I can count!

Moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi…you’ll just have to believe me. You’ll also have to believe me that they tell the time in a very strange way because the day starts at 7am – so that’s 1 o’clock. Confused? You will be. Still it explains why one of my ladies was going to bed at 4 o’clock and waking up at 2 o’clock!

Travels on the dala dala – again!

It’s a daily excitement let me tell you. Today we saw a lady carrying a live chicken in a plastic shopping bag with the rest of her groceries. Do you think the poor chicken knew it was about to become very intimately acquainted with the carrots and potatoes? Deborah has taken a photo but promised me a copy which I will upload when I get it.

The Africa wear out factor

I am suffering from something called the Africa wear out factor. Although it is jolly nice that people are friendly and say hello to you and so on, after a while it can become a bit wearing. Sounds really churlish but the fact that everyone thinks they can come up and talk to you just because you are white is exhausting. At the moment I have a cold (who’d have thought it ws possible to get a cold in Africa?) so I really don’t feel like engaging in amusing banter with every Tom, Dick and Harry I meet on the street. Bah humbug!

Health and safety on the dala dalas

Getting on a dala dala (the local bus service) is an exercise in cramming as many people as physically possible into an ancient mini bus. It’s usually about 30 in a 16 seater vehicle and today I had the misfortune of being the 31st.

Basically I was standing on the step into the bus, holding onto anything that looked fairly solid with my face in someone’s armpit and all the locals finding it quite amusing and/or worrying that the mzungo was in such a predicament. You also have to pray that the conductor – who generally has 80% of his body outside the minibus is sort of holding you in and doesn’t fancy having a passenger pancake on his hands.

Do you know, I’m really rather looking forward to travelling on the Northern line again!

The only mzunga in the village

Okay not technically correct because I am usually with Deborah who is my right hand woman this first fortnight (before she runs off to climb Kilimanjaro – the fool). However, yesterday we took our mzunga-ness (it means stranger and gets shouted at you in the street everywhere you go – in a nice way, well most of the time) into the villages.

We went to a village further up in the foothills of Kili where apparently they may be get a mzunga once a year – and noone could actually remember the last time they’d seen one. Word soon got around and people were literally coming out of their houses to look at us. We ended up appearing like the Pied Pipers of Hamlyn with a huge line of children behind us! I’ve got some amazing pictures and we met one of the teacher’s we work with family which was lovely. Even learnt some Chagga which is a tribal language (well I can say thank you which I alwas think is the most important first word to learn in any language).
Once back in Moshi we decided to walk back to where we are staying (it’s not like we hadn’t been walking all day – I must be getting fitter) and really couldn’t make it all the way back without a beer stop so we decided to pop into one of the bars in the village/suburb areas which is about as far off the normal Mzungo track as you can get. There were a few double takes, in fact we should have got our beers for free for the crowd we drew at the beer! Everyone was very good-spirited though (although I suspect we were charged the infamous mzungo prices). Unlike tday when we went to a cafe right in the centre of town (you really would think they’re used to serving the odd white person) where we were treated really badly and hideously over-charged. Top tip if you are coming to Moshi: avoid the Central Gardens. It’s the first time I’ve come across it since I’ve been here and is a bit disappointing but then there’s nowt as queer as folk!

I start Swahili lessons tomorrow so will learn how to tell people it is unnecessary to be so flippin’ rude!

On a home-related note, I am really annoyed I changed my football predictions this week as the only score I changed was right in the original set – grrr! That’ll learn me.

The joys of getting home

Had a hysterical journey home last night. We came out of the hotel where we had eaten and the porter got us a cab which was great because walking along in the dark is really dangerous – only because you are likely to fall into a drain or a pothole. So hurrah we didn’t have to negotiate darkness but we were slightly concerned when we saw the state of the taxi’s windscreen – it looked like a tributory map of the Nile, there were cracks everywhere. Debs got in the front (because she’s braver than me and one of us needed to as taxi drivers never know where we live so we have to direct them which is always amusing). She had to share the front seat with a big plastic bottle of petrol – with no lid of course.

The taxi had absolutely no suspension so we were bouncing around all over the place, in fact the bonnet threatened to fly up a few times when we were on the tracks rather than the tarmac roads. Plus the headlights seemed to be powered by a small mouse going round his wheel very slowly so we could hardly see anything in front of us, which probably explains why we didn’t see a car coming straight for us down one of the tracks until we were about 5 foot from each other – of course the other car didn’t have any lights on. All in all it was very funny and I can only say I’m glad you aren’t able to hire a car over here – mzungo deaths would treble!

Wrong turning

Well I’d prefer to say I decided to explore a different way to work this morning but the truth is I missed my turning. Not really a problem as the roads are basically on a grid system (for roads read dirt track with puddles and potholes) so I found my way back to the landmark of the coffee factory quite easily. But on the way I came across a group of about 12 Maasai practising stick fighting – now that’s not normally something I see on my way to work! The Maasai are very cool and I can’t wait to start my teaching with them – probably in the next couple of weeks.

Kili

On a more cultural note, had the most amazing view of Kilimanjaro last night at sunset (most of the rest of the day it’s covered in clouds). It was so spectacular. Did I have my camera with me? Of course not! When I see it again I will take pics and post them I promise.

Konyagi- handle with care

Actually that should be handle your head with are afer drinking Konyagi. This is a local brew which costs about 80p for a quarter litre bottle. It’s like vodka except that your knees don’t work if you drink it!

Tuesday in Tanzania

Well it’s stopped raining which is a good thing from the point of view of getting around, have I mentioned that Moshi has about three tarmac-ed roads? And from the point of view of keeping my clothes relatively clean. Having said that I’ll be whingeing about the dust in a few days I’m sure! From the local’s point of view it’s good as well as some people I spoke to were genuinely concerned that it’s inexplicably raining during the dry season.

Managed to remember the way to work this morning which is a major achievement as I have to remember which dirt track leads onto which, at what point I turn left (at the rubbish dump – it really smells BAD) etc. Anyway, managed it without any mistakes so I’m really happy. Also you tend to feel a bit like a filmstar here (well I like to think it’s a filmstar and not just the local oddity) because so many people say “hello” to you and small children literally do come running after you – it’s really cute. On the whole people just want to be friendly but I was being hustled today by two guys selling African artwork stuff. Probably just because I’m a new face, hopefully they’ll realise I will be around for a while and so this won’t be a daily routine – otherwise I’ll have to renegotiate my route!

So the lesson went well today. It’s tricky to know how to teach in a respectful way (ie not aimed at kids) when my ladies’ English is really so undeveloped. Still today was only day one and seemed to go okay – we were all exhausted by the end and I was suitably sick of the sound of my own voice.

Had the foresight to take my Swahili phrasebook with me which was handy because Catherine (or Mama Mmassy as she’s known) offered me a banana today – eek! Luckily I managed to explain and had mango instead. It was really delicious, quite under ripe so not sweet like mango at home. It’s Mama Mmassy’s house where the co-operative is based and she’s turned a back room into a classroom. As it’s her house I have to do a really complicated handshaking, hugging greeting thing. I haven’t quite got the hang of it yet but I just kind of let my hand go floppy and let her put it where it should be! Her grandson, Junior, is about four and is so cute, he came running up to me today and wanted to carry my bag.

By the way I am called either Teacher, Miss Teacher, Mama or Dada. I think I’m preferring Dada (sister) but there’s no getting away from the fact that round here I’m a Mama (no matter how much I want to pretend I’m down with the kids!).

I’m going to try to find the supermarket today as I’d like some tonic to go with my bottle of duty free vodka which has yet to be opened. Also I want to get some snacky things as there is a danger I’ll come back the size of a house as eating out is so cheap. Last night we went to the most expensive hotel in town (about 35 quid a night) and had a huge piece of fish and two vodka and tonics and it cost about 4 pounds 60 (this is a US keyboard so no pound sign just in case you’re wondering). This is considered extortionately expensive! An average meal with a drink is about two pounds.

Mind you with at least a 45 minute walk to school every day and then 45 minutes back plus some general wandering around Moshi, I should be keeping fit.

By the way, forgot to mention the earthquake! I hear you ask how can you forget an earthquake? Hmmm…well I slept through it! In fairness it wasn’t a major earthquake but was enough to wake up everyone else I know who is staying here, mind you I slept through the 1987 hurricaine as well!