AWOL

I just checked and discovered that my last entry was on the 11th of last month! I've been AWOL for nearly a month now!

I actually have some good reasons (at least I think so!):

1. My sister in law, with whom I get on famously, came to town. We seemed to spend the entire time talking and doing not much else. During one marathon session which lasted from 7pm to 4 am, I lost my voice and ended up croaking for two days!
2. After she left, I suddenly came down with one of these inexplicable, unexplainable African bugs that seem to float around and attack when you're not looking

I'm currently still in the recovery phase although I'm well enough to make short excursions to Seacliff and Slipway. I spend most of my time at home attempting to keep my food down and endeavoring to ignore a mild but persistent headache.

The good news is, I've had a lot of time on my hands. I wish I could say that I spent it reading the significant works of Hemingway and Steinbeck but I can't say that. Instead I am forced to admit that I spent the time watching the insignificant works of Grant (as in Hugh) and Swayze (as in Patrick).

While doing that, I arrived at a couple of 'life-altering' conclusions:

1. 'Ghost' still provides great entertainment even though the people who did the special effects must feel defeated when they watch the movie now and realize that bad cartoons have better effects these days.
2. Hugh Grant looks like a total idiot in 'Sense and Sensibility' with that scarf-thing around his neck.


I suppose the movie people were forced to have him wear it since all men presumably dressed that way in that era.



I thought I'd feel guilty about spending almost two whole days watching anything and everything on TV but surprisingly, I don't! I just hope I don't get totally hooked and turn into a gigantic couch potato!

Tanzania's Finest?

I was stopped by a policeman at the corner of Haile Sellasie Road last week.

I was hot and bothered because the air-conditioning in my car is behaving badly and refuses to drop below a certain temperature. Heat always puts me in an bad mood and I was dying to get home and cool off when I spied a policeman standing right in the centre of the road, waving at me to pull over.

I don't really want to admit it but I seriously considered slamming my foot down on the accelerator so he'd get scared and jump out of my way. In Dar, there's no real fear of being hunted down on a high speed chase because policemen rarely have vehicles at their disposal. They all get dropped off at their various corners during the day and presumably picked up at the end of the day.

(Some of them have a horrifying habit of just opening the passenger door and jumping into your car when you slow down at a corner. Then they'll make you drop them off at the police station - this is especially true when it rains as the poor Engineer can testify!)

Anyway, at the last moment, I decided to do the sensible thing and stop. The guy greeted me and then proceeded to rattle off in Swahili but of course I didn't understand a word he was saying. When he discovered this, he began a long lecture on why I should know the national language of Tanzania since I've been here for quite a while (he made it a point to ask how long I've been here the moment he established that I'm Malaysian) .

At this point, I was really beginning to regret not having run him over earlier but it was too late.

He eventually got to the point and asked for my license. When he couldn't find anything wrong with that, he asked if I had a reflector and fire extinguisher in my car (these are a must for every vehicle according to local law). I felt a mild wave of panic because I couldn't remember if I had them in the boot. So I did the only thing women do when they're caught in a situation like this - I pretended to have a 'blonde' moment.

Instead of opening the boot, I opened the door of the fuel tank and then the bonnet and then I told him I didn't know how to get the boot open. The policeman, who had been patiently waiting, decided that I really was a bimbo and went round to the back of the car to try and pry open the boot himself. Fortunately, he failed ( the Engineer later informed me that all the necessary items were in the boot so I pulled the blonde act for nothing!).

The policeman finally managed to catch me out when he asked for the vehicle registration card. Of course I didn't have it because I drive a rented car and told him so (only the owner has the registration card). Nevertheless, claimed my annoying policeman in a authoritative tone, I should have it in the car at all times. He went on to inform me that it would cost TSH20,000 for this 'offence' but he would benevolently forgo this if I offered him another amount.

I had reached the end of my patience long ago and was in no mood to play ball with the guy so I pulled out TSH5,000 and gave it to him just to shut him up.

The guy took it, said thank you and - this is the best part - asked me to take down his private phone number. Apparently he wanted to teach me Swahili! Thinking that it would be easiest if I just did what he said, I keyed his number into my phone (under Corrupt Policeman).

I thought he'd finally let me go but no...he had one last trick up his sleeve. He wanted me to give him my phone number as well! I was ready to slap him so I gave him my best "don't mess with me" look . It didn't work because then he asked, "do you have a husband?".

This was the final straw so I replied "yes and I can give you his number if you like. Maybe you can call him instead". He mumbled an apology but I was already rolling up my screen and shifting gear. This time, I really would have driven over his foot if he hadn't jumped out of the way.

Can you imagine the cheek of this Corrupt Policeman? First he asks me for money when I had done nothing wrong and then he asks me for my number. I suppose he was planning to take me out to lunch with the TSH5,000 I had given him. What an idiot!!!!

The Dar Three

I grew up in Malaysia and back then ( I sound like a grandma!) people were far more reticent about showing affection in public.

Translation: you shook hands when you met your friends or you just waved and said hi....nobody and I mean nobody ever did the kiss on the cheek thing.

That was something we watched in the movies or witnessed with glee as Malaysian students returning on holiday from the US, UK or Australia tried in vain to incorporate into local society. They usually ended up making a fool of themselves because the recipient would do either or all of these:

1. Totally freeze and look horrifically uncomfortable as they barely tolerated the kiss
2. Pull away as the kiss-er tried to approach with pursed lips
3. Inadvertently poke the kisser in the stomach as they would have extended their hand for a shake at the same moment the kiss-er leaned forward
4. Rudely and angrily ask "what are you doing?" much to the embarrassment of the unfortunate kiss-er

Things have changed now and almost everyone does the kiss-on-the-cheek when they meet. In fact, it is now bordering on the ridiculous since people who barely know each other are cheek- kissing on the street!

I was initially not very happy about this type of greeting (response no.1 was my usual reaction) especially if some drunken male acquaintance I hardly knew decided to slobber all over my cheek. Yuck!

Initial reluctance aside, these days it's become 2nd nature for me to plant kisses upon various cheeks (in case you're wondering, I do practice some level of quality control... ... for instance, I don't kiss the plumber when he turns up to fix a leaky tap although I know him quite well, thanks to the stupid tap!)

While I may be relaxed about this sort of greeting these days, I still take issue with one thing...the number of kisses you're supposed to plant on someone's cheek.

Back home in KL, one kiss on just one cheek or one on each cheek seems to be the norm. I've casually observed that younger people tend to kiss on both cheeks while the more mature portion of the population go in for only one (incidentally, many Muslim people do not do the cheek kiss greeting - lucky things!)

I'm one of those who thinks one kiss on each cheek (i.e two total) is already too many. I was NOT prepared for what I have to deal with here in Dar.

Over here, it's not one, not two but THREE kisses. One on each cheek and then you go back to the first cheek for the third kiss. I mean, I know the pace of life here is rather pole-pole but who the heck has time to go kissing everyone 3 times!

The Dar 3 seems especially popular among the local Mohindi (Indian) crowd. I wonder if some smarty pants is going to try and add another kiss and make it the Dar 4. Maybe if I stay here till 2010, it'll be the Dar 23.

I sincerely hope not!

The Web

I'm afraid of many things and among these are dirty public toilets, camping and appearing at a dinner party in the same dress as someone else. In the natural world, I have to say snakes in particular and reptiles in general give me the creeps. Strangely enough, spiders have never really been the stuff of my nightmares - until now that is!

Even people who keep spiders as pets would find the following photo, if not disturbing, at least a little creepy:



Doesn't it look like something straight out of Stephen King's imagination? Here is the picture again in horror movie mode:



I actually felt a chill run down my spine when I saw them. I'm not even scared of spiders ( I actually used to play with them as a kid!) but the sight of so many large ones crawling about was a little too much for me!


I heard about this giant web from a newfound friend, L, whom I met at a birthday lunch a few weeks ago. She'd spied it while jogging through a residential area and her enthusiastic description of it ("its the BIGGEST spider web I've EVER SEEN and there were at least TWENTY SPIDERS there) propelled me to go and check it out.

After getting over my initial shock, I decided that I would take some pictures. I felt that it was the only way anyone would believe me when I told them about The Web ( I have to admit that I initially thought L was exaggerating!)

I got out of the car and stood as close as I dared (which was still a good distance away!) A few local people happened to walk past and saw me fiddling about with my camera, aiming at the spiders and they all looked at me like I was nuts. Maybe they're used to 1 meter-wide spider webs complete with 20 large spiders attached and were wondering what all the fuss was about!

In the end, my nerves got the best of me and I couldn't get close enough to get a good shot with my tiny camera. I related the whole thing to The Engineer who was immediately gripped by an urge to go and have a look for himself.

He bravely got a lot closer than I did and the photos are the result of his courage. I think this particular picture he took is exceptionally good:





It looks like the thing has managed to defy gravity and is hanging, mid-air. Eeeewww!!!! Despite the horror captured in the photos, I think it was a lot worse looking at the spiders live because they would all suddenly start crawling around on the web! Ghastly!

I would have imagined that an amazingly horrible web of this size would be hanging sinisterly in the recesses of some dark Amazonian jungle and not in the middle of a residential area in the biggest city in Tanzania.

This sort of thing always reminds that, in the end, we shouldn't be surprised because TIA - This Is Africa!

Zanzibar Secrets

To me, one of the most dangerous places in Dar is not the area in town called Kariakoo (where pickpockets apparently wait to pounce on the unsuspecting) or the deep waters around the little islands off the coast (where sharks apparently wait to do the same).
No...one of the most dangerous places in Dar sits innocently enough along Haile Selassie road and looks really innocuous.

Zanzibar Secrets is a little place which sells beautiful things at not-so-low prices. In fact, if you enter, without thinking, you're likely going to leave at least USD50 poorer.

This is a bad thing for innocent foreigners (mainly expat wives) who might find themselves driving past quite frequently. It's especially bad because women here are starved of any good boutiques and the allure of Zanzibar Secrets on an idle afternoon is particularly difficult to resist.

You'll be lured by the pretty, picturesque window dressing and the gorgeously tall, proud Zanzibar doors.



Once inside, there's no turning back....


There are lovely Zanzibarian tops, loose-fitting but stylish pants, beaded necklaces and bags and intricately-made lamps, all priced above what you would pay if you weren't dying for a good place to shop! The worst part is, all these lovely items seem to know your name and have no qualms calling it repeatedly until you find yourself delving into your purse to pay for them!

I've fallen prey, many a time and have now learned to keep my eyes on the road (where they should be in the first place!) when I drive past.

Despite this resolve, I've succumbed (most recently, about a week ago) and found myself coming out of the place in a daze holding somethingI never intended to buy in the first place.

Evidently, one of the secrets referred to in Zanzibar Secrets is getting their customers into a trance-like during which said customers make purchases that they never planned to in the first place!

Ras Kutani

Oooh! I had the best weekend ever!

Last Friday afternoon, The Engineer and I decided to go for a weekend getaway at Ras Kutani at South Beach. We'd heard wonderful things about it but our previous attempts at going were thwarted for one reason or another. So, this time, when the opportunity arose to spend a night, we decided to go for it.

This trip was possibly the most unplanned, last minute thing I have ever done in my life! I'm one of those boring people who have to have 5 contingency plans and a list of things to take on the trip even before I know the exact date of departure.

So, deciding on a Friday afternoon to go somewhere on Saturday morning is definitely a craaaazzzzzy thing for me to do. I felt so proud of myself for 'hanging loose' and being all laid-back but this feeling lasted all of two hours - between 2pm (when we made the decision) and 4pm (when I realized I hadn't packed yet). My momentary pride of being 'cool' went out the window as I reverted to my old anal-retentive self again.

Even though it was an overnight trip, a girl's got to have her essentials:

1. Moisturizer, toner, cleanser and other toiletries
2. A good stack of undies (you can never pack too many of those)
3.Makeup kit i.e perfume, base, liner, lipsticks (in about 5 shades. One never knows when one will be in the mood to go Purple Passion or Raspberry Pink)
4. Medicine kit i.e panadol, plasters, pills for going to the loo, pills to prevent you going to the loo etc
5. Swimsuit and related paraphernalia such as large, floppy hat, sarongs, flip-flops and the beach bag to carry it all in style
6. Sunscreen, mosquito repellent
7. Books to read
8. Clothes ( a couple of evening dresses just in case you get invited to a party - hey you never know!)
9. Earrings, bracelets and other accessories (to match said evening dresses)

I was running up and down getting all this stuff together when The Engineer sauntered in at 5:30pm. He took one look at his empty bag, randomly grabbed some shorts, t-shirts and underwear, threw them into the bag and was done packing. Grrrrr....sometimes men are so infuriating even when they don't mean to be!

Anyway, it was all worth it because Ras Kutani is every bit as beautiful as everyone says it is.

I'll let the pictures do the talking:









We'd been lucky enough to get one of only four suites and it had a little private swimming pool:


We sat around and lazed all day, had food served to us and just read and read and read. I actually finished Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns and almost finished reading Anita Desai's Fasting, Feasting in just 2 days!

If only we could live at Ras Kutani for 5 days a week and come to Dar to work on Saturday and Sunday.....

Where's your Fairy Godmother when you need her? I'll even make do with this evil one!



fairy godmother image from virginmedia.com

Green tea and spinach juice

Today is my writing day.

This is the day that I sit down and write in a disciplined manner i.e I'm at the computer for hours at a time.... no phone calls, no tv, no nothing. I know it sounds dangerously like some kind of prison sentence but believe it or not, I find uninterrupted writing time quite therapeutic.

In fact, I often get so involved that I don't think about lunch This happened to me today but instead of stuffing myself with cream-filled pastries and chocolates, I've decided to go for the saintly route:



That green thing in a glass is a spinach drink (I saw Dr. Oz and Oprah drink it and found the recipe on the web). The other two are water and a mug of green tea. I caught sight of all 3 sitting on my living room table and could hardly believe my healthy, healthy lunch break. How goody-goody am I?!

It doesn't last long, unfortunately. I'm going to go into starvation mode in a while and I'll grab the first high-calorie, low-nutrition thing I see. There's a packet of chocolate biscuits at the back of the shelf with my name on it!

I suppose it's easy to be goody-goody when you know you can be bad again soon!

The ATM Hop

I was patiently (okay, I'm lying - impatiently!) waiting in the queue at Seacliff to withdraw some much-needed cash from the ATM yesterday. For some reason, the person at the booth was taking an age and a day to complete the transaction. I was about to go into 'silent curse mode' when he came out and announced that the machine was out of service.

The guy standing behind me rolled his eyes and said "now we have to do the ATM hop". A non Dar-ian would have gone 'huh?' but I knew exactly what he was talking about.

We would all have to go to the next ATM to get our money. If our luck was bad, it wouldn't be working either and if our luck was really bad, neither would the next and the next.....
Hence the ATM Hop.

Inexplicably, the ATMs in Dar (around the Peninsular anyway) seem to go AWOL at the same time. Go figure!

Out of tofu!

This is the first time the word holiday has struck fear in my heart!



Okay, that's not clear so here it is again zoomed in for full effect:


A closed deli may not mean much in the ordinary world but here in Dar, that's like a lifeline shutting down! There are no mega supermarkets from which you can get everything you could ever want under one roof. In Dar, certain shops sell certain items and if one of them is closed you can only dream about getting it from another store.

For me, that translates to my precious slabs of irreplaceable fresh tofu!The worst part is, the Deli isn't closing for just a day or two but from June 26 to Aug 4 - horrors!

Eating tofu always makes me feel so healthy and virtuous even if I follow it by stuffing myself with a whole bar of chocolate.

Maybe I should take this as a sign and just eat junk for the next two months?

Hapana Swahili

Despite two years in Tanzania, I have a shameful lack of vocabulary when it comes to the country’s national language, Swahili. This probably also points to a shameful lack of interaction with the Tanzanians but that’s a whole other story.
At the moment, I believe I am proudly on par with the Swahili spoken by a 12-month old Tanzanian baby. The only words I seem to know are:

Asante – Thank you
Karibu – Welcome
Hapana santi – no thank you
Umeme -electricity
Mchicha – spinach
Duka – shop
Badai – later
Sasa - now

I also know some ‘cheat’ words which have the same meaning and pronunciation as Bahasa Malaysia/Malay (Malaysia’s national language) such as 'dunia' which means world.

I’ve been quite lazy about learning Swahili because the majority of Tanzanians speak at least a little English and I have met a number who are impressively articulate.

So, I’m left with no real reason to learn Swahili because I get along fairly well in English. The only person whom I actually feel the need to speak in Swahili with is my housekeeper and even though her grasp of English is pretty bad, it’s still worlds better than my Swahili!

I realized just how bad my Swahili is when I thought of translating “I Don’t Speak Swahili” for the title of this entry and could only manage hapana Swahili which literally means “no Swahili”

This is akin to someone saying “No English!” when they don’t speak the language. To think that I used to believe people like that were pathetic – now I’m one of them!

The slowest Cats ever!

If it’s possible to kill an Internet Service Provider I’d squeeze the life out of mine in a minute! I use Cats Net and it’s seriously slow. To give you an idea, it’s slower than say.... the Girls of the Playboy Mansion attempting to add 25 and 19 without the aid of a calculator.

I happen to love cats and I thought that a provider called Cats would be quick and have 9 lives (i.e be quite stable).

Instead I’m stuck with something that’s the exact opposite – it’s slow and dies often.

This is what happens when you sign up with a service provider because it’s called Cats and not because it’s known to be reliable. I’m trying not to but I think I have to blame myself!

The Heart of Dar-kness

I just survived a trip into the heart of Dar. It wasn't unlike Marlow in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (that's the Heart of Dar with 5 extra alphabets!).

In Conrad's novel, Marlow had to brave a harrowing journey up the Congo river complete with attacks from the natives. While I may not have had to grapple with the Congo river, I certainly had my share of harrowing experiences this morning and like Marlow - some of them involved the locals!

I drove into town today because The Engineer needed my help to collect something from a printer. Firstly, I had to deal with what must be the world's worst Giver of Directions. The lady at the printing shop was very polite and very sweet on the phone but she wouldn't have been able to tell me how to get from her elbow to her fingersnails leave alone give directions from the Movenpick Hotel to her shop!

She kept telling me to "go behind the Azam ice-cream store" when she meant 'go past the Azam ice-cream store' and when I asked her if I was supposed to take the 3 o'clock or the 12 o'clock at the roundabout, she thought I was asking her what time it was! Fortunately, I managed to get there despite her help. I shouldn't have been surprised by her bad directions though - this has happened to me before.

Unfortunately, my woes didn't end when I finally found her shop. On my way out of town I swear I encountered at least 2 dozen local people who must've been suicidal. They kept throwing themselves in front of my car just as I was driving by. The good people of Dar may possess many fine qualities but looking left and right before crossing the street isn't one of them!!!

As it were, I narrowly missed killing a number of people. I ended up driving around at 10kms an hour, my fingers clutching the steering and my nose practically touching the windshield just so I wouldn't run over anybody's toes!

Because I was so obsessed with not hitting anyone, it was really hard to keep track of exactly where I was going. I eventually realized that I had been going round and round the same area. I'm not exactly familiar with Dar town which features plenty of narrow two-way roads and inexplicable 'no-entry' signs so it was a real headache trying to figure a way out.

At one point, I felt like I was trapped in an episode of "The Twilight Zone"......forever doomed to be imprisoned in the hideous maze of Dar. The part of town near the coastline is really beautiful but I'd be lying if I claimed that the city center is pretty!

To prove my point, here is one road that skirts the coastline, leading into the city.....

....and another.....


Now, here's the city.....



...not exactly a vision of beauty!

I finally found my way out after battling for a good half hour and stepped on the accelerator because I was determined to get away as quickly as possible!

The next time The Engineer needs me to go to the printers, I'm going to drag him with me. You won't catch me going in there all by myself again!

Looking beyond the obvious

The Engineer had a birthday a couple of weeks back and we had a great time with a small group of our closest friends. Everyone was actually very sweet to turn up even though I planned the get-together at the last minute. We had a little sundowner thing at the Coral Beach Hotel right near the water - lovely!

The Engineer didn't really want a cake (he isn't much of a cake man but will make exceptions for cheesecake!) but how can a birthday be a birthday without a birthday cake, right?

Seeing as I was still suffering from homesickness at the time, I was in 'no shape to bake' (hey! that rhymes!) so I thought I'd order one from this little place that the Bead Queen had told Pinkie about years ago.

This bakery is actually fabulous but it doesn't really have a name (not that I know of anyway!) much less a signboard announcing its whereabouts along United Nations Road. In fact, it's so much a part of the scenery that blink.... and you'll miss it!

The place may be nameless and faceless but boy can they bake! You name it and they can bake a cake of it! They have cakes in the shape of dolls, baskets of flowers, bicycles and even the map of Africa. Pinkie and I got the map for Girlfriend and the Boss when they were leaving Tanzania. The cakes taste as good as they look too!

I wanted a Spiderman cake for The Engineer who is a HUGE Spiderman fan but the ones they had were waaayyy too big for the number of people who were coming so I settled for a Batman cake instead:



See! Lovely and complete with black icing. They don't give you any of that awful, fluffy type of light icing that the commercial bakeries force on you these days. It's good old fattening absolutely delicious, butter-cream icing. They remind me of the homemade birthday cakes my mum used bake when I was small.

Now that you're properly impressed with the cakes, let me show you where they come from:


Told you it was nameless and faceless. It doesn't look like it's capable of producing a muffin leave alone delicious, gorgeous cakes. If there's anything Tanzania has taught me, it's to look beyond the obvious. The most beautiful things can emerge from the ugliest of places!

Only in Dar

I turned down a corner on the way home this evening and this was what greeted me:




It was as if the waters of some Great Flood had swept this boat inland and then receded, leaving the boat all by itself.

There it was, in front of me, right in the middle of the street. There wasn't a soul in sight to account for how the heck it got there and what on earth it was doing there.

Only in Dar.....

I want to go home!

Oooh....I'm battling with a horrible bout of homesickness. I still experience these spells despite having been in Dar for more than 2 years.

For me, extreme homesickness usually wears out within a couple of days before it levels off to a dull throb. This throb never really goes away but it's very much in the background and definitely tolerable. This time though, I'm back for a full week and I can't get KL out of my mind!

Time to come up with a I-must-keep-from-going-insane-because-of-this-dusty-town strategy.

No plans at the moment except to eat chocolate and sleep it off. This is probably a bad idea because it's only going to lead to me being overweight and lazy... then I won't just be a homesick person, I'll be an obese homesick person!

Perhaps I should force myself to work out? The endorphins might help me get out of this funk that I'm in but the very thought of waving my arms about and sashaying to one of my workout DVDs is annoying me right now.

Nevermind - I shall try to meditate (as The Engineer suggested) and see if I can revert to my usual, manageable level of homesickness instead of the I-want-to-chew-my-arm-off level that I'm at right now. If you don't hear from me in a couple of weeks, you'll know that that's exactly what happened!

The Baggage Police

I'm back in Dar again! The trip to KL seems like a dream.....a very good dream but still a dream!

It's back to dusty roads, generator power and slow internet connections. There's also the sun, the sea and my friends of course- mustn't just focus on the bad side! The best part is, I'm reunited with The Engineer - 3 weeks was a long time to be away.

I had a safe trip flying on Emirates but seriously, those people need to step-up on their customer satisfaction abilities. Here's the story:

I got to the KL International Airport at 9:00 pm; my flight was due to depart at 2:00am. Now, some might think that I was ridiculously early but I've always been a firm believer of being a geek, arriving too early and then having a leisurely time rather than trying to be cool, arriving at the last possible minute and then missing the flight if something unexpected happens!

Emirates had evidently turned into the Baggage Police between the time I arrived in KL and took off again because they were checking every-single-piece-of-luggage with what can only be described as religious zeal!

Surprise, surprise both my hand luggage and my main luggage were pronounced too heavy and they insisted that I repack them in the middle of the darn airport! I was horrified!
My poor sister and I had to squat down like a couple of farmers planting crops, take out half my stuff and put them in boxes. It was SO un-Diva like!

Apparently, a single piece of luggage should not weigh above 32kgs and we're allocated up to 40kg per passenger. I've been flying with Emirates for like 2 years and there's never been a problem. Trust me, my luggage has ALWAYS weighed more than 40 kgs.

I was charged a ridiculous amount for just a few kilograms of excess luggage...I don't even want to think about how much. Let's just say that I could have comfortably purchased not 1, not 2 but 3 pairs of Aldo shoes and been strutting around stylishly instead of making Emirates richer. Darn that airline!

From now on, it's Qatar Airways all the way for me. I heard their passengers are allowed 50kgs each on international routes. I've had enough of the Luggage Nazis aka Emirates!

PS: Unfortunately, I remained a bad blogger and didn't really use my camera well in KL (too busy stuffing my face and meeting everyone). I'll try to post whatever I do have (mostly of my cat, Charley). Meanwhile, I'm off to the couch again - need to sleep off that jet-lag and hopefully some of that homesickness too!

Fried Noodles and Cats Whiskers

I have been a bad, bad blogger! I'm here in Kuala Lumpur and I haven't so much as logged into this blog since I touched down here!

It was strange being back home at first (especially since I miss The Engineer who's stuck at work)

I've never been away from Malaysia for more than 6 months. This time I was in Dar for nearly a year and for the first few days it felt weird to be back. Don't get me wrong, it was all I could do not to get down on my knees and kiss the (tar-ed!) roads the minute I set foot in KL but I also felt strangely disconnected - like I was more an observer than a participant.

I think it was due to the fact that I was away for so long because the feeling has since dissipated. I'm now back to my old fantastic-at-weaving-through-traffic-jams, fabulous-at-sniffing-out-clothes-on-sale, fried-noodle-eating, soya-bean-milk-drinking Malaysian self!

The first day I got here, I rushed straight to the hawker centre and got myself a packet of fried noodles(after greeting The Engineer's and my family first of course!). Boy, was it good to get delicious food that didn't cost the earth and since everything here kind of stays open half the night, I didn't have to kill myself to get there before 8pm either!

The very next day, I happened to be passing by my fave boutique called Cats Whiskers (cute name, huh?!) and nearly screamed with joy when I spied the SALE sign! Woo hoo!!! I ended up buying a pair of jeans that fit perfectly for just RM20 - that's right RM20 which is approximately USD6. Can you believe it?

Anyways, I shall be back in good 'ol/bad 'ol Dar shortly. I have been bad with the camera too so no nice shots to post but promise to step it up during my last week here.

Cheerio for now : )

Kuala Lumpur , here I come!

I've been a bit silent of late because I've been running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything done before I go home to KL on Sunday. I still can't believe I'm actually going home for nearly 3 weeks! The last time I was back was in June 2007 - a trip back is long overdue.

The only downer is that The Engineer will be unable to come along because of work.

I've been cooking up a storm so he doesn't end up having to perpetually eat out or live on just coffee and cigarettes (!). The pork vindaloo, pasta sauce and all the rest is going in the freezer so he'll always have food on hand.

I'm afraid that I've been overzealous though - it looks like there's enough food now to last till the end of time! Well,at least if there's ever an emergency and we end up housebound, we don't have to worry about food (I always thought Tom Cruise should have shut up, stayed indoors and waited for disaster to pass in the War of the Worlds. He'd have had much less trouble but I suppose it would have been totally boring to watch!)

I've also been running around stocking up the house with groceries and stuff, buying gifts for everyone at home and meeting dear friends before I leave.

This might seem like a pretty straightforward exercise except that this is Dar and nothing is really straightforward. For eg: I noticed that the floor-cleaning liquid had run out so I thought I'd stock that up.

I tried first at Seacliff Village Supermarket but discovered that the brand I use is out of stock. Then I tried Shoprite and then Shrijee's to no avail. I was on the verge of pulling my hair out in clumps when it suddenly dawned on me that I should give up on my 'control freak' attitude and just buy a different brand.

Since there was only one other kind at Shrijee's ( which was where I was at when the lightbulb moment occurred) I went ahead and purchased the thing.

It looks a bit dodgy and smells like what I imagine toxic waste must smell like but hey - beggars can't be choosers now can they? I'm just hoping that the skin at the bottom of our feet doesn't start peeling away because of this toxic-smelling thing!

I can't wait to go back to a land where not only will I be able to buy what I want but I'll probably be spoiled for choice because of the sheer variety of brands on the shelves. KL - here I come!

The flower shop under the tree

As I've mentioned before in this blog.... ever so often, Tanzania will redeem herself. It usually happens just as I'm ready to write her off.

I bought one and a half dozen roses yesterday for something like TSh7500 - RM19 and USD6.

They are so beautiful that they're literally breathtaking and I just had to get out the camera:




I've taken a similar photo as the one below and I don't think I'll ever get tired of snapping these shots:


One and a half dozen roses back in KL would have cost me an arm and a leg. If I were crazy enough to attempt buying them during Valentine season, I'd have to throw in a kidney too.

Even if I was willing to part with my arm, leg and kidney, I'd still have to drive a bit of a distance to get the roses and I'd most likely be stuck in traffic if I didn't time the trip exactly right.

Over here, the guys who sell me these perfect petals are just a 3-minute, traffic-free drive away.I don't even have to get out of the car because they come right up to my window with their flowers. It may be a 'down home' establishment made up of a some buckets plus a few rickety wooden crates under a tree but their flowers are unparalleled.



Of course, I have to contend with the bumpy, muddy, unsightly 'road' leading out of my apartment to the tree but it seems like a small price to pay for the sheer beauty of these roses.

As I said, once in a while , if you give her a chance, Tanzania redeems herself.

Bad Earthling, Bad!

Happy Earth Day, Mother Earth!

Today is Earth Day and I think days like this should be celebrated by us Earthlings on a much grander scale. What could be more important than preserving our home?

But before I go around judging everybody, I have to confess that I wasn't exactly a Good Earthling today.

Even though my mum told me on the phone this morning about today, I promptly forgot about it 5 minutes later.

In my 'unaware' state of mind, I actually contributed to the demise of the planet at - of all places - Shoprite in Slipway.

In my defense, it was probably brought on by the long, tediously slow, queue at the one checkout counter that was in operation. The darn luku (power) was out again! I was just there to buy 3 miserable lemons but ended up standing there for a good long while.

Since I knew I was stuck, I tried to distract myself from going loony by focusing on something other than the wait. I ended up fixated on the inordinately large swarm of flies that were mysteriously lounging about inside the store.

Shoprite isn't usually covered in flies so I suppose it must have been the smell of meat going bad although I couldn't detect anything rotten in the air. I'm presuming that flies have a more acute sense for spoiled food (I think I'll look this up) so maybe they caught some kind of low-level scent that I didn't pick up. Either way, if anything goes rotten/sour at Shoprite, it's all Tanesco's fault. I mean, how hard can it be for a power company to maintain 24-hour electricity? That's their job function. It's not like they've got to plan weddings and keep the luku going for goodness sake!

Anyway, by the time I finished with this ridiculous train of thought, I found myself at the front of the queue. Unfortunately - I don't know if it was from the heat or plain lack of enthusiasm- the cashier took longer to ring up three lemons than it would take Britney Spears to get a degree in Nuclear Physics.

I stood there trying not to say anything but then she had to go and stuff the lemons in an eensy-weensy plastic bag that was clearly too small and had no handles ( how did she think I was going to carry it...with my teeth?).

Without thinking, I asked for a different bag and it was one that was much too large. It was only when I got into my car that it dawned upon me: I shouldn't have exchanged a little plastic bag for a big one - I shouldn't have taken a bag at all especially since there were only 3 lemons to carry! I felt really bad about that.

Sigh! This is what happens when I focus on long queues, slow cashiers and flies instead of something more important like Planet Earth. To make up for my behaviour, I'll watch less TV for the next couple of days and save some electricity (although knowing Tanesco, the luku will be out and I'll end up doing that anyway!)

The End of the Rainbow

The Benevolent Beings of Blogosphere are being kind today so, as promised, here are the photos I was talking about......

I was driving to pick up The Engineer from work last Thursday when I saw the end of this rainbow curving into a world of everyday-ness:


It was amazing to witness this sort of beauty amidst the traffic and ugly billboards.

I was pleased to have captured the shot although I nearly crashed into the car in front of me!I should actually stop snapping pictures whilst driving and this isn't the first time. My only (lame) excuse is that it's extraordinary how often a good photo opportunity arrives when one is alone, behind the wheel!

I managed to capture another gorgeous scene on Saturday evening (I'm pleased to report that this time, it was from the relative safety of our apartment balcony) As if on cue, a dhow lazily floated by. It looks like someone painted this (and I think Someone up there did!) :


The Engineer and I have been missing these spectacular sunsets since the rains arrived. However, I must say that despite it looking exceptional in the photo, it was even more exceptional when we saw it 'live'. Sometimes,despite best efforts, a mere camera just cannot convey the majesty of Mother Nature!

The Not So Benevolent Beings of Blogosphere

I was all set to be a good little blogger today and had not one but two entries ready to be published. Unfortunately the Benevolent Beings who rule Blogosphere were having none of it.

I needed to download photos for both my entries and despite my non-stop clicking on the "add image" button, nothing happened. I think my poor housekeeper got a little scared and thought I was going cuckoo with the constant clicking and gnashing of teeth (I can't blame her... the definition of insanity is : doing the same thing and expecting a different result!)

Hopefully the Beings will be in a more benevolent mood tomorrow!

Karume Day

I've been sniffling and feeling quite sorry for myself this past couple of days. The rainy weather finally got to me despite my best efforts to avoid the Evil Grip of the Dar Flu.

I've been very careful since the rains have been blowing into Dar because I've come down with the flu before and let me tell you it ain't no party when that happens! You can refer to my pathetic ramblings here and here.

Fortunately, today is Karume Day and it's a holiday here in Dar so I managed to sleep in late. I don't work but The Engineer does and which means that the alarm rings early and wakes me up too. Holidays mean that The Engineer sleeps in and everything is peaceful until about 10 in the morning.

Just out of curiosity, I've been trying to find out what the heck Karume Day is in Dar and discovered something on Wikipedia (how did we survive before Google and Wikipedia?)

The only Karume listed is Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume who was the first President of Zanzibar and the first Vice President of Tanganyika alongside much-loved President Julius Nyerere.

Apparently, Karume had something to do with a rebellion in Zanzibar that overthrew the last Sultan in 1963 although it is now believed that John Okello was the instigator. I presume Karume Day is in his honour.

However, if it was Okello who was the real force behind the rebellion in Zanzibar, today might need to be re-named Okello Day but frankly...who cares! Karume Day - Okello Day, as long as it remains a Holi-Day it doesn't really matter to me!

April Fool? Whatever

I must be getting old....
I just realized that it's April Fool's Day today and it incites no excitement in me whatsoever.I remember a time when I used to anticipate it for weeks and plan every, single trick/joke that I would play on my unsuspecting family and suspicious friends.

I'd also watch out for any strange behaviour from anyone I knew because I was determined to be the Fool-er and never the Fool. I was so set on not being caught out by anyone that people found it hard to convince me when something not-so-good was actually true.

If I received a C on a Maths test, I always hoped that it was the teacher playing an April Fool trick on me but unfortunately it was never the case!

That was back when I was in school. Nowadays, I'm more concerned about the weather and if the sun is ever going to make up its mind (it's been driving me crazy today - raining/shining/raining/shining all day!).

Jeez... I just realized that I sound so tedious!

I'd better play a trick on someone just to stay young....Getting older is bad enough as it is, I don't have to get duller too!

Flowers, Birds and Butterflies Weekend

Okay, I think I've exhausted my "just got back from a holiday" excuse and it's time to tell the holiday story....

Although I didn't plan it, the theme of the weekend turned out to be flowers, birds and butterflies - TOTALLY up my street!

We went to a little resort near Lake Duluti in Arusha called the Serena Mountain Village. You can apparently see Mt.Kilimanjaro on a clear day (Arusha is near the foot of the mountain) but the Kili was having none of it. It was cloudy most of the time so we didn't see a thing at the resort.

The only time the Kili decided to grace us with its presence was when we were going back to the airport (it was a lot clearer in real-life but this was the best we could get out of our good camera with the crappy zoom lens). If you squint your eyes and really focus, you'll see the snow-covered peak, peeking out among the clouds, right in the center of the picture.


The Engineer captured a better shot from the airport but the street lights are spoiling it and I don't know squat about cropping. Here it is anyway:


The Engineer says that Mt.Kili is one of the few tropical mountains in the world that can boast a snow-covered peak.

We initially had vague plans to hire a driver and go to Lake Tarangire from our resort. We've been told that you can see loads of elephants at the lake (apparently it's the equivalent of the local George and Dragon for elephants because it's like a neighbourhood watering hole).

When we discovered that we would have to drive for like 6 hours (one way!) we gave up the plan immediately (you can drive the length of Malaysia - Singapore to Thailand - in about 10 hours. Malaysians aren't into looong drives!).

Instead, we opted to do nothing and I realized just how boring The Engineer and I really are when I mentioned this to a friend today and she said:"but you guys do nothing ALL the time!". Well, my only defense is that this time, we were doing nothing in Arusha as opposed to Dar!

The weather there wasn't cold but lovely and mild (in Dar you feel like you're at the mouth of hell at 9 am and roasting in hell-fire by noon)

The entire resort was set along a coffee plantation. The main house, where the reception and dining area were located, was apparently an old farmhouse and still seemed to retain an English farmhouse ambiance with wood floors, cosy armchairs and even a fireplace (although they didn't light it).



I kept expecting someone to come up to us and say something like:"I say old' chaps, would you like a spot of tea?It's frightfully cold out"

The rooms were circular affairs with a lovely little bathroom, glass doors that opened out into a lawn with a view of the lake and even a TV. Shockingly enough, neither one of us was inclined to watch anything so we spent the time reading and listening to the birds (or in the case of The Engineer, sleeping!).








That last shot (above) is the view from out little cottage - lovely, isn't it? The bathroom had real roses in it. The Engineer and I had to touch the petals to confirm this because they were so beautiful they looked fake!


I must say, it was very restful to get away from the hell-fires of the city but we've realized since we got back that the rainy season seems to have begun and it's all dark and cloudy and rainy in Dar. The rainy season is usually not for another month or so but with this unpredictable weather, I think we can safely assume that Al Gore wasn't kidding around on An Inconvenient Truth!

At least, I get to read and drink coffee while the rain falls outside. I was getting fed-up of Dar before I went on this holiday (and so was The Engineer although he's not as vocal about it as I am!) but we're both feeling far more forgiving right now.

Despite all its drawbacks, I'm often surprised at how the place manages to redeem itself. Tanzania is like Angelina Jolie, each time you think you've had enough, she does something that makes you re-think your opinion!

Lazy T vs Diligent T

The Engineer and I have just got back from a lovely long Easter weekend holiday in Arusha and I thought I'd be a good little Blogger Bunny and post about it first thing Monday morning.

Well, it's 10 o'clock on Monday morning now and I think I was prematurely enthusiastic. An easy-peasy task like downloading photos feels like an attempt up Mt. Kilimanjaro right now!

I can hardly think straight, let alone write coherently, because I'm still woozy from doing nothing but eating and sleeping for three days.

Meanwhile, the Engineer is haunted by no such indecision because he's still fast asleep!

I think I shall sneak back to bed for a teeny-tiny snooze (sadly, in the ongoing battle between Lazy Trish and Diligent Trish, Lazy Trish has won out yet again!)

If you can't give good directions.....

The thing is many Dar Es Salaam-ians do not know the FIRST thing about giving good directions.I suppose I should attribute this to language skills (it could be their lack of English skills or maybe I should blame myself for not knowing more than 12 words of Swahili after two years in Tanz!)

Let me elaborate....

A friend is planning to throw a fairly large party and since she's only been in Dar for about a month, I offered to help her. She had already been recommended a good caterer but had no idea exactly where the restaurant was located. So, in the great tradition of the blind leading the blind, I leapt into action and offered to try and find it with her.

My knowledge of the roads in town is very close to zero but I was willing to give it a shot. What I had not compensated for was the UTTER INABILITY of some people to give directions...

We ended up spending an inordinate amount of time driving around in an area that was not remotely close to the location of the restaurant.

When we were finally in the correct vicinity of our destination, we ended up sitting in traffic for what felt like 10 hours.

Despite our spectacularly talentless direction-givers (there were not one but two people who were leading us down the garden path) and the bumper to bumper traffic we did manage to arrive in a fairly reasonable amount of time.

However, my patience (already being on the thin side) was now thinner than Nicole Richie's right thigh. When I caught sight of the restaurant manager (this was one of the talentless direction-givers) I was ready to strangle the man.

Luckily I remembered my newly-gleaned skills in tolerance. I took a deep breath and ignored him (I'm still in the practice stage- I'm supposed to take a deep breath and let it go!).

This isn't the first time I've run around like a headless chicken because somebody said turn right at the traffic lights instead of left but I certainly hope it's the last (somehow I doubt it!) After today's episode, though, I would like this down on record: "if you can't give good directions, don't give any directions at all!"

Hedonism

I came back from the Kilimanjaro Kempinski Anantara Spa a few hours ago and I STILL haven't recovered - recovered from total bliss that is!

I feel all woozy, sleepy and not in the mood to do a thing which is such a fabulous feeling! What more can a self-proclaimed diva ask for?!

This all goes back to Christmas....I received a number of gifts from my very sweet and thoughtful Engineer. Among them was this diet-busting, totally tempting tin of chocolate-covered treats which I practically finished single-handedly:


One of his other gifts was a voucher for the 'Kempinski Retreat' spa package which translates to a 2.5 hour long festival of self-indulgence comprising a foot bath, steam bath, full body scrub and massage (my skin feels softer than the bottoms on those babies in Johnson & Johnson ads). Woo hoo!



I didn't dare check the price on the spa menu when I got there in case I went into cardiac arrest and ruined the entire experience for myself.

I must say that I don't understand people who shun spas. What is wrong with sitting and doing nothing while someone else expends time and energy to get you looking and feeling good? I say nothing at all!

I do realize that there are a number of, shall we say, less than comfortable circumstances when one is at the spa. The removal of clothing is high on the list (although the good spas do provide paper underwear) and I know some people dislike being touched by strangers. My advice is: close your eyes and revel!

I'm of course referring to legitimate spas and not one of those that also offer 'extra special' massages! That's an altogether different kind of experience and no diva worth her salt would go within a 10 kilometer radius of one of those spas! Just think about what must be all over the massage table and on the towels..... eeeewwwwwww! Fortunately, the Kempsinski is a totally legal spa that deals only with 'proper' treatments so I didn't have to worry.

The whole experience put me into a "pamper me" mood and I finally did what I've been meaning to do for a long time - bought some take-away sushi from the Kempinski's excellent Oriental restaurant.

To show my appreciation to the man behind my Happy Day, I dropped off a serving of California Maki at his office, complete with wasabi, soy and pickled ginger. My only complaint was the take-away package. The gorgeous sushi was dumped unceremoniously into one of those horribly ugly foil take-away things that are so popular here in Dar. One would think that the Kempinski would attempt to be a little classier than that!

Well, now that I've had my sushi and watched an episode of Sex and the City on DVD (okay, more than one episode but don't tell anyone), I'm going to go and lie on the couch and read.

I must say, even though I've discovered that selflessness and non-attachment are the way to lasting peace....it's so hard to remember that when hedonism just feels so darn good!

images from steppestravel.co.uk and kempinski-daressalaam.com. Pic of "Temptation" cookie tin by Trish

The Art of Living

I have been attending a workshop called "The Art of Living" for the past week. It was held at the Coral Beach Hotel which just happens to be down the road from where I live (right next to the Indian Ocean - lovely!)

I must say that it was a transformative experience. Although I dread being seen as a goody-goody it would be nice to know that, at my funeral, people won't be heaving a collective sigh of relief! Besides, I constantly deal with loads of inner chatter and thought that it wouldn't hurt to explore ways to have some silence and peace in my head!

The course was designed around yoga, breathing exercises and a number of key points.

My favourite was "what you resist persists". This means that the more you close up and hold tightly onto yourself, your beliefs /your viewpoint and reject everything else, the more you'll find yourself in situations that challenge you and your frozen thinking. The more open you are the lighter your life becomes and the easier it will be to deal with what you view as wrong or bad. Judgment is never a good idea and nothing is carved in stone!

This really struck me because I tend to be much like a statue when it comes to what I think is right and wrong and who I think is good and bad. In my world it's almost all black and white and there's hardly any grey (besides, grey is SUCH a dull colour but let's not go there!)

The other major thing I learned is that, at our very core, we are all the same. We all want love and happiness. This might sound pretty obvious but I tend to forget all about it when the cashier at Shrijee's is taking 100 years to ring up the bill or when the askari is busy chatting and ignores me when I'm waiting at the gate!

It wasn't all angel's wings and clouds, though. There were times when I thought the processes we were going through, like dancing with our eyes closed and laughing for no reason at all, was an exercise in silliness. But I noticed that once I stopped thinking, it was actually very liberating to laugh for no reason and dance blindly. The constant worry about what other people might think eventually stopped and it felt like I was suddenly free of a nagging headache.....

I think the best advertisement for this course is my teacher - she's close to 40 but looks about 20 (who needs Dr.90210 when you can laugh and breathe your way to unlined skin and a brighter smile!). The attendees were from vastly different cultures/backgrounds/ages but by the end of it, we all felt a strange sense of one-ness. It was refreshing.

I'm not saying that I'm going to be an angel after this (I had a little tiff with The Engineer in the past week but I didn't tell the teacher!). I don't think I can stop being a Judgey Judgerson anytime soon or stop having concrete opinions (I'll have to shut down this blog if I ever run out of those!) but at least I'm more aware of my own thoughts, why I have them and the effect of these thoughts out in the world.

Alright, if you've read this far and been rolling your eyes, I get it -it's time to stop! I hate a goody-goody as much as the next guy so no more preaching but before I go back to my regular complain-ey entries, allow me this last bit of goody-goodyness. This is a little prayer we learned which I just have to share:

"Lead us from untruth to truth,
From darkness into light,
From mortality to immortality,
Peace, peace, peace"

Houskeeper Saga - Part Mbili

Now, I just don't believe in lending anybody any money (unless it's an ABSOLUTE emergency and we're blood relatives or it's a friend who has donated me a kidney or something). I have witnessed far too many relationships go down the drain to feel comfortable about borrowing or lending money and I'd really rather not jeopardize any of my relationships/friendships - they matter too much to me. Besides, my granny always told me "never a borrower or a lender be!" Anyway, in line with this motto, I told Sofia no dice. That didn't stop her, unfortunately.

She tried asking me again about 6 weeks later and 4 weeks after that. Persistence does pay because I finally caved, against my better judgment, and lent her some cash. I just couldn't hold out anymore when she explained the reason in a letter written in English by a friend - Sofia's England is not so the good! She needed the money to pay the rent or she was going to lose her home.

Despite abandoning my cherished principles on money, I felt very benevolent and helpful when the I finally did lend it to her (with The Engineer's consent, of course). Little did I know that I would scarcely have time to feel pleased about helping someone because she came back to me the following week and INSISTED that I take her on 5 times a week instead of the usual 3. I had to give it to her - she always had reasons for everything. This time, it was because of the new minimum wage introduced by the Tanzanian President and the only way to justify her increase in salary was to increase the number of days she worked.

Something told me not to do it but I agreed to a 5-day schedule and of course the corresponding increase in wages. I had to literally scrape around for things to fill her time with (it's only The Engineer and me, no dirty kiddie clothes and toys strewn about).

I was already feeling a bit manipulated at this stage but what she did next really pushed me over the edge. After everything - the increase in wages, the lending of the money - she stopped turning up regularly!

I felt like I was being taken for a ride - which I undoubtedly was. Her excuses were lame ; a stomach ache here, a headache there and the last one was that her doctor had advised her to stay home - goodness knows what for! She seemed perfectly fine to me.

The last excuse she pulled was rather dramatic. She came in in the morning, ate her breakfast and went about her work. After about an hour, I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen her fand looked around only to find her on the floor, clutching her stomach. The minute I said she could go home, she stood right up and marched right out the door! That was the moment it dawned upon me that she must think that I am a teeny bit of an idiot!

Much as I hated it, I decided to let her go. An employee who is bad at what they do is one thing but I didn't want to deal with someone who was good at their job but whose attitude was not.

So, that's how I ended up having to train a new girl, Imelda (she's really young). Her England is even MORE not the good compared to Sofia. Imelda is eager enough but not as good at her job as Sofia was. The good news is that she hasn't asked me for money or rolled about on the floor clutching her tummy - not yet anyway. So wish me luck!

Housekeeper Saga : Part Moja

When I first arrived here a couple of years ago, I was anti-housekeeper. By this I don't mean that I wanted to annihilate all housekeepers in Tanzania but rather that personally, I did not feel I needed one.

The reasoning behind my thinking was that I was freshly free from my office job ( I had resigned about 2 weeks prior to arriving in Dar),I didn't know a soul except for The Engineer and I was miserable, miserable, miserable! This was largely due to my gut-wrenching homesickness but the other reason was because I'm a diva (and proud of it!).

All Dar had to offer (two years ago anyway but not much has changed!) is unstable electrical power, head-splitting hot sunshine, the beach and un-tarred roads - hardly NY Fifth Avenue. The only shoes that are readily available here are leather thongs (albeit pretty ones) and weird platforms (which look like they're targeted at the hooker portion of the population!) But I digress....

I truly believed at that time that housework would keep me sane. I was mostly housebound with nothing but time on my hands to sink deeper and deeper into my homesickness so I didn't see housework as the drudgery it is!

Fortunately for me, Girlfriend (the person who became my best friend in Africa) and I hit it off soon after and the more people I met the less time I was inclined to spend with a broom and duster.

It was Girlfriend who finally made me employ domestic help ( I think she got tired of listening to me say that I couldn't accompany her somewhere because I hadn't mopped the floor yet that week!). Anyway, that was how I ended up with help at home.

Initially, I freaked out at the idea of someone 'lurking' about in my home. Anyone who knows me knows that I positively treasure my privacy and the idea of a housekeeper in the background did not appeal. However, much to my own surprise, I changed my mind fairly quickly. The dishes seemed to 'miraculously' get clean, the floor was swept and mopped and best of all - the clothes were ironed!

As time wore on, I found myself relying more and more on my housekeeper but just as I thought we'd established a good relationship, she began to hassle me for money.....(to be continued)

Training Day

The new domestic 'reported for duty' today. This is probably going to sound so spoiled but I feel terribly exhausted after her 'training day'....too exhausted to go into the details right now....

Promise to elaborate in my next entry....

Ice Cream Anguish

A few nights ago, the Engineer and I had just finished dinner, when I was inexplicably gripped by an urge to eat ice-cream.

The tricky bit is that it wasn't just any 'ol ice-cream but a particular kind that can only be found at Steers. Steers is the one and only 'fast-food' joint in Dar although there's nothing remotely fast about it but that's another story.

The ice-cream that I had my heart set on is that ridiculously creamy, softy, swirly kind of with the chocolate coating that starts off drippy but miraculously turns into a hard shell after a few seconds.

The Engineer heroically jumped into the car and drove me all the way into town just so I could stuff my face with ice-cream.

Anyway, we arrived there and waited patiently for about 10 minutes. I would have thrown a fit if we had been in any other part of the world but since this is Dar and everything is pole f-ing pole, I decided that I might as well grin and bear it (told you that it wasn't fast but "fast" food).

We finally get to the front of the line and I place my order for my solitary ice-cream (The Engineer isn't much of an ice-cream fan). The lady behind the counter started smiling so I smiled back but after nearly two years in Dar, I should have known that big smiles from sales/service people here is never a good sign.

Anyway, she smiles and tells me that they've run out of freaking ice-cream - this after that long wait! The Engineer, eager to diffuse my rage and save the Steers woman from obliteration, quickly stepped in at this point and suggested that we drive over to Movenpick and have a Movenpick sundae instead.

Lured by the image of a large bowl filled with lovely (albeit overly-priced) scoops of Switzerland's best, I allowed myself to be led away from the fortunate Steers lady.

The story doesn't end there, though. We arrive at Movenpick five minutes later and are courteously led to a table. When I asked for the ice-cream menu, the waiter gave me a smile. I consider myself a fairly quick study so I instantly prepared for bad news which was a good thing because the he proceeded to tell us that they had run out of Swiss ice-cream that night.

It was all I could do to refrain from physically assaulting the grinning waiter (in my opinion, I do suffer from low blood sugar) Instead, I opted to walk off in a huff (well, at least I didn't open my mouth and tell him what I thought of Dar and of Tanzania in general!)

Being the old hand that he is, The Engineer calmly allowed me my requisite 2 minutes to cool off and suggested that we try the BP station at the corner of Ali Hassan Mwinyi. At this point I was ready to call it quits, go home, wake up the next morning and catch a flight out of freaking Dar because I was so FED UP.

The Engineer wisely ignored my ranting and drove straight to the BP station instead and lo and behold - there was ice-cream available! Granted it wasn't Swiss or the swirly creamy Steers variety but it was ice-cream and we'd found it at 10 at night which is a minor miracle (everything here shuts at like 8 pm)

I was thrilled and all ready to allow Dar to redeem itself until we went to pay for the thing and discovered that it cost TSH4,000 (RM 11). For that price, there'd better be a gold nugget inside but of course there wasn't!

If you can get hold of it, it's too expensive and if it's not expensive you can't get hold of it....I suppose you can't have your ice-cream and eat it too!

Karibu "Your Excellency"

George W. Bush, accompanied by Laura Bush, arrived in Dar last Saturday. Apparently Air Force One landed in the old airport and according to an American friend who understands Swahili (and listens to local radio) the Tanzanian announcer described the plane as "magical"! The local English paper, The Guardian, stopped just short of that very Tanzanian description and opted instead to call it a "mammoth aircraft"

Frankly, I was more interested in checking out Air Force One (I used to be a big Harrison Ford fan) than checking out the VIP within. To put it politely, I think Mr. Bush could have done a MUCH better job dealing with the ugly debacle in Iraq and due to his, shall we say, poor decision-making skills, I'm not going to lose any sleep if I never laid eyes on him - ever.

Not everyone shares my blase attitude though. The Tanzanian government and press seemed quite pleased with having Bush as a guest in their country. According to The Guardian, this is the first time a US President has paid a state visit to Tanzania. His arrival here is in response to Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete's invitation when the latter was in Washington.

I didn't notice much beautification or cleaning up going on in the city prior to the "big day" but about two days before he arrived, there was a sudden appearance of various signs and posters around town (to be honest, I find these far more absorbing than Mr. Bush himself).

However, I feel obligated to point out that the poor people who can be seen begging at the traffic lights in front of the Movenpick Hotel (where the Commander-in-Chief was scheduled to hold a few meetings) miraculously vanished the day before he arrived.

As for the signs, well...here's one:


In this one , it looks like they're trying to reassure Mr. Bush about how much they love democracy:




..... and this is my personal favourite:




I like the way he seems so happy to be standing in front of Mt. Kilimanjaro (I'll bet you anything he doesn't know where the Kilimanjaro is or possibly even WHAT Kilimanjaro is although when I consider his past, he probably does know that Kilimanjaro is the name of a local brand of beer).

I'm also very tickled with the way the banners refer to him as "Your Excellency". The Tanzanians seem to have muddled up Mr. Bush with the Queen of England. Unless I'm terrible wrong, I do believe "your excellency" is a form of address for royalty.

The following are pictures that turned up in The Guardian. In this one "Your Excellency" is looking quite pleased next to President Kikwete:



..... and here he is looking not so pleased



I think that's more a grimace than a smile. Clearly Bush is not a hugger and it really looks like he would rather be in Iraq than in the arms of this very enthusiastic Tanzanian woman (btw, I'm shocked that there are still people left in this world who would willingly hug George.W)

Well, that's the low down on President George W. Bush's visit to little 'ol Dar. I don't know if he's still here but, judging from the sudden absence of the legion of foreign press that was milling about, I believe he's left. Honestly, I don't really care...

I'm just disappointed I didn't manage to catch a glimpse of Air Force One. Darn!