Week 5- FACT

Jason and I have taken this week to digest and take all the new and exciting changes in our lives in. I am still enjoying my work at the orphanage but I will be asking around in the community where the needs are and hopefully get Walk In Love up and going by next year. Jason and I discussed opening a children's home because I have heard a lot of complaints about the current children's homes in this area. We are only in the baby stages here and will definitely keep you all up to date!

Jason has been having meetings all week with his new employers. He looks mighty fine in his uniform!:) He went to get his hair cut and it took 2 hours and cost $6. We are hoping to buy some trimmers so we can just cut his hair because in his contract it says that his hair should be short and neat. So much for that ponytail I had dreamed of!

We will hopefully be getting a car pretty soon. We definitely need one with the rainy season quickly approaching. Jason will be working with clients and I know they don't want him showing up wet and muddy to work.

Not much happened this week so Jason and I put together a list of everyday things here in Tanzania. Enjoy!

FACT:

1. Tanzanians only obey traffic laws at round abouts.
2. Tanzanians will carry a suitcase on their heads even if they have wheels.
3. We eat rice and beans every day.
4. After we shower our entire bathroom is soaking wet so we have to take off out pants outside the door to use the restroom the remainder of the day.
5. We use a comforter at night.
6. I take 2 mini buses and walk a kilometer to get to work. It costs $.50 and takes an hour.
7. We never spend more than $3 at the fruit and vegetable market.
8. We live in Moshono, work in Usa and do everything else in Arusha and Njiro.
9. The baby next door never stops crying.
10. We have 3 roads that lead to our house. Depending on how much it rains determines what road we take.
11. Sometimes we get lost in our neighborhood.
12. When we are in Arusha town we are hassled and followed by men trying to sell us safaris.
13. Our electricity usually goes out by the end of the week.
14. The largest Tanzanian bill is $10,000 shillings which equals 6 US dollars.
15. Lucille, our maid, cleans our house twice a week.
16. If everything goes well we will be opening Walk In Love Childrens Home in 2013-2014.
17. We do not wear shoes in the house because our floors are made of cement, painted red, and it gets very dirty. We both have shoes outside the front door and backdoor.
18. We have 2 zebra striped audimons (foot rests, I don't know how to spell it) in front of our green couch.
19. Baran, the property manager, lives in an apt. separate from the house on the property. He is only off 2 days per month. He calls Jason, Master and me Queen. And he knows everything!
20. If we don't use a helmet when we are on the motorcycle then passing drivers will wag their fingers at us.
21. I was in a dalla dalla last week with 29 people. There are only 14 seats.
22. If we have no electricity then we have no hot water.
23. We save $35/ week because we boil our water instead of buying it.
24. We boil 6-8 liters per day.
25. Beer is more expensive to buy at the supermarket than it is at our local pub.
26. We drove the motorcycle through a coffee plantation on the way to the airport.
27. I have 2 sim cards for my phone. Jason bought it on the street for $20. He is currently looking for a blackberry.
28. I fix all of our meals and Jason does the clean up.
29. All the white shirts I brought at now yellow.
30. It took exactly one month for us to reach all of our short term goals in TZ.
31. We have been on two dates: once to the cinema and once to the casino.
32. The Mexican food is great here!
33. The Italian food is not.
34. If anyone hurts themselves of has bad luck then everyone around says pole (pol lay) which means sorry in Swahili.
35. It took 2 hours and $6 for Jason to get his hair cut.
36. We buy foldger cans of coal from our elderly neighbor even though we have tons of it in the shed. She smiled at us for the first time yesterday. Breakthrough!
37. Our neighborhood is very diverse. We have mud huts, mansions and everything in between.
38. To most people the road to our town would be ugly, dusty and rundown but to us it is comforting.
39. The children in our neighborhood will run to us and say "How are you, I am fine" and run away.
40. We plan on eventually adopting while we are here
41. We have our own address, PO Box 12304 Arusha, Tanzania
42. Arusha is at the foot of Mt. Meru and about 40 miles from Mt. Kilimanjaro
43. We saw a folding KC Chiefs chair outside of Moshi.
44. We see people wearing vintage KU Jayhawks and MU Tigers Shirts/Hats/Sweatshirts all the time
45. The company Jason works for own 4 lodges and airstrips in the Serengheti. They flew in 2 presidents in the last year.
46. Jason saw a guy driving his motorcycles with a love seat on the back.
47. Men with huge wheel barrels run up and down the streets. Sometimes passing us!