There are so many things that are the same in our
new location. Most of my daily life is
very much the same as it was in Arusha- homeschooling three kids, shopping and
cooking supper, spending time with family and having “me-time”. But, some things are different. Here are a few…
The
HEAT. It can be oppressive. There are days that I am sweating before
breakfast. Thankfully, it’s not always horribly hot. There are cool breezes, and iced tea/coffee
is a MUST here. Staying indoors during
daylight hours is a pretty good idea.
The kids play outside once the sun starts to go down. We are very thankful to have an AC in our
bedroom.
Store
Hours. Closely related to this topic—most
stores in town close from 12pm-3pm. This
is due to prayer times, as well as it being the hottest time of the day, and
NOONE wants to be out! The posted hours
for stores are usually around 9-6pm…. But they aren’t there until around 11am.
Then, they are off for lunch for three hours.
Then, they come back in for an hour or two before closing for the day! It’s been a bit of a challenge to get to the
stores when they are actually open!
The sand. In Arusha, it was always a bit dusty when it was dry. Here, there isn't that much dust, because it's all sand. Our whole yard is pretty much sand. I've always wanted to get a sandbox for the kids... now we don't need one!
The
monkeys. There are two troops of monkeys
that frequent our yard- the Blue monkeys which are bigger and a blackish color,
and although are more skittish around humans can be more threatening; and the Vervet monkeys which are smaller and white with a black face, and more comfortable around humans. We hear them running around on our roof, and
jumping from our roof to land in a tree branch.
They taunt the dogs, and have broken the water pipe going to the water
tank on our roof twice- water started pouring off the roof like a flood! It’s been quiet interesting being in this
close of contact with monkeys here.
The
Ants. There are about 6 different
species of ants here. There are weaver
ants in the trees that sew leaves together to form a nest. There are some huge looking ants, and then in
varying sizes, down to the tiny, tiny ants that you can barely see. It’s these miniscule ants that I am referring
to the most. Because, they climb on
everything (like computers, water jugs, dishes, etc. And, innumerable times a day, we find these
tiny ants crawling on our bodies.
 |
| Weaver ants in our lemon tree. |
Pets. It’s small, but we’ve
picked up 2 puppies and a kitten since coming which is different for us. We are enjoying the pets.
Swimming. I have to admit that I don’t like to swim
unless it’s in the 90’s. Which it is here! Which means we are swimming a lot more here
than in Arusha. In Arusha, even when it’s
hot, the pool always felt ice cold to me.
The
Beach. You gotta love living so close to
a beach, even if it’s not a very big or very “nice” one. We even get to go to a private beach house
that is owned by our land lady.
 |
| We spent Thanksgiving at the beach. |
No
Glass Windows. Our house has no glass in the
windows, except for our bedroom. At
first I thought this was strange and worried about rain coming in through the
open windows. (They have screens and bars, but no glass.) We have had many rain storms, and only once
has rain come in, and it was easily mopped up the next morning. There are windows lining most of the walls,
to let the most amount of breeze through.
These are
a few of the things that are different. We are enjoying are new house, which is larger than our old house, and the nice spacious yard. We are starting to meet people here as well which is nice.
Blessings!
