From the dashboard of MM

Argh. Despite my best intentions and starting the year off with a roll, I've been lagging behind in my posts.
So today I bring you a random assortment of photos taken from the dashboard of MM. When I take the pictures, I always have good intentions on blogging them immediately. Alas, here we are.

I don't even know what to say about this one!

Hear, hear! Keep Dar Beautiful!

Happy hounds after a beautiful trip to the beach!

I'd never noticed that orange and green paint job on the building beside the (I think) Hindu temple

Sweeeeeedish

Glad I'm not crammed on to that dala dala

This pink and green lorry full of people was just too awesome NOT to snap a picture of!

Happy Birthday Cicero

Remember this little guy? Cicero joined the family at 8 weeks old in April 2011. But his birthday is February 9, so yesterday we celebrated the kitty's birthday with extra peace from the dogs and super cuddles.

Here he is on his first birthday weighing in at 5.25 kgs. He's grown into a fierce hunter (lizards and mice beware) and is slowly learning not to love-bite toes when he wants a cuddle.

From the dashboard of MM - The Home Stretch

Here it is! After a few days of playing with the optimal positioning of my camera phone on the dashboard of MM, I managed to record my drive home from work. Perhaps this seems like a silly thing to record, but I though for those of you who may never make it to Tanzania to visit, I could share with you a slice of my every day life.

And for those of you who have been here and maybe even riden in the MM from Kazi House to the peninsula, I thought it might be a nice reminder of good times in MM.

I hope you enjoy watching it. I enjoyed dusting off the old Adobe Premier to cut this together.

Special surprise project to be unveiled SOON

Dear lovely blog readers, I've been in the midst of a little project which I hope you'll enjoy. Just to whet your appetite, I'll tell you it's a little clip from my daily life here in Dar es Salaam.

It's almost done, but not quite. I just have a bit of collecting material left to do (hopefully on the way home from work today) and then I should be ready to unveil tomorrow.

Stay tuned for exciting visuals from DSM tomorrow!

3 peas in a pod

A proper post to come, in the meantime to tide you over, I present to you 3 peas in a pod.

Kiswahili wiki moja

I've finished my first week of Swahili lessons this week - 28 hours of learning. My head is still spinning a little with all the new words. Yesterday afternoon I sat down and made flash cards for all the vocab we've had this week. Some of it I knew from my feeble attempt to learn Swahili last year. 

Day one and two were a breeze. Lots of energy and ready to learn. It feels like the vocab we were introduced to on days three and four isn't quite sinking in as fast. Hopefully a few hours of quizzing myself this weekend will mean I'm ready to go on Monday for week two. We end each week with a field trip. Yesterday we went to one of the markets in Dar es Salaam which is known for its clothing. Loads and loads of second-hand clothes from Europe and North America ends in markets this these. I wasn't so interested in the clothes but quickly found myself in the fabric section where vendors are selling both finished clothes and fabric. I couldn't help myself at one of the stalls selling bolts of batik, and ended up bringing home 3 meters of a nice blue and brown batik. I'm thinking some pillow cases for the blue guest room and maybe a new cover for the cushions on my veranda furniture. I also also saw some nice vitenge material (although the one I liked most was imported from Nigeria and only sold in 3 x 4 meters which is a little excessive as I'm not quite sure what to do with all that fabric) so I didn't get it.

 

I did pick up a  little present for my pops who decided that funding my Kiswahili lessons was a great Christmas present. Thanks Dad! Let's see when I make it to the post office. (Ruining the surprise a bit with this photo - but it's always nice to have something to look forward to.)

And in my week of Swahili immersion, I also decided that I would buy this painting done by a talented Tanzanian guy who goes by the name Minzi. He's had a bunch of paintings on display at my favourite coffee spot here in Dar and they've been disappearing so I figured how was the right time. I love the way he combines bits of fabric which are symbolic of Tanzanian culture in the paintings. Now I just need to get my hammer out and get some nails in the wall so it can hang straight!

We made it - Part 2

One day this year, I'm going to bake this cake on my super Italian kitchen calendar! I just looks sooooo delicious!

I meant to post this sequence New Year's Day along with a video of the fireworks being shot off to a horrible version of Auld Lang Syne being played on repeat, but alas I was too lethargic on January 1 and I deleted the video. Instead, this poor quality fireworks photos taken on my phone will have to do as evidence of the new year arriving in Tanzania.

In other video news, here's a clip of Natasha and Cicero playing while I was trying to nap. All a little naughty as Natasha jumped up on the bed which is usually not allowed. But in a slightly hungover state I thought I'd make an exception. It didn't last long as Cicero got right up there and the two didn't let me get any sleep. Perhaps this is only interesting viewing for me. But it's only 2.51 minutes of your life you'll waste if you watch the whole thing. Cicero holds his own (weighing in at good 5.25 kg - we were at the vet yesterday for de-worming and a check up since he's almost 1 year old!) against Natasha (weighing in at 22 kg).