Break in the cold

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The last few days before Christmas the office and Dar altogether started getting more and more quiet. Christian or not, as Christmas means public holidays Tanzanians and expats alike take the opportunity to leave the city. I found it hard to get into Christmas mood, it had been getting continuously hotter and more unbearably humid, so Christmas was really the last thing that crossed my mind. I keep on forgetting it’s winter in the Northern half of the world and wonder when watching the news why people in London or Rome are dressed in thick coats, then it hits me again… It’s hard to keep track of the seasons here, as I haven’t seen much of a difference, well it was either hot and humid or very hot and humid.
Originally I hadn’t planned to go home to the UK during my placement, but Danny and myself missed each other too much and I wanted to see my animals as well. To not to eat too much into my 20 days per year holiday allowance, I left Dar on 24th December. The plane was half empty and as the BA flight in this direction is daytime, sleeping wasn’t really an option, so it was movies all the way.
Danny picked me up in Heathrow and it took a little while to settle in that I was actually back in the UK now, it was so nice to see him again. On the way home we went via the medium sized Tesco Kennington supermarket to get food for the Christmas holidays and I really got a reverse culture shock - so much choice, so many products, what for!!! On the one hand I wanted to get all the things I missed or thought I was missing now I saw them in the shelves, but then I also thought I’m only going to be here for a few day, I can’t eat all this and do I even want it all. But there was at least one overriding feeling, it was cold this Christmas in Britain and I loved it and I wanted to do cold and wintery things and eat wintery food, winter vegetables that don’t grow in Tanzania - Savoy cabbage, broccoli, parsnips…
As I was only staying for a few days, Danny and myself wanted to have all the time by ourselves, so sorry for not announcing I came back!
My desire for winter atmosphere didn’t finish with the food, I really wanted to do wintery things and enjoy the cold, so we went ice-skating to Hampton Court! Another nice thing about coming back was the opportunity to take back all the stuff that was completely useless in Tanzania and that I hadn’t used at all: white clothes (in the dust, they don’t stay white more than 5 min and then it’s tricky to get them clean with brown water coming out of the taps, though Tanzanians seem to manage), long-sleeved shirts (I only packed very thin ones anyway, but I never wore them) and stock up on things that are difficult to get or ridiculously expensive in Tanzania - cheese, car parts, cafetiere, vitamins, sun crème.

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Photos

Ice skating at Hampton Court
Me, Danny