Middle of March

Day 13 – 11th March 2009

Today I woke up nice and early for nursery. It was nice to see the little ones again. Spent the morning helping them with their writing, colouring and numbers. When it came to story time I was bombarded with requests to read books, I’ve now learnt you don’t offer to read one book because as soon as you do they all start pushing them under your nose. I’m still shocked at how quickly I’ve learnt all their names!

I met Sophie and Nicola for the first time this afternoon, they had a quick swim in the pool and the Karen took me and Sophie to the Slipway. We went for a walk around the shops and then had some of the nicest ice-cream I’ve ever had which was lovely. After a few hours there Karen brought us back to hers and we all had dinner. It’s been decided that Sophie will stay at Richard and Karen’s as well now.

Day 14 – 12th March 2009

Again it was an early start for nursery at 8. We were talking about Safari today and I have to admit the best quote was from Mai (who is five) when Karen asked why Elephants have such big ears she replied: “So they can fly!” Another lovely morning with the little ones.

In the afternoon Nicola, Jill and Sophie went off to the Orphanage in Bagamoya while I went to do “chores” with Karen. The main aim was to see if I could use the ATM to get some money out – which thankfully proved successful! After the dance to try and find petrol Karen dropped me off at the slip way again while she went to her step class. I again went shopping, still trying to get bits and bobs for people – it’s incredibly hard! I also spent a lot of time in the book shop – looking for books for the Jangwani girls and for me since I am quickly running out of books!

Once Karen had picked me up we went down to the Yacht club – see? Didn’t I tell you it was a second home for them! We then waited for Richard and Sophie to arrive so we could order pizza. I had the pollo (chicken) again which was lovely.

Day 15 – 13th March 2009

My day didn’t really begin till about 11.30 – Nicola picked me up and dropped me off at Jangwani. Today I had taken in some of the old IST science books which they said they found useful. I continued with the profiling, also adding on the extra questions I was meant to be asking the girls. This may take longer than I thought! Though I am roughly half way through which is a good sign and I started to type some of them up this afternoon so least there is some progress! I was picked up around 3 and taken back to Richard and Karen’s with the promise of seeing them tomorrow.

When I got home the power was out so the house felt very hot. After everyone had showered we made our way down to the Yacht club. Friday night is Happy Hour – so drinks are half price till 8 in the evening so it was very busy. This place still seems an odd concept to me – beyond the realms of reality. But the view is still spectacular and I’ve now tried some Tanzanian cider, it wasn’t bad actually. So I now have something to drink other than water (the wines are pretty terrible.) I had a nice meal of chicken and chips. It was a late night tonight – past 10.30 (!!!!)
Still no power by the time we got back. We found out later that a crow had flown into something which had short circuited our zone.

Day 16 – 14th March 2009

Got a BIT of a lie in today, though it didn’t seem much since I hadn’t slept very well. There was still no power so we hadn’t had any all night – no fan which meant it was a really hot and sticky night. Gas cooker still worked though so I had some pancakes for breakfast – constellation.

Ridiculously hot day today, made even hotter by the lack of power and no fans. Spent the morning and some of the afternoon reading and trying to find the cooler parts of the house, me and Sophie played pool also. The Jangwani girls got here about 3 in the afternoon and we spoke about science mostly till Nicola arrived.

The plan was to take the five girls in to the pool for the afternoon. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy it though which is great. They were a lot more confident with themselves after a few hours which was lovely to see. After everyone had dried off they went back to school – looking forward to the next time they’d be able to go in the pool. Still no power!!

The power was finally fixed at about 8 so thankfully we had power for the evening. Spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching Desperate Housewives with Sophie before going to bed.

Day 17 – 15th March 2009

So nice to have the power back, you don’t realise how hot it is without the fans. Today nothing much was planned so I’ve spent the morning on my computer and finishing yet another book.

The afternoon was planned for a sailing trip to Bongoyo on Richard’s boat so I went along with Richard, Sophie, Nicola and Jill. It was really interesting for the first half; I sat at the front where the sea would splash you which definitely cooled you down. Then when we anchored Nicola and Sophie went snorkelling for twenty minutes while I swam around in the sea which was an awful lot of fun. However! On the way back I don’t think I have ever in my life felt so sea sick. So for the journey back I clung to the side of the boat, desperately trying not to be sick. I was so so so very glad to be back on dry, non moving land!

We then all had dinner at the Yacht club on the fish deck which was nice. You could watch all the fisherman bring in their fish and get them weighed. One guy had caught a sailfish (22kg) and it was apparently a small one!!! A pretty impressive creature though.

- Love, Emma xxx