Who's Who?

I have had few a comments from friends and family that I am writing about people but only I know who they are. So this is a recap of the people I've met and who they are. I am sure I will miss a few people, so if I missed you let me know cause I didn't mean too. I don't know really where to start so I will start at the beginning with the MCC team.

Mike and Maguy Salomons are the MCC country reps and live in Arusha with their 2 boys, Lucas and Kaleb. Mike is from Edmonton, CA and Maguy is from the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). Janelle and Simeon are from the USA and also live in Arusha with their little boy, Malachi. Simeon works with Global Service Corps on agriculture and appropriate technology projects. Janelle has been working part time doing rehabilitation work with children who have had just surgery. Terry also lives in Arusha and is from the USA. She works as a mediator and in capacity building (I think that's the easiest way to explain what she does). Last but not least is Darnelle who works in Migumu (west of the Serengeti) on computers and networking. He is also from the USA.

Here in Dodoma there is Al and Tiffanee fromt the USA with their 2 girls, Kiara and Kiaya. Tiffanee works as an administator for Grace and Healing Ministries which is run from the church here. They do a lot of work with HIV/AIDS. I work with Al on the sand dam projects. He is the MMC advisor for the overall project and I will be focusing on the agriculture aspects of the project. The rest of the sand dam team is from Tanzania. Musa is the project manager, Pendo is the accountant, Shomari is a mason and Chitema is the community mobilizer. We hope to have someone local working alongside me soon who has agriculture training.

Kevin and Anne

So now on to Iringa! Starting with the students I lived, studied and laughed with for the last 5 weeks. Ben and Katy are from the UK and will be taking over the management of Neema Crafts in Iringa. They will have a large load on their shoulders but I know they will be successful. Anne and Kevin were there again from Kilolo so Kevin could do his last 3 weeks of school. Luisa is from Germany and was supposed to be at university in Dar but felt she was not learning anything as half the time the classes were canceled so she came out to learn Kiswahili. Micheal and Bev are from the USA (sort of) and will be spending a couple years in Tanzania with SIL. They will spend their 1st year in Dar teaching at one of the international schools (Bev English and Micheal art).

Ben and Katy

Micheal and Bev

 Micheal and Bev are fascinating and wonderful people. They have been working for SIL most of their lives and their 3 children grew up in Paupa New Guinea. Bev usually teaches at an international school and Micheal works on illustration, design and art projects with the local people. They have amazing stories but I will not try to repeat them as I can not do them justice.

During my first stay at Rivervalley there was a different group of SIL students who I think I have mentioned in other post, but here is a recap.  Ronit, Holly, Eric and Allison are all from USA and all but Holly are now living in Musoma. Holly is living in Mbeya along with Netta, who is from the UK. They all work for SIL in language translation, administration or computer programming.

Me, Kerrie, Goze @ BBQ

Amanda now owns Rivervalley campsite and her husband Will tries to stay out of it ;). Will grew up in Tanzania across the river at Kibebe Farms. I am so glad that they now have the camp and the changes Amanda has already made are wonderful. They also own Info Iringa in town and Warthog Safari's. Kerrie (who is part of the dancing crew) is their daughter, who just decided to move 'home' to work with her parents. She grew up in Germany and UK and has been living France and the USA for the last 6 years.
 

Now for the rest of the dancing crew. Maria is from Finland and is an exchange student at one of the universities in Iringa. She has just been able to extend her stay until March! Goze is from Turkey and works for the UN Refugees. She is helping to locate land and homes for Burundi refugees who have been given Tanzanian citizenship. Her work seems very interesting, but I am sure is difficult and full of politics. Janneke lives in Mbeya and is seconded to the Regional Area Office to advise on water projects (for domestic use I believe, not agriculture). Last but not least is George aka Queenie. George is Greek but a large portion of his family lives here and he has also returned 'home' to work with the family on the family farms.

George, Maria, Goze, Me, Kerrie

And I think that is everyone from the last few months. Let me know if
I missed someone (or if I missed you?!?).

Going Back a Bit

So a few updates from my time Iringa. Not only did I meet some amazing people again while in Iringa but I also learned more Kiswahili while doing a few fun things. I've already blogged about the weekend trip to Dar.

I got my haircut by a Brazilian nun. Yes, you read that right, a nun (or sister really as she is not an official nun) who grew up in Brazil. Her father was a barber and she has been cutting hair since she was a little girl. Thank goodness for her because I had been cutting my own bangs (fringe) and they were starting to look horrible. Not only did she fix my bangs but she layered my hair (which it needed real bad) and was only 25,000 Tsh (~$16Cdn). Half the price from back home :) 

I also had a jumper made (I am slowly getting Britishized), which I love! (The jumper is what I love). It is purple and looks good and is the kind of thing I will wear often (along with sweats hehehe I can just hear the comments from you Carissa ;) ).

I so enjoy wandering around the streets and the many dukas (stores) in the market area. It is amazing what you can find here. I even found the dresses I wore in Dar here. I also found awesome gifts for the boys which I can’t send for Jack’s B’day because of stupid postal strike in Canada :(  I am looking forward to finally settling in Dodoma and learning the market and dukas and seeing what I can find here.

I also drank iced coffee (coffee with ice cream) which is to die for, every time I came into town. I think it may just be better than the Starbucks iced coffee?!? Either way I am really gonna miss those iced coffees :(

I had an good last weekend at Iringa (Rivervalley). I spent Saturday at the campsite and I must of had a good lazy day cause I can't remember what I did ;). In the evening the dance crew (as I now call them) came out for a BBQ to celebrate George’s 30^th B’day which is this coming Tuesday and to have a going away for me. We never really acknowledge that I am leaving except that George, Maria and Kerrie said I’m not allowed to leave and they are going to kidnap me or find a way to sabotage the bus! 

The BBQ was awesome! I have never seen so much meat in my life and I got to cook most of it :) I was totally in my element cooking (even though I have never cooked on charcoal before) and felt right at home. I had the tongs in one hand, a drink in the other and a big smile on my face. Just like I would if I was at the lake back home with my family. Sunday was spent relaxing and doing homework.

On Monday, Kerrie and I went to town for dinner. Around 5:30 we hooked up with Goze, swung by her place and then headed to Sai Villa for drinks and appi’s on the patio will the sun was setting before George and Maria came. (Wished Janneke could have been there).We were  well on our way by the time they showed up (with laughter and silliness) and by the end of the night they had me laughing so hard I actually cried! I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard! My stomach still hurt the next day from laughing so much. Also Kerrie said she could pick out my giggle from the washroom (yes Mom I know, I know! I will try not to be so loud next time!). 

Instead of packing Tuesday afternoon I played Phase 10 with Amanda and Will and had dinner with the other Kiswahili students. So then I had to pack after dinner and of course as luck would have it the power was out. So I packed by lantern and flashlight. It was bound to happen sometime! I was sad to say good bye to everyone, but it really was time to leave the 'bubble' and get back to real life. I am really looking forward to really getting into the work that brought me here. So now I am 'home' in Dodoma :) even though I am heading to Arusha on Monday for the week.

Nicknames

During the Dar weekend we decided that we needed to give ourselves nicknames. So while on the road there we threw some around. (One must wonder how old we really are?) lol
So Kerrie is now known as Goldie (which is also what her grandfather used to call her) and suits her perfectly. She has long blond hair and a few blond moments. hehe
Janneke is Tommie because she is such a tomboy.
Maria is berry because her name means berry in Finnish and she really is sweet like a strawberry :)
I am maple, for sweet Canadian maple syrup. That works for me!
Last but not least is George who we call Queenie because he is an awesome dancer! It started as Dancing Queen and evolved to Queenie!
Goze (who unfortunately I don't have a pic of yet) is fistigi. This is the name of a Turkish dessert that she loves back home in Turkey and Queenie is obsessed with Turkish desserts.
We'll see how long we stick with them :)

Weekend in Dar es Salaam

I just realized it has been almost a month since I last blogged! So here is long one of what I did last weekend. (I will try to do a catch up blog this weekend).

I had a great weekend in Dar!! And man did I need that! It felt so good to get out and do a little shopping (I browsed more than I bought) and to have lots of laughs, good food and go dancing with friends! :)

We spent the 1^st night at the Southern Sun. Nice hotel and it was nice to be in more classy joint for one night. Then spent the last 2 nights at Onnela’s which is very basic and clean but much cheaper.

We left Iringa bright and early Friday morning (5:30am!). Amazingly none of us really slept on the way. All of us girls dozed off for a few minutes once or twice, but that was it. There was myself, Kerrie (Brit/Tz), Janneke (Dutch), Maria (Finnish) and George (Greek/Dance teacher). We stopped at Mikumi to have breakfast in the park overlooking a water hole. There were elephants and water buffalo nearby. Amazing that we can pop in somewhere for a bit to eat and be able to watch animals and look at the beautiful Tanzanian scenery.

We arrived in Dar around 2pm and went along with George to do his cheese deliveries. He was going to drop us at the hotel first but we told him not to because than he would get stuck in traffic and it would take him forever to do his deliveries and get back to the hotel. It was fun because we were than able to go  for lunch together and checked out a couple shops along the way. We got to the hotel after 4pm and the first thing Kerrie and I did was went for a swim!

I forgot how much I enjoy swimming until I got in that pool. It was a little weird though because the hotel lounge bar overlooked the pool and there were small groups of Tanzanians there. They were definitely watching us, but whatever! Kerrie and I had a great talk. We have already planned that she will come to Canada to visit some day and we are going to check out Montreal together (and whats funny is that the English chick speaks French and the Canadian chick can't! lol).

After swimming we got ready and went down for drink and then we went to BBQ Village (somewhere off the New Bagamoyo Road) for the best seafood dinner I have ever had. After dinner we went to the Yacht Club was some of George's friends and cousins were. Around 1am we headed to Runway, a local club. We only stayed for an hour or so, but it was fun to go to an ‘upscale’ club here, dance a little and laugh at Kerrie getting hit on by Jerry, George’s really drunk friend. I wish I had a picture of her face, it was priceless.

We had a great breakfast at the hotel (which was included). I had my 1^st omelet since I can’t remember when! We than headed out and did some wandering around the shops and eventually made it to Onnela’s. We went for a swim and then Kerrie and I had a nap before getting ready to go out for dinner. We went to BBQ Village again. It was so good the first time we wanted more! And besides, there is no point going somewhere else and being disappointed. Also, it was really cheap. Only 20,000 Tzs per person (~ $15). After another yummy dinner of seafood we headed to the Sweet Easy (in Oyster Bay area) where the salsa night was being held. Unfortunately the DJ kinda sucked and kept switching from Latin music to old house music. And some of the Latin music he played really sucked. But we still had a lot of fun and did lots of dancing!

We did not stay out late and when we got back to the hotel Kerrie and I were both sick, especially Kerrie. We still don’t know if it was food poisoning or if we ate too much before going dancing. But we did sleep well and felt better in the morning. It was nice to sleep in again! We went for lunch at Epidor's which has to have the best baking I have ever had! Kerrie said it was just like being back in France again, so it must have been REALLY good! After lunch I went back to the hotel to hang around the pool by myself and the group went to a different hotel to hang out at the pool there. It was nice to have a few hours to myself, even if I slept for most of it! Hehehe

The crew picked me up for dinner around 6:30 and we went to a Japanese restaurant for sushi and udon noodles. It was also really good. It was the most expensive meal at 30,000 Tzs (~$20) which really is not that bad for fresh seafood.

For the first time this weekend we got to bed at a decent time. I think I was  sleeping by 11pm. We slept in as well and then headed over to the shops to get Kerrie’s new computer (a Mac laptop) and then had a few stops to make on the way out of town. We had a good trip back to Iringa and arrived at Rivervalley around 8:30pm (we would have been earlier but we got stuck in road construction). We had dinner and caught up with Will and Amanda before we all headed off to bed. Tuesday morning it was back to classes for me!

Here is a pic of the crew Friday night before going for dinner and dancing.

Janneke, Me, Kerrie, Maria and George