On my walk to Amani today...
Mud! The muddiest section of street we have to walk through is practically in front of our house.
What we can see of the neighbor's house from inside our wall...
Corn and bean fields are everywhere! Thankfully there has been a lot of rain so crops are flourishing.
There are stark contrasts between a lot of the houses around.
Karanga (Peanut) River separates our town, Soweto, from where Amani is.
With 36% of the country living on less than $2 a day, it's extremely difficult for Tanzania to gain revenue through taxation. Without taxes there are few, if any, public services like trash collection. Joe and I were unsure of what to do with our garbage. There's a big metal barrel in our courtyard that had some trash in it so we just added ours and planned to burn it. Unfortunately, its the rainy season, so the barrel quickly filled with a disgusting fly-attracting scum liquid which would not burn. After seeing so many houses with piles of trash out the front we decided to just tip the barrel on to the already small pile of refuse in front of our gate. Sorry neighbors, for the stench. Today it didn't rain at all so Joe went out after work to try to burn the pile (still stinking but smaller and spread out by chickens and dogs). Some neighbors approached and informed him that there is a public dump practically behind our house! Someone offered to move our trash to the dump for a few dollars. So now we know. During this same interaction Joe also found us a gardener. As it is the rainy , the small patch of grass in front of the gate is nearly a foot tall and our bushes are expanding. He will come in the morning.
This past weekend we had the men who helped Joe find our house over for lunch. We were expecting five, three men and two of their wives, but only three came due to sicknesses. On Friday I asked Melania to prepare pilau (a very common dish of spiced rice and meat) for ten. In addition I made mashed potatoes, sausages, greens and a fruit salad. Needless to say there was a ton of food and we are still eating leftovers. The guys were very nice and polite. Valle, the one that Joe met first, is amazingly talkative! He covered most topics you could think of and had a strong opinion about them all.
Later that night we had a couple of young guys that Joe also met when house hunting over for dinner (leftovers). Ziggy and Reagan are both 18 years old or younger and speak excellent English. Reagan had a long conversation with us about politics and current affairs. Despite their education and skills they are both surviving by being street touts, hanging around the bus stand all day trying to make money off of tourists. There just aren't any other job opportunities available.
Within Joe's first week here he met a South African girl named Lizzy. She's also working here and will be staying longer than most people who just pass through. Yesterday she took me to Machame, where she runs a volunteer project. Machame is outside of Moshi on the way up to the main Kilimanjaro climbing route. The atmosphere is completely different. There's a dramatic temperature drop and a much more relaxed and friendly feeling. They actually need blankets at night!
Lizzy and her volunteers work with local schools to help them build toilets, kitchens or whatever they may need. It was a real treat to see this other side of the area. She has a very challenging job of having to arrange the materials, housing, food etc for the entire project. Plus being a babysitter for these often first-time travelers!
Sorry no pictures... next time!
On Wednesday I met my friend Jen and her baby at Memoria market. We are lucky that this market is just around the corner from our house. It is a huge outdoor maze of stall after stall of clothes, sheets and curtains. We see huge bags of clothes arriving and getting sorted through outside the market. Rows of sewing machines make repairs and get everything ready to sell. It seems like most of the things are used donations from America. It is the ultimate Goodwill shop with very reduced prices.
I was after a new set of sheets and towels for Joe and me. With Jen to help with the bargaining I had my purchases in no time. Melania (our house helper) was still here when I got back so she washed everything that afternoon.
Also, here's a picture of the mat we bought last weekend for the living room. Notice the dirty and mishapen cushions we will hopefully replace this weekend.
To make a lot of the dishes I learned to cook when we were in India a couple years ago, you need freshly grated coconut. Joe and I bought this tool, called an mbuzi, or goat, at the local market. Mmm coconut.
It seems that spring is in the air as we've been seeing lots of babies around--chickens, goats, puppies...
We often hear this neighborhood turkey and its mate gobbling around our house.
On Saturday Valerie and Matthew took us to Arusha for a day of shopping and fun. We had Mexican for lunch which was a real treat. Arusha has a huge supermarket with just about everything - some things that are cheaper here in Moshi. We got a few things for the kitchen, mixing bowls, a big ceramic pot and a loaf pan. Our most exciting purchase of the day was a large circular mat for the living room. It's woven by local craftswomen and is just beautiful (and smells good too!). At the same place we were able to buy a lampshade for the dining room. Both of these additions make a huge difference to the house.
This morning I also went to arrange to get cushions for our couch and two chairs. There are cushions now, but they've been through some trauma and are dirty and mishapen.
Yesterday we went to a lunch party at the home of a long-time resident of Tanzania. She lives in a boma - a round house with a thatched roof. We sat outside in the beautiful garden, ate plenty of delicious food and had a really nice time.
Here's a few photos from last weekend. We were lucky to have such cloudless views of Kili!
One of the burners on our new stove hadn't been working so on Monday our friend with a car took us and it downtown to the shop we bought it from. The owner said he would send a fundi to our house the next day. A fundi is defined by my Swahili book as a "skilled man." So Tuesday morning I walked out to the main road to meet the fundi on his bicycle. The dragging walk back to our house was less than comfortable, but even at his slow pace we arrived. Having no tools with him I didn't have much hope for him fixing the stove. But soon he went to get some and 20 minutes after returning the burner was burning bright.
Today our much awaited houselady, Melenia, started working for us. As a repeat of yesterday, I went out to the main road to meet her. She looked very nice, dressed in a suit with dress shoes. I had great plans of chatting with her in my limited Swahili, getting to know each other etc. Unfortunately despite the list of 500+ vocabulary words I can rattle off, I can hardly string together a useful sentence and my listening skills are bunk. She chatted quite a bit but I didn't follow a single word. I managed to ask if she has children (one, in school, about as tall as her shoulder) and tell her I've been here for 3 weeks.
When we got to the house I showed her around and we sat down to discuss her work schedule and payment. This also didn't go as I planned and quickly gave in to calling our Swahili speaking friend to translate. With everything settled, Melenia did the laundry and took a trip to the market for us. The only further miscommunication was that instead of the avocados I had wanted she brought some mystery fruit. Fine with me though! She'll be working here Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. We are also getting a list in Swahili and English of typical duties which I think will help a lot.
Back to the four day weekend! It was really nice having time to spend with Joe and just relax together around the house. On Saturday we spent a great day at the Kilimankyaro Lodge, a hotel/resort on the way up the mountain from town. It's the furthest I've been outside of Moshi so I was very excited! Valerie and Matthew took us. We had a fancy but expensive lunch and then swam in the pool. We were the only guests so enjoyed the stunning view of Kilimanjaro on the pool chairs by ourselves. We rounded out the day with a few board games. Valerie and Matthew are avid board gamers, which I am totally into.
This weekend will bring even more excitement! My first trip to Arusha-- a shopping trip indeed! And then on Sunday we have a welcome new Wazungu party to go to.
