Finally here

Pretty decent lodgings for the next month, all things considered.

The bus trip from Nairobi to Moshi by bus went off without a hitch, which is a first for anything on this trip. After a short stop in Arusha to change shuttle buses, I arrived in Moshi with all my gear around 3pm in the afternoon. The driver kindly called the headmaster of the school who came promptly to pick me up.

As the headmaster has no car, we went by taxi to his house. As we headed out of town, he explained to me that he lived in the Shantytown area of Moshi. Uhh…..shit. However, he continued to explain that that was just the name of the area, that it wasn’t actually a shanty town. In fact, Shanty town is the nicest part of Moshi, sitting just on the outskirts where thing become nice and green, the streets are tree-lined and many of the Europeans who live in Moshi can be found (there is also the international school nearby). True to his word, his home is safely behind a big gate and wall on a quiet dirt road off the main paved road. The large yard is almost entirely taken up with growing maize (similar to corn), with a few orange and lemon trees in the grassy area.

The house is a bungalow with a large main living/dining area. It is filled with 3 separate sofa and chair sets, two of which are rarely used, and a dining table. A hallway leads to 3 bedrooms and a bathroom, and there is also a large kitchen. The surfaces are all painted stone, apart from the floor which is varnished cement. Lighting is naked bulbs hanging from the ceiling or else screwed into simple sockets high on the wall.

Prior to arriving, I had no idea what to expect and so was pleasantly surprised with the very liveable accommodations and even more so when he lead me to a spacious, airy room complete with an ensuite bath. The bedroom has nothing more than a double bed, low table and a mini-fridge, but it is enough for me for my five weeks. The ensuite bath has a nice, modern toilet and a simple sink, but the bathtub in the corner is just that, with no showerhead whatsoever, so my “showers” will consist of sitting on an overturned bucket in the bath tub and pouring water from another bucket over myself before and after soaping up. So far, this hasn’t been a problem since the air temperature is comfortably warm. It just takes a little getting used to.

The headmaster and his wife actually sleep in a smaller building on the property but use the house for everything else. In the house, one bedroom is occupied by his father and another by their “housegirl” (their word, not mine). She seems to be in her mid-teens (though I could be mistaken) and takes care of the cleaning, washing, and helps with the cooking and whatever else they need. I don’t know the entire story there.

Lunch had been prepared and afterwards we walked to a small store around the corner where we had a drink and I bought a sim card for my phone. Amazingly, it cost me just 1000 Tanzanian shillings (about 85 cents)! A steal compared to the $50 I paid for my Fido sim card in Toronto. Texting is also cheap here, with international texts costing just 10 cents and local texts about half that. It will be good to be able to have easy contact with home via text messages!

In the evening, I went with him, his wife, his father, and his younger brother to a local outdoor bar to have a few drinks. Beer costs about $1 a bottle (500mL), and as in most developing nations, the old glass bottles of Coca-Cola and Fanta are ubiquitous and cost about 40 cents. Without the option of clean water-based drinks, I think I’ll be drinking a lot of pop this month.By the time we got home I was exhausted after a long day, but happy to finally be here, safe and sound, with all my baggage. I set up my mosquito net (too small) and am all ready for bed. It’s going to be an early rise tomorrow as we have to leave the house at 7:00am for the commute to school. That means getting up at 6:00am to get ready. Fortunately, without internet or numerous TV options, it looks like I’ll be able to get to bed a lot earlier.