Just Waiting

January 18, 2018, Thursday

The plants were dripping and there were puddles in parking area when we went outside this morning. It must have rained most of the night. I like the freshness of rain-washed air, but I do not appreciate the noticeable increase in mosquitoes. I use a lot of repellant, but the mosquitoes still manage to find some tiny space I have missed on my back or ankles. Because I wash my hands frequently, they are not protected by repellant and are also prime spaces for bites. This is the only thing I dislike about being in Tanzania, and it’s not onerous enough to keep me away.

After our usual breakfast of WheetaBix with bananas and toast with mango jam, we went over to the garden terrace to check our email and read. It was a big surprise to find fundi (workmen)  in the dining room tearing out the carpeting and laying tile. Mazo came by and told us that he was tired of trying to keep the carpet clean, so he decided to replace it with tile. This seems like a good decision to me since I don’t think carpets are practical in the tropics. Everything inside the restaurant was torn up and messy, so I couldn’t tell what the final effect will be, but I think it  may look much lighter in the room.

The fundi at work on the new tile floor

As I was trying to get some photos of the tile project, Mama Kundayo came driving in, back from her women’s Bible study. (She often comments that her Bible study group isn’t as good as mine because hers doesn’t have food.) I was surprised to catch her driving the car all by herself. I don’t remember ever seeing her without a driver before.  I didn’t know that she knew how to drive or ever imagine that she would do so even she could. She looked appropriately regal, so I took her picture.

Mama Looking especially regal

John was getting very jittery without someplace to go, so he caught a dala-dala into town to buy a loaf of bread. The clouds were very threatening again, so he took my red umbrella with him even though I thought he would look totally insane it he used it. Not long after he left, it rained again, but not for long. Apparently, John managed to avoid the rain by taking a taxi back to Kundayo, as both he and the umbrella returned dry. Earlier,I had chided him for paying 10,000 TZsch. for a taxi to buy a loaf of bread for 3,000 TZsch, so he also bought some hamburger at Meat King and some broccoli and bananas from his favorite market. Of course, the trip wasn’t as much about getting more food as it was about John getting out and about.

Our two friends Moses and Elizabeth both told us that they would come by to see us today or tomorrow, but we still have not heard a more exact ETA from either of them. This is not at all unusual here, but as more date and time obsessed Americans, we struggle with this vagueness. Are we to stay put here at Kundayo just waiting two days for visits which may or may not even happen?  Moses is particularly delinquent in keeping appointments. Elizabeth usually gives me a warning phone call just before she arrives. But, when no one called or appeared by 6:00 p.m., we gave up for the day with still some hope for tomorrow.

About 5:00 p.m. our time, we decided to make a video call to our little granddaughter Peri, who was just waking up to begin her day in Spokane. We have to be outside in order to get enough bars on the internet to access it. Then, just as we connected to Spokane, another torrential downpour with a strong wind blew rain onto our terrace drenching us and threatening our computers. After one disconnection, we were able to have a short time with Peri, who seemed a bit confused by her grandparents being on screen and asking her all sorts of silly baby questions. Maybe as we do this more often, she’ll catch on to what’s happening and interact more.

We have found a daycare for Peri if she comes to be with us.

Our choices for dinner were more of the Kenyan beef stew we had yesterday or an order of kuku na chipsie from the little cook shack around the corner. We both voted for the kuku along with the broccoli John bought on his foray downtown. Getting a good meal on the table seems like a great accomplishment here, and tonight’s triumph was enhanced by sharing a big brownie John had also bought at AfriCafe when he got bread there. It was brick hard, but oh so tasty.

Question:  If the average high temperature in Arusha during January is 84º, why was it only 71º at 4:00 p.m. today?