Day 77 – Wednesday 14th April 2010

The fly survived, and continues to taunt me as I type.

The gloves are off!

The bishop came to visit us at work today. Firstly he was given the tour of the clinic and ward by Armorel and then they had discussions on when the formal opening would take place. This is going to be a big affair with over 100 guests. The main question was who would be the guest of honour?

Suggestions on a postcard or similar paper alternative.

The bishop then headed over to the school for a less successful visit. I was teaching and no one else was around to give him the tour. Even though this had been arranged and booked in. At least I am not the only one with frustrations.

My afterschool club was then abandoned as it was decided that we must have a school wide debate on the topic of ‘Education vs Money’. My English study session deemed less important.

Hmmmm.

We headed home via the post office, and found two green slips informing us of parcels too large for our box. We will pick them up tomorrow.

Further joy was discovered when we returned home to find a tin full of freshly baked cinnamon rolls.

How many is too many with a cup of tea?

We didn’t ruin our dinner but the temptation not to have just one more is proving a real challenge.

If you pick at it, and it takes longer to eat, then surely that’s ok?

Anyway things go off quicker out here, so we can’t let them go to waste.

Stop tempting me!

 

Coffee and cinnamon rolls……

Day 76 – Tuesday 13th April 2010

Today has been a long day!

We are both exhausted.

The clinic was busy today. The best way to describe how busy it was is by the fact that Armorel didn’t sit down until 5:15pm. A day not to talk about I don’t think.

My day was less hectic but I was cleverly running two afterschool clubs at the same time. One was a reading club and the other was meant to be football.

The football turned into a Maths club!?!?!

Not my choice, I was just told we can’t do football today, and being the only teacher left on site the maths homework came flooding out.

The reason why was given in Swahili, so your guess is as good as mine as to why we couldn’t play.

My brain has been taxed. Of course you have no calculators, and so when a child asks you what the cube root of 21 is, or the square root of 110,889, it hurts!

Prospective employers previous colleagues and students – Don’t panic, I managed to cope with all the questions. I think, and these comments of being taxed in no way reflect my ability to teach maths now, in the past or in the future.

Tonight we have done little. Read the paper and I have tried to get an annoying fly with a ruler.

These flies are not as slow as French ones.

I will get him though. Or maybe he is a she fly? Certainly irritating enough.

Did I just type that?

Day 75 – Monday 12th April 2010

Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad!

We headed off with a determined attitude to make this week productive and stress free.

It lasted most of the day. Depending on your definition of ‘most’.

Armorel was busy in the ward, and although patient numbers are still low, she is busy getting lot’s sorted so when it does get busier they will be ready, willing and organised.

I spent the day being an ‘Excel’ geek and designing a beautiful analysis and performance tracker for students. None of the other teachers really understood why we need such a thing. When teacher kindly replied,

‘Oh? Why?’

Tonight we are heading over to Cindy and Case’s for dinner to celebrate Ruth’s birthday.

However, they have had no power for the day so am not sure what kind of dinner we are expecting.

Day 74 – Sunday 11th April 2010

The comedy of church continues.

It is 9am, and 6 of us are sitting there waiting. Where are the leaders?

Twenty minutes pass and then I start to feel that I am going to have to lead and speak. My brain starts planning.

And then we get asked why we are here so early. We check our watches, no mistake there, and yes it is Sunday.

“Early?”

“The service now starts at 10am.”

There had been talk of maybe moving the service time but that was as far as it had got. So we finished church a bit later today, and so next week we will start at... 9:30am. Don’t ask!

Sunday lunch was a lovely mix of fine Indian cuisine at Mama Joshi’s. It is not a restaurant but in the house of this lovely Indian couple who tell all that they do the best curry in town. They do!

It was a very quirky way to have lunch, very reasonably priced and hopefully safe. We also left with flowers and seeds to plant and homemade curry mix. We wasted away the afternoon sat underneath a Mango tree just taking in the peculiarity of the situation.

This evening we have spent getting ready for another week of work, which we are trying to motivate ourselves for by listening to the pumping tunes of the Moulin Rouge soundtrack.

Worryingly we know most of the words and have a strange urge to dance a little.

Help!?!?!

Day 73 – Saturday 10th April 2010

How come whenever you have the joy of not putting on the alarm you still wake up early?

Porridge, tea and reading our books on the veranda made up for the early start.

Today has been a quiet day. We headed to town to find all but one shop we needed closed. We read some more of our books and made some watermelon juice and ice cubes.

We did venture out for a quick visit to John’s church, John being the man who lives on the compound with his family. A very simple building of sheet metal walls and roof, but one which he is very proud and excited by. We are hoping to go along next Sunday.

This evening, I managed to finish my book ‘Jesus for President’, which has some very though provoking ideas and I do recommend you read, if you can cope with the strange manner of its design. Armorel did some work and soon the clock had run out and it was time for sleep.

After another ER, or two…

Day 72 – Friday 9th April 2010

Dom was due at the airport for 8am.

But why did we bother to use the information on the ticket?

We turned up to an empty airport and no plane. We discover the flight was now not until 1:30pm.

The joys of Africa.

So we had an unexpected morning with Dom and off work, so we went and did the sights of Tabora one last time. We headed to the market to pick up a dress for Armorel, which our new found sewer friend, January, was making from her. It nearly fits!

Then we headed for one last samosa and some other random things. We try out something new on most visits to Tipha and usually have no idea what it is.

It was a lovely relaxing morning and with unhappy smiles we dropped Dom off and luckily found the plane was indeed taking off at 1:30pm. You just aren’t sure until the plane actually takes off.

Armorel headed into work for the afternoon and I had managed to swing working from home.

Sad and already missing having company we settled down to our Friday film, of Romeo and Juliet and we headed to bed.

The diary is empty tomorrow so we are having a lie in.

Day 71 – Thursday 8th April 2010

There were only about 20 students still missing from school today so the class sizes were getting back to the Tanzanian average.

There was little excitement at school, apart from the History teacher teaching a lesson for 1hr45, when it was meant to be only a 40min lesson.

The students just sat there and listened to him go on about timelines. I can imagine the riotous scene if that happened in the UK.

The ward had a further two patients, and Armorel was busy sorting out the final few teething problems. The nurses, who have never worked on a ward before, hadn’t quite grasped their expected role.

I finished early and met Dom, who had been having a relaxing morning. We headed into town where he treated us to a small shopping spree of expensive luxuries.

I had a tube of Smarties with my tea this afternoon!

After a brief rain shower, which has seemingly cut the temperature, we headed out for a goodbye meal for Dom. He leaves tomorrow.

                                                    This is our only supermarket!

We are very sad to see him go. It has been so nice to have someone to stay, someone to talk to in English and someone to show glimpses of our lives.

Thank you so much Dom, and Karien for letting him visit.

We tried a new place for dinner, and although service was just as slow, the food was good.

There are now 3 places to  eat safely!