So much to say.
Not enough running internet to say it!
Friday we hit the expat jackpot when we went to a “Happy
Friday Playgroup”, with at least a dozen other expat families who get together
at a different house each Friday to kick off the weekend. An American colleague of Kristoffer’s
was hosting, which was great, and a former colleague of mine at UNICEF (who
moved here in August) was also there.
So awesome! Could not have
asked for a better event in our first week. The bad part is that we didn’t bring Rose with us, so spent
most of our time running after Grace and Noah instead of collecting phone
numbers (expat note: must collect phone numbers!), but we did have several good
conversations with people and hopefully made ourselves known as the newbies in
town. People couldn’t believe we
were out and about already J
Most people that we’ve met here are American or Danish! I am going to call Dar “Little Denmark”
in fact, because I can’t get over how many Danes are here. Everywhere I go, I hear people speaking
Danish!
Saturday’s successes involved purchasing a washing machine,
finding an Italian gelateria, and finding a new little grocery where they sold
good cheese options at more reasonable prices! I officially know 3 people here and saw 2 of them when we
were out. Definitely a small
community.
Today’s success involved going to the Dar es Salaam Yacht
Club (DYC) for an hour (where we
saw the 3rd person I know!).
It felt like being on vacation with our feet in the beautiful Indian
Ocean. We have to be recommended
by someone who has been a member for at least a year before we too can have
membership and regular access to the DYC.
We managed to find a Dane who will play the part so hopefully in another
week or so we will “accepted” to the club and will have permanent weekend plans
at the beach.
Biggest challenges remaining: internet and Noah’s adaptation to the
heat. I think Grace is coming
around (although has definite anxiety about starting a new school soon), but
Noah’s little body is really having a tough time. We continue to work on mosquito prevention. Keeping ants, geckos and flies out of
the house is also an ongoing venture.
On the agenda for this week: introductory doctor appointments
for the kids, my first “spouse club” meeting with other expat spouses, and
hopefully spending some morning hours with Grace at her school before she officially starts. Our generator is close to being
installed and some other improvements have been made on the house. We are in good shape!
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