New Africa Hotel Dar es Salaam

... block. Understanding a few Kiswahili phrases is helpful....but since class is over now, I rely on my small vocabulary of words and my handy-dandy dictionary.
The city is unlike any city I've ever been before, and I wish I could stay here for a good while. Right on the ocean, the port in walking distance, generators the size of car engines outside every other store front, every kind of food and odd store you could think of just around the corner ...

... two chairs. This should have been a hint but she just follow us to the table and pulled up a chair. So finally I told her I was gay and liked men so she should go speak to other people. Even this didn't work and she said I should buy her a drink because she was my friend. Mike now started laying it on saying he was my boyfriend and very geaoulous and I couldn't buy drinks for anyone but him. I now started getting concerned with a bunch of men looking at us a little too closely. At ...

... friendly nurse while Kaseem does his thing...

2pm Back on the road!

2.30pm Back off the road! We stop at a school, where Kaseem is organising a dental outreach. This involves meeting with the headmaster and the Sheha, the village chief. I'm relieved I'm wearing long sleeves and trousers - it's very conservative here. Kaseem asks me to the meeting - as a married mzungu it's ok. I sit in on what ...

November 10th -We left Stone Town for Dar Es Salaam by ferry, a 2 hour trip on a large modern boat. The Safari Inn was close to the port, about a 10 minute walk. We found it quickly and got a decent room. From Stone Town, we had "reserved" tickets on a train to the town of Mbeya for Nov.11/08. Brock took a taxi from the hotel out to the station to pick-up tickets. The tickets were not reserved but there were some available but at double the ...

... to the other school but I stayed at the convent then John, Violet and Ramadan came over to spend some time with me before I left. I was able to mend John's shirt (Mum, don't be surprised!) I spent the rest of the day sorting out things for Sports Day. 31/10 - SPORTS DAY - it was one of the best days of my time in Tanzania - I have never seen the children have so much fun. We played lots of different games, it was an incredible day but I find it very ...

... discuss the details. He gave me the pitch and I told him I'd take the evening to think about it (I had a couple of other companies researching trips for me overnight, to no avail). The next day I returned to his office, made sure he had a business license, looked through his comment book, and decided to leave my deposit. The morning after I returned from Kili, Jacob was waiting for me as expected, and the safari began. One of the Germans was sick, so they would not ...

... letting them copy his voting card and signing it. The man behind the counter still thought it was a problem and had me sign every check again. Boy was I nervous. He accepted those signatures but felt American Express would not. He looked up and said, "You will get your money madam, but we will be in hot soup." The rest of the day, we ran around getting stuff for the wedding. Since it was so late, we decided to leave for Dodoma in the morning instead of driving during the night.

... my mind and body were overloaded. Each time the bus stopped, children came running, selling everything from hard boiled eggs to earrings. Images and colours hung from my shoulders, slowed me down, a yoke I bore. Instead of being overjoyed at new sensations, I longed for something familiar, aside from the Coca Cola stands. Everywhere, red and white: painted on the walls of mud huts, banners hanging from thatches ...