Tag: The Interesting and the Amusing in My Daily Life Page 5 of 10

Once upon a time, many years ago, in a large city called Dar es Salaam, there were these foreigners living in the far northern part of the city called Mbezi Beach.

They felt left out.  They felt rejected.  All the people in the center of the city, and the southern part of the city, had all sorts of great restaurants and markets and shops.  Most importantly, they had a place called Shopper’s Plaza.  At Shopper’s Plaza, you could buy bacon and cheese and broccoli and all sorts of wonderful things that you couldn’t find anywhere else in the city.  And those things are pretty important to foreigners.

But those poor folks out in Mbezi Beach?  Well, they could buy things like flour, sugar, and beans out in their area, but if they wanted yogurt, tortilla chips, or Oreos, well, they had to drive to Shopper’s Plaza.  And that usually took about an hour each direction.

It was very sad.  As the years went on, Shopper’s Plaza got bigger and better, and another Shopper’s Plaza opened in Dar es Salaam….but it was still nowhere near Mbezi Beach.  All the Mbezi Beach folks had to drive that looong distance and no one seemed to notice or care.

Mbezi Beach friends would wistfully wish that one day there would be a Shopper’s Plaza in their area.  A couple of years ago, rumors started circulating that a Shopper’s Plaza was being built in Mbezi Beach!  But they were used to having their hopes dashed, so everyone just kept saying, I’ll believe it when I see it.  

And then, on February 21, 2015, a miracle happened.  A Shopper’s Plaza did indeed open in Mbezi Beach!  It was a dream come true!  No more empty dreams of bacon!  No more ice cream melting in the hour trip home!

It was wonderful and beautiful.  All the Mbezi Beach friends went to the brand new Shopper’s Plaza on February 21st, because it was only 10 minutes away, and everyone needed to see it for themselves.  All the friends jumped up and down and were positively giddy and spent way more money than they should have.

And they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

Have you ever thought about what the world was like before pesticides?

Probably a lot more bugs.

A few years ago, we had a team here.  One thing they brought was a couple bottles of permethrin.

It’s meant for spraying on clothes and tents while camping, to keep the bugs away.  The team didn’t use it, so they left it with us.

We discovered soon after that this stuff is liquid gold.  If we sprayed it on baseboards, mosquito nets, and under furniture, we didn’t have live bugs in our house any more–we had dead bugs.  And the best part is that it keeps working for about three months after it’s sprayed.  

When your house is full of ticks, mosquitoes, ants of various varieties, cockroaches the size of small mammals, and centipedes that sting, trust me, you’d be willing to try anything.

I get the eebie jeebies just looking at this picture.  

We brought permethrin back with us in July, but now it’s gone.  And the bugs know it, and they have invaded.  So when my mom offered to send us a box of Christmas presents back with a friend who was visiting the States, one of the first things I asked for was more permethrin.

And the last couple of weeks, it’s what I thought about every single day as I opened my cupboards and saw the roaches and their droppings.  I’m sorry, but I’m of the old-fashioned opinion that when you put clean dishes back in the cupboards, they should stay clean.  You shouldn’t have to wash them again when you take them out.  

We got my mom’s box on Wednesday, and even though I was happy to see the chocolate chips and the presents for the kids, I was most excited to see the permethrin.  

This morning, I took everything out of the cupboards, blasted them with bug spray, scrubbed them, and sprayed them with permethrin.  (The cupboards, not the dishes.) I dare those bugs to come back.

Listen, when I was in America, I bought organic sweet potatoes from Trader Joe’s like every other good little mom.  But out here, I’ve got to say that I sure am thankful for pesticides.

Some things are the same.  

The huge crowds.  

The excitement in the air.  

The noise makers.  

However, this particular kind of ball game probably wouldn’t attract the same kind of crowds in America.  Even with the “Real Madrid Legends” as the visiting team.  (If you don’t understand the significance of this, I won’t try to explain it to you.  Just trust me when I say it’s a big deal).

Even the President of Tanzania was in attendance.

No nachos or hot dogs sold at this game.  But candy, peanuts, samosas, and ice cream were plentiful.  Maybe the snack sellers at Dodger Stadium could learn a few tricks from these guys.

Another thing that’s the same?  I only go for the company.

I love her.

And Grace loves her girl.

Though we went as a family, ball games are not family events here.  The crowd was probably 90-95% men.  Very few women, and even fewer children.  When we go, we definitely stand out.  Once, we even got our picture in the newspaper the next day.  

It was fun, even though Tanzania lost.  

That is, it was fun until after the game.  But that incident is part of a bigger topic, so I will save that for the next post.  

So, today the vet came.

He sedated Precious [the Rhodesian Ridgeback], then lanced the infection out of her eye, and then injected her eye with antibiotics.

On the front porch.

Under the very interested gaze of my eight-year-old.

Who needs school?

Hey, this is nothing.  When I was a kid in Liberia, the vet neutered our dog on our kitchen table.  

School actually does start tomorrow.  But it can’t possibly be more interesting than this.

Okay, so it was a little tricky to get these pictures.  If you started randomly taking pictures of say, your neighbors, or the clerk at the grocery store, they would probably call the police.  I already stick out around here.  So I had to be kind of sneaky getting these pictures.  Which explains their lack of quality or general artistic-ness.

But hopefully, you get an idea of what it looks like around here.

There has been very little city planning in Dar es Salaam.  Very few streets have names and there is no organization to the buildings.  It’s very much a hodge-podge, and our “neighborhood” is no exception.

the outside of our gate

the view from our gate–the path leading up to the main road

Our neighbors directly in front of us.  There are multiple families living in this house.

The unfinished house on the path to our road.  It’s been unfinished the entire time we’ve lived here, but in the past couple of years, it looks like people are living there anyway.

Carpenter shop directly next to our house.  We hear their saws almost every day.  They recently made me a table for the kids’ play room, and they did a great job.  

Homes directly next to ours that are typically Tanzanian–concrete block, no indoor plumbing, very little electricity.

In contrast, this is a home very close by that is far nicer than our home.  

Children and goats

…and they love getting their picture taken.  They nagged me about when they could come over and play again (which happens 2-3 times a week).

A typical fruit and vegetable “duka.”  Sorry I couldn’t get closer….I couldn’t think of a good reason to take their picture and I didn’t want to freak them out.

Local bar.  We find it interesting that there is so much alcohol in this country, even though both Islam and [African] Christianity forbid it.  

The front of a car.  Um?  

Maybe this is the rest of the car….

Unfortunately, trash is everywhere.

The football pitch (soccer field) very near us

And I came home from my walk to this….Frodo had brought me a hedgehog.  How nice of him.