Week 2 at School

Thanks for the birthday wishes.

All is going well here, although Peter is challenged to find the places in town he needs to visit because there is not just one shop like Bunnings or Harvey Norman or Coles.  Instead you go to 3 or more shops to find one thing then another 3 or 4 to find another.  He is learning, but it is frustratingly slow.

Life here is starting to become "normal".

Golden rules – slow down to Tanzania pace and expect the unexpected.

For those reading the online blog, there is more if you click on the Read more>> button below.

We saw some amazing talent at a farewell party where one of the volunteers had written some songs for the soon to depart volunteers.  You will have to check out Facebook (as much as Peter hates it and Denise is learning it) as I'm sure somebody will have pics and video of the night.  I think some of them went to 5am - not us, we were home by 9pm.

Peter is getting close to flying solo and is unsure about how things will turn out, but positive all the same and Denise is going about doing her thing and being there to help anybody who wants it.

We are no longer the new ones at the school as 2 more arrived in the last week.  This place seems to be a rotating door with volunteers coming and going throughout the year as their time is up.  Most do 1 year, but there are still quite a few who have been here longer than one year, with some over 3 years.

Alwyn, I have stolen your saying "It's all about the kids", they come 1, 2, 3, and any other number after that.  So whatever I do it has to benefit the kids in some way.

Just to bring you up to speed with contact details.  We do have mobile phones that work, but they are not our Australian mobile numbers.  If you want the numbers email us.

The internet is hit and miss in Tanzania, and at the school even worse.  By worse, I mean nothing like Australia, dropouts are frequent and at times lengthy together with regular power hits.  The way the school has set up their network I am unable to access Skype or Viber yet, but last night I tried using the phone network instead and Viber worked.  Mobile reception is also a little hit and miss, but not as bad as the internet.

The school wifi is not too bad, but again it has some outages.  Luckily we have a wifi point just under our window, but it is quite common to see volunteers walking round the school with their laptops turned on looking for wifi access as they can't get it from their room.

For those who haven't worked it out yet, 8am in Tanzania is 3pm (same day) in the Eastern states of Australia.  You can work out your own times if you don't live there.

I will have to get a new keyboard as this one on the laptop is dodgy - regularly misses characters.  So if you notice errors, I am blaming the keyboard.

Denise and I have set our little unit up so it is starting to feel like home.  We even have a computer corner with a desk and chair, although you don't want to lean back on the chair as the back just keeps going backwards....and it was a new chair I "found".  Denise's travel laptop doubles as our music centre.

We have a water filter hanging beside the sink, but to fill it we have to stand on a low table which doesn't make Denise too happy.

We took down our mosquito net last week as it was getting in the road and we hadn't used it anyway.  Mossies are not too bad and nobody here has had malaria, so here's hoping it stays that way.  There are mossies around, but so far so good.  Peter generally sprays the room when we go down for dinner so the smell of the spray has usually dissipated a little by the time we get back.

I have forgotten to post some pics so here goes.  Note: you can click on the images to make them bigger.

Pic 1 - View from Joshua's balcony in Dubai.  Dubai Marina is to the left of that chopped off white runabout on the left, and the palm island (Palm Jumeira) is that strip of buildings over the water with Atlantis, The Palm in the far left background.

Pic 2 - Living area from the sink - front door at right.

Pic 3 - Living area from the front door - bedroom door at right.  The bathroom (toilet/shower/hand basin) is to the left through the bedroom door.  Big K is on the 4th shelf from the bottom.  Laptop ad speakers on top shelves.

Pic 4 - Bedroom from the bedroom door.  The bathroom is to the left

Pic 5- View from our windows.  More accommodation to the left and laundry in front with clothes line behind laundry.

That's all for this week.