Pictures of Africa

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Hi all!

I realised I have posted quite a few pictures of the kids but hardly any of day-to-day life here in Africa. I think people in our neighborhood (and my work neighborhood) are starting to get used to me being around. There are less stares and 'mzungu' calls! This is the reason I do not like to suddenly produce a camera and start clicking like a tourist.

However, I decided I would try and do it subtly, just for you (no - don't thank me) 😉 Actually, many of my pics were taken on the bus to Dar so I didn't feel so bad. Hope you like them!

Dar was great but we all decided we like Arusha better. Less humidity and fewer mosquitos by far (without exagerating, I now have 10 bites on my right foot). We stayed in the volunteer house there and also now appreciate our house here in Arusha very much more! It's home sweet home in comparison! We have a max of 4 beds in a room compared to 8, no aviary and hence no birds chirping like crazy at dawn, no black and red frogs jumping out of plugholes (Jenny just loved that one while she was in the shower), no cockroaches seemingly falling from the sky (and Sally loved that one while she was in the shower!)....we also almost always have water, even if it is almost always freezing, and we also almost always have electricity, even if it is pretty hard to see in the evenings. Anyway, I could go on and on! Having said all this, Dar does have beautiful beaches. It was Sally's birthday weekend so pretty much all we wanted to do was relax, and the beaches were perfect. My first time in the Indian Ocean. We also had the experience of bicycle taxis. They are exactly as they sound. They are more comfortable than you would think, as they have a cushion for you to sit on. I was not happy with being on the bike ridden by the guy who wanted to win the race though!

We also did a bit of shopping and got some bargain prices. My Swahili is coming on great and seemed to help with the bartering. If nothing else it got some laughs. I bought an avocado and said 'do you have a thing?' instead of 'do you have a knife?' and also told someone that I speak Swahili really well (if I do say so myself eh?!). I meant to say I don't. I think knowing a bit of a language can sometimes cause more trouble than knowing none at all! I did surprise a few Maasai on the way to work the other day by responding to them in Maa.

We have a hard time trying not to pay mzungu prices. Serious bartering has to be done. The phrase 'sitalipa bei ya mzungu' comes in quite handy (I will not pay mzungu price)! There's definitely a line there though. When it comes to arguing over paying 30 cents rather than 10 cents for some 'burnt maize' for example.

Anyway, apart from that there's not too much going on here. Oh - we had one more earthquake but again it was a small one. It turns out the earthquake was due to the volcano that fellow volunteer Lisa climbed just a week before!

The kids are doing great. I am now left on my own with the little ones (another reason I am really having to work on the Swahili). I'm starting with trying to figure out what they do/do not know. The novelty of paper and crayons/pencils is still going very very strong.

I am very settled here and am already thinking that I am not going to want to leave at all. I still have almost 5 weeks to go (really I'm just over half way) but I'm not looking forward to it.

I will be back!

Joanna x

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Comments

[cindy]

question + love the pics!
Hi Joanna, It's cindy collins from your previous place of employment (must seem a world away, now!)... I just wanted to say I love reading your blog, thank you for posting all these interesting stories. You rock!!! Also, I wanted to send something for the kids, but then I thought it might be easier to contribute money toward your charity funds, that way you can buy whatever they need most (or heavy things like paper, that are hard to ship) - is there someone I could send a check to, that could deposit it into your account? (My e-mail is cynthiac@(work)). You go, girl!!! :o) cindy (btw let us know if you want us to send you some mosquito repellant...)

[Denise]

Parcel
Hey MoJo, just to let you know I posted a parcel today with a few goodies for the kids. It will probably take 15 days to get to you sent it by snail mail as it was quite heavy. You doing a fab job babe. hugs dee

[Mindy]

Moses' Armband
Wearing Moses' armband, eh? Doesn't that mean you're now married to each other??? ;o)

[Into East Africa]

re. moses' armband
Not quite - he doesn't have enough cows