8-12-12

So I had my first Tanzanian “time” moment.  The family Christine is living with offered to pick me up and take me to church.  They said church started at 9 so they would pick me up at 8:45.  Well, 8:45 passed and it was 5 of 9.  I was so worried about being late, I thought maybe they forgot about me so I walked.  When I gt there I told Marilyn what happened and she called to let them know I was there.  As it turned out, HOPAC church doesn’t star till 9:20 ish.  I should have know, Tanzanian time is not actual time.  My and my American self thought, oh maybe they forgot, which happens, so I just walked.  I felt so bad after.  They didn’t mind at all but I felt silly.  I will always remember now, Tanzania time. 

Church was amazing this morning.  Such great worship in the gym of HOPAC.  It is amazing that the director of the school is the pastor as well, Len.  It was a great sermon and great songs were sung.  I really enjoyed it and liked the message.  Ecclesiastes 3.  Everything under the sun WITHOUT GOD is meaningless.  So, how do you make the most out of life?  You need to accept God’s guidance in every area of your life.  All things will happen, but you need to have God as your partner.  There will be tragedy if we try to do things in our own way. 

During church Yvonne wrote to me that my blessings are my little first graders this year.  I am so eager to meet them after all of the things I have been hearing about them.

After church Rob and Yvonne took us to a furniture-making house.   We drove up a crazy steep hill and came to the “furniture store.”   There were actually men and women working.  There were mass amounts of wood and started chairs, bed frames, cabinets etc.  The craftsmanship was amazing.  My father would have been in heaven and talking to them for hours.  Chrstine talked with them about a cabinet she was receiving for her kitchen.  After we drove to the Africana intersection.  We finally got our ATM cards to work.  We attempted to get a phone and internet but it didn’t work.  TIA, driving around for hours trying to find something specific and it not working out.  Tomorrow it is!  Came home and relaxed before we had to go to dinner at Marie and Carley’s house.  So we call a bajaji drive to come to my house, Abedy.  Pic*

A bajaji is like a car you would choose in Mario cart.  It has handlebars, like a bike, that you use to steer.  It is manual on the handle like a motorbike but it has two bench seats in the front and back.  There is also a overhead covering.  It is the coolest thing ever.    I was so excited to be riding in one, I felt like a little kid in a candy shop.  Carley and Marie were so gracious and made us dinner.  We had homemade chili with cornbread and “sour cream”(depending on how much water you drain out of the package it is like sour cream or cream cheese). It was delicious.  Carly is engaged to a Kenyan man and they will wed in Kenya in November and then have a ceremony back in the states over holiday break.  She is the assistant of something.  Marie is the Special Ed teacher and has been teaching overseas for a while.  She is awesome at Swahili.  It is interesting how you can make life very similar to back in the states if you want.  They have cars, a satellite tv and phones.  It seems that everything is pretty much available, it just comes at a price.  All in all it was a good night. 

8-13-12

Christine and I made it our priority to get internet and a phone for her today.  It is too difficult to rely on others to do it for you.  We set off in a bajaji again, driven by George.  He had the biggest eyes.  We went to the Shopright Mall.  It was mall-like.  It had a lot of different stores and a huge supermarket that had everything you could think of.  Again, making me feel not like I am in Africa.  I got some little things I needed for my room and school. 

We went on to another grocery store called Shoppers.  This is the best place to get internet and phones.  Finally, I got Internet!  Yea!  It has been nice not having it but I find I want it most to look up things I am unsure of.  And no Erin, it isn’t hard words all the time.  Shopping tires me out no matter what country I am in.  Got home, relaxed and had to decide what to cook for my first independent meal in Tanzania.  So , of course I chose pasta.  Very traditional ;)  I did have lots of local veggies that I chopped up and put in it.  I had me a little sprite and some cookies for desert.  All in all it was a yummy meal.