Tanzania Experience: Week 4 at School

Week 4 at School

Just so you all know if "I" is used in this blog it is referring to Peter. Denise is using Facebook to communicate. Sorry for any confusion caused out there. Now into this weeks blog.

This week I'll tell you a bit about the roads around Arusha.

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

From what I've seen road rules are optional here. I think I have seen everything to date, but I'm sure somebody will find something new to do while we are here. The things I am talking about include:

Lights at night appear to be optional for some vehicles. As for pedestrians and bicycles, don't worry about lights. Don't know how they don't get hit though.
Might is right. Whoever is bigger has right of way. Being in a school bus most of the time we have right of way most times.
Seatbelts are only worn by the driver if they are passing police.
Horn are mandatory as they warn people, motor bikes and other vehicles you are about to pass them and/or to say hi to a friend.
Overtaking can be done at any time, even if there are unbroken lines and/or somebody is coming the other way.
If a bicycle or motorbike is coming towards you that definitely doesn't stop overtaking, you just force them off the road.
It appears you can speak on your mobile at any time.
Very few cars appear to have any power to accelerate quickly so it does take a while to overtake.
You can pull out from side streets whenever you want, even if somebody is coming. They will stop.
You can fill up at the service station without turning off your engine. That is a little of putting the first few times.
There are many roadside police checks for license, rego, insurance and "road worthy".
Bicycles, motor bikes and pedestrians don't have to worry about the colour of the few traffic lights they do have. They go through whatever the colour.
Bicycles and motor bikes riding up the wrong side of the road and even on footpaths at times.
Nobody seems to care if a vehicle blows smoke.
Speed bumps seem to be everywhere, main roads, side roads and even dirt roads with potholes. I have even seen speed bumps with smaller speed bumps in the bigger speed bump.
Motor bikes can carry anything. I have seen 4 people on one motor bike and other have wide loads sticking 2mtrs out each side.

Although there appears to be a lack of road rules, I have seen very little aggression on the roads.

To date I have only seen 1 road accident and that was when a truck reversed into a parked car - quite a bit of damage.

Parking in Arusha is 1,000 shillings per day (60 cents). There are people everywhere to collect the money and give you a receipt to put on the dashboard.

Well we have booked our first trip, a weekend away in Zanzibar staying at this place http://www.uroabay.com/eng/default.aspx We fly down this Thursday 25th and back on Monday 29th - that is a long weekend here. We were booked to fly on 26th, but that flight was cancelled, as were all flights by that airline from here to Zanzibar until June. We did get our money back and it wasn't too much more to re-book.

We have had 2 small electrical fires in our room last week, but all that burnt was an electrical cable to my bedside light. Not sure if it's the power point or the cable. The first one I missed, but the second I was right there to see it - there was a small flame and smoke. We were lucky that it didn't do any damage.

The internet is still the cause of frustration here so I have now signed up for a data plan so we can attempt to use Viber.

We are part of a kitchen at school where every person gets to cook dinner. At the moment we have 8 people, but that can go down to 4 or up to 12 depending on what is happening. Each person puts in 20,000 per week and 1 person does the shopping for that week. It was my turn to cook tonight for the kitchen- roast chicken. I had to buy two chickens today in the market, and no, they were already dead and ready to go in the oven, although it would have been cheaper if I had bought live ones.