Furniture

8/1/10

I finally got some furniture, a chair and love seat combo. I had told my headmaster I wanted a couch so when I got to his town, he took me to a furniture shop with american style couches for like 600,000 TSH which is WAY more money than I get to live on here, so I told him I want a kawaida (regular) couch and he took me to another place where I got the pair for 80,000 TSH, though that was just for the wooden frames, I still had to pay 48,000 for the cushions. Buying these was one thing though, but I was really nervous about them surviving the ride home on the top of the dala. I bought them in Babati and there is a dala that goes directly from there to my village, but it goes to several other places along the way. All in all, with stopping in different villages and due to a couple exceptionally muddy/flooded parts of the road, it was about an 8 hour trip home. The sky was threatening rain the entire time to, and I was sure my cushions would be completely soaked and ruined but luckily the rain didn't really start until later that night.

When we did get back, the driver didn't want to go all the way to my house, but when I seemed upset he reluctantly went. When we got there they made me pay 5 times what I had already payed for the fair, but I was exhausted and grumpy and in no mood to argue so I gave them the money and happily relaxed a bit with my new furniture.

I also met a neighbor who had just returned, she had been on holiday since before I arrived. Shes a really nice, youngish women, and she gave me dinner last night since I got home lateish and had no food to speak of.

Today, I took the bike that I had also bought in Babati to the fundi (mechanic) for a servicing.He basically dismantled the entire thing, rubbed grease all over all the pieces, and then put it back together. The ride home was quite smooth, though not all the gears work. I'm not sure if this was a problem before the tuneup, or if the fundi screwed something up. I'll have a look later this weekend and see if I can figure it out or I'll take it back to him. That took the entire afternoon, and since it was 7 by the time I returned, my new neighbor fed me again tonight.

Thats all for now. I plan to do some food shopping this saturday and clean and do laundry sunday so ill be set for all this week because school finally opens monday. I don't think this means I start teaching yet, though I'm not sure. At first they told me that I would be teaching on monday, but a teacher today told me that the students usually don't come right away, so it'll likely be a week or so before teaching begins. Ill try to keep you posted.

Kwa herini.