During rainy season the area by one of our outside walls would flood just a bit and create a marsh land and there would be snails that would take up residence there - along with croaking frogs, but I never saw those only heard them. The snails were usually pretty small - say golf ball sized or slightly bigger. The picture shows what I think is the King Snail. He is about the size of two of my hands put together. This picture just does not give its size justice.  I wonder about whether the animals here are mutant or alien because the things that I see are just not normal.

 

I feared for King Snails life one day when I noticed Psycho Doberman was watching him. He was moving at a pretty good speed for a snail and the movement must have attracted the Dobie. She just was watching him, following him with her nose. Then she touched her tose to him and he fell off the wall! Luckily for him he landed in tall grass or the Dobie would have had escargot for dinner!

 

aak

What is up with this weather thingie that I have added? Is anyone else noticing how off it is? Now, I understand that the art of predicting weather is either a very complicated one (charts, maps, radar, high tech equipment stuff, etc) or it is just a guessing game (Hey Frank, should we use the coin toss or the dart board today?) Or you can just use common sense.

 

What has prompted this fit of insanity from me? The fact that the weather module shows 4 days for Dar es Salaam and out of those days, there is always at least ONE day it shows it raining, usually more than one. I want to know how they determine this because it is DRY SEASON. There will be BARELY any rain until the - guess what - RAINY SEASON. Now during the rainy season it will rain at least once in four days, if not every day.

 

I am sure that there are those of you out there who have heard in the past about the Kenyans dying of hunger. It is a big thing. Usually a story on CNN and some other news channels. And maybe you have picked up on the fact that they are hungry because they can not grow crops. And if we dig a bit further into things we realize that they can not grow crops because there is a DROUGHT happening. And guess why there is a drought every year in Kenya at the same time of the year... because it is DRY season. Ergo: none to very very little rain fall. And guess what even farther. Kenya is directly North of Tanzania and has the same weather patterns.

 

At least I know that I am smarter than the module.

 

PS: Pole sana (very sorry) to all of you battling the heat wave in the US!

 

 

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Hey all! Started the new job yesterday butI do not have a computer yet. I will not be stopping by for awhile but I will try to update as I can.  Be warned...all of you that volunteered to send me stuff, just you wait until I have a computer at my full disposal...I will be writing out a wish list! You guys are wonderful! aak Are those PIZZA boxes? This time in my hunting I had a mysterious creature just fall into my clutches. It looks like the new delivery method for mass-quantity GIANT pizzas! This little critter was VERY lucky that my husband was not with me or this beast would have been hijacked.   I think I scared the little critter because not long after my capture-release I saw the little guy a ways down the road, very injured. Lights - a - blinking and quite motionless. Either I scared him to death or or the pizzas were too heavy...

Then there is this picture. Looks like an innocent half-turkey/half-chicken just peacefully minding its own business. Munching on grass. No one really minds if the grass is munched. Just enjoying being a bird.

As many of you have noticed, I have been a bit absent over the last few days/weeks. This is mainly due to power problems in our office. (I admit, I blog at work). I have no computer at home. Sniff...

 

A "phase" was out. This means that there is some power but not all power. Basically what was going on was that I had AC, one light, no computer, no fax, no phone, no phone charger, no fuel (totally un-related topic), ergo nothing to do. This lasted several days until someone got wise in our office - the handy dandy little electrician. So he goes about his magic and hooks up my computer and everything else up to my AC. I am 100% sure that this is safe and up to code since the electrician is doing this himself. I did not know how he was connnecting things and what the shock (of fright, not of electricity) I got when I turned the AC switch off. WOW! Everything started humming and beeping at me. Ok then, I will leave the AC switch on.

 

I decided that it is just not enough to explain my situation at my current-soon-to-be-ex job. I must CAPTURE IT! My excuse sounds half-assed until you are able to witness the evidence!

 

This first photo is the safe, up to code, standard wiring. Please note the wiring caught in the shades. Frisky little wires those ones must be! Also note with how much loving care each wire was carefully, meticulously, laid into its current position.

 

While I was taking pictures, ever so cautiously in-case someone thought I was collecting evidence, I noticed something that I have never noticed before. I find this very strange since I turn the thing on almost every day. It must be one of those things that my brain blocks out.

 

I have always noticed how the AC switch is, well, shall we say, slightly removed from the wall. After seeing this many many times I find this a normal thing. The thing that I have NOT noticed before is the nice BLACK CHARRED WALL. How on earth could I possibly have missed something so important?

 

This charred wall is located about 5 feet from my butt that sits at my wooden desk.

 

 I feel very safe. I mean, wouldn't you?

 

I went hunting again today! I woke up to go to work and then realized that I had a very important and challenging hunt ahead of me. Alone, armed only with a camera, I set out on my dangerous voyage. I was about to set out on the deadly mission to track down a tuk tuk. Very rare in other parts of the world, they are a common sight in Dar. But they are hard to capture! But I decided that for a near and dear friend I would risk it all and attempt the hunt.

 

Ah! What is a tuk tuk you ask? I'm not sure. I personally like the name put put because they can not go very fast. They are used to haul things, including people. I am still trying to figure then out. Maybe after catching one, I can get some questions answered!

 

After careful observation, I managed to track down a tuk tuk. Unfortunately it was in front of me and I only managed to capture the Poop side. Then it manuevered around some traffic and had disappeared out of my sight. Oh, but wait, there is another one, ahead but very distant. Vrrrooommm.... I am determined to catch this bugger. Ah! But wait! There are 2 tuk tuks. Maybe I can catch them BOTH! Oh, the joy, the elation that will occur after catching the pair. But alas, they swerved away from my awaiting grasp. I think they went off to breed somewhere. They looked a bit fisty and in a hurry.

 

Then I saw it. A standing, motionless tuk tuk. Defenseless. Unaware of its stalker, waiting in the jam, camera in hand. Oh, no!

My only shot of this tuk tuk is through my tinted windows or run the risk of lowering the window and exposing myself to the tuk tuk. No, that will JUST not do! It will get scared and run away at the sight of a fierce predator like myself.

 

Think! Despiration shot through the tint! Yes, I can black and white it at the computer. I can not let this one get away! I am almost at the office. SNAP! Gotcha you little bugger!

 

 I will be conducting research on the specimens I have collected today. What type of research, I am not sure.

 

---

 

 

I will try to post pictures tomorrow. There are severe power/internet problems here in Dar now. Probably because of the flood. So sorry if I do not get around to visiting you all!

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WOW did I have an adventure travelling yesterday.

 

Right now in Dar it is rainy season and yesterday was the worst rain in a long time. It rained almost all day. Now, for other places in the world that is not a problem, but I am in Dar es Salaam. Dar lacks proper drainage systems, especially in the area that I live in. I was coming back home when a certain bad intersection was flooded. I took pics!

 

My hubby’s driving and comes to this canyon by our house. A canyon is a giant pot hole that has grown so large that you drive your car into it. Yep, you angle a bit down and then you are right back up again. Under normal circumstances, driving through canyons is not that big of a deal. Now this canyon in particular has a river always running at the bottom. Easily do-able on a normal day, but it had rained all day. So our little river became a massive rushing flood river. My boy decided to drive through it. I thought we were stuck for a minute but he did manage to make it out. 

 

That was not the worst of it though. I had a function to attend at night and decided that I can handle a little bit of flood. Boy was I wrong.

 

First was the jam. It took me about 40 minutes to move about 50 feet. Not fun. But that was the easy part. The hard part is getting through this flood. But it was not so much the water that was the problem but the road itself. Ah, let me explain. See, even if it is dry this road (Shekilango for those who know or care) is horrible. There are holes everywhere and the side has a major drop off. But now there is water rushing over this road so after KERTHUNK, kerthumshk, BANG, grind, my car managed to make it through the worst intersection in Dar (Sinza Mori, in my humble opinion).

 

After I about nearly kill my car I am shaking and almost hyperventilating. I am back on semi-solid ground. It will be ok. Nope, I guess not I spoke too soon. The traffic in the jam on the oncoming traffic has infiltrated my lane so I am forced to attempt to stay on the road and not end up off the drop off. Oops. Grrrrrrrind, crunch, bang. Half my car went over the drop off. Back on semi-solid ground again. I am seriously having fits and thinking that I am such an idiot for attempting this. But I can not really turn back and go home because the traffic jam is horrendous and I just managed to escape it.

 

Everything is going well until I have to turn on to a side road to get to the house I am going to. The first part of the road has many canyons. These are dangerous ones because I know that at the bottom of them are rocks and other junk. When they are dry you can see to manoeuvre around the bricks and rocks and other junk but now they are full of water. Fun. I do manage this first part but this feat is nothing like what lies ahead. The OCEAN.

 

Yes, I drove my car through an ocean. The entire road, which was very wide, had flooded. I thought I was floating for awhile. I make a turn out of the Ocean Road and into River Street. Now I have a very narrow road at a light incline looking at me with a huge river of water rushing at me. It looked strange because you could not see the road, if I did not know that is what was there, I would have just assumed it was a river.

 

I got to the house I was looking for. I took a different way out when leaving to avoid Ocean Road and River Street. Now I get to that horrible intersection. But lucky for me, the holes and drop offs on my lane were not so bad. But I did see a car in the other lane fall into a huge pothole and get stuck. Wheels were spinning and water was flying.

 

The joys of driving in Tanzania.

I got attacked! By skeeters, AGAIN!

Ah, but this time I did not run into your average-run-of-the-mill skeeter. Oh, no. I ran into the vicious Adedes albopictus, aka Asian "Speedy-Gonzoles-Kung-Fu" Tiger Skeeter. Why the name Kung Fu? You obviously have never met one in battle. They are highly trained and advanced in martial arts. Plus, they wear about a zillion black belts. Definitely highly-trained. And why Speedy Gonzales? I thought he was a burrito munchin' character, not a chop suey munchin' machine. True, true. But Speedy is, well, speedy, and the albopictus is a master speeder. Take stealth, cunning, and speed and just you try to wack that little beast. I do not think it is possible. And talk about persistent! These beasts will JUST NOT GO AWAY!

 

The tiger-devils attack during the day, when you least expect a skeeter to be on the prowl. These beasts leave a nasty bite that itches for DAYS. A bite from one of these beasts can cause a person to scratch the bite until it bleeds. They must be equipped with specialized clothing-penetrating skeeter-suckers. Ouch! who knew denim was not enough these days.

 

Oops...forgot to change the HTML color setting to my blue color (this was typed in word). This just proves that I am over stressed and over worked!

 

This was requested a LOOOONG time ago...

 

I used to be really against the US, (look at some policies)…but now I do have a respect for the US. I took a lot of simple everyday things for granted. I do not do that anymore. I am happy with what I have. I have more of a respect for all foreigners in the US. I realize that I really do have a lot. Even when I am in need, I still have more than most people. It is strange how you could take something simple, say my Double Stuff Oreo’s for example, and just think it will always be there, as if it is a normal thing everywhere. Not so.

 

I used to take half hour showers. Now I am constantly trying to conserve on water so that we do not run out. Water comes out about once a week and we store it in reserve tanks.  When water is coming out of the tap, that is the time when I am power doing my laundry. Just after Christmas time, water was not coming out so often and it ended up that I had not done laundry in three weeks. Water finally comes out. It is midnight, I am a bit drunk, I have to work in the morning but I stayed up and did out laundry until almost 3 in the morning. In my mind I had to. I had no clothes. Or maybe I was just really drunk.

 

In the early spring, before everything is dried up fully, I remember there being many pot holes in my town. And I would COMPLAIN! Oh, the end of the world is setting in! Now I can barely drive some of the roads here. I'll take a photo of a road that I use everyday so you get the full concept of what I mean. MASSIVE holes. My old holes from back at home, at the time they seemed gigantic and unbearable, now seem small and easily passable. So one day I hope to look back at these current holes and wonder what I was complaining about. I will find them small and easily passable. As with all difficulties in life we gain the strength from the obstacles we have overcome.

 

I think if I went back to the US now, I would have a hard time with a lot of things, especially people wasting. Whether it is money, food, or clothes, or ANYTHING! I would be SO irritated by it, just thinking of how many people do not even have the luxury of having some of those things, myself included. Also many of us do not think we have enough...always looking for that next purchase or when the bank balance will hit a certain number... I have struggled with money issues for over 1 1/2 years. But it is different here. You can not get loans very easy. There is no credit. If you do not have money, you do not have it and you are just out of luck. Period.

 

aak

 

I'm in a crappy mood. No, that does not even come close to describing it. I am pissed off woman with a rage that is about ready to explode worse than a nuclear bomb!

 

What happened to make me like this? Oh, you wish you would have never asked!

 

Drove to the office of a client I was seeing today. Parked my car. Saw client. Left building. Walk to my car.  Holy FUCK! My car is not there! Where did my car GO? The local guys around told me that they towed my car and it will be impounded. Fun. Very fun. Unbeknowest to me I parked in a "No - Parking" area. Thank you Tanzania. They can not afford to put up little notices that alert people to this. I guess there was construction on the OTHER SIDE OF the wall I parked by and so I could not park where I did indeed park. 

 

This I can handle. The amount of money I paid to get my car out. Holy DOUBLE FUCK! If I tell you how much in currency you just will not understand, so let me break it to you like this. For the amount I spent bribing the guys to let my car out I could have bought:

 

100 hindquarters (that is leg and thigh) of Eddo's Chicken

 

OR

 

140 plates of chips

 

OR

 

280 Sodas

 

 

Or...

 

32 Eddo's Meals (1/2 chicken + chips + soda)

 

THIS IS A WHOLE FREAKING MONTH WORTH OF LUNCHES!

 

Do you understand WHY I am pissed now? Ya, and I even MISSED LUNCH! Yes, me, Queen of Food, has missed lunch. Oh, and then the boy had the nerve for getting pissy at me because I was being "unreasonable". Really? Wonder why? So that just made things worse. I am getting Konyagi and Eddo's tonight. ALONE. No, you are not even invited. That is how crappy I feel right now! This is worse than PMS!

 

Just to add: I have been broke for a long time and FINALLY was getting a bit of a cushion. Well, the cushion got smushed.

 

aak

 

 

 

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I love Tanzanians...most of the time.

 

People can be so sweet here. Last night I came home early and decided to have a Konyagi and coke at this "containa" aka little teeny bitty shop that HAPPENS to contain alcohol. It is a really pathetic place but it is about a 30 second walk from my house. As I am sitting there swatting mosquitoes, a neighbor lady comes and says she wants to make me dinner. No way! So when it is ready I come over, a bit nervous that a stranger would be feeding me. But she made this banana stew that was YUMMY!

 

Now tell me if a complete stranger would invite you for dinner in the States? Nope, never has happened.

 

 

 

Wow! I just had the most AMAZING Sunday. Me and some girls went to Bongoyo Island. It is a fabulous "deserted-type" island of relaxation and fun!

 

Everything started off horrible. I did not have time to rationalize everything that I would need to bring. Oops on the sunscreen thing. Then it was low tide so we had to walk in the water to the first little boat that would take us to the bit bigger boat that would take us to Bongoyo. Well, we were walking on this bed of slime. Not a pleasant feeling. I walked as fast as I could to get to the boat. Then I have to get in the boat ( I am in knee-high water). Must jump. Not athletic. I somehow manage to get in the little boat and then in the big boat.

 

Unfortunately the day was very overcast, so my pictures did not turn out spectacular. But apart from all of that, it was the best day I have had in a LONG time!

 

The beach was HUGE and soft and the water was SO clear! They were telling me that the water was actually a little murkey that day. Wow! I didn't notice. I thought it was so cool to be swimming in salt-water (keep in mind I am from Iowa). We were going to try to see the fishes and coral but the water was just a bit too murkey.

 

Then we took a hike to this lagoon. On the way we saw a ton of eels in this little pond area. I thought that was a bit creepy. They were pretty disgusting looking. The hike was a bit long and jungle-ish, but it was AMAZING!

 

We eventually had to leave and return to mainland.  Ate our ice cream and then it began to POUR rain! I'm so glad it waited for a bit. I would have hated to be in that small boat with a huge storm!

 

We go to get some coffee/tea/food and I decide to go to my little coffee lounge that  I should just move to where they all know my drink by heart. Bill comes. My 5,000/- ($5) French Kiss has 00.00 SWEET! I am not saying anything. (5,000/- hurts the wallet more then $5 to you guys in the US). I am thinking that someone probably bought me one because for once I have brought friends. I am not sure if that was the case. But I was not going to open my big mouth and potentially lose the 5000 that I was going to spend that I know have put safely back into my pocket.

 

We decide to go to this place and get some pizza. Well, we ordered two pizzas and on the second one I told them to leave off the olives. I thought I had an olive with the first piece but let it slide. We are ALMOST done eating and I think I have eaten an olive again. This is just too much. I hate olives with a passion. I pick through my slice and lo and behold lies a huge olive. So I talk to my girls. Ok, girls, should I say I am allergic to olives in the attempt for a slight reduction in price? Hmmm...it wouldn't hurt. I know we are a bit broke.

 

So we call over the waiter and explain to him the severity of the situation. That I am very disappointed because I SPECIFICALLY said no olives, several times, and then an olive appears and I have eaten one and I need to rush home to take my medication. He comes back and says sorry bla bla bla and then my friend asks for our bill. He tells us that we do not have a bill and that it was taken care of. SWEET! I say how it is just a mistake and no worries but to be careful next time. He tells me I am such an understanding customer and that he hopes I come back. Oh of course I'll come back. I have been here many times and never had a problem until today. It's ok, mistakes happen. Ok, let me hurry home. Ah! If he only knew the truth, which he will not find out!

 

So we rush on out of there so I can "go home and take my meds"!

 

I get home to a nice and cool house, which does not happen very much here. Even get to use my blanket and cuddle up with it and have a nice peaceful sleep...

 

 

*disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with some of the stunts I pull, but if it gets me 2 free pizzas, well...

 

 

You have all probably read about all the bad things about Tanzania, unfortunately I have overblogged on that topic. You have heard about the cockroaches, and the no Wal-Mart, and the drivers and all sorts of other stuff. But enough on that now. I am going to do a GOOD blog.

 

One thing that you will notice about Tanzanias is their hospitality. If you visit a house and they ask you if you want something (they WILL do this, trust me) you must take something, doesn't matter if it is only water, but you must! As a visitor in a Tanzanian house, you really feel like the guest of honor. "Can I get you anything tea, coffee, soda, water? Have you eaten? Oh, you must get something to eat." Now, you think that you can have an excuse, right. No. that does not exist here. When we first arrived in Dar there were days that we were visiting several people in a day. The first house we would go to would have food and I would eat. and since the food here is WONDERFUL, I would eat definitely enough. But then we would go to the next house and they would offer food. You try to say no thanks that I have already eaten. "Oh, but dear I have ___insert food here__that is almost ready. So then you eat again, and the food is good again, as always so you tend to eat more than you planned, remember you were full.

 

Did I mention the food is good? Yes, I do miss my mom's cooking and "Western-type" food. I think I always will, it was what I was brought up with. But this stuff here is REALLY good. But there are PLENTY of articles on that!

 

Another thing you will notice is that people are really laid back. Carefree relaxed people. There is a saying that there is no rush in Tanzania. How true. But when I stop and look at how chaotic my life was in the US, it is nice and refreshing to get to slow down. Stop and relax and realize what is important.

 

Plus in Tanzania, people like to enjoy themselves. There are all sorts of nice places to go and relax and have a drink or some food. Or even not to relax but to have a wild time!  I am planning on photographing and writing an article on my fav quiet relaxing spot, and maybe another on Jackie's, my favorite bar, but I procrastinate. I also will get pictures of nice hotels/spots, in time.

 

So if you think it is all mudholes and cockroaches...think again.

 

aak

 

Discrimination:

 

The thing with discrimination here is that it is non-negative. As a white person, I am looked at as being more educated, smarter, and wealthier than EVERYONE else! Ummm…if they only knew. I’m keeping that a secret. Whites get paid more, but they are usually expatriates.

 

I do not like being called a Mzungu (a word meaning a white person or a foreigner). It is not used in a bad or derogatory way and in fact, a lot of times the exact opposite. But it bugs me. I can refer to a group of people as Chinese of French or Pink or Wazungu (the plural form) but I CAN NOT call an individual person any of these. I am not sure why. Maybe subconsciously I feel it is stereotyping. Or maybe I think it is the problem that I want to fit in here in Dar and not be seen as a tourist.

 

I am sure than any of you reading this will also NOT fit into the tourist category. They do not even really LOOK like normal people. Their hair is usually messed up with funny Safari clothes (Editors note: there are NO lions or any other wild animals, ok except monkeys, in Dar.) they carry huge backpacks and generally look confused, in a bad way confused. I always look confused but in a good way, I think anyway?? They also do not really know much about anything. In a way it is not their fault. But I am not one of them. That is why I specifically say that anything contained in this blog is through MY eyes! Ok, enough about tourists, I am getting mad.

 

There are expats who have been here longer and are a bit more adjusted, but they still do not venture into some of the areas that I have been known to venture (or LIVE) in. They have WAY more money than me and I think I dislike them for only this reason. Hey, at least I can admit I am a jealous, envious b*%ch.

 

One thing that I hate is the “Mzungu bei” or white price. Since they (foreigners) usually get paid more, the price, if not marked, will go up. Even if I speak fluent Swahili without too much of a white accent I still get a bad price.

 

My short banana story on this: I would always pass this market on my way home and it was open late to suit my time table. I know that I was getting bananas for about $.10 a piece when I should be closer to $.06 a piece. Well, there was one day that I got my new-to-me car and had the hubby tint it. I go to the place (at night as usual) roll my window about an inch and order my bananas. $.06 without even haggling! It was because they could not SEE me! Evil longo longo (cheaters).

 

I also hate it when people stare at me or say "Mzungu" and then point at me with evil fingers. There are many clever sayings that I try to use such as "fix your eyes" "look carefully" and worse. I think that is what bothers me the most. Perple looking and staring at me like I should be in a petting zoo somewhere. I like to keep a low profile and stick to my business. I do not want to be some flashy poular person, it is just not me. Unfortuantely here, it is unavoidable.

 

Maybe that is why I hate the word Mzungu...because I know people are looking at me.

 

 

 

Note to Aafrica...yes, there are Chinese here and also "people of Asian decent" (you know I must be politically correct). If fact quite a few. Especially Japaneese because of all their in-bred cars they have roaming around.

 

aak

I will get back to more TZ stuff, but I want to lighten it up a bit for today.

 

Today it rained, now for other places in the world, this does not mean much, but for TZ it changes EVERYTHING. First off people are more afraid of rain than getting run over by a car. People will run when it is raining, but practially get hit with their lollygagging across the street when it is dry.

 

For some reason today (rain) the line/queque (I am having language problems) was HUGE! I wait patiently and then have the biggest decision that I will probably face today, do I take my shortcut?? My shortcut saves me tremendous time, fuel and hassles. But the road is not very good. So do I take it on a rainy day? Will I get stuck? Will I drown? So do I stay in the line/queue and take probably an extra 45 min or who knows longer or do I dare the cut?

 

I think I made a very wise initial decision. I thought if I saw other cars taking the shortcut, it would be ok to follow them. And plus I was VERY low on fuel and there is a petrol station very conveniently located if I should chose to take the shortcut.

 

I approach the turn off and see other cars going. Yay!! So I pull off, fuel up and begin my journey. After going about, well not very far at all, I realize that it is IMPERITIVE to shift to low gear. Not a good sign already. I proceed. Now this road is the holiest dirt road and the dirt is not firmly packed so it is more like sand on a normal day. Well, today it was muddy mush. I get through the first part of the course, which was quite easy if you have driven through a muddy Iowa cornfield (another day for that). Then I reach part 2. Not good. There are LAKES!! Am I in Minnesota??? I swear there are a thousand lakes! Some are quite small and relatively harmless. But then comes the lake which I have named Lake Murkiness. This is no ordinary lake. This is something that no car should be driven through. If there was not a truck in front of me to demonstrate what NOT to do, I think I would be still stuck there up until now. This is the hole that has a HUGE nasty bump thing at the bottom and idiot truck just rams through the water, hits this bump and goes flying.  I decided to swerve around the very edges of Lake Murkiness and managed to come out safe.

 

The moral of the story is not to drive a Toyota through shortcuts that could potentially have mudholes, lakes, and tragic bumps. Now, if I was in a SUV/truck/DURANGO, I would have had tremendous fun...

 

aak