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This is a combined quote from Ally and Allen last night. I think this should be the motto of Tanzania – maybe sew it onto the flag. Now, we Americans are not known for our great patience, but Africans are different. They do not mind waiting for things. It’s kind of like Frank’s song, “The Best is Yet to Come”.
But last night, even the patience of Ally and Allen was tried. We arrived at a bar/slash grill around 7 pm, our usual time of socializing. We took a few pics in front of the place. Ally and Allen took turns wearing Chris’ beanie. By the way, don’t they look good? I will put up some pics later to show all of you out there. So, we finished goofing around outside and entered the place. The server was great. She hung out with us all night. We ordered drinks and started joking and chatting comme d’habitude. Chris somehow managed to get Devota’s earrings and wore them. Bob Marley was playing and I got up and danced with Devota and 2 guys in the place. All just having fun. By this time, it was about 9:30. Now, usually the food does take about an hour to be served here in Africa. But after 2 and 1/2 hours Allen started getting concerned. Maybe concerned isn’t the right word. He was down right upset! He took off with a huff and a sigh to go talk to someone up at the bar. When he came back, they returned with one plate of food. We all looked at one another in amazement. Where were the other 3 plates of food?
So, for a good 5 minutes, we sat there staring at the 1 omelette in front of it, wondering what to do. Apparently, the order got mixed up in the kitchen even though we were the only table in the place. Ally came up with the idea that maybe after the 1st dish was cooked, the chef suddenly got a better offer and was transferred to Dar Es Salaam where more money was offered. While we were waiting for the other 3 dishes, an interview process for cooks was currently taking place. Ha!
Then Chris had the idea that maybe they were waiting for the next rainy season so the potatoes and tomatoes had time to grow and then we could get our food. Ally suggested another idea – maybe we had to order the food two days in advance to be able to have a meal. Whatever the case may be, we decided that we would share the omelette and pass the fork around.
Chris and I seemed ok with the long process. It was Ally and Allen who were going nuts about the long wait. They had lost their patience. We all had a good time last night and folks, what was the lesson of this story?
That’s right – PATIENCE UNTIL YOU DIE
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Sbuckles30's Blog 
“Patience until you die”- Excellent, especially because I had to patiently read the whole story before getting to the motto you baited me with at the beginning. I’m sure it was unconscious, yet sublime.
Comment by Rayzor July 10, 2009 @ 2:29 amI love the community you are establishing and so happy you are seeing the educational lights flash in your(actually their) pupils. How’s that for an oddly used pun?
I sure hope Steve and the Cardinal Mooney staff are checking this blog to be as proud of all of you as I am.
Addendum: Okay, I just noticed the blog title was the motto, but my first comment still holds a shot of sand. And now I am craving an Iringa Omelettte. I’ll just have to patiently wait till next year.
Comment by Rayzor July 10, 2009 @ 2:33 amI’ll even perform at fundraisers for the next trip.