It’s another beautiful day.
The Fisher family begins preparations for Christmas.
Dar es Salaam is different from inland cities; being an open port, it’s easy to obtain a variety of goods due to the passage of ships from various countries.
This has also made currency quite useful here, and European and Arab rchants set up stalls in the open areas of Dar es Salaam to market their products.
"Dear, you’re back," Anna sweetly asked. Ever since arriving in East Africa, the Fisher family has enjoyed a life of stability and no longer has to live frugally as they did in the past.
The Fisher family’s ntal state has beco optimistic and positive, shedding the expressions of worry over life’s challenges they once had.
"Indeed, I just went to the trade street to take a look. Here’s what I bought, take a look." Fisher handed a basket to Anna.
Anna took the basket, and inside was a package wrapped in oiled paper, a bag, and a jar, with unknown items at the bottom.
"What is this?" Anna asked as she first took out the oiled paper package.
"Open it and see," Fisher said.
Anna unfolded the oil paper along the creases to discover a string-like sausage.
"Do they sell sausages in East Africa?" Anna was sowhat surprised.
"I didn’t expect anyone to sell such items on the trade street either. It’s indeed rare, and the price isn’t too high, so I bought it. According to the shopkeeper, it’s imported Vienna sausages from Austria-Hungary, and the taste is not much different from back ho." Fisher said.
"I really haven’t seen food from the German regions for a long ti, and even in Germany, we could rarely afford it," Anna said joyfully.
Although the Fisher family has enough to eat and drink in East Africa, they do have their own troubles, such as in the eastern region, where rice is mainly planted.
Every month, Fisher receives a salary and food rations for his family from the East African colony.
The rations distributed in the eastern region consist of rice, as wheat is primarily grown inland, and flour, as an important export product, mainly supplies Europe.
Rice is different; it doesn’t have a market in Europe, and the Far East and India are also rice-producing regions, not fetching high prices.
Since it cannot be sold, it is simply used as food for the immigrants, as part of Fisher’s salary, for which Fisher has no choice in the matter.
Thus, the Fisher family was compelled to eat rice. Despite Fisher’s financial capacity to purchase flour, rice is provided free by East Africa, while flour must be bought with cash.
People of this era have the consciousness of saving money and storing food to deal with risks, as one never knows when they might face a shortage.
However, constantly eating rice, the Fisher family couldn’t keep up, so Fisher still spent so money to buy flour for occasional dietary improvents.
"Dear, we no longer have to live like we did in Germany; life will keep getting better," Fisher told his wife.
"Hmm!" Anna snuggled up in Fisher’s arms.
"You still haven’t seen the stuff underneath!" Fisher reminded her.
Anna took out the jar, and through its glass, she saw white granules inside.
"Isn’t this salt? We still have so at ho?"
"No, I bought it from the Heixinggen store, guess what it is again."
Anna shook her head; apart from salt, she couldn’t think of anything else.
"This is sugar, imported from the Far East," Fisher revealed.
Sugar isn’t cheap in Europe, mostly relying on imports, and ordinary people can seldom afford it. The German region has started cultivating sugar beets to produce sugar, but the scale is still small, with limited output.
Europe primarily imports sugar from regions like the Caribbean Sea, while sugar cane can also be grown in East Africa. However, East Africa can cultivate too many things, so it’s only planted in small areas in the Great Lakes Region.
The white sugar that Fisher bought is indeed imported from the Far East, brought to East Africa with immigrant ships, as a side business, with the main shipnt actually destined for Europe.
"This must not be cheap!" Anna worriedly said.
"The price is indeed a bit high, but now we can afford it, and with Christmas coming, we must add so nutrition for the children," Fisher explained.
In East Africa, Fisher’s job is considered high-paying, with only officials and employees of the Heixinggen consortium earning more than Fisher.
In fact, ordinary people in East Africa generally live quite well; at least, there’s enough to eat, which is quite good.
East Africa lacks everything except food. Vast arable land and natural resources relative to East Africa’s sparse population ensure living conditions won’t be too poor.
Of course, maintaining basic needs and occasionally getting at is the standard immigrants can achieve.
The difference between Fisher and ordinary immigrants is that he possesses the skills needed by the East African colony, so Fisher’s salary far exceeds that of ordinary immigrants.
And this extra salary ans Fisher’s family has more choices than ordinary immigrants, such as buying needed goods on the trade street.
The Dar es Salaam trade street is practically the comrcial area closest to the docks, specifically prepared for rchants and sailors.
Locally in East Africa, only a few thousand people can afford to shop on the trade street, knowing the entire population of East Africa is nearing two million, showing the consumption level of the trade street.
Dar es Salaam, as a major East African port, hosts many offices and agencies of the Heixinggen consortium and East African colonial governnt.
The folks in these offices and agencies are the actual consurs in Dar es Salaam’s trade market able to afford shopping.
Fisher belongs to the real employees of the Heixinggen consortium, recruited to East Africa as a talent actively introduced by East Africa, not the superficial employees like ordinary immigrants.
Ordinary immigrants, although nominally under the Heixinggen consortium, are known to be more like Heixinggen royal subjects, especially the German and Slavic immigrants; they feel no difference between East Africa and Europe after arriving.
There’s even no difference from the life of peasant slaves back in the day. As long as East Africa doesn’t go overboard, peasant slaves or farrs are just titles, not a big deal, as at least these immigrants culturally don’t mind.
On the other hand, Far East immigrants don’t experience the sa feeling as European immigrants; after all, the Far East doesn’t have European-style nobility. These Far East immigrants mainly deal with village landlords, and clearly, landlords in the Far East don’t have as prominent a political status in society as European aristocrats.
Europe pays more attention to social status division, especially between the nobility, and there is a clear distinction between nobility and commoners; commoners find it hard to beco nobility, with no apparent channels.
In contrast, in the Far East, in theory, ordinary people can improve their social status through hard work; for example, farrs have a chance to beco landlords, and ordinary people can join the "scholar" class through civil exams, albeit with a bit of difficulty.
User Comments
0 comments from readers