Last guests visit Pemba and the curse of Jordeni!!
on Kev in Tanzania (Tanzania), 12/Apr/2010 15:19, 34 days ago
Had a nice visit from some friends! Here is the update!Sunday 28th– Thursday 1st AprilSpend Sunday chilling and doing some washing, had work as usual for the rest of the week. I did an Internet theory lesson with the diploma students, talking about the history of the Internet and what it is used for.With the guests we practiced some more spreadsheets, mainly creating graphs, so that they would be ready for their practical exam. Mr Marahon told me that this group had to finish next week as he wanted to get a new group in (new group = more money!) good job we were practicing for the exam!Good Friday 2nd AprilLots of friends were coming this weekend for Easter! As they were arriving in the afternoon and tomorrow Liz and I spent most of morning cleaning up the house (just like Mum does when guests come, only without the hoover!) Frouke, Renee, Clare and Frey all arrived in the afternoon and were staying at Sharooks. They fly from Dar and we went down to see them in the evening and took them to the mess for chipsi and beers. Juanito and Norge came down to meet us, I am sure the mess had never seen so many Wazungu!Saturday 3rd AprilAround midday Liz went to Chake to meet Jo who was flying in from Dar, she had come all the way from Linde in the South of Tanzania. It was going to be great to have Jo visit me again, I felt a but guilty though as I never made it down to see her place and she was able to visit me twice, Mpwapwa and now Pemba!Sandra, Martin, Yasmin and Matty caught the boat from Zanzibar and arrived at our house in the afternoon. There were going to be 7 people staying in our house which would be quite a squeeze but still fun!Frouke and the others came over too to see our house and in the evening we all went to Juanitos for dinner. We took some pasta salad and potato salad. There were 17 people in total at Juanitos house, a regular gathering! There was a big feast and Pepe brought a crate of beer!After eating and drinking our fill we played the werewolf game– it is a mystery group game were you have to work out who the werewolves are before you get killed by them! It is fun game and I had played it before back in the UK at VSO training. Renee had the official cards and was the narrator it was great fun!Liz, Martin, Yasmin, Sandra, Jo, Matty and I all walked home from Juanitos at around 1am, Martin and I carried a spare mattress so that Liz and I would not have to sleep on the floor! All the beds were assigned so everyone could now sleep comfortably! The only problem was there was no power at home so it was going to be a hot night!Sunday 4th AprilToday all the girls went to Chake, Sandra wanted them all to see where she used to live, she also took them to Wesha to see the old theme park.Martin, Yasmin, Matty and I stayed at home and chilled. I taught Matty to play monopoly card game and we played cluedo card game. For lunch Martin and I had some leftovers from Juanitos and Yasmin and Matty had noodles.We met everyone at the port for sunset and photos. For dinner we went to the mess for beers.Back home I copied‘The Wire’ series 4 for Sandra, Martin and Yasmin as they are all really keen on it like me. It was great to be able to talk to them about it.That night I was ill, I had an upset stomach, it turned out that Martin had the same thing too. After chatting a bit we figured out that it was the leftovers we ate for lunch… Did not get much sleep that night and it was annoying because we planning to go to Misali Island and a night at Jordeni for Sandra’s birthday.Monday 5th AprilEarly in the morning everyone but Martin and I went to Mkoani and then got the boat to Misali Island. Said goodbye to them as not sure when I will see them again, bit of a rubbish farewell as not feeling well. Martin and I were still being ill but by lunch time it was not as bad as it was in the night. There was still no power at home so we read and drank lots of water. I sent lots of texts to Liz, she went diving at Misali and had a good time apart from the sand fly bites!In the evening they had a nice meal at Jordeni. It is funny, Liz and I planned to go there for my birthday and I was ill then too. Maybe it is the curse of Jordeni…Had an early night but stomach cramps had gone and I was feeling a little better, just very tired from not sleeping or eating.Tuesday 6th AprilWent to work this morning. Said farewell to Martin and he got the dala to Mkoani to meet up with Yasmin and Matty. Work was fine, I felt a little weak so ate a chapatti and it did not have any adverse affects. Liz came to work later as she travelling all the way from Mkoani.I set the guests the spreadsheet exam which they did well. Marahon asked me to make the certificates for the guests which I did and then asked me for card for print them on! Thought that was naughty seeing as the guests have all together given the college at least 300,000tsh and card only costs 500tsh per piece. I wonder where that 300,000 was going… I feel a bit jaded about teaching the guests, I think the college are just using me to make some quick cash, they asked if I could finish teaching another group before I leave (in 3 weeks, the last group took 4 months!).There was no Internet at the college as the router power adapter is broken. No one believed me until I showed them by unplugging and plugging things in to show which had power and which didn’t…At home I finished watching‘The Wire’ season 5 and Liz had a nap as she has had to travel lots recently.Wednesday 7th AprilToday was a public holiday and we had power during the day, Liz slept and I did some work on my laptop and tidied up a little now all the guests have gone (we had some wasted food which was a shame but then I was ill.For lunch I cooked a daal curry as I had been promising to do for Liz, it was very yummy!In the afternoon I watched‘The science of sleep’ and half of the ‘Forbidden Planet’ before power went off.Thursday 8th AprilThere was no power at the college today, but the generator was switched on as the boss had a lesson to teach. I had the new guest group, only 2 people, plus one from the old group was hanging around too. We started with some computer basics and some typing practice.On the way we got stuck in some torrential rain, we sheltered under a shop awning, Liz eventually got fed up waiting at walked home I he rain and came back with a dry bag (water proof bag) and a brolly!We had pasta for dinner and I added corned beef to mine to spice it up a little (it didn’t taste too bad you know!)Liz was sleepy again and I finished watching the‘Forbidden Planet’, it is strange seeing Leslie Nielson in a serious role instead of his Naked gun Frank Drebbon character!Friday 9th AprilThere was no power at college again today, so much for the power line from Tanga! We were told it would be ready in January, then February, the excuses and delays go on and on. Power seems to be 24 hours on and 24 hours off.We left college at 11am as there did not seem to be much point staying and there was no extra curricular as the boss and Marahon had left at around 9am.Liz did her clothes washing and I had a little nap. There was no power in the evening at it was pretty hot in the house. I convinced Liz that we should take Juanitos mattress back as it was dark and we would get less hassle walking down there with it at night. The stars were fantastic and I am still trying to learning more constellations by heart, I know I won’t be able to as many back home but I really do enjoy it!Saturday 10th AprilIt rained pretty much all day which meant doing washing was out of the question. There was also no power during the day so we did lots of reading and tidying things. We only have 2 weekends left after this!For dinner I cooked a chilli using some local beans and Schwartz packet that Mum sent me. We invited Juanito and Norge over so I cooked some rice and potatoes to go with it and Liz made some garlic bread.We played sh*t head, monopoly cards and cluedo cards. It was a nice evening and good to have power at home.Sunday 11th AprilI woke up early and did my washing, but it rained and has been raining on and off all weekend.As there was still power I decided to bake spicy bread– it is kind of like scones but with spices and onions. It did not taste too bad but was pretty labour intensive, I think I will stick to Brownies and cakes!Should have power for a couple more hours so will probably watch a movie.Take care