Normal?

What is normal? Up until a few months ago normal it was the predictability of life in the US. Changing of seasons, continuous power, things happening when it should, church life, school life and the list goes on. Now normal is very different. I realized last week as we were traveling to one of the only Malls in Dar that the sights, sounds and smells of TZ are normal to me now.  Things like:

Dar Traffic

Dar traffic,

the African landscape,

the baobab trees,

12 hours of day light,

the heat,

unpredictable power,

lizards running along the walls of the house,

Market where we bought our furit while at language school

going to several dukas (shops) to get your groceries,

women carrying things on their head,

people selling stuff at intersections

and the interesting things people carry on their bikes.

Ooh and I almost forgot, driving on the left side of the road.

'truck stop'
It was amazing to see how many trucks were parked here getting repaired or new tires

We love the fresh fruit available. Right now pineapple is in season so there are pineapples everywhere. They are so good. Buying organic is cheaper than processed. Raw sugar at the grocery store is cheaper than white sugar.

It was comforting to know that life in TZ is starting to feel normal. We have now been here almost 4 months. We are now figuring out what we need to set up house and using these few weeks before our next training to purchase those items. We need to get beds, small kitchen appliances, large appliances and many other things it takes to set up house. Everything takes longer in Africa so I’m sure it will take longer than what we think to find a purchase these items. We have decided to buy many of these items in Dar where there is more of a selection and they are actually available to purchase. Musoma is much smaller so the availability and selection is much less.

We Survived!

Going to the snorkeling site

 We are officially done with Swahili classes. It feels so good to be at this point. We also realize that we still have a lot to learn. Hopefully it will come as we talk to the house help and are out shopping.

We had a good trip back to Dar. It is an 8 hour drive but it was so nice this time because it was all familiar to us and we weren’t jet lagged. We’ve had more practice driving and we knew what the roads were like. We could even read the road signs.

 After language school we took a much needed vacation and went to the beach for couple days. We realized that even a vacation isn’t as relaxing as it used to be. We are still in a culture very different than ours. We had fun snorkeling and swimming in the Indian Ocean. We got to see some lagoons and many tropical fish and coral. The kids loved it. When we were snorkeling, Nikki struggled a little with her mask but she was still able to see some fish. We had fun swimming in the lagoon off of the boat. Luke loved jumping off the front of the boat. He also did some long distance swimming as he swam from the boat to the shore line 2 times. It was quite a distance but was made easier with flippers. Don’t worry Grandmas- he was with others and not alone.

Trying out our gear

We are now living in another missionary’s home while they are with family over the holidays. We will be here for 3 weeks until our next training starts mid-January. We will stay at our current place for the first 2 weeks until the family returns. We will then move into a hotel for the last week of training. We felt we couldn’t handle another 3 weeks in one room. 1 week sounds much more manageable.

During these next 4 weeks we will get our TZ driver’s license, which sounds like is a very long process. We will also start purchasing things we need for our home like small kitchen appliances, adapters for our US electronics and any food we can’t buy in Musoma. (mostly spices and things like that)

Training is over Feb 3 and when we are ready, we will make the 18 hour drive across TZ to Musoma.

Our new wraps

Thanksgiving



Our Thanksgiving center pieces thanks to Laura, Luke and Nikki

Wow I didn’t realize how long it had been since I did a blog post. A lot of changes have occurred but then again it feels like more of the same. Nov. 12-19 we did a homestay with a TZ family. We were all a little nervous about it before we arrived but we had no reason to be. God had found us the perfect home. It was a mother whose children were are grown and moved away from home. She had plenty of space we had two bedrooms and each had their own bathroom. We thought this was wonderful to have more space. We could also hang out in the living room. The kids had plenty of space to play and they enjoyed hunting for the cats.

The kid's current room

On the 19^th we moved to yet another place. It is similar to a hotel. We have the suite so it is 2 rooms and one bathroom. We no longer have to sit in the dark after the kids go to bed. They have their own room. We are starting to get tired of the small space and living out of suitcases but the end is in sight. There isn’t as much for the kids to do here so we are playing lots of games with them. We are now in town so we can walk to the market whenever we need something and it doesn’t take all afternoon.

Friday is our last day of Swahili lessons. Monday morning we leave for Dar es Salaam and then Tuesday we go to the beach for a few days. We need a break from learning, culture and need some fun. We also wanted to do this before Laura leaves on Dec. 11 so we are all excited about it. We might be able to do some snorkeling.

Our current home

After our mini vacation we will house sit for a family going home for Christmas. Mid-January we have our last training before going to Musumo. It is 3 weeks of cultural training. That ends Feb. 3^rd and then off to Musoma.

Our first Christmas decorations

I’ve included some pictures of our new place and our 2 Thanksgiving celebrations. One is here with the rest of the group and the other was on Sunday at another family from America. The food was fabulous. It was the first Thanksgiving meal we ate outside.

Homemade Pie and Ice Cream!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for all your love and prayers.

Isimila Stone Age Museum

Nov 6, 2011

Dear Mrs. Gable and class (and of course everyone else can read too)

We went to Isimila Stone Age Museum yesterday. We thought of all of you while we were there. They showed us stone tools that were used around 3500 BC. We tools like rock axes, spears, hand hammers, knives and sling shots. Once we saw these tools we walk through a large gully, or small canyon. Luke and Nikki had fun finding all kinds of rocks. There were also huge pillars that were created from wind and water erosion. I’m sure you guys would have loved exploring it. Check out the pictures to see what it was like and to see the rocks Luke and Nikki found. Nikki was disappointed when we got home because she realized she had lost her rose quartz. Hopefully we will be able to find more to replace that one. I tried to include a bunch of pictures so you could see what it was like. Luke and Nikki loved climbing around.

Luke, Nikki and Laura did ask if they could the rocks. It was ok as long as they weren't any of the stone tools.

Sorry the pictures are out of order but I had problems uploading them.

Luke's rock collection from the Isimila gullu

Luke's rock collection since arriving in TZ

Learning about the rock tools

Going down into the gully

Chameleon

Chameleon

One afternoon last week Nikki was playing on the playground when she saw a chameleon. Nikki came and told the rest of us. The chameleon was on a stick so Laura picked it up and brought it up to our banda (cabin). After watching it for a while Laura decided she wanted to hold it. Luke held the chameleon after Laura. Luke said it felt like a bunch of tiny fingernails touching him.

We then put the chameleon down in some green grass and green leaves to see if it would turn green. It didn’t but it did change to a lighter color of brown. While we were watching it eat a bug about 6 inches away. The amazing thing is all 5 of us actually saw it. We then saw it eat 2-3 other bugs. We even got two of them on video.

While we were all huddled around this chameleon and aweing over it eating bugs one of our neighbors walks up and asks us what we are looking at. Fortunately she thought it was pretty cool too and took a few pictures. I must admit if someone was walking by and saw they probably would have thought we were watching something more exciting or exotic. We all thought it was pretty cool.

 

Routine and Neighbors

October 29, 2011

Wow I can’t believe it is the end of October already. Maybe because it is like summer here and not fall. We are entering spring so the trees are starting to get buds on them.

We have had 6 weeks of language learning. It is nice to be able to go into town and do our shopping in Swahili as well here and understand words from other conversations. I thought I would share what our daily routine is for us.

Dining Hall

We don’t cook any meals so we go to the dining hall for every meal. We go to breakfast around 7:30. We have the options of oatmeal, eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, and beans. We were starting to get tired of these options so we bought corn flakes. They were some of the best corn flakes we ever had. Not because they were extra good but because we were missing cereal. Who would have thought we would miss cereal.

Our school banda

Swahili class starts at 8:30 and the kids start school. We have a half hour break at 10:30 for Chia, tea and a snack. We have another break at 12:30 for half an hour and then we end at 1:30 and eat lunch right away. The afternoons are spent taking showers, playing with the kids and doing homework. Supper is at 6:30. We usually watch part of a movie with the kids or 1-2 episodes of the Cosby Show.

The food is mostly American types of food. We have lots of rice, mashed potatoes, chicken, beef, veggies and fruit. The veggies are fruit are so fresh and good.

Tenting on top of the truck

 

It is fun to be in the cabin we are because we get to see lots of campers. There are a lot of people that stop here for a night or two as they are traveling across Africa or Tanzania. It has been fun to see their camping gear. They usual camp in the open grassy area beside our cabin. The coolest is the tent on top of the truck. There seem to be companies that rent out these trucks. Some of the trucks are all compartments; in the back with all the tools you need for camping like a fold down gas stove, sealed containers to store stuff. The containers are heavy duty and seal real well because it is so dusty and dust gets into everything.

 

Bikers that were biking from Germany to S. Africa

Crashing a Wedding - well sort of

Sat. Oct 15
Saturday afternoon we were sitting on the porch of our banda when we heard lots of cars and people. Laura peeked around the corner and realized it was a wedding. We got very excited and curious. We wanted to watch but wasn’t sure we should. Keith grabbed the camera and went around to see what was going on. After he left one of the camp workers came to apologize for the noise and commotion. He told us we were welcome to go watch and take pictures. Laura and I looked at each other and weren’t sure we should because we were dressed in sweats and
t-shirts. So we decided there wasn’t time to change we needed to go check it out. As we rounded the corner of the banda we saw Keith getting his picture taking with several men that were talking to him.

As Laura and I walked up they turned their attention to us and wanted their picture taken with us! The first guy stood between us for the picture. When the next guy came up and stood between us he put his arms around us so we did the same to him. Very quickly the other two gentlemen join the picture.

All 3 guys jumping in for the picture.

Once the photo session was over, Laura and I stood behind our truck to watch the bride and groom get pictures taken of them. Nikki came and stood on the running board of the truck so she could see. The next thing we knew one of the guys that took pictures with us, picked Nikki up and held her for a picture. Hopefully the bride and groom didn’t know we were there. But the guests sure had fun waving at us and getting their picture taken with us.

We have gotten used to all the little kids wanting to wave at us as we go by but were not expecting all this attention. The wedding party had stopped in to take pictures and then went on to the reception. They were only here for about a half hour but it was a crazy and fun half hour.