Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone: A Day in Dar es Salaam
Our first day in Tanzania is always spent “doing business”. After waking up to and dozing through this morning’s worship from the Lutheran Church next door we had a pleasant breakfast at the hotel and had them help us out with getting airtel cell chips for the two phones and cellular modem. Of course there were issues with two of chips: the cellular modem would not register and one of the phones would not let us dial out. A trip to the airtel store revealed that Bill had put the chip in the modem backwards. So THAT was a quick fix.
We then went to our new vendor (we don’t know what happened to Al Noir, our previous vendor and friend; Bill hasn’t been able to reach him all spring) and verified that the five flat screens and printer that we are bringing to Kasulu were ready for pick up. We went to a book store where I picked up a the Swahili Anglican prayer book and hymnal. I wanted a set of my own; and then I found out Bill had forgotten his set. So I’m guessing that he will probably get as much use out of them as I will.
We went to Air Emerates next. We wondered if we might have enough airline points to upgrade to business class for the Dubai to New York leg of our journey home. Of course we are way short on points to do that and as we only fly on Emerites once a year it is looking unlikely that we will ever have enough points. But we can dream….
We’ve moved from our original hotel to the Tanzanite Suites, which at $70.00 per night is much more affordable and also within easy walking distance of our new vendor. Our previous hotel had been selected in part because it was close to our previous vendor.
Lunch was easy. The Tanzanite now has a restaurant, so we ate here as soon as we checked in.
We returned to our new vendor to pay for and pick up our equipment. With the help of one of the store’s employees, we were able to carry everything back to hotel and not have to hire a cab. It was time for a nap…except that other phone that wasn’t working? Bill ended up buying a vodocam chip for it. They are much more available in this section of Dar than Airtel chips are. The phone isn’t working yet, but they tell us it takes an hour for it to register.
So now Bill is napping and then we will go out for an early dinner at a Lebanese restaurant that Dad and Shaw scouted out last year. It will be an early night as we are planning to leave the hotel at 3:30 am for a 6:00 am flight to Kigoma.
Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone: Traveling To Dar
It is always a busy time getting ready for our trip. We are leaving our U.S. life behind for over two weeks. I know that’s a really short-term trip for full-time missionaries, but for folks with non-mission-releated “day jobs” and lives like us, over two weeks takes some planning:
There’s the bills that will come in and need to be paid while we’re gone. That’s relativeley easy these days thanks to the wonders of online banking. There’s arranging for a house/cat sitter. We have two cats, both of which are very needy in different ways and who have become even more needy since our third cat died this winter. There are the travel drugs, needed because Tanzania is a Malaria zone; and making sure that we have enough of the everyday drugs that folks of our age seem to accumulate. And, of course, there is getthing the “day jobs” set so that they can be left for such a relatively long period of time.
As we get closer to the time to leave, UPS and FEDEX packages of items we are planning to bring with us start to arrive. Orgainzational piles of things to back build up in various corners. Eventually the day comes when it’s all packed, we go the the airport and then spend entiely too much time sitting up right in cramped airline seats.
Don’t get me wrong: Air Emerates does an execelent job of feeding, hydrating and entertaining us on the trips to Dubai and onward to Dar es Salaam. But I get almost no sleep under these conditions. Something that isn’t too surprising when you consider that the major leg of this trip starts at noon ET and ends around mid-night that same day.
We have now successfully negotiated these flights and are in Dar es Salaam. We’ve gotten cleaned up and consumed an excellent dirrner here at the hotel. Right now I can barely keep my eyes open, so I will edit this again tomorrow, and, I hope, add a picture or two………