Ugh! What a day!

To start off, I have a cold; a bad cold where you want to curl up on the couch under blankets and eat homemade chicken noodle soup. And Matt is out of town...day 2 of a 9 day trip. I'm tired and cranky before I even leave the house, but we need food and it's only a few items, so no big deal, right? Not so much.

I drive into town to get cash - I pull up to the ATM and turn off the car and immediately notice that the ATM is out of order. Not unusual and there are a few others that I can try that are close to where I shop anyway. But, then I try to start the car to no avail. Argh! I call our car fundi who says he'll come right away. Luckily I have my ipod and can finish listening to NPR while I wait. He comes in about 15 minutes (our own personal AAA; this is the guy that came all the way to the beach to help us). He fixes the car quickly all the while saying pole sana, mama ('very sorry') - a pin had come out of the gear box and he just had to put it back in and I'm back on my way. By the way, the total cost for him to come (by bus) and repair car was 10,000 Ts (~$6.75). I go to the next store and again this ATM is out of order. I'm left with less that $30...that's enough to get me the tea that Elizabeth needs, new cleaning solution, and our produce, but that's about it. Bummer b/c I really don't want to have to come back to town this week. I head over to buy the produce and I get that done, but she doesn't have the bananas that the kids like. Again, not a huge problem, but it is one more stop that I now have to make. Luckily I pass another ATM that finally works - yeah! Head over to the other fruit corner and get my bananas and come back to find a little vervet monkey sitting on the windshield staring at me ("please give me those bananas"). I wish I was fast enough to get the pic of it staring at me, but by the time I grab the camera it's already jumped off and is now just staring down at me. The woman that sells bananas said that the monkey has a tiny, tiny baby over there and it's been trying to steal food all day (at least that's what I think she said in my very limited swahili). This event did make me smile. I managed to make one more stop to try and find cheese, but Shoprite was out and I did not need anything else badly enough to make the drive back through town...although by now the gas light was on in the car, so I still had to do that, too .... at least now i had the money to do it. So far, it's 3 ATM stops, 1 broken car, 1 amazing and flexible mechanic, 3 grocery stores, 2 produce stands, 1 visit from a monkey, and 1 gas station, not to mention the drama of arusha traffic, and I am now sooo ready for lunch. When I got home Samuel and Elizabeth unloaded the car and unpacked groceries while I showered, I came down and was served lunch that was made for me, and Mama Jackie says she is going to make me leek soup (with leeks from the garden) for me for dinner to help with my cold. I think I'll survive another day.