Evening everyone,Well, I made it here to sunny Tanzania.
I have no doubts you can smell the mozzie spray from there.
What can I say about it all?
I had good flights - thanks to Qatar Airways for the good service received.
Doha airport is as good as I was told it would be.
Would deffo fly with them again.
Haha, yes, I mean other than my flight back to the UK that is - doh.
It's fabulous. There are some great people here who are on electives also. It's nice to be able to discuss nursing and how the different countries have different ways of doing things.
There are students here from the Netherlands, USA, Australia and of course the UK. Turns out there is one student here who also attends the UEA and started at the same time as me!
So what have I done so far? Other than soak up the sun and the warmth....
So, today has seen us having what is called an orientation day.
By the way, I need to say that the bottle that I was given by Water-to-Go is damn handy. I needed to get a drink in the middle of the night. Da-da...use tap water and put it my magic bottle. Voila and the job's a goodun'.
Us newbies took a Dala Dala (local bus) to the Muhumbili Hospital so that we could meet some of the staff there. The hospital is huge!
The staff seem lovely so far and I have heard positive things about the mental health bit of the hospital. So fingers crossed.
We then went on to have something to eat and drink at some restaurant nearby.
Granted there were some things that I put on my plate that I was unsure of but hell, when in Rome...
We headed back to the house for some time to chill before heading out again to get some money exchanged.
We then wedged ourselves into a convoy of Tuk-tuks and headed across to another part of the area and had ice cream! I was happy to try this ice cream parlour as it was a place that Work the World go to so it can't be bad.
The ice cream was lovely in fairness and there were so many flavours to choose from.
Then we headed back towards the house to buy a SIM card so that I could communicate easier round here. Especially if the wi-fi in the house fails.
However, the most likely reason it fails it because there are loads of people using it and it can-nae handle it captain.
Fair enough really.
Finally, get that sorted out and come back to the house for a beginners lesson in Swahili (or Kiswahili as it is known here).
The teacher made me giggle...he was so energetic and passionate about teaching us all to speak his language. I'm glad I read a bit before I came out here.
But you lot already know that from my previous blog posts.
"Brilliant" I hear you say "but what else did you do?
Well, thank you for asking.
We had our Kiswahili lesson and then had our evening meal. Again there were things there that I put on my plate that I wasn't sure of. But still...
So it turns out that the kinda rubbery stuff that I had eaten was octopus!I mean...octopus??? I would never dare touch that in the UK.
It was cooked in a sauce of the local variety and seemed to be more of a texture than flavour.
It wasn't in-edible though as the chef here is professionally trained and food so far has been lovely.
So then as if today hadn't been busy enough, 5 of us newbies headed out to the local cocktail bar called Shooters. Needless to say I had a Mojito - yes only the one but it was nice.
I think the fact that it has a rooftop bar had something to do with it and I managed to send some piccies back home to my dear admin'.
On that note, my dear admin' has resigned his position.
Karen is not a happy bunny but, bless him, he couldn't do that for always.
He did a fantastic job for me tho'.
So there we are. I am now back in the house and typing this wee blog to you all and would readily recommend it to anyone.
Granted I was a little upset at leaving the UK and doing this on my own. But...I did promise to come here and enjoy it and get the best from it. And indeed I am trying to do that.
Doesn't stop me walking round thinking how my family would most likely enjoy it here.
Anyways, I am going to get a coffee and then get to bed. I think the water is back on now so I may just get a shower in too.
Keep 'em crossed for us, would ya please? If all else fails then it'll be a shower in the morning.
Oh well needs must and it's just the way of things here.
Hakuna Matata. Yes it is said here!! as is Rafiki and Simba.
Right, night all and sleep well.
I will update you lot again at some point.
ttfn
K xx
