Jambo!!

Jambo everyone at home! So I've been here for nearly a week now and lots has happened and is going on!

My flights were very good although long! The airline Qatar is lovely and they treat you really well and feed you lots of lovely food, I was surprised how good is was for airplane food. When I arrived in Dar es Salaam it was already in the high 20's at 8 and I was boiling! Work the world picked me up and I went back to the house to be shown around and meet everyone.

The house is very nice. There's a living room, dining room, kitchen, garden, swimming pool and then bedrooms coming off of these as well as a couple of chalet type outbuilding rooms. I share my bedroom and bathroom with three others - two medics and a physio! I get given breakfast and tea and can help myself to food from the kitchen during the rest of the day. So far, I've had pancakes, eggs, sausages and home made doughnuts for breakfast along with a lot of fresh fruit, like mangoes, bananas and pineapple. For tea I've learnt that they love their carbs! For example one night we had rice and mash in the same meal! There's a lot of chicken and beef dishes and also a lot of bean curry, but always a lovely lovely selection and it all tastes lovely! Tried banana stew last night and as horrible as it sounds it was actually very very nice! However, the one thing I do miss I sweet things as there are not many of these. It's a good job I brought gingerbread men and sweets with me!! 

I've explored the local area and it's very nice. I'm staying in the posh part of town, where all the government members and the prime minister lives (obviously it is not like in England, but the houses are very big and very lovely!) the shop opposite where I am sells everything English which is nice, but I haven't yet brought anything as I'm loving everything African at the moment. It is all so cheap too! For example, I've just had a chocolate ice cream milkshake which cost 5,500 Tanzanian shillings, which equates to about £2?! There's a local post office, market which sells local crafts and paintings that are painted outside our house, a liquor store, ATM and air conditioned shopping centre where we can get wifi (where I am right now!). 

The transport is very interesting! I have only got a daladala once, not because I haven't wanted to but because they are very rare in our part of town due to the caliber of people that live here which means the majority of them have their own cars to use. The one I got was fine and I even got a seat! However, most of the ones I see on my way home from work have people hanging out of the windows and doors and people say on eat other an pushing each other to get on and off, it is very chaotic! Taxis are common, but with no AC they can be very uncomfortable if there are too many of you in them - but they can work out cheap, as the drivers are not fussy about how many people are in their cars. An alternative to taxis seems to be hitching lifts which is very common too and I have participated in. Cars pull over at bus stops all the time offering lifts and they will squeeze as many people in as possible too as it means more money for them. They were only four in the back of the one I was in, but I have seen more squeezing in! The most common method that I have used is a bajaj. This sounds and has the front steering of a quad biker has a cover on the back - it's very cool. They are really small so can squeeze in between little gaps and are breezy too which  is good in this heat! You have to haggle over the price as they see a Mzungu and immediately put the prize up loads! But I've pretty much sorted out how much most journeys should cost (and if you walk off they normally call you back saying you can have it for the price you asked!)

I'm loving the laid back attitude of everyone out here, the culture and everything new and all the locals are so friendly! They also say hi and are very impressed when you reply in Swahili. I think mine is getting a bit better and we have casual lessons at the house in the week too which is very helpful just to help with the basics.  I'm hoping that in a few weeks I'll have picked up a lot more. 

I think that's about it for now, but I will be back on at the beginning of next week to tell you all about what the hospital is actually like!

Kwaheri!