My initiation into the African life...

My purse got stolen! Nettie was right, shit happens as soon as you get comfortable. I was sitting in a friend's car on my way to work on tuesday. How could I pass up a front seat in an SUV when my other option was to cram into the back of a dala dala (mini public bus) with a dozen other people who don't believe in deodorant? Anyways, well I was sitting in the front with the window rolled down chatting away with my friend. I had my purse in my lap and the traffic was slow. When we stopped, someone reached in, grabbed my purse and ran for his life. I didn't even have time to react. And you really don't want to yell "thief" unless you're prepared to have a mob of people beat the culprit to death. Would probably ruin my idyllic African experience, no? I feel extremely lucky though, as I seemed to have prepared myself for such an incident. I had my phone, and my flash disk stolen. Everything else, my bank card etc, was safely tucked away at home. The loss of the flash disk is a pain in the butt, but I had hard copies of the most immediate documents at the office, and an extra SIM card with some of my friends' contact information. So not all is lost. Unfortunately, I have lost contact with the Chinese couple that I have been having lunch with - could not find their phone number, and cannot find their house. I will have to forage around the neighbourhood pointing at my face and asking Tanzanians if they had seen some "Wachina".

It rained all last week and flooded so many of the dirt roads in the area. Its heartbreaking to see some peoples homes submerged in knee deep water, I don't even know how they live through the long rainy season in March. The guys with wheelbarrows made a killing ferrying people across the deep puddles though. There's always someone willing to do something here in Tz.

Zanzibar this weekend! Should be a lovely reward for a frustrating week at work....