 1) I actually have internet access at home now and 2) opening my e-mail and seeing over 10 e-mails from people in New York/Seattle who’d responded to my blog update e-mail/CK video e-mail!!
Least exciting internet-related moment of the last few weeks: Every time I get an error message from my internet provider telling me that there’s an error and I can’t connect…this is a relatively frequent event.

Most exciting recent purchase: A box of Earl Grey tea-the only one I’ve seen in Dodoma in the 2+ months that I’ve been here. No laughing! It’s really the little things that make you happy sometimes.
Least exciting purchase of the last week: Dish soap, not exciting but necessary.

Biggest expense: Internet time
Favorite restaurant: Rose’s CafĂ© (we have lunch there every day)
Favorite smell in Dodoma: I haven’t identified one yet.
Least favorite smell in Dodoma: Open sewers, burning trash, large piles of dried fish

Favorite Swahili words: Watoto (children), piki piki (motorcycle) and pilipili hoho (green pepper)
Least favorite Swahili words: Anything that begins with or contains the ngh- consonant cluster. Therefore, the village of Nghonghonha is not one of my favorite to say.

Number of versions of my name in use in the Carpenter’s Kids office: 5 (Elizabeth, Elizabeti, Eliza, Liz, Lizzie)

I’ve added this one just for Sarah…
Number of cats that sit outside my front door and meow at me at least twice a day: 3 – This has prompted Sarah to start calling me ‘Cat Woman.’

I’m sure there are more things I could add to this list, but I can’t think of any more at the moment.

3 comments:

Nina Boe said...

I like your list very much, Liz :D or should i say, cat woman...

auuudra said...

i enjoyed reading your list, and it was great getting your email last week, douglas forwarded it on. would you mind putting me on your email, I would love to get your emails... i am a lot better at reading emails over blogs.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh - you know how much the kitties love you... :)