Okay so sometimes I love this place and sometimes it is maddeningly inefficient and disorganized. It was an adjustment for sure, but now I am pretty used to these things. So used to them that sometimes I forget how different it is than back home. Sooo, here are a few examples.
The other night I walked into the pizza place near my home. I’ve never gone there but thought it was time. The guy took my order and walked away without taking my boyfriend’s order. He wandered around, made a few phone calls and came back and said "sorry the guy who makes the pizza is not here, you cannot get pizza today".
Oh, of course, that makes sense. At a pizza place. With a neon open sign. Pleasure doing business with you Tanzania.
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| Leonard and his Bajaj outside my office this morning. The last time he'll take me to work. I'm going to miss seeing this guy every morning and afternoon. |
No one ever has change! Seriously, bank notes come in 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, and 10,000. When you withdraw from the bank you get 10,000 notes. When you take a Bajaj it costs around 2000 to 4000 or more if you are traveling a greater distance (but generally a dollar to 2 dollars). When you buy lunch it costs about the same. But no one has change!!!! Even the movie theatre. The other day they did not have change so they simply wrote on the receipt that change was due and to try to get it after the movie.
Dala dalas. A dala dala is what the local busses are called. They look like large vans kind of. It is the main local transport. There is no such thing as a full dala dala. They have seats for about 16 people. This means NOTHING. People will cram in until they are sitting on each other and when there is no more room they will hang out the windows. Yesterday I saw dala dala full of people at the Maasai market and some of the passengers had purchased goats. Well you need to take you purchase home right!? So I watched them load 8 goats in the dala dala as well. Just another day at the market.
A few weeks ago when we went to Bagamoyo we took the dala dala. It is incredibly inexpensive. A two hour drive is less than it costs me to take a Bajaj from my house to the grocery store. The woman sitting in front of us kept reaching behind her looking for something, we realized her live chicken was at our feet. Throughout the ride it proceeded to move around and tickle my boyfriend’s leg. But for the most part, what a well behaved chicken, it didn’t make a peep until we stopped and the woman picked it up. I guess it prefers a dala dala ride to what it knew was coming next, dinner time.
Piki Pikis. These are motorbikes. They are everywhere and are used as a source of public transportation. So when you walk by a few motorbikes they say piki piki, and I say “no way, are you crazy?”. This is because there are no helmets, they weave all over the place, and are considered extremely dangerous. Not to mention (what’s with that term? by saying not to mention, I am in fact mentioning it. hmmm) not to mention that you have no control over where they could be taking you.
What I do like about these is that they have stereos. You always hear music when a piki piki goes by.
There are so so many more but that's all for now. It's my last day of work and I must wrap up a few things. Oh I really am going to miss this place:(
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