Ninaumwa kichwa, na ninataka kunywa maji na baadaye kulala! Now this slightly odd start to a blog entry may tell you two things about our recent activities here in Dar. First of all, you might now gather that both Soma and I have started our Kiswahili classes in earnest. Secondly, for those linguists who can actually translate the phrase (it means “I have a crashing headache and I want to drink some water then go to sleep”), this means that we had our housewarming party last night!
To be honest, life is fast becoming quite settled here- blogs were easy to write when we were dashing from one country to another week after week. Now the drama and excitement of our leaving Egypt and settling into Dar are more or less done, things seem to be happening a little slower. Life here has definitely become a bit more routine, but sometimes a little bit of routine is not a bad thing!
We’ve well and truly settled into our new home now. We live in a four bedroom semi detached house in a small compound just off the peninsula’s main coastal road, Toure Drive. This, happily enough, means that my working day pretty much always starts and finishes with a short drive looking our over the Indian Ocean- not a bad perk of the job!
To be honest, life is fast becoming quite settled here- blogs were easy to write when we were dashing from one country to another week after week. Now the drama and excitement of our leaving Egypt and settling into Dar are more or less done, things seem to be happening a little slower. Life here has definitely become a bit more routine, but sometimes a little bit of routine is not a bad thing!
We’ve well and truly settled into our new home now. We live in a four bedroom semi detached house in a small compound just off the peninsula’s main coastal road, Toure Drive. This, happily enough, means that my working day pretty much always starts and finishes with a short drive looking our over the Indian Ocean- not a bad perk of the job!
Our house in Dar es Salaam
The compound we live in is both friendly and multicultural. There are six houses in all of which one is occupied by an English/ Indian couple (us). Our immediate neighbours, Felix and Atee are Nigerian and have a couple of older boys who we see only on school holidays- they are at boarding school in Nairobi the rest of the time. The next building is shared between a French Canadian couple, Sylvie and Real, who have a shaggy dog called Moukki. Sylvie especially has formed a relationship with Kieran based partly on the fact that he is learning French and partly on Kieran’s constant desire to pet their shaggy dog. Next to them are perhaps our closest friends on the compound, Dirk, from South Africa and his Indian wife Praveena. We’ve been good friends almost from the moment we moved in, due largely to the fact that they have two small boys of a similar age to our own. Most evenings, I drive in from work to find four small boys playing happily, supervised by Soma, Praveena and a well drained bottle of wine- our wine consumption has sadly rocketed since we met these two people! The building opposite us is split between Steve, an Australian miner and a Japanese couple (Kuji and Kasuki) who also have a couple of children who come and play occasionally.
A wider view of the compound
Having these neighbours has been a real boon, especially since our shipment has taken so long to arrive (I am told we should have it either tomorrow or Tuesday). The boys have spent months without their larger toys- bicycles etc- and have only avoided going stir crazy by borrowing from their new friends! Not only have they benefited from the toys but also from the attention of new friends. Kieran has been shamed into improving his swimming because the younger of the Japanese girls (age five but much smaller and slighter than Kieran) showed him up by executing perfect dives into the pool! Yesterday, the same girl was learning how to ride her bike without stabilisers and Kieran managed to negotiate himself a lesson too! Net result of our new neighbours- a son who can now dive into and swim lengths of the pool in addition to being able to ride a bike properly!
Rohan, Kieran and me at the compound swimming pool
Finding ourselves happily settled into our compound but still a few days short of receiving our belongings, we decided that yesterday would be the perfect time to hold a housewarming party. As expected, the Soma Mitra party organising machine swung into full gear about two weeks ago. Invites were sent out, menus were drawn up and shopping lists organised. After a final frantic day of buying food and buying then tasting drinks, the party started at about 8 o’clock yesterday evening. By nine, the house was full to bursting with a variety of new friends and colleagues all of whom seemed well up for a party- I hadn’t realised just how many friends Soma had made while I was working away each day! I met so many of her friends from the Ecole Francaise, her Swahili classes, the local expat social societies and all other facets of life that I’d really only heard about. All in all we had just over 40 guests, all of whom seemed to be bringing large quantities of wine. Since we spent most of the party swigging back a dubious collection of cocktails (mine seem to taste better the more I drink of them) we are now left with dozens of unopened bottles- Soma and Praveena will take good care of those I’m sure!
The party finally came to an end and heads hit pillows shortly after 3 this morning- a lovely four hours of sleep before Rohan announced the start of a bright new day- how sweet. My head is feeling better now- just as well since I’m back in the office for a new week tomorrow!
