July 19, 2009
#1 Bottle Openers
Here in Tanzania, instead of Starbucks or Jamba Juices, throngs congregate outside shops for soda. Walking around Uuwo village, you can find many little one-room shops along the way and plastic lawn chairs either directly outside or in a separate room. People here usually frequent the bi-weekly (Tuesday and Friday) market for vegetables, grains, meats, kitchen utensils, clothing, etc… and the little shops for any essential items during the other days. In addition to rice, oil, tea, toothpaste, peanuts, and host of other things, the shops also carry crates of soda. For 400 TSH (quite a good price at 1300 TSH per dollar), you can take your pick of Coke, Sprite, Fanta (Pineapple, Passion, or Orange), Krest Ginger Ale and Bitter Lemon, all in classic glass bottles. Most people have to take their soda in front or inside the shop, well in viewing distance of the shop owners. After all, 400 TSH only covers the cost of soda, not the bottle, which is sent back to the company to be refilled. But if you are a frequent customer of the shop and the owner knows where you live, then you are allowed to take the bottles home and return them later.
Soda is a special thing here in Tanzania. The children take delight in the rare sugary treat and the adults enjoy it after a hard day of work or during relaxation on the weekends. Soda brings people together. It is never taken alone. You always drink in the company of others, either while chatting in front of a shop or serving guests at home. Instead of buying people lunch or dinner, you treat them to a soda. It is cheap enough that even the relatively poor can afford to invite others. 350 mL of fizzy goodness is a guaranteed 15 minutes minimum consumption time. This is the perfect length for a good talk – not too long that you run out of things to say but not too short either. And besides, drinking soda makes for better pauses than chewing food. Soda is the perfect interlude during the day, an excellent way to pass the evening or whenever there is downtime.
Opening a soda is a truly exceptional experience. Bottle openers come in all shapes and sizes. The traditional one is a metal plate with various designed handles. But other ones can be more creative. It is possible to use one closed bottle to open another. Or use the edge of a table. Or a flat piece of rock. Or a belt buckle. Or for the true master, a bottle cap (although as of now, this is only a myth… people claim to have seen it, but no one I’ve met knows how). The ways are endless, and so much more interesting than twisting open a plastic lid. At shops and restaurants, people always open the bottle in front you, to prove that the drink is properly sealed and thus, genuine. The bottle cap comes off with a loud pop and the soda emits a hiss, accompanied by a swirl of cloudy mist. Bottoms up!
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