Finding our way

We went for an outing to Tierney and Ashlyn's school, International School Moshi, Arusha Campus, (ISM) yesterday. The kids had a great time exploring the playgrounds and we got to meet Ashy's teacher and Tierney's assistant teacher. I think they feel much more comfortable about starting school on Wednesday. After that we went to check out the house. The girls were so excited to show me how they wanted to arrange their rooms and they decided which room would be theirs and which one would be Anderson's. Still looking a little unfinished to me, but they still have more than a month until we need to move in.

Definitely feeling slightly more comfortable now. Been to several different grocery stores (most are more like mini-marts). I know that each place has slightly different things, but I can't for the life of me which remember which one has which (i.e. which one had the vanilla yogurt that Tierney likes and which one has the frozen samosas). Had to go to 2 different stores today to get bug repellent and I still haven't seen corn on the cob in the store, but it's readily available roasted on the roads everywhere...

Our air-shipment has been delayed. They say it will be here Monday (no customs open on the weekend). Biggest bummer is my coffee press. Very lucky that David and Joey live across the hall and the staff here knows we are together, so they don't seem to mind letting me in to borrow it. Good thing I packed all that stuff I'd need right away in that air shipment - ugh: diapers, wipes, mac&cheese, cereal, etc. I did find Pampers today, but I had no idea how many kilograms Anderson weighs. I think I guessed ok.

Tierney particularly has taken to Tanzania. Yesterday morning she said "Remember when we got here and it was dark? Then we got up in the morning and I could look outside I thought this is the most beautiful place and there's nothing like it in the whole, wide world." She's fascinated by all the people and always comments on the smells and the sights. Ashlyn calls Mt Meru (@ 15k feet)"The mountain that touches the sky". Probably because it is almost always has clouds surrounding the top. Anderson has been particularly clingy unless it's 1:00 am and then he wants to run laps in the apartment :p. The Tanzanians love kids. They are constantly being touched and tickled. At first it totally freaked them out, but now they seem to be talking to the people that are talking to them.

We just got back from dinner at The Masai cafe (I'm still confused about the spelling of Masai/Maasai - it seems to be different everywhere). Dinner for 4 adults, 5 kids (with drinks) was about $50 total. Very reasonable. I went to the local woman that sells produce and got a full reusable grocery sack size full of produce (broccoli, green beans, pineapple, tomatoes, lettuce and carrots)and it cost me about $4.00 (6,000 Tanzanian Shilling, Ts). It's nice that here it's cheap to eat local and healthy where in the US it's cheapest to eat crappy. Avocados are huge - about the size of mangoes. One trick I learned about how to tell if the local avocados are ripe is to shake it - if you can hear the seed rattle around it's ready to eat today or tomorrow. With a pineapple, if the leaves pull of with just a little bit of force, they are ready. See how much I've learned already? ;) Sunset is at about 6:45 and I think sunrise is about 6:15, but I actually haven't been awake to witness that yet. It's been raining alot, but hasn't slowed us down yet. It's been keeping the temperature very comfortable.

Tomorrow will be our earliest day because we are meeting friends at 9:00 am for our safari at Arusha National Park (we're just driving ourselves around). The kids are very excited about seeing some wildlife.