Dodoma

Last night, as I charged the battery for Eric's camera and started transferring files I realized that it's not going to be as easy as I had hoped to make everything available. The bandwidth issue here makes it a difficult proposition. I will upload a few and do the rest as an epilogue when I get home. This one short clip took about 15 minutes to load.

I'm not sure what time exactly it was that I started hearing the call to prayer from the local mosque, but it woke me up. I fought to get back to sleep and think I succeeded. The windows are interesting -- they are slotted sort of like a Venetian blind, but can't be closed. There is a lot of driving traffic in addition to the Mosque, but it's not like New York traffic with horns honking and screeching and yelling.

When I got up I discovered some interesting things about my room. First the shower does have a curtain, so that was interesting. I discovered that I had a choice of either enough of a stream to actually bathe OR hot water. Not both.

As I continued my morning routine I noticed that the bathroom light would not go back on. I tried and tried and finally gave up. As I was getting ready to leave the room for the day and was turning off all of the light switches that were on, suddenly the bathroom light turned on. It turns out there is an on/off switch for the bathroom at a convenient spot from the bed. So if you are in bed and need to get up in the night you can control the bathroom light from there. Clever! The only downside is I hadn't realized that was what the switch did so that's had me so confused.

I also noticed an evaluation form left under the glass on my desk. There are several questions there about the front desk and the rooms as such, but the symbol for the excellent choice is a trumpetting elephant. The good choice shows the elephant with his trunk down. the average choice has the elephant on his knees and the poor choice has the elephant with his legs up the the air -- dead.

I was the first of our group at breakfast. I think I had pakoras, fish sticks, hard boiled egg, beef and potato soup, and baked beans with, of course, bananas and limes. The others soon followed, Paul and I marvelled that as fancy and swanky as this hotel is, they still serve instant coffee. I don't mind the instant they serve so much. It's not Starbucks, mind you, but it's not Sanka either.

We packed into the truck to head to the office where the class was to be held.


Cassie walking toward our office with a huge outcropping in the background.

I loved the entrance to the office.

The classroom is a conference room that we just managed to squeeze everyone into. Paul we had to squeeze a bit more than others (look at where his head meets the door.)

I'm enjoying the class very much. The second time I teach a class I usually like it more than the first time because I feel I have a better sense of the order. The group is quiet, but bright and working hard.

For lunch we went to the local mom-and-pop and had rice with beef and a pop. The meal for three of us came to about $3 with drinks.

Obama's arrival today came up a few times. I hope Johannes was able to get his flight home. I haven't yet heard how is visit is going.

Class finished a bit early so we've come back to the hotel before we go back out for dinner. I sat down to blog and then realized that I had left my adapter at the office. Darn! I had been so good up until now. Fortunately, this clever hotel has an outlet that accepts a bunch of different plugs, so I'm safe!

In the evening Paul, Dennis and I went to the "Legal Seafood" of Dodoma -- and by that I mean the place that's so iconic that you can't visit Dodoma without going to Chako ni Chako a bar famous for their chicken.

Across the street there was a crowd of people watching television to see Obama being greeted with all of the pomp and circumstance.

Dinner was terrific. A roasted, free range chicken half with chips (fries) and a coke -- for 8,500 Tz Shillings -- or around 6 bucks. We talked about having kids who do crazy things like travel and leave home to have adventures. We talked about how Tanzanian weddings sound an awful lot like Ghana weddings with these elaborate performances and how expensive they have gotten. Their weddings might have 600-800 guests.
We made it back to the hotel in time for me to potentially get a real sleep tonight. Dennis took this great night-time picture of the courtyard for me.

There are a couple of observations I've been meaning to tell you. This thing with oscillating fans on the ceiling that I discussed a few posts ago -- very common. They're in the office and in this hotel room as well.

This is the first place that I've stayed since I'm here that doesn't have double turn locks -- these are locks that when you lock the door you turn the key two full times around to lock the door. Of course you also turn it two full turns around to unlock the door. I didn't know that when I was in Ghana a year ago and almost had to call the main desk when I thought I was locked in my room. I'm a seasoned traveler now, so I knew about this.

Dennis tells me that this is a common thing for more luxurious places. Some even have THREE turn locks. They are expensive locks. As I said, this is the first place, since I'm here that doesn't have double turn locks and, in fact the door automatically locks behind you. I'm just a little paranoid that I'll lock myself out of my room at some point so I triple check that I have the key before I leave and then hold it in my hand before I let the door close.