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!

AVP 2

The Engineer and I went to watch Alien Vs Predator 2 (AVP 2) at Milimani City last night.
Century Cinemax boasts the widest screen in East Africa but - regrettably for The Engineer - not the strongest seats.

We were sitting peacefully waiting for the house lights to dim when there was a loud crack. The next thing I knew, The Engineer, still attached to his seat, was now on the floor! The seat had inexplicably come loose from its hinges and crashed to the ground.

It was all I could do not to laugh out loud! Thankfully there weren't many people in the theater at that point and the destruction of Century Cinemax property went largely unnoticed.

The Engineer picked himself up after a few seconds and pronounced that he was very surprised because he'd thought he was losing and not gaining weight!

After finding new seats, the rest of the evening proceeded uneventfully .

I must say that about 10 minutes into the movie, I found myself wishing my seat would break too - just so I would have an excuse to distract myself from, what must be, one of the worst movies in film history. AVP 2 is Utterly Dreadful.

PS: The things we do for love....when I was single, I wouldn't have gone within a 10-kilometer radius of a movie like this!

image from iwatchstuff.com

Umeme-less again!

Okay this no-electricity thing has GOT to stop!

I just got back from a looooong round trip from every grocery store in the Peninsular (think Shrijee's, Slipway, the fruit/veg duka and Seacliff) only to get back and realize that there is no umeme at home (grrrr!).

This means I've come in from the heat outside into an oven-like temperature at home with no immediate way of cooling down because the Powers That Be (namely the apartment manager) hasn't decided to switch on Jenny yet (that's what I call my apartment generator - you start having a close personal relationship with generators when normal electricity is as unstable as it is here)

The reason I've been running around like a headless chicken is because grocery shopping in Dar is a headless chicken kind of endeavor. As any person who has attempted it knows, there is no such concept as "under one roof" in this place. If you're trying to get the best stuff at reasonable prices, you have to go to at least 3 different stores.

Let's say you're set on getting some Australian honey, you've better drive to Shopper's Plaza for a bottle that won't cost you your right arm (and leg!). If a french baguette is on your list, then you'd better stop off at Seacliff....



....and as for low-fat Azam yoghurt (the creamiest low fat yoghurt ever!), it's either Shoprite in Slipway or perhaps Shrijee's. If you happen to be unlucky enough to have run out of fresh fruit and vegetables, don't even dream that you'll get it in any air-conditioned establishment because everyone knows that the best place for fresh fruits and veg is at those sweltering-hot dukas:



After I've been on one of these Columbus-like expeditions, all I want to do is to get a glass of iced water and stand in front of my air-conditioner the minute I get home.

Today is clearly not my lucky day because I arrived home to find that I have to carry bags of groceries and climb 7 flights of stairs to get to my apartment with no hope of getting cool anytime in the near future.

So, here I am, ranting on this blog just so my hands have something else to do other than pull my hair out in frustration! If nothing else living in Dar Es Salaam will teach you to practice patience.......in really, really high temperature!

Darning that Darned Dress

I was so excited when I bought this fabulous new dress:


I hardly ever see a dress that I really, really want to buy here in Dar and this dress was just perfect.
I just love the silky material, the swirly colours and patterns and best of all - the empire waist. At least when I'm in this thing I don't have to be in a constant state of inhalation just so my tummy doesn't stick out!

As it turns out, my euphoria was short-lived. I had my housekeeper iron the dress with careful instructions on keeping the heat low but maybe I should have learned to say it in Swahili because when I took it out to wear it, there was a tiny little hole right in the front (clearly from a too hot iron) ! I was practically on the verge of tears but pulled myself together long enough to think of a solution. I decided I'd try to fix it by doing some darning - something I hadn't done in, like, forever!

Here's my handiwork:


Thank goodness for the swirly pattern coz it's really not noticeable from afar. Unfortunately, I'm always going to know that when it comes to this dress - it's good from far , far from good!