Jambo!! (swahili for hello) I arrived in Tanzania super early on Thursday morning
after about 36 hours of travel, I was pretty exhausted!! The first and second flight
I was so excited I couldn’t sleep! Everything was so new and exciting to me. I
have never traveled overseas before, so I wanted to experience it all, even the
airplane food! Which is not that bad!!
By the third flight, I was over the excitement and I popped an Ambien
and passed out. But before that, I had about a 2-hour layover in
Amsterdam. I had the chance to talk to some guys who were getting ready to hike
Mt. Kilimanjaro! I am dying to hike it and had some questions about it, so I
struck up a convo with them. They were extremely nice, helpful and made my two-hour
layover much more fun! I was asking where they were from and how they all knew
each other, just trying to be nice, and Dave, of the three informed me that
they were baseball players! I had no idea who they were until I googled them
when I got into Dar, but as a good southern belle who loves baseball, I did tell them GO BRAVES! They did not care for that so
much, but they were still very sweet ha-ha. The guys were R.A Dickey who plays
for the Mets, Kevin Slowly who plays for the Rockies and Dave (don’t remember
his last name) who is one of the bullpen catchers for the Mets! They are supposed to email how they did and
some helpful hints for when I hike. Now that I know who they are, that would be
really cool! Haha I’m such a dork.
Upon landing my cousin Joe was there to pick me up and help
me though customs and security. We stood in the baggage claim area, which is
about the size of someone’s living room with a conveyer belt in it, for about
45 min waiting on my bags…they never showed. I was expecting this to happen due
to the fact of how many transfers I had and how far I was traveling. I packed a
carry on with shorts and a few t-shirts and my toiletries in it. I’m such an
experienced traveler right?? My bags finally showed up a day and a half later.
All is well.
There are a ton of things that are waaaaaaay different here
in Africa than in America, but the first big thing I noticed was how everyone
was driving! It’s on the "wrong" side of the road and on the "wrong" side of the
car! I’m not sure I will ever get used to that. While driving home form the
airport, I kept finding myself pushing the brake that would normally be on my
side, but I was mostly doing that because of the crazy driving that was being
done by my cousin Joe. There are no rules for driving in Tanzania, or lines, or
stop sings, or common curtsey. It’s every man for himself, and I thought it was
hard to learn how to drive around in Atlanta, GA!
Since today is just day three of being here, I am still
pretty jet lagged. My body has no idea what time zone its in and I am all out of whack!
Hopefully I will get some rest soon and figure out what time zone I am supposed
to be in. On top of the jet lag and lack up sleep, there are Peacocks in front
of our compound that really like to make themselves known in wee hours of the
morning. I’m not sure if you have ever heard a peacock, but they sound a lot
like a dying cats. Not exactly the most pleasant
alarm, but I feel like it’s better than screeching monkeys!
I will leave you with some pictures of my humble abode for
the next 4 months!
back porch
The kitchen, they have a maid and cook. Yup.
This is my little cousin Ellis!! She is my new best friend.
Ill be back soon with more pictures of Dar Es Salaam.
Usiku mwema!
(good night)
I'm so glad you posted pictures of the house. I had noooo idea what to expect!!! It looks just like a house you would find in Seaside, FL!!
ReplyDeleteW O W !!!! Totally amazing to think that you are there. I can just see you talking with those baseball players now and saying "go Braves"....they now know what we found out years ago when we were in Alaska with you......just waht a GREAT person you really are. Stay safe and have a GREAT time. Dick & Judi
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