Wrapping up and getting ready

Today was the last day of work before my big (deep end of the pool) exploration. Masharubu and I keep becoming late for things because we get to talking and wrapped up in our conversations.

Last night we were talking about adventures in travel. Masharubu told me about when he was a young kid in the 1960s held back from joining his colleagues in the Peace Corp. He got held up in the airport for about 8 days since he had not get gotten his Tanzanian Visa, they decided to investigate him further. He was finally allowed to come and has been here practically constantly ever since.

We exchanged other horror stories about flights missed and almost missed. Flights that were packed and flights that were nearly empty.

Maggie, his housekeeper, makes such wonderful meals. I am so grateful for her and for Masharubu's company.

So we got to the office a few minutes later than we had planned to, but didn't suffer much.

Dennis met me at the office since we didn't get to say good-bye yesterday. He helped me get money on the SIM card in the phone that James has loaned me, too. Its kinda cool. There are no phone contracts, you can just buy a sim card and pay for "bundles" of voice and data. So I bought 1 week of unlimited internet and SMS and 150 minutes of talk for 10,000 or about $7 dollars.

Cassandra and I worked until we started to get sluggish and then a bit of brain freeze. I hope I have left her in a good place. I feel badly that I will be out of contact for her all next week, but she's smart and should do well. I expect her to have some initial panic until she realizes that she remembers everything.

I had to turn in my project phone today. That was my tether that gave me internet access. I feel a little naked. The sim card that I have wasn't working too well tonight, but James says it will work well in the Arusha area.

My contact in Arusha is a man named Frank. He has been unbelievable and has arranged my safaris and offered me a place to stay. He has also offered all sorts of advice for me over the past few weeks. He has told me that he will pick me up from the bus stop tomorrow.

When Masharubu and I got back to to his house Maggie's young son, Willie and his tutor were here. Masharubu is trying to help him keep him on target with his studies. So he showed him how to use a computer and told him he would get his own computer if he works hard and learns English. (English is the language of business here so you cannot succeed if you don't learn English.) It was very sweet to see this boy's eyes opening wide seeing what you can do.

I am not sure what my connectivity is going to be like for a while. I will leave Masharubu's at 4:30, board around 5:30, leave at 6PM and get to Arusha I think around 5:30PM. I'm nervous and excited, but I am sure all will go well.