Well, lets get up to Date!

So I came back here from the UK on the 24th Feb.

I tried to get right back into it. My first week back here was really busy. Paul wasn't here on the Monday so I had lunch and supper with Keith and Sadia. Paul came back to Dar the next day, the Tuesday, I was basically just running errands Monday and Tuesday, getting everything back up to date, getting a hair cut etc lol. Paul and I went to Nawabi Khana for supper Tuesday night as a later valentines, seeing as how we missed that, so that was nice as always! On the Wednesday I went to a new "cooking club" which was sooo good!! I don't know if I would ever be brave enough to host but it's good the way it's done as each person who attends gives the host a small sum of money to cover their costs. Can't wait till the next one! Then afterwards I went to visit a friend, Nicky, as she was heading away on holiday so I needed to go catch up. I didn't get as long as I'd have liked but it was better than nothing! Thursday morning was Boot Camp, then off to Bongoyo Island with Caroline and Melissa. We only got a couple hours over there but it was still great to just get away and chill out with some friends in the sun. Although I got burnt coming back on the boat grrr, stupid sun haha, stupid me!! A butterfly landed on me while we were sun bathing though, that was super cool!! On Friday I made a batch of Scottish Tablet and that night Paul and I went to a part for a couple people who had birthdays (Caroline and Jim). Caroline and Marco are sadly leaving Dar soon and so I took a fancy to a couple of their sofas so I bought them (with Paul's money lol) so on Saturday I borrowed a truck and moved them to our apartment, and they are sooooo comfy lol!!

There was then only 1 week till mum and Tony got here and I still didn't have the apartment ready for guests!! Monday I got the mosquito net hung up and ran a few more errands, and at 5.30pm Paul and I had a meeting at the yacht club to welcome us as FULL members, woohoo lol, were now officially members, took a while but I'm glad it's all done, what a pain it was, and we don't even use it that often but hey, at least it's there to use if we need it. Tuesday was a busy day. We had the Corona monthly meeting where we had a lady talking about gardens and plants which was good. And while there I kinda got talked into going to the Caledonian Society committee meeting that night and ended up agreeing to be Treasurer, just hope I can do it! We also went to Buguruni and when we arrived it started raining, and raining, and raining... Heavy!! So there was not much productivity that day at Buguruni!!

On Wednesday I went to the orphanage, which was not cool. While we were there one of the mamas that looks after the young children had a fit right there in front of us with a baby in her arms, it was a bit scary, but Valerie was with me and she stayed quite calm and seemed to know what to do. So we just turned her in her side and she just lay there till she was better, then she got up, wobbled a bit, then got back to work, crazy!! Anyway, after that, and after I got showered etc, I went to Milimani City with Sadia and Holly and we got so much stuff!! I got all the spare bedding I needed so that was me set!

Anyway another couple days pass and mum and Tony arrived Saturday. They chilled Saturday and we went out for supper to the yacht club for pizza, which was a fail as they were too salty and inedible!! Sunday we went out on the boat for the day, and we took Sadia with us. We went to a sand bank in the middle of the Ocean, had a little snorkel there, then went to Mbudya Island where we all swam to shore, had a few drinks, them went snorkelling again, but didn't see much. Then we headed back to the main land. I think mum really enjoyed it, she was grinning like a Cheshire Cat, but her and Tony got burnt to a crisp that day!
On Monday I took mum and Tony to Milimani City as they both needed more suitable clothes, and we had a very successful morning actually and got everything they needed. Then in the afternoon I took them and Nadia to Buguruni School for the deaf and we just showed them around, met the children, took lots of pictures, and distributed all the clothes, toys and shoes they brought with them.
Paul managed to take Tuesday off work and we all went to Zanzibar. We took the ferry which was a task and a half, but the seats in 1st class were nice n comfy so it was all good!! We got there, it was hot like normal lol, we started walking, getting hassled non stop by locals wanting to give us taxi or tours, we managed to shake them and found a proper tour shop and got a tour guide there. He was ok, took us round stone town, telling us all about the history of the place, we saw the old slave trade cathedral and the place where the slaves were kept. We saw the spice market too which was awful and smelly and there were butchers everywhere with goat heads chopped up and stinky fish markets, it wasn't pleasant! We had food afterwards in Freddy Mercury's bar then went back to the ferry and headed back to Dar. It was hot and sweaty, it was a long day and a bit too much walking for mum and Tony. But at least we can all say we've been there now. That night we went to Alexander's restaurant to eat, Tony's treat. It was really nice! Unfortunately the air con unit in the spare room stopped working and they couldn't fix it last week so poor mum and Tony weren't getting great sleeps.
On Wednesday I took mum and Tony to the orphanage in the morning. I think it went well, except for me missing the turning and us then having to spend an extra hour in traffic trying to get turned round!! But the children were their usual selves, noisy and messy. But I am glad they were willing to come and visit them, at least so they can see first hand. That night we went to Nawabi Khana for supper with a whole heap of Halliburton folks as Richard Bagley was leaving the next day so we wanted to have a goodbye supper. It was nice, but sad to say goodbye to yet another friend.
Thursday morning I went to the gym for Boot Camp with Sadia, which was good, as usual. Then we went visiting the little local shops etc, it was hot so we got round them nice and quick, then in the afternoon we went for a little swim in the pool by the apartment complex.

So Friday was safari day, and I will do a separate blog for that :-D