sugar cane.

I tried sugar cane for the first time while I was in Katibunga.

I honestly thought I was going to break my teeth trying to peel it. Here's the trick: If you use a knife to get past the little knobs, getting the rest of it with your teeth is not so bad.

peeling suga cane.

After you finish peeling a section with your teeth, the inside wood is quite fibrous and soft. You take a bite of that, chew it, swallow the sugar water, and then spit the wood back out.

Honestly, it was pretty tasty. But the work it took to get to that sugar...shoot. I think I had sugar cane only one other time besides this one.

bunch of mzungus (white people) trying to eat sugar cane.
Sean, me, Sam, Jeff, Nick.

I'm sure the Africans found us quite amusing. Tobias and Geoffrey (the two African employees of Zambia's Scholarship Fund with whom we spent quite a bit of our time) certainly didn't hesitate to make fun of us.

Geoffrey has teeth of steel. I mean, he pops off bottle caps with his teeth. Seriously. He can demolish a piece of sugar cane in minutes.

It took me about 45 minutes to get through half of mine.