…well, not sure whether you can call it a street, see for yourself on the last photo below. Our new home, which we have finally finally moved into, is part of the spacious campus of the College of Health Sciences. We humans are by no means alone.
It took nearly four weeks for the house to be ready. Well, ready is a relative term, have a look:
Our first meal in our new living room, with one chair and one pillow, our bikes and a curtain that needs hanging up, no cooking facilities yet – but it’s our own space and we’ve unpacked our bags, having our own food! Tumefurahi sana, we’re very happy indeed.
Our back yard, after the newly installed bigger water tank had come tumbling down from the roof – luckily we hadn’t moved in yet…
Our bedroom, yet to be equipped with a new bed.
The future guest room, in which we’re currently sleeping.
And the kitchen, with all our scrubbing and cleaning materials, much needed to make the house our home.
We’ve been promised furniture – in Kiswahili ‘fanicha’ – and we’re looking forward to it!
And here comes
Life Adjustment number 2:
Alarm clock number 1
5.10 a.m. =11.10 Zanzibari time: Muezzin call
Distance: 25 metres
Effectiveness: medium
A couple of nights ago, during the daily power outage, we pointed our head lights at the roof of the mosque, locating some noises of, well, excitement. Our spotlight revealed three or four pairs of eyes gleaming back at us, jumping wildly up and down. Our new friends the bush-babies.
Alarm clock number 2:
5.22 a.m =11.22 Zanzibari time: this one calls, for lazy non-believers who have turned around in bed
Distance: 5 metres, backyard wall
Effectiveness level: high
Snooze button for alarm clock number 2
Effectiveness: ooh, unsatisfactory….
We’re really chuffed to have a house now that has potential for becoming a cosy home, and we’ll make sure to post a progress report!
najonajo 
Looks very promising 🙂
John – you’ve got a beard, very becoming!!!!
Ah, the cleaning that goes on before you can settle down and feel you’ve really moved in, I know that feeling. Hope you get a new water thingy soon. Glad all going well so far, are you doing any work btw???? Ciao for now.
I had a beard in Italy! We only worked together for 3 years so I guess you might not have noticed.
ha ha!……well I’m sure i didn’t notice!!! or brain fuddled as time goes by. Look forward to next batch of photos.
Hi John and Nadine,
your house reminds me a lot of the bungalow we lived in in NIgeria – it was a big house with four bedrooms and very little furniture, and a tiny kitchen which was separated from the rest of the house by a covered walkway. All the better for dealing with any fires the cook might start….
We had a huge fridge in the living room which gave you an electric shock every time you opened it – great way to start the day! And a variety of animal visitors at times, like very large and hairy spiders, many gheckos, emerald tree snakes, and the worst of all – soldier ants. These would march in armies, long lines about 50 cm wide and the only way to get away from them was to fill the bath with water and sit in it until the buggers had made their way through the house. Thankfully that didn’t happen too often.
We also had bars over all the windows to stop burglars getting in, although every house on the compound was robbed except ours in the two years we were there.
Aaah, Africa………
Enjoy the experience of living with almost nothing – few Westerners get to do it.
Take care and keep the blog coming,
Lesley
Hiya,
Well, we’ve got an electric oven that randomly shorts out the house. No soldier ants but loads of kids. Don’t know if they’re as bad as soldier ants but I’ll give sitting in the bath (damn. …in the sink) full of cold water a go to see if they go away.
great news! you’ve finally found your place to stay. looks nice. here’s some virtual bread and salt: http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/skopal/skopal0903/skopal090300064/4576499-brot-brot-salz.jpg
enjoy making it cosy and settling in. want some bc posters? might still have some flying around the office somewhere ;o).
i was wondering about the work bit too … ;o). take care!!
Ooh, Kathrin, thanks very much but you’ve reminded me of what I’m already missing: gutes dunkles deutsches Brot 🙂
Hello – view from the back yard looks lovely- you should plant something- it looks like you have both fallen on your feet with the social housing and location. I can’s wait to ell mum and dad where they are going on holdiay next year.
I’m working on a leek trench. Ask dad how deep they have to be and how much cow muck you need. There’s loads of the stuff here. The locals think it’s holy and won’t touch it. I’m going to grow holy leeks.
… and it’s still 15 rungs up the social ladder from the Grove estate.
… and ‘mum’? Which part of the south did you suddenly transfer to?
So, you naughty so-and-so, you seriously thought you’d see photos of us lounging in our back garden jacuzzi, being served Mai Thais by the maid….
Brilliant news, congratulations to both house and jobs! Brilliant blog, too – it all sounds amazing and makes my feet itch to travel 🙂 Looking forward to reading more! Stay happy ‘n healthy!
I have itchy feet too. Ever since I walked barefoot in the backyard and something small repulsive took offense at me walking on top of it.