The Preface

I’ve decided that these first posts are what you would call the preface of this blog – an introduction for both you and me to my new life.

As an introduction to this life, I caught a dala dala (spelling?) home from the office today with a colleague, Isabel. Dala dala are the city busses here. Although full and with standing room only when we got on, it was surprisingly comfortable and not smelly or cramped. Isabel and I jumped into a purple mini-bus about a block down from the office. Helpfully the dala dala’s are colour-coded and have their destination painted on the front of them. We managed to get caught in a traffic jam and the pleasure of the bus ride was a little longer than usually, but eventually we arrived at the junction by the international school where we jumped off. From there it’s about a 10 minute walk back to my apartment, but we (Isabel and a friend/neighbour of hers, whose name I think is Joe, and I ) jumped in a bajaj, stopping at my “home” first and then continuing to their street.

We made plans to meet up later for a drink on the pier and watch the sun go down. After dropping my things at home, I ran to the supermarket in the Slipway plaza and bought a bag of dog food (51,000 TZS!), a cutting board and some dish soap. Maybe it will be cheaper to make my own food here after all! A 7kg bag of Pedigree for 33 USD is a little steep. Then again a half-kilo of ground beef here is pretty pricey too. Add to that the cost of rice and veggies, and I’m not sure which will add to be more. I’m so not a numbers person so a cost-breakdown of the two options isn’t exactly in my cards. Plus, I’m not sure how long the dry food will last. *edit* Although I must admit that when I convert it to USD, it actually isn't as scary as it sounds when you pay over 51,000 of anything for dog food. *edit*

When I returned from my (stressful) walk with Peanut (she had a melt down or two where she just snapped and started attacking the leash and then growling at me), Joe and Isabel were waiting for me at the gate and we walked down to the pier for a drink. It’s great to meet some people and drink a glass of wine in the company of others, even if it’s only a Monday night.

After a day at the office, I’m trying to digest the contents of my first day and first meetings. On the agenda for this week are technical briefings with all of the staff on the project so I can better understand what we’re doing with this project. I’ve already got a list of tasks to throw myself over. I definitely won’t be bored at work for the next long while.

I’ve agreed to meet Isabel on the corner by the international school at 7 am tomorrow. We’re planning to get to work early so we can beat the traffic in the morning, and leave earlier so we can beat the traffic in the afternoon too. I’m off to bed now so I can catch my 8 hours of sleep and still have time to take Peanut for a good walk (hopefully more successfully) in the morning before heading to the dala dala corner.