Being back

I had suspected that going home so near the end of my time in Tanzania probably wasn't going to be the best idea.  The trip home was unavoidable though as I really, really wanted the job and thus had to attend the interview.  Luckily I got the job AND got to see lots of family and friends AND ate a lot of amazing food AND got to enjoy not being stared at all the time and not having to translate everything I wanted to say into swahili.  That being said it has made coming back to Tanzania a little difficult - not least because at least three people have now told me I'm looking nice and fat after my trip home.  I blame the GU desserts and maybe the goats cheese and possibly the wine and cocktails.....

Dar es Salaam actually looking quite nice in the evening sun

However, I am going to try to keep the gloomy and doomy thoughts at bay and write about the nice things that have happened while I've been gone.  Most importantly the mango season has started which means there are mangoes literally everywhere and the flame trees are in flower - I have so far failed to get a picture that does them justice but will keep trying as they are stunning.  On that note, I have bought myself an exciting new camera to play with in celebration of getting an awesome new job.  I have no idea how to use it but will need to learn before I leave for South Georgia if I am going the get the perfect picture of a penguin on an iceberg.  In view of the fact I will be going home fairly soon and the fact I have a new camera and the fact I don't have much exciting to write about, this blog will be mostly picture-based and will hopefully give people a bit of an idea about what Ndanda is like.

Flame tree in front of Ndanda Secondary School

Ndanda Abbey - not entirely in-keeping with the local architectural style

As I have mentioned before, the Benedictines build stuff everywhere - cross on a hill overlooking Ndanda.

Nice clouds over the hospital

I thought I would also share a particularly disgusting image as I have the impression that when I complain about the ants people are not really getting just how many we're talking about.  I have therefore included a picture of my fridge just prior to me attacking in with a can of 'HIT.'  I went out to dinner and came back to find them literally everywhere.  Don't know where they came from.  Don't know where they were going.  Don't know what on earth they wanted from my fridge.  Unpleasant.  Very unpleasant.  I also thought I'd include a picture of my house (mostly because I wanted to use my new fish-eye lens but partly to show off my awesome 70s furniture).  If anyone who has lived with me is reading this they will I'm sure realise that some swift tidying was done prior to the shot (mostly involving shoving a large amount of clothing from the floor into the bottom of the wardrobe where it will no doubt remain for a while).

Ants...A LOT of ants

My lounge/bedroom all fish-eyed up

Tomorrow I will be mostly baking tropical fruit crumble since the main ingredient is now available.  I have so far avoided cooking anything other than spagetti with chilli ketchup since coming back from the UK so this will be a big step forward!