It has been a quiet couple of weeks in Dar, as we have started to fall into routines and established something of a social network. There is a crowd of young expats that live in or around our apartment building, which makes socialising very easy. We have fallen into the habit of having dinner together once or twice a week. This week, it was our turn and crepes were the order of the day. Thankfully, Cristiano had packed a little Canadiana in the form of souvenir bottles of maple syrup. The maple syrup definitely added a little something to our dinner.
We have also taken advantage of the European film festival that has been running for the past 2 weeks. Its big selling point is that it is FREE and that it has great movies. My favourite so far was “The Lives of Others”. It is a German movie about East Germany when it was behind the iron curtain and the role of its secret service, the Stasi. I would highly recommend seeing it, if you haven’t already.
Other than that, we continue to take Swahili lessons and, on my part at least, experience marginal improvements in my ability to communicate in Swahili (Cristiano has fast-tracked his Swahili with a three week intensive course). When our Swahili teacher arrived at our apartment on Monday night, she asked if she could put her chicken somewhere. I offered to put it in the fridge so it would stay cold. She laughed at me and opened the plastic bag to reveal a little, white chicken peering out at me. It was a very African moment.
I wasn’t thrilled when I first found out I was going to Dar. I had gone through Dar a couple of years previously and my impression was of a dirty, chaotic city teeming with somewhat unfriendly people. It is still a dirty and chaotic city, but I have had a change of heart. As I did my aerobics class yesterday morning to the beat of African bongo and the enthusiastic yips of a little Indian woman in front of me, I realised I really like living in Dar. I like the energy, the good natured joshing on the dalla dalla in the mornings, the generally helpful people and just about everything else. There are moments when I wish I was elsewhere like when the dalla dalla is stampeded or the power goes out for several hours. However, all in all, I heart Dar (or at least for the moment I do).
We have also taken advantage of the European film festival that has been running for the past 2 weeks. Its big selling point is that it is FREE and that it has great movies. My favourite so far was “The Lives of Others”. It is a German movie about East Germany when it was behind the iron curtain and the role of its secret service, the Stasi. I would highly recommend seeing it, if you haven’t already.
Other than that, we continue to take Swahili lessons and, on my part at least, experience marginal improvements in my ability to communicate in Swahili (Cristiano has fast-tracked his Swahili with a three week intensive course). When our Swahili teacher arrived at our apartment on Monday night, she asked if she could put her chicken somewhere. I offered to put it in the fridge so it would stay cold. She laughed at me and opened the plastic bag to reveal a little, white chicken peering out at me. It was a very African moment.
I wasn’t thrilled when I first found out I was going to Dar. I had gone through Dar a couple of years previously and my impression was of a dirty, chaotic city teeming with somewhat unfriendly people. It is still a dirty and chaotic city, but I have had a change of heart. As I did my aerobics class yesterday morning to the beat of African bongo and the enthusiastic yips of a little Indian woman in front of me, I realised I really like living in Dar. I like the energy, the good natured joshing on the dalla dalla in the mornings, the generally helpful people and just about everything else. There are moments when I wish I was elsewhere like when the dalla dalla is stampeded or the power goes out for several hours. However, all in all, I heart Dar (or at least for the moment I do).
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