Bridge

Each Monday a group of teachers sand some local Tanzanians gather at the Mwanza Sports Club for an evening of Bridge.
We like card games so when we first arrived and were invited along to play bridge we were keen.
Bridge is a complex card game based on whist which is played in pairs. Together with your partner you bid on how many tricks you will win against another pair. Bidding is hard and full of nuances and I regularly get it wrong but it’s a good game.
If you win the bid then your partner lays down their hand revealing it to all. You then play ticks attempting to win enough to make your bid. Each trick counts and if you make or exceed your bid you get points, conversely not making your bid will give your opponents the points. Sometimes you tactically lose a bid – something I find hard – with the aim of winning more overall.

The premises are a little worn but the food is good and not too expensive.

Christmas In A Foreign Land

Our first Christmas Overseas was strange to begin with but ultimately great. Usually Christmas Day is spent with either Anita’s family or Graham’s. So this first Christmas in Tanzania was always going to be different. The weather added to the unusualness of the day with high temperatures throughout.

We tried to keep up as many traditions as possible. The day started with stockings for the kids – though the lack of Satsumas and the limited range of little gifts made for depleted stockings overall. Then it was breakfast, as usual we indulged in our Christmas Breakfast of Kidneys and Bacon. The former Beef Kidney from the local butcher and the latter expensively purchased from the nearby supermarket at price of 11000 TZS (over £3). We also added in Oyster Mushrooms (somewhat cheaper at 5000 TZS), our first fresh mushrooms since our arrival.

After Breakfast we opened our presents. Many of these were vouchers for electronic downloads, these were a welcome addition to the physical presents which we had for each other and thanks to my Sister-in-Law. Whether real or virtual we thank all our relatives for their kindness – thank you emails / letters will follow in due course. We are looking forward to choosing and downloading our Books, Music and / or Videos in the coming days.

One major frustration was the internet. Our WiFi contract ran out at 10am, as we had used all our data. Not only did this prevent us from immediately downloading anything from our Christmas Gifts, but also destroyed any chance of a FaceTime chat with my family scheduled for noon. As we scrambled around to sort out an update the remaining 3G connection was too slow to support either video or audio and we gave up. Meanwhile Anita managed to source a top up from the local duka (shop), then embarked on the process of adding credit to the modem (not a straight forward process).

Then began the process of peeling, chopping and preparing vegetables for our shared compound Christmas Dinner.

Four families were going to gather together for a meal, along with relatives from the UK. We created some of our traditional family favorites including Mulled Red Cabbage (courtesy of a smuggled in red cabbage, locally sourced beetroot an apples and red wine with Zanzibar spices!) and Carrots with Orange and Coriander as well as Roast potatoes, ratatouille and peas. Others brought pork and Chicken together with stuffing, sausage meat, parsnips etc. We were also on puddings, the planned Compote of Oranges morphed into Spiced Orange and Plums due to the variability and poor quality Oranges we had. Even so it was delicious as was the Ginger and Mango upside down cake! Others brough Christmas Pud and Ice Cream as well as Chocolate Hedgehog. All in all a great feast  by 18 people in our living room (the largest on the compound ).  A power cut and heavy rain did nothing to spoil a great meal.

After dinner  (and washing up!) we embarked on an afternoon / evening of games including Wink Murder, the Elephant Game, the Chocolate Game and the the Cereal Box Challenge. These were all great silly fun helped by some wine, Kantagi and Amarula to liven up proceedings (in moderation of course!). All in all it was a fabulous party and for all of us made being far from home and loved ones a little less difficult, also creating closer bonds between the different family groups.

After everyone had gone home it was a chance to watch Doctor Who on iPlayer at 9:15pm local time. Sadly although we had restored our WiFi there was so little bandwidth that it kept buffering resulting in an unwatchable program. We resorted to downloading overnight for watching on Boxing Day. A Christmas tradition delayed!

There was however enough Bandwidth to allow us the chance to FaceTime my family again (Anita’s were sadly unreachable on Christmas Day, being away and out of reach of any form of broadband). It was great to speak properly and see everyone at home.

In the end Christmas here was a bit different to usual, but with a sprinkling of tradition and some new experiences to make the day better for all. We certainly miss our families but the ability to contact them using video chat makes things a lot easier.

We hope that all who read this blog wherever you are in the world have had a great Christmas and we wish you all (not for the last time) a Happy New Year!

A Zanzibar Nativity

Games Gone

T Minus 69

So today we have made some inroads into our stuff. Firstly we have been sorting through the garage – removing junk. There’s still a little way to go but it’s a lot more empty.

Before

After

Secondly we’ve been boxing up the photo albums, ready for transporting to Lincoln along with my vinyl LP’s next weekend.

Thirdly we are sorting through the remaining stuff ahead of a second car boot tomorrow.

Finally we have taken a host of games to the charity shop – it’s a shame to lose them but we can’t take them all and nobody at the car boot wanted them last time.

A few we are giving to relatives, but the rest have gone 😦

Busy day!

What you leave behind.

T minus 176

One of the biggest challenges we face in the coming months is what we’re actually going to need in Mwanza and what we will leave behind in the UK. We will be provided with a furnished house in Africa, which will be great – though this will be basic and will need to be added to. Some items will need to be sourced locally. Apparently even though it might seem difficult on first impressions, you can get just about anything if you look hard or wait long enough. Even so some items which are cheap in the UK will be expensive in Tanzania.

Deciding exactly which items to keep and which to sell / give away is going to be a conundrum. Anita and I have always had a tendency to hoard and in common with most people in the West we have probably had an excess. One look in my wardrobe tells a story.

We’ve not been extravagant by western standards but we have far too many clothes. I have loads of Vinyl which I never play (though some has been converted to mp3), an old video recorder and a DVD player – that’s just one cupboard. We will really need to trim down the quantities – some clothes will never be worn so it should be easier but then there’s sentimental value.

How many versions of Monopoly and Scrabble do you need? We have loads.
Then there’s the book-case.

Anita was into scrapbooking for a long time and we have so many albums which would fill our luggage allowance. These will probably be digitised.

When it comes to DVD’s there’s a lot to filter out. Probably keeping the box sets and the series but even so…

Apparently there are no copyright laws in Tanzania so downloading is common practice. Added to which there is a community library among the expats.

So what to take and what to leave behind?

This weekend we’re making an inventory of everything we have. A long job that needs doing. Wish us luck!