4th message from Tanzania

3 February 2004

 

I finally have my own computer, as we got our air shipment last Thursday.  Hooray!!!  Except what were we thinking when we selected the items to ship?  We ended up with a sort of rudimentary supply of kitchen items, 2 frying pans, glasses, plates, a few pots and very few cooking utensils.  In addition, we got 3 blankets (!!!) and our pillows, which we’d already had to replace locally.  The NTSC TV and Play Station came, along with a few games, DVDs, and the computer and stereo.  Thank goodness – music again!  However, we still don’t have internet hookup at home, or even a landline phone.  Patience!

 

Today is a rainy day.  The kids don’t have any school this week as it is Mid-Term Break.  They are loving being couch potatoes – can’t swim because of the rain so they have to hang around inside and play PS2 and watch the new DVDs they bought with all of their Borders and Barnes & Noble gift cards.  The good thing is that it is actually pleasant – I was going to say cool, but that would be a lie.   Oh, they aren’t really couch potatoes, we don’t have a couch. 

 

We’ve been having a heck of a time with water in the house.  The system is nothing like anywhere else I’ve ever been.  I have to buy water from a truck.  I call Mr. Jubilate and order a truckful and he comes and pumps it into the underground tank. From there, it is pumped by Pump number 1 through a series of  filters and up to the rooftop holding tank.  When we turn on the water in the sink or elsewhere in the house, Pump number 2 moves it through the house system.     Pump number 1 is supposed to automatically refill the rooftop tank unless there is no water in the underground tank.  Between Pump number 1 and the rooftop tank are 3 filters, one is a big sand filter just like most pools have, then there is a smaller filter, and finally a pressure filter – or something.  Since we’ve been in the house, Pump number 2, sand filter, small filter, pressure filter, Pump number 1, and the switch for Pump number 1 have all been replaced – a couple of these more than once.  I stupidly said when Pump number 1 was replaced a second time that there was nothing left of the plumbing to replace.  Well, turns out that the pipe going from Pump number 1 to the house, which is underground is apparently now clogged and Pump number 1 can’t get the water from the underground tank through the filters and through the clog to the rooftop tank – at least not consistently.  It all worked fine for 3 days, then we ran out of water in the house.  Turned out the rooftop tank was empty.  It was also an Islamic holiday, and guess what all the plumbers are.  We finally got one to come, and he started at the beginning of the system, that is, in the underground tank.  As he took apart the plumbing at each separate component, in order, he found that each was working fine separately, just not correctly as a system.  Then as it got later and later, they decided to get some temporary flexible hose and run it from the pump house to the rooftop.  This was the temporary fix – however it didn’t work.  They finally ended up hooking the flexible hose up to the garden pump (oh, I forgot to tell you about that pump), which managed to fill the rooftop tank, but doesn’t automatically switch off, or something.  Now, if we run out of water in the house, we go out and turn on the garden pump and fill the tank.   This is all supposed to be fixed by the weekend. 

 

The electricity is also somewhat sporadic.  So far this week we’ve had 2 power outages, one from a huge storm, and one just for kicks.  During the day, the power goes out for either short periods – like 10 minutes, or for longer periods – like 6 hours.  The first time I waited 2 hours before I turned on the generator.  We had no food in the fridge and the kids were in school.  After that, I’ve had to turn it on more or less right away, as it goes out when I’m in the middle of doing laundry, or the security lights need to be on, (or the A/C at night).  The trouble with the generator is that it isn’t automatic.   We actually have to go out and turn it on with a key.  It’s OK during the day, but during the storm it was not fun.  Rob was trying to watch the SuperBowl – Live at 2:00 AM on ESPN.  The storms here are incredible – truly tropical storms with lightning and thunder and wind and pounding rain.  He was closing up the windows to keep the rain out when the power went out.  I’m not sure if he’d have gone out in the rain if it wasn’t for the SuperBowl.  

 

I’ve been trying to come up with a few anecdotes about life here to give you the feel better than just the lowdown on the house.  The first that comes to mind is Sweat.  It is against my religion to sweat – has been for a long time.  Lately I’ve been converting to some other religion – I actually can wet my whole shirt like Rob just by making beds and doing laundry.  It is so hot sometimes it is a treat to go into the pool, which is very warm, just so you can get out and have the air feel cool.  Also, Madie had to write an ODE in her English class.  She wrote ‘An Ode to Sweat’ which was her own idea and a complete surprise to me and Rob.  It got turned in for grading, I’ll forward it to you in some other e-mail.  Also, it seems that it is completely acceptable manners to pull out a hankie or napkin and wipe down your whole face and neck while having a conversation with someone.  Other people have done it in my presence, and I’ve been embarrassed myself to be so sweaty, but afraid to wipe down – also, I don’t carry a hankie.  Yet!

 

Another thing about life here is that it is a completely prepaid economy.  You go to a place with a little card and give the lady some money and she fixes up your card so that you can come home and swipe it in your electric meter so you have electricity (at least if it’s working.)  This doesn’t sound so bad, except that you start out with a number and count down.  Think about it, we are usually at a number and the numbers go up, not down, then we are billed on the difference between the end of the month and the beginning of the month. Pain free until you get the bill.  Here, you can see your money ticking away.  In January, we ran the A/C one day for the animals and used up 75 ticks (I don’t know if they are watts or just numbers).  You see that and then you think about how much money you just spent.  Now we save it for at night and just suffer under the ceiling fans during the day.  Water is also purchased this way, except you call the guy and buy the truckfull for 25,000 TZ shillings, just under $25, and you think about it when the gardeners water that grass that won’t grow until the rainy season anyway.  No credit cards in the stores, nothing but cash.  I never have any cash on me in the US, I just use my debit card everywhere.  Now, thank goodness, it works in the ATM and I can get up to 400,000 Shillings a day.  Lately, I’ve been spending Millions!  

 

Another really pleasant aspect of life here is that the people are so lovely and seemingly willing to do your bidding.  They smile and say “Yes, Madam” to anything I ask.  It’s great, except they don’t do anything.  Sometimes things get done, but sometimes they just say yes with no intention of doing anything.  But they are cheerful and it’s a lot better than the first answer in Russia – which was always “Its Impossible!” 

 

Also, I like going to the local fruit and vegetable stands.  They have tons of things, I saw rhubarb the other day.  Once I bought a huge, beautiful avocado, 6 granny smith apples, two red onions, about ¾ lbs of green beans, garlic, and a few other things for 3,000 shillings (under $3).  It was supposed to be 3,100 shillings, but I only had 10,000 notes and he didn’t have the change, so “For you Madam, a discount” and I got them for 3,000.  I feel so great, got all that for $3 and a discount, too!  Another day I bought about 2 kilos of potatoes, a small bunch of bananas and something else – 1,300 shillings!  I love it.  And it’s all really good!  Not genetically engineered to pack well, so it all tastes great – especially the avocados and tomatoes.

 

I have to do laundry every day, but that’s the same as at home.  The trouble is that you don’t want to waste all your electricity on the dryer so you hang everything out.  The problem with that is that there are these things called Mango worms.  They like to lay their eggs on your laundry which then hatch and get into your skin.  According to the ‘Newcomers Guide to Dar es Salaam’ “There it will cause a painful boil like reaction and feed off the pus it causes and will grow there for between 10 – 14 days by which time it will be 1.2 cm long and 4mm fat.”   The only way to avoid them is to iron everything, or otherwise heat it.  Well, ironing is against my religion, too!  Besides, the iron is in the long term shipment.  I  have been hanging everything out and then putting it into the dryer for 20 minutes to kill the bugs (which I can’t see, and I don’t really believe are there, but I’m too chicken to not dry everything just in case!)  Besides, the clothes get softer in the dryer.  Also, your dog might get Mango worms in his belly if he spends much time outside in stinky stuff.  Dogs are always in stinky stuff!  Bogue stays inside a lot.

 

Well, that’s about all I can think of for now.   It’s been brought to my attention that some recipients of past e-mails aren’t up on the Nooter pet population and I need to fill you in.  Bogue (pronounced Bo – gee) is our Brittany puppy, he’s now 10 mos old.  He is named after the Calibogue Sound in South Carolina.  Booyan is our Lilac point Siamese cat,  Koschei is our grey and white regular old cat, and they are both just under 2 years old.  Hope that clears up some questions on the trio riding the baggage carousel in Nairobi story.  I hope nobody thought these were nicknames for our kids and that they were crated and sent in the cargo to save on airfare – or something like that.

 

Well, that’s all I have for now.  I’ll try to send this soon and start working on our kids’ first Safari report.  Hope all is well with all of you.

 

Kwa heri!  (Goodbye!)

Barb