Showing posts with label overseas living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overseas living. Show all posts
Last weekend, I hit the one month point of my return to Tanzania. While I was traveling through Canada, there were a number of things I really missed about Tanzania. Some of them came as no surprise (sun, beach, warmth!), others took me by surprise.

What to Eat?


Before returning to Canada, I really missed the variety of food. But, when I was back home, I actually felt rather overwhelmed by all the choice. I would freeze up trying to make a choice from a menu (and in grocery stores and department stores). Turns out that choice can be overrated and I'm perfectly happy to buy my breakfast from the same Chapati lady everyday I can.   

Nice Place but I Wouldn't Want to Live There


When I first got back to Tanzania, I stayed two weeks in the fancy part of town. This is an area I visit all the time to get a bit of an escape from the crazy city life. The peninsula, as its affectionately known, is full of higher end shops and restaurants and dominated by the expats. However I didn't feel like I was really back in Dar es Salaam until I hit my crazy market neighbourhood - Karikoo. Its all what you're used to I guess and the peninsula feels like a holiday to me, rather than my daily existence.

Love Dar, Hate the Traffic


Transport can be a love/hate relationship but its a rare day I have to wait for a bus. Though sometimes buses take a while to fill-up, at least I can sit down while waiting. And, if you are going to be stuck in traffic, why not be only paying 25 cents? And anyone who follows my twitter feed knows, that some of my favourite/funny moments happen while riding the bus.
I got pretty lucky with my living situation for the next three months. Its right around the corner from where I used to live and I've got two great, new room-mates.

The apartment is on the top floor, which is pretty high up and key because we don't have any air-conditioning. But we do have a great breeze in the evening and you can sit on our balcony and watch the city below.

The apartment is a work in-progress at the moment. Everyone just moved in so furnishing the place is an ongoing effort. If you look at the photos of my old apartment you'll see that a lot of the furniture at the moment are pieces from my old place.

However, unlike my old place, I do have my own room. Though I got quite used to sharing a room; quoting my old room-mate, "I now define privacy as everyone sitting together and not talking". It's not a bad thing to have your own space. I'm enjoying not needing headphones to watch movies and listen to music.

Funny enough, I already have some things that I never got around to buying in my last 6 months (such as curtains). Tonight, I'm venturing out to get a full-length mirror, another item that was much discussed in my last apartment but never actually purchased.

And if I miss my old home, all I have to do is look across the way and there it is!
Our last week in Dar felt a bit like an attempt to test the limits of time and space. Saying good-bye to everyone and visiting all of our favourite places was going to be busy enough. And then for I needed to make arrangement for my return in January. We crammed it all in right up to the final hours, where we celebrating with my Executive Director at her kitchen party.

What's a kitchen party? Its a bridal-shower like you've never seen it before. No games and a few presents in someone's living-room, this is an event almost as big as the wedding itself, involving all of the women in the bride's life. I went to a couple kitchen parties in Zambia but this was my first Tanzanian occasion and it was a lot fancier than I've previously seen. Everyone who attends contributes to support the expenses of the party and to buy the bride gifts.


The entire party was hosted by a matron who lead the party in welcoming the bride to the world of marriage and gave her advice on how to be a good wife. This, of course, was mixed in with a lot of dancing!

In the chaos of organizing ourselves to go home, it was a really special way to spend our last night in Tanzania. Its hard to believe that this six months is coming to an end. Even though I'm coming back, it will be different. I'll miss the great group that we had. Nikupenda sana!
I have been struggling about how to write the post for the end of my stay in Dar es Salaam. But it looks like I've managed to escape this task because I'M COMING BACK IN JANUARY!
Last minute, I've managed to pull together more work for another 3 months, so I will be swinging through London and Canada before heading back to Tanzania in January.

The next few months going to be a bit different because I will be coming back on my own but I'm really excited to be able to continue to working with Equality for Growth. Its going to be an busy three months as we work to get the new strategic plan under way.

So I now have a weekend of “see you later,” instead of “good-bye” though I will still be saying tearful good-byes (and this is a literal prediction) to my fellow interns. Next posting will be from the Northern Hemisphere!
Why is it always at the end of the of the trip you discover the best places to eat or go? My room-mates discovered this great place serving various Indian street foods on their way to the gym last month and its turned out to be a gem.


The place is quite literally a side-walk cafe. Sidewalks in Dar Es Salaam are frequently occupied by street vendors selling everything under the sun as well as the occasionally motorbike or bicycle that finds the road a bit to jammed for their liking. This place is camped outside a small grocery store which is perfect if you want to buy drinks or desert to go with your meal.


The food is all vegetarian, cooked right there before your eyes. There is a banner with a menu but you get what is up for offer that day. The main feature is pani puri and sev puri served up in canteen style metal plates or packed up for take out. Other treats include grilled paneer and onion bhaji.


All in all your meal will probably run you $5 tops and you'll be stuffed full. (Of course we went afterwards for for ice-cream and waffles but that is entirely a personal choice).
"Rain in the forecast? There's always a chance of rain here but it never does. Bright and sunny all the time...don't worry about it!"

This is the sort of thing that you just know when you say it, will likely come back to haunt you. And it did throughout our Zanzibar weekend. Despite the rain, it was a really great trip and it also matched up with my birthday, which made it pretty special. A complete girls vacation, the group here was joined by two other interns visiting from other countries. Here are some of the highlights.

Our Hotel

We stayed in this gem of a hotel called Tembo recommended by our coworkers. Its was so beautiful inside and out.

Zanzibar Doors

This is something that the town in famous for. These beautiful doors now cost thousands of dollars to get made. But all through stone-town you see them in various states of age, beauty and decay.

Winding Alley Ways

Navigating Stonetown takes some work. Windy alley ways are fun to explore, though not the greatest when you are trying to head somewhere specific. And navigating Stonetown in pouring rain... well that requires a far bit of wading through rivers of water.

Beach Views


The photos say it all.

Sitting out the Rain

And rain by the beach isn't so bad when you have swinging beds to retreat to with your book.

Returning to the real world after all of this was a bit painful. And to top of it all, our return coincided with the five month mark of our trip, which was crazy to think about. However, all in all not a shabby way to celebrate being a year older!
I could do several posts about my safari trip and I have enough animal photos to start my own nature magazine but I'm going to restrain myself and just put up a few things. So here's a snap-shot of my week-long Safari in Northern Tanzania.

Its the people you travel with who make the trip. I'm so glad I had two friends who burst into random songs and ran hilarious animal commentary through out the trip.

Our guide/driver was very knowledge but also went along with all our bits, including the adoption of swahili animal safari names (I was Duma which means cheetah). I wish I could have brought our cook back to Dar with us. Some of the best food I've had in Tanzania!

Did you know that Elephants are careful when drinking from standing water because they are afraid of getting frogs stuck up their trunk. They prefer to dig down to drink so this doesn't happen.

Running giraffes are just about the most graceful thing ever. And I'm pretty sure that legally blonde stole the whole 'bend and snap' thing from giraffes drinking. Also they fight with their necks... which is a bit weird.

The swahili word for zebra literally means striped donkey. They are also the most nervous animal and would get randomly spooked even when the jeep parked and not moving.


Cheetah have it hard. They don't have night vision or retractable claws like other cats. So they can't climb trees or at night.

Hyena's seem pretty harmless. We even had them in our camp a couple nights raiding the kitchen. However, after watching them take down a wildebeest I find them a lot more scary.

All the parks were beautiful, but this view over Ngorongoro crater was my favourite.

And of course there were lions. This was one of three big males that walked right by us as we were heading out of the jeep.

I was actually a bit nervous about doing a 7 day trip. I thought I'd might have gotten bored with animals but it was great to have so much time and be able to really sit and watch the animals just go about their lives. Definitely a truly memorable experience!
Many of my favourite memories and best stories of living overseas were things that happened because I was lucky in my timing like being able to attend a kitchen party on my second day in Zambia or witnessing the 2011 election. And good timing has struck again! Just the other week my director announced that she is getting married. In addition to being so happy for her,  I'm excited because we get to be part of all the celebrations that are part of getting married in Tanzania. To kick things off we went to Church for her engagement announcement.

Coincidently it was women's week at the church and for the first one hour or so of the service, the women's choir belted it out for the congregation. It was a bit like going to a rock concert at 10am. Everyone was up out of their chairs singing along and there were coordinated dance moves for the different songs. I never knew that going to church would count as a workout but there we were dancing it out with the women's choir.

Finally we got to the big announcement. I had been expecting our director and fiancee to just stand up together an announce their engagement. What was I thinking! The minister called them both up with their family representatives and he announced their engagement along with words of advice on marriage and specifically about our director since this was her church. I don't think the couple to be even spoke to each other at all during the ceremony.

After the minister spoke engagement rings were exchanged (through intermediaries because was again contact between the engaged is not allow) and then the entire congregation descended upon the couple to give them gifts and congratulate them.

We had been asked to take photos which we were happy to do. But we didn't expect to be fighting our way through hoards of people pulling out their camera phones also angling for a good shot. We were up there battling our way through with everyone else (all that experience battling our way on and off the buses here really came in handy). But it was really something to be in the thick of it all and to have a whole community so excited on your behalf, I think our director is really blessed.
We are officially at the half way mark of our internships today. Its incredible especially when I feel like I've just gotten settled. I can't pinpoint exactly when it happened, but just recently I noticed that life here seemed normal and I'm feeling pretty happy and grounded. Looking back, the past three months have been a mix of letting go of habits from home and adapting to the new environment. Here are some of the hurdles I feel like I've gotten over:

Giving up on My Hair (And Other Things Related to My Appearance)
We all want to look our best, especially when making first impressions. This is a bit challenging when your iron seems to be hot enough to burn fabric but useless at getting wrinkles out. Or when your hairdryer shorts-out in the first month despite being plugged into an adaptor. Its also hard to let go of your own personal style in favour of wearing culturally appropriate clothes. But coming to work wearing my hair in a French braid and following the style advice from co-workers (knee length but fitted skirts get a big thumbs up) always results in the biggest compliment of all; “You look so African today!”
Getting Around
There are few things that make me feel more stressed than not knowing where I'm going. On top of that stress, buses here constantly change their routes, most taxi drivers seem only vaguely familiar with the city, and I swear there is a really good video game idea about walking down Dar streets and dodging traffic in all its various forms. Eventually you just have to let go of the panic and go with it. You try to guess what the different money-making strategies are for the buses, work out the point system for the video game and know that the taxi can always ask people for directions once they are in the right neighbourhood.

Social Diversity
When I first got here, all four of us interns stuck together all the time. We only knew the few people we worked with and each other. This led to a lot of together time, which was a little intense for four people who didn't know each other before training. Now we've made friends with our co-workers, neighbours and a rather large group of Canadian ex-pats that would make you wonder if Canada is exporting its youth to Tanzania. Instead of having too much down time, we've switched over to trying to balance our social schedules among all the different demands. This has gone a long way to break-up the group a bit and give everyone a breather from each other (probably a saving grace for our friendships).


I confess I'm a bit surprised to find myself sad to be at this point. After counting down the days during the first few months, all of a sudden I want every week to stretch out and give me more time. I'm beginning to think I might just have found another place in the world where I feel at home.
Living in downtown Dar is not very conducive to exercising. There is no recreational space near us. Technically there is a park across the road but it seems to be closed and locked most of the time and only used for private functions. And jogging in our neighbourhood is a combination of unsafe and impossible (also I hate jogging). So we've been forced to get a little creative in our workouts.

1. Timing- after some trial and error we've discovered that working out means getting up early in the morning (like 6 am... the horror!). It is the coolest time of the day and in the evening it can take us forever to get home, leaving everyone too wiped to do anything.

2. Equipment- We brought some resistance bands and jump ropes from home but nothing else. But we've discovered that water bottles of various sizes make excellent free hand weights and a couple towels layered together and folded up as needed make decent mats.

3. Using What You Got- So with no running routes, treadmills or elliptical we've turned to climbing stairs. There are 12 stories to the building. Guaranteed to raise your heart rate in no time.

4. Don't Disturb the Neighbours - so with all the jumping and running around in the early morning we don't want to anger anyone in the building. So I've taken to doing my workout on the balcony, that way I can jump around without worrying about the people underneath. Also it's actually kind of nice to be outside in the morning. The sunrises as I work out; Jillian Michaels voice and workout music gets mixed in with the call to prayer from the nearby mosque; not a bad way to start the day.
Some of my most amazing experiences here have been getting to meet the families of the people around us. We've been welcomed into the homes of neighbours and coworkers. Somehow back home, we've forgotten the culture of paying calls on neighbours and friends but here its alive and well. We've been invited for sit, eat and celebrate with people who barely know us and yet welcome us into their homes.


The other week, we were invited by a coworker to the confirmation party for his niece.  We trekked out on the buses for an afternoon of food, talking and celebration in honour of the lovely girl in white.
























The celebration was held at the family home, which is lived in despite being under construction. At first glance it can seem like these are hard living conditions. But when we tell the family that people can't afford to build their own home in Canada, we find ourselves the object of pity about the cost of housing in Canada. A definite lesson in perception!

Everyone seems invited to the party. We met an endless array of relatives, friends and neighbours. From very small children to community and church elders, everyone ate and chatted together for the afternoon.
The kick off of the celebration was the champagne (or some fizzy wine equivalent). The bottle was blessed by all the guests and then shaken up. Apparently it doesn't really count unless it makes a really good pop! (ours hit the roof so we were good)

And then there was cake...


Which was served piece by piece to the guests. Do I look slightly awkward... well you try eating cake off a toothpick!

Last comes gifts. The collection was opened to help fund continued education. The girls father proudly declared that through her they would be able to finish their family home.

It can be a bit scary venturing into people's homes and unknown environments, but in the end I always find a warm welcome and a really good time.