First week in TZ

 My first week in Tanzania! 

Well, I’ve officially been here a week and it feels like about three months! I thought I would give you a little run down of what life has been so far. 

Steve on the Streets of Mwanza! 

The first day, my flight got in at 7:30 in the morning on Wednesday the 5th. Steve and Jaclyn were there to pick me up. We loaded my bags in the car and headed to Steve’s house. (He has a guest house in the back of his property and Jac and I are staying at) Once we arrived, I carried my bags inside and took a look around. Its a nice, but modest place. One bedroom for Jac and I to share, a small kitchen and a bathroom. I unpacked when we got there and tried to get settled. After a few hours Steve took us into town so that I could set up my phone and Jac wanted to find a DVD player because there are piles and piles of DVDs at the house! We found one that would work and I got my knew (very long) Tanzanian phone number. We went out for lunch and pineapple pizza was my first Tanzanian meal! It was pretty good, except there was no sauce lol. We came back and Laurie (our other missioner) asked if I wanted to go on a walk. I decided this would be a good idea because the last thing I needed was to take a nap and mess up my jet lag! We tried to walk to the lake but we got slightly lost. Eventually we made it back and Laurie had made dinner for the three of us at her house (across the street from Steves). 

Thursday

First Day of School Picture

was the first day of school! Steve went with us to show us how to ride the Dala Dala (the public bus) and how to walk to school. Charels, our teacher, was very nice and very particular about how we take notes in class- which was interesting. On the first day we learned the alphabet and the rules for syllables. When class was over we went to a hotel Laurie had stayed at when she came the last time for lunch. It wasn’t bad, but she said it wasn’t as good as she remembered and she wondered if they had gotten a new owner. That evening I went with Laurie to go see a potential apartment for her since she will be staying in Mwanza. Jac and I are not looking for housing options yet since we will be in Musoma. It was a very nice apartment but was unfurnished, so that would be a lot of work for Laurie. 

School Day 2 (posing by the sign) 

Friday was the second day of Language school and we went all by ourselves! We even got there quite a bit early! Friday at school we learned different verb stems and different subject prefixes to say a couple of sentences! After school we went to a hindu temple that has a lunch buffet! It was pretty good (for Indian food) but Jac didn’t feel good and had to call Steve to come pick her up. Laurie and I then headed to a grocery store before meeting up with Steve at the Catholic Church to Catch a ride to look at another house with him and a Sister who knows the owner. The four of us went out to this house but the guard wasn’t there (its very common here to have house guards). Steve had to get back for a meeting so we gave up on trying to look at the house :( We went back to the house and rested a bit. Then Steve told us that on every first Friday of the month there is an Expat trivia night at a local hotel. Laurie and I thought it sounded fun but Jac still didn’t feel very good so Steve just took the two of us and we joined a team with three British people and we ended up winning! It was very fun and we got a good dinner too! 

Saturday

Uzima Center with the kids!

Laurie and I went to the Uzima Center (where Laurie will be working) and talked with her soon to be boss- Joann. She is a very nice lady and we had a good chat about the work they do there and all the struggles of the people they serve. After a while we went in where the kids were and they were doing puzzles and coloring. Even though we don’t really speak Swahili yet, and they don’t speak English it was fun to connect through tactile things. We had lunch with the kids (rice and beans) and got to hear some more about their stories. After that we asked Joann if she could drive us back to the house Laurie had wanted to look at the day before. She, of course, was happy to help and we went and picked up the sister and headed to the house. When we got there, we were blown away by how amazing it was! It was designed by an Expat architect from the UK and she is basically just looking for a house sitter so the price is unbeatable- FREE! We were all speechless at this house. I’m not sure what will happen though, because it doesn’t really say ‘living on the margins’. After we dropped the sister back off I asked Joann if we could run by the store so that I could grab a fan. (There is no air conditioning here and our window faces the west so it gets direct sunlight at the hottest part of the day!) She was happy to help and we got a nice standing fan! Then we headed back to the homestead and later Jac was feeling a bit better so the three of us went on a walk in the early evening. This time we made it all the way to the lake and it was breathtaking! 

First Church Service Together!

Church Interior

Sunday was church! St. Francis Xavier Parish is beautiful! We went to the English service because it is generally less crowded than the Swahili service. I enjoyed it very much. After church we went to the pool at the same hotel that the trivia night was at. It was fun to swim and cool down and it was also super relaxing. We studied our schooling a bit while we were there also. It was nice to have a sense of normalcy too. We got lunch there and also tried Tanzanian Beer- Serengeti Lite. It was pretty good, a bit like a corona, I think. 

Monday

View from the Lake House of Prayer

we were supposed to go back to school but the teacher called Steve and said something very urgent came up and he had to leave town for a few days, that she should be back by Tuesday evening (but Wednesday is a national holiday) so our next class will be Thursday! So we had a chill morning. I cleaned and reorganized by things and we met Laurie at noon to have a little study session. At 1 we met up with Steve for our regional handbook meeting (regularly scheduled programing) and that went well. Most of the things we pretty much already knew. After our meeting was over the three of us headed into town- we knew we needed to go grocery shopping and get some basics for the house. We walked to the mall and just looked around a bit. It was good to get a feel for what kind of things there are available. Then we went to the store (the ground floor of the mall is kind of like a Walmart with everything you could need) before we left we went for a small dinner in a bakery right in the front door. It was very good! Jac wasn’t hungry but Laurie and I split our first Tanzanian burger- it was pretty good actually! We also got donuts for dessert! Those were very good and we decided that we had found a gem! We walked back to Steves after that and said farewell until the next morning. 

Tuesday we started around 11 with a meeting with Steve to continue going over the regional handbook. Then we had lunch at Steves again which was very nice. We had some kind of pasta a beef and veggie sauce and pineapple as the side! It was very good and I’m excited to start to enjoy more and more fruit here! (Im only not excited to get used to how amazing it is here and have to go back to the states… After lunch we went to The Lake House of Prayer (this is where we will have our retreat in about two weeks). We took a tour and met Judy and Fr. Jim it was so beautiful and relaxing there! All three of us can’t wait for the retreat! After we got back we rested a bit at home and headed over to Laurie's for Yoga!

Wednesday was a national holiday (apparently it is the first president of Zanzabar’s birthday). So, we went to the beach. It was fun! You can’t get into the water but we hung out on a deck at a restaurant for most of the day. We played pool and had a good lunch. Laurie and I split a beer battered nile perch, it was very good! Then we came back to the house and had a chilled evening. Tomorrow we go back to school! Wish us luck!

Extras: 

Kids on the street, walking home from the Lake.

My bed in our house (I plan on doing a more in depth post on the living arrangements- coming soon!)