Stories from Tanzania

I don't really have a lot of stories to add to the photos from the Vancouver trip. We had an amazing time tourist-ing around Vancouver and visiting the family and picking up all the things that we can't get back home. Chris was introduced to all-you-can-eat-sushi and agrees it is possibly on of the greatest things on earth. Otherwise, we had fun, it was over way too quickly and we hope to be able to visit again soon... next time with a stop on the East Coast as well.

So moving on to more recent adventures...

My house is located on a route we call short cut road because it cuts from the peninsula to one of the main roads in town (most foreigners live on the peninsula... Chris lives way down that other main road). So basically there's a dirt road that cuts across between the two through a residential area. During traffic, this could easily cut half an hour out of your drive. Unfortunately, this road is often in too poor condition for many vehicles and as there's construction along one stretch of it, they haven't fixed it up in ages.

Two weeks ago, they finally began major repair work on the entire road. I was thrilled. Then it rained. and rained. and rained. It's not often that we get this much rain during the so called dry season. The drainage ditches that were being built along the side of the road for just this reason were completely flooded. So after a day and a half of rain I cautiously attempt to get back to my place. I'll try to get a photo of the water line next to my car but the water level was probably a few inches higher than the bottom of my door. I could feel water lapping against the bottom of the car. And the worst part is that with all the road work, no one had any idea of where the ditches where and was constantly at risk of veering into one and suddenly dropping several feet.

I got in and back out and then it rained more so I went to stay at Chris's rather than risk my car dying.

This photo was taken the next morning. Water level had gone down a little and it gets a little deeper after the turn.

But there are also some very convenient aspects to this city. After a year in Tanzania, my international driver's licence had expired. I don't think you actually need an international licence but there's no way I'd want to hand over my BC licence to a cop here if stopped so it was handy to have a secondary one. So I decided to get a local licence. The licence itself costs 10,000/= (around $9) but to get it requires standing in 10 different lines in 8 different buildings and dealing with way more government officials than I have interest in dealing with. So, the easy solution is to pay someone 15,000/= ($12) to do it for you. Apparently they even had to go take an eye exam for me and passed with flying colors delivering my new licence to me within half a day. If only I could get stuff done this easily all the time.

Not a whole lot to report otherwise. Last weekend was Chris and my one year anniversary which we celebrated by going to south beach for two nights. Had a lovely, relaxing time. Hope to start making a regular thing of little weekends away as we really need some time away from town occasionally.

hope everyone's well.

Vancouver

K... for a change: PHOTOS FIRST! Stories to come...





Misc Vancouver pics

Pesky Raccoons at Stanley park


Quality time with the kitty

very late birthday cake

Sand Castle competition at Harrison Hot Springs

Whistler Visit

So proud...

Wine tour in the Okanagan

Amsterdam

Sadaani and the Goat Races (August in Dar)

August was a big month in Dar... We went to Sadaani National Park for the long weekend to celebrate my birthday, Robyn's birthday, Chris's 5 year anniversary in Tanzania and Shamba 1's 20th birthday (Chris's Land Rover) and later in the month was the biggest social event of the year, the Goat Races.

Goat Races:

Sadaani:

The Beard

another year begins...

I can now add Dar to the list of places I've celebrated my birthday (Israel, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Italy, Greece and Dar).

I have not come through on my promise of Paris photos yet though I will get to it someday I'm sure. I have been so busy since getting back into town that I haven't had a moment to transfer photos.

Work has been pretty busy and still adjusting to the hours (the early wake up, the ridiculous traffic and the lack of time to do any of my errands). Things are starting to pick up and flow a little better now. Getting over that initial 'don't know anything' phase at a new job.

I've also moved into a new place. It's very nice but has been a struggle to get in and get everything sorted because I've been so busy with other things. Okay, really shouldn't complain cause I came home the other day to find all my stuff had been unpacked for me and put away in the cabinets. I still have to sort and organize but at least I'm not living in chaos while I do it. Also enjoying the new luxory of leaving dishes or laundry and coming back to find them clean and put away. Could definitely get used to this. Do still need to sort out my new bed and get rid of the old one and all that. Then hopefully some day soon I can have a housewarming party. Hopefully will get photos of the new place up soon too.

Much of the delay has been caused by my booked up weekends. During the week I'm at work all day then in traffic and then too worn out to get much done. But also last weekend, being my birthday, we spent sunday out at white sands (a beach north of dar) having lunch and enjoying the beach and a few drinks. Oh, and got cool presents! an external hard drive from my brother, work clothing from my parents (SO necessary) and really stunning lighting fixtures for my new room from Chris. k... lighting fixtures doesn't sound all that exciting bit they're really really nice and I don't have any nice things here so very cool.

And next weekend's a long weekend so a group of us are heading camping. Should be nice cause this place is in a national park so there's wildlife but it's also on the beach. It's always a fine balance between maximizing your time off and away with also needing some time to get organized for the following week.

So things are good... more updates soon... and photos too hopefully.

long long overdue update...

Ok... Here I was starting to think that people weren't really reading my blog anymore and all of a sudden I get several comments about how long it's been since my last update.

Well, there is a reason there was such a long lapse which I'll explain in a moment. But first, I'm requesting some feedback. Blog? no Blog? was thinking to switch to group emails to allow for less public and less google-able communication... especially for work related stuff, not liking the public blog so much. So please, let me know what you think either through comments on the blog or to my email. That way if I switch to emails I'll also know who to include.

So, at first there was no blogging because I wasn't doing anything worth blogging about. Only thing that happened during that time is that I moved to a new place: a studio apartment on the peninsula with a/c and hot water and cable tv (yay movie channels!) Otherwise, things werenot so much fum... car needed lots of repairs, weather wasn't steller, didn't have a whole lot to occupy myself with.

then there was a delay because of work. I was going through an interview process that kept getting longer and longer but I kept waiting so I could tell everyone about the job and then I started with pretty much no notice and was very busy and then took off to Paris- which is where I am blogging from now.

Work: Am now the new events manager for a south african company with an office in tanzania that deals mostly with marketing and promotions but is branching out into events in Dar. I think it'll be a great opportunity and very interesting. I have great co-workers. Plus they've approved two trips within my first couple of months on the job because they were already booked when I started so yay for flexibility. It'll definitely be a lot of work and long hours and it's been three years since I last worked full time so a bit of an adjustment for me but at least it will be interesting.

Paris: I am currently in Paris for 10 days with the family. We're staying in a nice (but small) flat and walking more than I've walked in ages so I'm constantly sore. Hilight so far was a bike tour to Versaille including a lovely picnic in the gardens. Monday is Bastille Day and my long time travel companion Caroline will be joining us so I'm very excited for that as well. Heading back to Dar in Wednesday. Will do a Paris blog and post photos when I'm back.

K, it's time for bed here but will post again soon with more about Paris and work. Now have good, reliable internet connection so communication should be much improved. Hope everyone is well... would love to hear from you all!