Learning New Things Every Day

Now that we finally have a nanny, I had part of a day to do some errands. Joey took me to the central market in Arusha as part of this. It's what you picture an african market to be (although relatively quiet on a Friday morning). Baskets on beans, meat hanging from hooks, piles of dried fish, produce, baskets, etc. You definitely have to be prepared to be hassled a little, but everyone was very polite even as they were trying to lead us to their stalls. I imagine that as a white girl with almost no swahili, I wouldn't get anywhere near the best price, but I figure another dollar won't hurt me, but it will probably help them, so that's fine. I also made a stop at the pharmacy with Joey (very helpful to go to a foreign pharmacy with a doctor leading the way). We went specifically to buy Benadryl for Ashlyn for her mosquito bites. Well, we learned that Benadryl has been banned in all of East Africa because it was being used to often to sedate kids (good thing we never do that in the US - ha, ha). We did get an alternative and she slept really well after taking it ;)

We got to see a few interesting things this week, too. We went out to dinner on Wednesday and there were vervet monkeys running along the wall - super fun for the kids. On Friday at school we saw a fruit bat hanging from a bush just outside the kindergarten area. It seemed to have a broken wing from one of the horn-billed birds. He didn't seem too bothered by us.

We've also realized that there are a few things that the girls (maybe even the boy) have gotten here that never would have happened at home i.e. Fanta (orange soda). Not surprisingly, they all seemed to love it especially after the 2.75 mile hike we did around the lake last weekend (even though they did say it was 'spicy').

We have been spending a lot of time swimming lately. The rains seemed to have stopped, so we aren't getting the relief from the heat. Between swimming at school and swimming at the local club, the kids are probably swimming 4 times a week. Tierney has improved dramatically since we've been here and Anderson seems to have no innate fear of the water. He just jumps in when you least expect it and he doesn't seem phased at all if his head goes under water...this probably isn't totally a good thing. TGT (the club that we joined) has workout facilities, pool (beautiful views of Meru), tennis courts, playground, rugby fields, and two restaurants (one fancy, one casual that is out on a lawn next to the playground). It's such a great resource and we're so excited that it's so close to school, TNC and our new house.