A big hello from Tanzania!
Amazingly i have got the internet to work in my house so communicating
this year will be much easier than i thought! I also have a beautiful new
laptop which works...MASSIVE thank you to my wonderful Uncle Andrew who helped
me buy it and set it all up for me after mine decided to die the Friday night
before i left on the Monday!
When January 20th came round it still didn't seem
real that i was going to live in Africa. I am absolutely loving it though! The
journey was straightforward and the looooonng bus journey wasn't actually that
bad. We arrived at the compound in the evening and it was lovely to have our
neighbours (The vink’s) and their children come round with torches and help us
with our bags. Nat and I went crazy that evening unpacking and showing each other
what we had brought for the house. Instead of being sensible and going to bed
after a full day travelling we stayed up late making the living/dining room
look pretty and feel like home. It has been really fun unpacking and setting up
my room with photos and bunting.
No major disasters have happened yet but we are having a lot
of fun with our new house. Woke up to no water on the first morning and then
that evening we had no power. Still not sure what was wrong with the water
(fixed now) but the problem with the power was that the switch had tripped and
all we had to do was turn a dial- which that morning i had glanced at and
thought i must find out about that! Fortunately we have kind neighbours! It has
been fun and games though with geckos dropping from ceilings and hanging out in
our toilet! We have also adopted a baby tortoise which we have named Eugine and
as i write this we are letting roam free on the floor for a bit and Nat has just
accidentally kicked him...he is still alive! It is also cool that the Vink’s
have a calf who was born only last week and they also have an adorable puppy!
We were over there this afternoon and i looked around wondering what was more
crazy, me living in Africa or me being in a garden with 3 dogs, (one of them massive!) a puppy and a cow and feeling
comfortable with it!
These past few days Nat and I have been finding out what our
roles include. It is a long list but i can’t wait to properly get stuck in next
week. We went in to Rehema and it was great to see the women again, especially
when Gracie clambered over Isabella who was sat down so she could hug us! The
kitchen was full of laughter and smiles and it was brilliant!
Nat and I had our first dalla dalla ride with just the two
of us today and we survived with no problems! We also had a successful trip to
the market to stock up on some essentials and some heavy items as we were kindly
offered a lift in one of Go MAD trucks! It feels so normal being here now and
coming back to our house in the evenings and feeling so comfortable here. I am
sure that there will be many difficulties that we come up against, both at work
and in having a house but i am confident that this is where i am meant to be
and nothing will be too big to deal with with God by our side.
