A Day of Nothing...

23/12/09

As this is my seventh day away, I was hoping to mark the occasion with some interesting details of the exciting adventures that I have had so far. I have nothing to offer you.

Today I have spent the entire day inside, or around my rotunda. I was meant to be going on an overnight tour but plans have changed. Hon. Kagasheki, my MP boss, sadly had his mother in law pass away last night. As a result of this Professor Maliyamkono has had to attend the funeral and has put a halt to the original plans. This morning an alternative plan was proffered. A half day tour was to be booked with the tour group I had interviewed the day before. This was meant to take place at about 2 o’clock but the Professor failed to return. I am under the impression that the funeral went on for longer than expected.

This essentially meant that I had another day off. I have been told that I will start working properly on the 26^th. This is quite annoying as I would have liked to have been home for Christmas, and as it stands, through a number of variables, the work has been delayed by almost 10 days. I would have liked to have been settled and working before Christmas, or I would have preferred to be at home with the family. Alas, the unforeseeable circumstances must be forgiven.

I have spent the day sitting around reading and watching the world go by. Occasionally toying with the idea of writing up my notes from the interview was justification of me working. This didn’t happen.

Instead I got to watch the storm come in across the lake and listen to the thunder that was shaking the roof of the rotunda. When the rain eventually got here it was as if huge buckets were dropping water repeatedly on the roof. The term raindrop is not fitting here. Like all things natural in Africa, the raindrops were huge; I’d say roughly the size of small kittens being launched from heaven by a kitten-flinging catapult.

Being the brave soldier that I am, I sat inside thinking about the structural integrity of the mountain/hill that the house and rotundas sit on. One slip in the soil a few metres below us could create a giant mudslide. This is likely to be an exaggeration. But the rain was very heavy.

As you can see...not a lot has happened on my exciting day off, one week after leaving for Africa. In fact it’s been a relatively dull day.

The good news is that I seem to be settling into the African life a bit more now. I expect certain things at the right time, I am used to not understanding what is being said around me, and I can almost firmly suggest that my original plans of staying in Bukoba for two weeks is likely to change. Everything that has been arranged at some point is entirely likely to change at any given moment, such is the Tanzanian way. Luckily I can be laid back enough not to care. I imagine this may change when I am trying to get things done though.

Until next time...