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Published: March 26th 2008
Bush Comes to Arusha
This was as close as we could get ... but it was definitely President and Laura Bush in there! At least we are pretttttyyyyy sure it was. As usual I am a day late and always rushing. A visitor said the other day that he never knew me what I wasn’t going 90 to nothing and I guess I have to admit that is true. I just can’t hardly sit still when I know there is something to get done, and I am notorious for having a dozen projects going at the same time!
So … this little blog of mine today is to help you get caught up on what we have been doing here in the grand country of Tanzania.
I’ll classify my thoughts today into 3 categories: the most glamorous thing that has happened, the most productive thing that has happened, and the most tiring thing that has happened.
We’ll start with the most glamorous, which by the title of my Blog you can guess what it is. President and Mrs. Bush came to Arusha! It was a big to do in town and most of the roads were closed at some point or another waiting for them to come through town. It was so funny as people would ask, are you going to see him? My reply, “Well, I am not
Quilting Bee
The day finally came where we actually quilted .. and they lived up to my expectations and quilted like pros! sure, he hasn’t called yet!” I guess they just assume he would want to talk to all the American’s here. Several of our group gathered near the Andrew Connally School where there is a Mosquito Net factory that he and Laura were to visit. They had a Texas A & M Flag, (which upon later discovery, they were told by the Secret Service that Bush sometimes stops when he sees a Texas flag), and waited by the road to see him. He and Laura did wave and give them the thumbs up when they passed, but low, sadly, did not stop to chat.
Anthony’s class started at 1:00 and we were not sure we would get through due to the roads being blocked but we took a chance and headed that way. When we got to the main road a lady police officer waved us back with her baton. We backed up and she kept waving it like we were bad children. We turned sideways in the road to get this picture of Bush passing in his motorcade!! We saw him!!! At least from a distance! Then we proceeded through the corn fields to get to the school on
Angie's in on the Quilting
Angie decided to get in on the action. She went home and later finished her first quilt!! I\'ll have to get her to get a picture to me to show you! time for Anthony’s class! Improvise!!
Later that night we went to a place called the Coffee Lodge for dinner … and guess what!!! No, the President wasn’t there ….. BUT we did sit at the table, NEXT to the table, where he had eaten lunch!!! Cool …. Can you say you have eaten at the table next to the table where our President has eaten? I can!!
Next on the list is the most productive thing that has happened. The ladies met and had a quilting bee! …. This time the real deal. Not tacking, or piecing but actual quilting. I have a large old timey wooden quilt frame that was given to us by Teresa Rachels that I took to set up so we could all spread out and quilt. My mistake in not setting it up like I was suppose to BEFORE heading to the church building as all the pieces were not there. I did think to take my small PVC frame and we worked on that. Angie got in on the action too. I was very surprised at how some of them began quilting. Upwards and away from them, sideways, and even in an
Eunice and her Dollie
You can't help but smile when you look at this!! embroidery stitch fashion. I just let them sew. They enjoyed it … I enjoyed it …and now we have to get together to get it finished. They discussed who they should give it to, and we came up with 4 names of people from the congregation that they felt was deserving of a quilt. It makes me want to set up the frame and leave it so any one that wanted to come quilt could at any time. Our circumstance won’t allow that, so we just plan the next meeting and do it that way.
Grace in Monduli is recovering very well from her surgery to remove a breast tumor and yesterday while we were coming back from a Bible study she showed me one of the quilt tops she finished with the fabric I gave her a couple weeks ago. She has really gotten the hang of it !!!! I need to get some pictures for you of the ones she has done. I still have tons of fabric and intend on using every piece of it with these ladies. This fabric was a note of conversation you will find out soon about in the next topic!! The
most tiring thing that happened this past month!
And then you see Eunice with her “Dollie”. One of you sent this pattern and I made up the doll. She has been very adamant about the fact that her “Dollie” needs socks … so I will make sure that she gets some. Just look at those dimples!
Now, the most tiring …. I saved it for last. Most of you know we moved, or at least at the last report were planning to move. We finally did and it truly has been a long lasting ordeal. To give you some background, let me fill in some blanks.
We knew when we moved into the other house we knew that it was probably temporary. We wanted to live further in the village, or at least not in town. We also knew when we got dogs that the space would not be enough for them. Once we got back from furlough last year we started the search. Which was funny and entirely frustrating in and of itself. I put up flyers with description of what we were looking for … I got lots of calls of folks wanting to
show us houses that they promised met our list of things we were looking for. One gentleman made us so mad we stop answering his calls. He said this house was perfect for us … it was to be finished in two weeks …. We drive up and it literally is nothing but concrete walls and a roof … no finishing what so ever, no windows, no doors, no fence … no yard!!!! I thought to myself .. it might be finished in 2 YEARS!! But definitely not 2 weeks .. nothing moves that fast in Tanzania. Then there was the guy who said he found a house on several acres for rent for $500 a month!! OK ! We’re in … we drive up and truly it was fabulous! We were ready to move in without ever seeing the inside of the house! But in trying to get the key he talked to a representative and the price suddenly went from $500 a month to $2,000 a month!!!!! Needless to say we didn’t use him again either!!!
After TWO months of this …. We went to look at ONE more … it was perfect! Except it didn’t have
electricity or a permanent water sorce …. BUT we were desperate and the owner was willing to install the two above mentioned items at his cost so we made the deal.
NOW … let me say this … this house has never been lived in .. has been under construction for 10 years. The yard was huge … the house was bigger than what we currently was in, and there was a security wall all the way around the property. We were willing to wait for things to be readied for us. Plus it was cheaper … always a good thing!
FINALLY after several weeks of waiting for poles, electric wire, etc. we got electriciy and I started cleaning …. 10 years of dust!!!!!! I ordered paint …. And started painting. One day I showed up at the house and the owner was there with a surprise … they were digging a WELL in my back yard!! Now, I don’t mean with a drill, a truck, a crane or what other equipment they use … I mean a man, a bucket, a rope and a pick …..!!! WHEN we hit water I will do a whole blog on
that!! It makes me queasy to get near it!!!!
SOOOOO …. The current water situation is a couple of tanks on top of pedestals and a MAN in the village is suppose to turn on the water at night to fill these tanks ….. as of today we are without water for 5 days!!! I have been hauling water in buckets to wash dishes, clothes, and flus toilets. Yesterday I got tired of hauling it in buckets and simply ran the hose into the house from the SIM tank to fill the washer. Thank goodness we have had lots of rain and the owner had the mind to install gutters to catch the run off or we would seriously be in bad shape!!! It’s funny to think of doing this in this day .. but years past this was the way it was done. Carrying water from what ever source .. or cistern to the house. We are moving BACK in time!
The walls were a blank canvas and I got to pick whatever I wanted to for paint colors!! I got some advice from my sisters back home and they nixed a teal color for the dining
SIM Tank
Thank goodness for rain and a SIM tank ... this big black tank is full of rain water and has been the only water we've had for going on 5 days!! room .. which I am thankful for because I LOVE the yellow!! Anthony isn’t keen on it at all … but he still eats in there.
Even Anthony got in on the painting! But as you can see ….. my ”LADDER” ….. left little tiptoe room for the trim work …. (No human was hurt during this exercise).
The only draw back on the paint was that the living room color didn’t come in until the day AFTER we moved!!! SO, we pulled all the living room furniture into the center of the room and started painting.
BOXES BOXES!!!! Thankfully I had saved a bunch of boxes and had not even unpacked a lot of things knowing we were going to move … that made moving some things easier .. this is the first time I have seen my pictures in nearly 2 years!! I was thrilled to be able to get them on the walls!!! And the boxes of fabric … well let’s just say this is the 4th time they have been moved .. and both me and Anthony DON’T want to move them again so I got to get busy!
As with
Living Room Before
I thought it might make a difference if you saw the before and the after. all new houses, and first time tenants, there are some things to be fixed, worked out, and changed. Here are a few:
Our stove is gas …. But as you can see from the picture it doesn’t quite fit as intented into the space provided for a stove … and no place for the tank … AB drilled a hole to the outside of the house and the tank sits outside.
As I was starting to fill the upper cabinets … they nearly fell off the wall on me!!!! SO, AB fixed that as well.
The shower has 4 faucets …. Two lower .. two upper … hot and cold water come out of the lower perfectly … not so with the upper …. So while we had water we simply had to splash ourselves with bowls of water from the lower faucets to shower. A plumber came and said he fixed it, but since we have no water … we will only know if it is truly fixed at some “unknown” later date.
The first few nights in the house the electricity would go off and on. A generally normal occurance here so we really
My Paint Palatte!
I found it easier to scan my blue jeans so you could see the colors as the lighting makes it harder to see the real colors!!! didn’t think much about it. One night in particular Sean and Anita were here and when they left the electricity went out. No problem, we are prepared - we got out our headlights and proceeded to do what we could in the dark like spelunkers in a cave. I thought about 40 minutes later to ask Anthony if he had checked the breaker … sure enough it was tripped .. we had been walking around in the dark like cavers for no reason!!! We later found out that the outside lights were messed up in the wiring somehow and the electrician has fixed that along with the porch light that simple was not working.
The first week or so I hung clothes on a string tied between two trees until we could get the clothes lines up. Yesterday was the first day to use the new lines and it was really nice! The things we take for granted! HA!
As for now we are fairly settled in … we still don’t have water, but we are working on that. The gates are being made for the dogs, the well is continuing to be dug, and the biggest issue
Ladder???
It seems a higher step ladder would have been a good investment!! Notice I am on my tippy toes! we have right now is the flies from the cows next door .. but coming from a farm area the cow smells only make us think of home!! Sad isn’t it!
And last but not least, Kali and Earl. They are enjoying their new home and the space. Earl is fetching a basketball and Kali is just plain ornery. She is jealous and not very bright if you get my drift. Earl is just now 7 months old and will weigh close to 100 pounds. Kali is 8 months and is nearly 60 pounds. They are scary to the Tanzanian’s and teddy bears to us. But we are enjoying having them and waiting for the puppy stage to be over!! Every thing is a chew toy!
Enjoy the pictures … let me know what you think .. and always know we are thinking of you all!
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kup
non-member comment
That "ladder" you were using doesn't look too safe. Love the new digs. just ken