Upendo means love, so I upendo Chipsi Mayai

Today was a pretty nothing day to be honest. “Just another day at the office” or so they say hahaha. Woke up, went about my morning routine like normal, and settled into the breakfast table. Samosas! That was pretty much the surprise of the day! They were pretty nice, although my stance that samosas are not a breakfast food (an opinion I did not even know I had until today) remains unchanged hahaha. So, after a quick brekky, George and I grabbed our bags and headed out the back door to start our day. After taking the shortcut route out to the main road through the back streets (I’m not sure if you can call them streets to be honest…more like dirt areas where houses haven’t been built hahaha), we were running a little late, so we tried to jump on a Dala Dala, but all of them were pretty full…by pretty full I mean all of the 16 seats were taken…but the driver’s assistants’ were still trying to shepherd us into the tiny gaps remaining in the van…like on top of people. We decided against it and settled on walking. We got to the office at 8:58, phew, just on time! (I’m joking...I’d say at least one hour out of every day is spent waiting for people in Tanzania, just because of the chilled-out culture and the relaxed nature towards schedules. I never thought I’d actually miss the hustle and bustle of a jam-packed schedule in Australia).

We worked on some various things for the day, then headed out to the first group, Upendo A (The Upendo group became so big that they had to split it in half, so Upendo B is tomorrow morning). They were nice; very cheery. We had to take our shoes off to enter the group meeting room, which was not very big at all. Probably about a 3 metre square, with 13 people in it. I’m sensing a pattern in Tanzania about fitting many people into tiny spaces…although I probably should have expected that. Australia has an average of 3.1 people per square kilometre, while Tanzania has 62.74 people per sq km…Yeah that translates to the Dala Dala about right I’d say…hahahahha. Anyway! Back to Upendo A! They were nice. George did his presentation on Business Planning and why it’s important, while Cleo and I did some checks of the group’s bookkeeping.

After that we came back to the office and went next door to Leana to get some lunch. I got Chipsi Mayai (which means “chips and eggs” in Swahili…it’s basically just chips cooked inside a fried egg, about the size of a plate. It’s a veeeery common food here in Tanzania, and apparently only in Tanzania hahaha). It was so good. I suspect I’m gonna miss Chipsi Mayai when I get home.

Oh, that’s the other thing that happened today! There’s a new volunteer in the microfinance project! Maryolen (spelling TBC). She’s 63 I think…or maybe 67. She was scheduled to stay with Cleo and Madeline, but due to some complications she's having to spend the first few nights in a hotel instead. She's been to Arusha 2 or 3 times before with her husband, mainly to go on safaris and hikes. She’s from somewhere in Europe…she’s dutch soooo…Netherlands springs to mind but it could it be somewhere else. I'm not 100% sure...She had her first field visit this afternoon to the Ikusura group, though! They’re a wonderful group of women! Some of them speak English fairly well! Well, at least well enough to fluently introduce themselves to us and tell us what their business does, but other than that they often switched back into Swahili. Yuta did his presentation on the Break-even point. The women got tripped up on his explanation of Contribution Margin again. There must be something in the way he explains it (I don’t know because I’m always focussing on other bookkeeping stuff haha) because he’s a pretty smart guy and really good teacher. Almost all the women in the group were on loans of 900,000Tsh or 1,000,000Tsh, which is the largest and final loan given by the microfinance project. It was a joy to see one of the women’s businesses that she’d set up at the meeting. She makes jewellery like bracelets and necklaces all made out of recycled materials, as well as some scarves (souvenirs anyone? hahahah). But yeah, I assume all of their businesses were flourishing. I bought a bracelet from her for 4,000Tsh. It’s made out of magazines, which is really quite amazing. Here you go.

After that we came home, and that was about it for the day. I’m sitting on the couch writing today…the music choice is Childish Gambino and Chet Faker today hahah. Dinner isn’t ready yet. I just realised I’ve either had a really good run with food over the last few days, or I’ve just grown accustomed to the food a bit more. Thursday night we’re going to a place called Picasso, which apparently has really good wood-fired pizzas. So, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to show Cleo that she’s so totally wrong, and that pineapple DOES belong on pizza. You know how I know she’s wrong? Because my argument is that pineapple belongs on pizza…and I’m objectively right…HAHAHAHA. But yeah that should be good. Anyway, I’m gonna head off for the night. George is going out to watch football later tonight, and I’ve got my negative numbers presentation tomorrow morning! Should be good!

Wish me luck! And as always, I’ll see you in the next one hahaha!

Bruschetta, soap and muddied waters

George and I just got home from our day at work…it seems Monday-itis even claws its way into Tanzania where every day is as chilled as can be. We’re both exhausted…and it wasn’t even that big a day. So, I’m sitting on the couch, writing this post, listening to some Lynyrd Skynyrd and Dorje…it’s just one of those days hahaha.

So, we both woke up at about 7am, and got ready for work. The routine regarding breakfast that seems to have set in is that we all sit down and grab a quick bite to eat for 5-10 minutes before grabbing our bags and heading out the door. Today, breakfast was these donut type things. George knows what they’re called but he’s sleeping right now so I can’t ask him. They were just like cinnamon donuts, except without the cinnamon on the outside. They were incredibly crisp on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside, and coated in a sugary, oily type of thing. Mama cooked them herself. They were really good…I’m getting the feeling I’m gonna get back to Australia heavier than when I left hahaha.

Anyway, once we got to the office, (we were the last two to arrive, only at 9:05 so it wasn’t bad hahaha) Elizabeth moved everyone to the side meeting room, and started working through the weekly schedule; telling us who was going to be presenting what and when, who would be doing business visits, what reports had to be written up, stuff like that. That’s the weekly meeting that happens…well…weekly…on a Monday morning…that’s all there is to it really hahaha.

After about an hour of people just doing their own prep for the week, the driver arrived and we all piled into the family mover to head off to our first group of the day, the Aged Sunshine group. They’re all elderly women (I was under the impression that there were men in the group too but there weren’t any at the meeting), some of whom have businesses and some of whom are just starting out. Elizabeth made us introduce ourselves, and when I did, I got a round of applause from the women. Elizabeth said that they commended my Swahili accent and how well I spoke Swahili. She said I’d get a lollipop at the end of the day hahaha. In all seriousness though, I still haven’t got it. While George did a presentation on “business plans” and why they were important, Cleo, Yuta, Rachelle and I all interviewed Theresa, a 67-year-old woman who runs a small business growing fruits and vegetables, and who doesn’t make much money at all. She estimated that if a loan was given to her (not that any of the women know that PA gives out loans until we actually decide that we want to give them to that group), it would take her 6 months to repay a 100,000Tsh loan…which is about $27 AUD. I’ll let you do the maths, but that’s around about most of her income. She usually makes about 1,000-2,000Tsh per week once she covers her seed expenses and stuff like that.

After the interview, and after George had finished teaching, we went to do two business visits. Both the women lived in tiny, TINY mud huts. Each one had about 1 square meter of free floor space to move around in, and about 4 square meters overall. They were absolutely tiny. Now imagine two women, Rachelle, Cleo, George, Yuta and me, all stuffed into that space…yeah it was fairly cramped. Only fairly…hahahahha. The first women wove straw-like material into strips about 2 inches wide, which were then stitched together to make a rug, or mat, or mattress support…yeah it was really unclear and none of us really understood its use, but she seemed pretty adamant. The materials for each one cost her about 10,000Tsh and she sold it for 50,000Tsh. A fair profit eh? Except it takes her 4 weeks to make one. Her rent is 20,000Tsh per month…so that means she lives on about 5,000Tsh per week…absolute max. Provided she can work to schedule, and provided someone buys it immediately. When we told Elizabeth she just said, “yeah that’s not a good business” hahaha. The second woman was both a tailor and a weaver. She made shagpile-looking things that may have been rugs or blankets, but it was really unclear. That wasn’t her main source of income though. She wove baskets/handbags out of plastic strips. You know when you get a massive box in the mail or delivered to a warehouse or something? And you know how it’s wrapped in those blue safety strap things in a couple of places? Yeah it was that stuff. She bought it in a variety of colours and made them into these beautiful, durable bags. When Cleo was looking at one she was holding it, squeezing it and looking at it in a very distinctive way. A way I instantly recognised. “Handbag shopping?” I asked. She just laughed and said yep! She ordered one in black and white that she’ll get next Monday. Anyway, back to the second woman. The materials cost her 4,000Tsh and she sold them for 5,000Tsh. Now, I’m no student studying accounting….actually yeah I am hahahah, but that is a veeery slim profit margin. The reason she ran that slim was because she could make 2 or 3 bags a day! So that was her main source of income; walking the streets of Arusha trying to sell her bags every few days.

After that we headed past the same shopping plaza that houses the Mexican joint we went to on Thursday night, except this time we went to the Italian place two doors down; Ciao. It was, without a doubt, the…BEST FEED I’VE SINCE I GOT HERE. I just got Bruschetta, but it was SO good. It was so garlic-ey and had so much fresh tomato…ugh I really needed it. The good news is that we’re going back there on Thursday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went over the road and swapped some money to Tsh from USD because I was running out. Okay side note here…when you eat out here in Arusha, it takes so long. You order your food, right? But then you have to wait…I’d say close on 45 minutes at least for it to be ready. I really don’t understand why but anyway. We piled back into the van and headed off to the afternoon group.

They were really quite nice women. Yuta did a presentation on break-even point. Some of them were confused by his explanations of certain aspects, like Contribution Margin. George tried to step in and help but he kind of muddied the waters a bit more. So, I used the universal language that everyone apparently understands; beer. (there’s a backstory to this joke. Okay so in English, “beer” is “beer”. In German, “beer” is “ber”. In Swahili, “beer” is “bia”, still pronounced the same as beer. It’s the same throughout other languages too. Beer seems to be the only thing you can reliably order in most places in the world without actually speaking the language of the country hahaha). Anyway, they understood it after my explanation of selling beers hahaha. Meanwhile, George and I handled the bookkeeping and collections side of things while Cleo conducted an interview of a new potential group member. After the whole group meeting we went to a woman’s business nearby where she makes soap and shampoo. She makes bars of soap and liquid soap, then sells them for a hefty profit. I don’t remember exactly how much. But she owns her own little shop-front…so it’s a lot I’m guessing. She was nice. She told us about a chemical she had in a bucket at her feet that makes your fingernails fall off if it gets on your hands…so that was fun. We didn’t put our hands in the bucket…

Then we came home, and that’s led me up until now. Tonight is kind of like Belle’s last night (she flies out at 4am on Wednesday morning) so we might be going out to some place for dinner and then to a bar afterwards. It’s Mei’s last night too (she’s working on the construction project here in Arusha). So that’s it for the day.

When we got home I noticed a little area tucked behind the fence that I hadn’t noticed until now…I say little but…just look…

Thanks for reading again hahahah!

The road to Arusha is paved with...well...asphalt

It’s the weekend here so nothing very interesting has been happening. There’s really nothing to write a post about specifically so I thought I’d discuss the roads here in Arusha.

The best way I can describe is as kind of a parody of a post-apocalyptic wasteland…like it’s making fun of Mad Max in a way. The main road is perfect in almost every way. It’s so smooth. There’s no potholes. There’s no traffic jams. And there are service roads on either side so that the traffic doesn’t get held up (although instead of a traffic island between the main road and parallel service roads, there’s a two meter deep, 1.5 meter wide, uncovered storm water drain that no one every seem to fall into, with only the occasional piece of concrete as a means to get across it…unless you want to jump…). The thing is, if you stray off the main road (aside from the roads that go through the city centre which are also pretty good, albeit dust-covered), you’ll find yourself on the bumpiest, most rocky, unsealed roads you’ve ever seen. It’s like it’s trying to highlight the fact that the roads can’t all be as perfect as the big ones are when no one is maintaining them.

Another weird aspect is that there is a MASSIVE contrast between the city of Arusha (which is actually really small to be honest…it’s smaller than Shepparton for sure, yet I think there are more people living here) and the countryside. Coming here from the airport (which is about an hour east of Arusha), I was amazed at how green and wonderful the countryside was. It was honestly breathtaking for the most part, the only sign of humans being the sets of high voltage powerlines running parallel to the road you could see every few kilometres. Compare that to Arusha? It’s dusty, busy, jam-packed full of people meandering to wherever they’re going (and also there’s armed guards with fully automatic rifles just standing guard at the banks when you pass them, and no one seems alarmed or concerned by it…Michael didn’t understand why it surprised me when I saw them hahaha). It’s so different to the serene countryside.

Now, time to talk about the Dala Dala. I’ve briefly mentioned them before, but I’ll elaborate so you know what I’m talking about when I say they’re really packed. They are all Toyota Hiace minivans. Not the new ones though. I’d say early 2000s, maybe late 90s. They have been modified so that there is no boot space, only seating. The back row has 4 seats across. Keep in mind these are standard width road vehicles…the same width that often feels overcrowded with 3 people sitting side by side. The second row from the back, has 4 seats again. One of them can fold up to the side to allow a small access to the back row. The first and second rows of the Dala Dala have 3 seats each, but that’s only because they are next to the sliding door and step, so you physically can’t mount 4 seats here. There also 2 seats in the front of the van next to the driver’s seat, but I’m unclear as to whether passengers or friends of the driver sit here. (They drive on the left hand side of the road here, but I’ll elaborate on that too) The driver’s assistant sits/stands with half his body hanging out the sliding door window yelling either “Dala Dala Dala Dala Dala” over and over again or the route that the van is taking (for example my one is “Sakina Sakina Sakina Sakina Sakina”). They also squash more people into the nooks and crannies of the can sometimes, although not often. The Dala Dala service, although running along specific routes, has next to no schedule. This is because they often wait at a particular stop for 5-10 minutes, trying to get as many passengers as they can, or until they are full (full being an objective term here, not a subjective one, because I would argue that they were full at about half the number they usually take hahahah…honestly there is no way this would be allowed in Melbourne). It’s a common reason, if you ask someone why they are late, to hear them just say “Dala Dala”. To get off them, you just knock really hard on the roof before your stop. If the driver or assistant don’t hear you then it’s like an unwritten rule that other people will knock and yell with you until they hear, and the van stops. Getting out from the back row usually requires about 3 or 4 other people to get out too…I say usually because some people just squish up against their seat…which really does not work. (A little side that Michael told me. There was a girl who didn’t know that all you were supposed to do was knock, and she, on her first time catching it alone, just yelled the stop name that she wanted to get off at. Apparently everyone in the van just laughed at her and they didn’t even stop, they just kept going. She started crying a lot apparently and just went back home, didn’t even go to the office that morning. Michael got called by the host mother because she couldn’t figure out why the girl was crying so much. He told me that and then said “So lesson of the story, just knock really loud to get off the Dala Dala okay?”) The Dala Dala are also not bland at all. Each and every one of them is decorated with many many stickers. There are usually a bunch of simple design ones, like blue lines or something, but they also range from things like the American Flag, to, and I kid you not, I seriously saw this, a massive picture of Drake on the side of one. They all look pretty unique and different, despite all being the same, white, Hiace van. Also, I’d say about 95% of them (at least) have religious slogans on them, like “Proud to be Muslim” or “Glory to God” or “Jesus loves us”. The country is about a third Christian, a third Muslim, and a third other religions. There are next to no people here who aren’t religious which is really interesting. Apparently, it’s really frowned upon to not go to church weekly.

So, driving on the left side of the road. Sounds like home, right? Well…you could say that (unless you’re on the main roads which are divided by a traffic island between the two directions of traffic) the road rules are treated more like “road suggestions” here. If you want to go around people, you just drive on the wrong side of the road for a while. If there’s potholes, just drive on the wrong side of the road for a while. If there’s motorbikes or pedestrians, just drive on the wrong side of the road. If there’s really any sort of inconvenience to you driving on the correct side of the road, just drive on the wrong side of the road for a while. Additionally, I am yet to see one speed limit sign. So people tend to drive as fast as the speed bumps, pedestrians crossing the roads at random times, and potholes will allow them to.

I was telling Michael a few days ago about how in Melbourne, Australia, you have to get your learner’s license, then drive for 120 hours with a fully licensed driver next to you (unless you’re older than 21). He thought that was ridiculous, in fact everyone I’ve told that to says it’s ridiculous. In Holland for example, I think it’s only 36 hours. Belle asked me “but even if you have a log book, what’s to stop people from just lying and saying they did more when they didn’t?” and I said “Yeah exactly. A lot of people do do that” hahaha. Here in Tanzania, you just go for a couple of driving lessons with a driving school, and once you’re not obviously going to kill yourself or other people, you can drive. I’m not sure whether you need a license or not. Michael said in Kenya, his drivers test was that he had to drive a huge truck with 12 gears without it stalling for a while. Anyway, so yeah that’s interesting. A lot of the driving that people do here seem somewhat impromptu…

I think that’s everything about the roads here. Oh yeah, in addition to the Dala Dala service, there are motorbikes with sign strapped to the riders’ backs everywhere that operate like a kind of taxi service, but for only one person. Yeahhhh…we’re not allowed on those. And rightly so. A lot of them don’t give helmets to the passengers or anything protective, and then ride alone at 80km/h or so.

Otherwise, that’s kind of the whole road experience. I think I said this in a previous post, but I’d say at least 90% of the vehicles here in Arusha are either: Toyota Hiace vans, motorbikes, other Toyota vehicles, and the same massive, blue Isuzu truck I see multiple times per day.

Btw, here’s a picture of the house I’m staying in…it’s really bloody massive. Apparently Jillian’s friends (Jillian is the second oldest kid, she’s 16 and she just got home from boarding school yesterday, and she’ll be back here for 7 weeks before she goes back) call this place “ikuru”, which means the white house. I found it funny since I’m not sure if they are actually comparing it with the white house in America where the orange oompa loompa lives, but yeah. (and yes that is a big 4WD next to the house…that’s how big it is)

I really appreciate VicRoads a bit more now...

My first day in…THE OFFICE

So today, after arriving on Wednesday (PA devotes your arrival day to resting hahaha), and having orientation on Thursday (yesterday), I finally got started today! Despite my doubts over the last few days, I feel much better as of today; it was just a good day. I started by waking up at 5am…don’t worry I didn’t mean to…I’m still adjusting to the time zone difference, so I’m keeping my hours nice and early! I went back to sleep though, and when I woke up at about 7:10, George was already gone for his safari, duvet in tow and all (he didn’t bring a sleeping bag with him to Tanzania, and since it was required for the safari he’s going on, he’s using the duvet as a makeshift sleeping bag…yeah, we’ll see how that goes). I freshened up, got dressed, and overall got ready for my first day of what feels like kind of a real job…it’s a bit daunting actually…anywayyyy! When I wandered out of my room, breakfast was waiting! It was really interesting today; there were some avocados, some plum jam, tea and coffee (like every morning) and of course, bread. Man…the bread here is so sweet. It’s verging on sickening when you expect it to just be like home…it is SO sugary. Anyway, when I was about to dig in, Mama Chilala emerged from the kitchen and brought a plate of fried eggs! So this morning’s brekky was the first meal that I’ve really enjoyed since I got here. After getting a good (albeit very quick) feed, I grabbed my backpack, said my goodbyes to the family, and started on my way to the office!

Given that George is on safari, I had to get there all by myself, which meant catching the Dala Dala all by myself! When I got out to the Sakina supermarket (the landmark that the vans use as a bus-stop), I thought I was hallucinating for a few seconds. As I walked up to the van that was waiting for passengers (I’ll do a much more in-depth analysis of the Dala Dala service tomorrow because it really deserves its own post), I saw a boy who was about 10 to 12 years old sitting in the van…the reason I was so confused? He was white. (I know it sounds racist, but it really is a rarity here outside of Projects Abroad) As I got to the door though, I realised he was with a whole family! They started chatting to me about where I was going and why I was here, and it turns out that they were volunteering as a family in a school nearby! Anyway, we parted ways after a few minutes pressed against each other…the Dala Dala vans are really INCREDIBLY small.

When I got to the office, it was about 8:50. Elizabeth (the microfinance project coordinator) arrived about 5 minutes later. She gave me access to the microfinance dropbox and started my REAL microfinance orientation. She walked me through the specifics of the project, the groups of women that they work with (including one new group of people who are all elders, and are a mix of women and men, who have been growing their own vegetables for a while now, and want to start selling the excess!), and a rough guide as to my responsibilities while I’m here. It’s kind of my first real office job type thing…After a little while we headed out to the Friday AM group, named the Amani group. I had no idea what was in store for me!

It was fantastic. Yuta (he’s working on the microfinance project and he’s from Japan) gave a lesson on the advantages of bookkeeping in a business to the women, and then walked me through how PA keeps track of the women’s progress and collects loan repayments. It was the first moment that I was really excited to be here…I should remember to take some accounting stuff with me everywhere I go in future because it cheered me up by a weirdly large amount hahaha. It was amazing to see how involved and proactive these women were in asking questions and explaining their answers to Yuta’s questions. It was also interesting because none of them speak English particularly well apparently, so they all spoke in Swahili, and Elizabeth translated back and forth for us. It was a really wonderful morning, and before we left, Rose showed us her business that she’s running (since the group meeting took place at her property!) where she sells alcohol and meat from cows and pigs that she has in a makeshift farm next to her house, where all the pens are made of trees that she chopped down from her property. The funny thing about her alcohol selling area was that she had steel bars in all the windows…makes me wonder if that’s why bars are called bars…hahaha.

Then we went back to the office and I became the designated maths teacher! This means that next Wednesday morning and Friday morning (with the Amani group again!), I’ll be teaching the concept of negative numbers, which should be really interesting. So, I’ve got to plan that this weekend!

The rest of the day has been relatively “meh”. I got back to the house at about 1:40 and lunch was chips and some kind of casserole. It was actually surprisingly good! Although again…I try not to think about it too hard. I’ve read for like 2 or 3 hours and now it’s…well, now!

OH AND, the reason I got back here at about 1:40 and didn’t visit a group in the afternoon is because Friday is a half day for all of the projects in Arusha…do you want to know why? Because Thursday night is a “social night” for all the volunteers…which is code for about half of them are hung over every Friday and need to sleep…But yeah last night we went to this place called Taste of Mexico…I guess I could describe it as putting the “meh” in “Mexican”…I miss Taco Bill’s now…

We were there for about 4 hours and then at about 10pm we went to this club called Via Via. It’s an interesting place. It’s MASSIVE, and all outdoors pretty much, except for one small indoor area. There’s a karaoke area, a band, a DJ, and 4 different bars around the place HAHAHA. It’s honestly so big…anyway that is where all the white people go on a Thursday night HAHAHHA. So we got to meet some people who are in Arusha with other NGOs including another Australian! So yeah it was a good night.

We still haven’t had a power out yet today…but I’m hesitant to say it cos I feel like I’ll jinx it…

Oh well, I’m pretty happy. It looks like my stay here has taken a turn for the better! 

The pic below is the view from my bedroom of the driveway/courtyard out the front of the house...that's nowhere near all of it either...it's humungous...

ANYWAY gotta entertain myself for the weekend now!

Reconnected to the internet!

Power's out (a regular thing here), so I might as well write a blog post!

So after my plane landed yesterday I spent about an hour getting a visa and getting my baggage! Then, after waiting outside Kilimanjaro International Airport (don't let the name fool you, it's just one tiny building hahaha), Robert and Gilbert arrived and we started towards Arusha! It was about an hour journey.

When I arrived the first thing I noticed was how massive the house is! It's absolutely huge. Like, about 3-4 times the size of my house back home. I was greeted by Mama Chilala, who is the mother of the home. She has 4 kids! Steve is my age, the second oldest is at boarding school I believe, Joycelyn is this nice (and loud) 4 year old girl and the very youngest daughter is only 9 months old!

The rest of the day was nothing exciting, I unpacked and slept and when I woke up, the power was out! George was in the living room watching Breaking Bad on his laptop and Belle was reading I think. They're both very nice. George (from London) is my roommate, and he's doing microfinance too! He's also 34...so there's quite an age gap hahah. Belle (from Holland) is doing medicine and she's been here for 8 or 9 weeks now! Dinner was chicken and cabbage, and then I went back to sleep!

Today was my orientation! Michael came and picked me up at about 8:30 and showed me how to get to the office. So! The local transport, the dala dala...they're all just minivans rigged to seat 16 plus a driver! They're cramped to say the least...and the owners push and shove each other to try and get more passengers.

Anyway he showed me around town, which isn't very big, and I've got a new phone and sim card now!

Tonight we're going out to a Mexican place... I really didn't expect to be eating Mexican food here... Oh well! Hopefully it's good!

If you made it this far then congratulations! I'll try and make my future posts shorter and include pictures!

Wish me luck for the first day of work tomorrow!

P.S. oh and the power still isn't back

Another successful landing

Just landed in Nairobi! It's very different. Feels like PNG in a way. I have concluded that I really don't like travelling...just the travelling part though. I almost had a heartattack at Bangkok. I got through the boarding gate and got on a bus (which was to drive us half way across the airport to the plane) and I saw a tag on one of the peoples' bags that says "KQ889"...my flight was KQ887...I was so worried...turns out the person just wrote their sevens weirdly cos it was the right flight and everything...oh well. Almost about to board to fly to Kilimanjaro! Hopefully another relatively smooth flight! Wish me luck!

Safe and sound in Bangkok...well kind of

So I've landed in Bangkok and spent more than half an hour trying to get the wifi to work...no international roaming after all since it will cost an arm and a leg! It's a little bit stressful here, not knowing the layout of anything at all!

The food on my flight (Thai Airways) was actually really good. Two meals, both were chicken curry type things, and pretty much a full meal each! So I'm not hungry as much as I am just tired and confused...Oh well! With any luck I'll be a little better at this on my way back through in a month's time!

P.S. I should probably tell you how bad the landing was...I genuinely feared for my life...I was watching the camera that they had streaming from the rear fin of the plane, and the pilot came down on the runway at about a 5 degree difference to the runway (in yaw I mean) and I felt myself get wrenched sideways in my chair, all while I was watching the plane swerve all over the runway for the first few seconds...long story short, don't watch the live stream of the plane because it'll just make you more stressed.

About to head off!

So the day is finally here, my flight is in less than 6 hours! I'm about to head off on my own adventure to Tanzania for a whole month! I honestly have no idea what to expect but I'm pretty excited about whatever might happen.

I'm all packed, got my Tanzania guide book, learned my Swahili, and I'm virtually ready to walk out the door...except I'm still in my pyjamas!

I need to get my last few things into my bag and then I'll be on my way! If there's wifi at Bangkok or Nairobi then I'll write a post about my flights when I arrive!

Wish me luck!