Tag Archives: travel

Here Comes The Planet 45 – Tanzania 02

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Our group, which has now taken to calling itself “Team Toto”, moves on to the main part of our African adventure when we meet up with the Dragoman tour that will be taking us around east Africa. We’ll be spending over a month with most of these people and our tour guide, Steve. The beginning of a new adventure!

In this episode we check out the Forodhani Night Market and the Darajani spice market in Stone Town before heading to a spice and fruit plantation tour where we get to sample lots of exotic fruits and see some impressive tree climbing. We stay in northern Zanzibar on Nungwi Beach where we get the chance to visit the Mnarani turtle sanctuary and tick something off Nicolette’s bucket list – swimming with turtles!

Also, people are rightfully worried about being bitten by turtles. Because it frickkin’ hurts.

Also, cute kitten!! 😀 😀

Back To the Grind

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I shouldn’t say that, I love my work. Well, meetings aren’t my favourite – fortunately we haven’t had many yet. And playground duty in 36 degree heat isn’t super happy fun times. But my students are pretty amazing and, of course, my workmates are the best, possibly in the whole world. And I’m not just saying that because I sent them the address for this blog.  Several times.

We had our ‘back to work’ drinks at the principal’s house and had a karoke machine as a surprise. Pretty much everyone but me sings amazingly, so the karoke was super popular and Steve made the men get up and sing ‘I’m Too Sexy’, which had us all in tears of laughter. My school is the only place I’ve ever been where a bunch of people singing ‘Happy Birthday’ actually sounds nice.

People keep asking me if I’m happy to be back and how it feels. Well, anyone who has been away from home for a long time will understand when I say that travel is like stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia. You leave and things seem to last forever. You have life changing experiences, learn new things, and when you come home nothing much has changed and people are all doing the same things as when you left. Very quickly the whole thing fades like a dream and it’s just lucky you’ve written a very detailed blog to help you remember that anything happened at all.

Changing Times

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Yesterday I threw a ‘welcome back’ bbq for myself and Luke. A chance to catch up with people we hadn’t seen yet and hear what everyone has been up to while we’ve been away.

The answer was fairly plain – breeding.

I’m used to kids age 5 and up, I find small children both hilarious and confusing. After I put my dog in the bedroom for a nap, telling the boys (who had been throwing the ball and chasing her for ages) that she needed a rest, I found them climbing on the stairs calling out ‘Doggy! Doggy!’  and looking for her between boxes nowhere near the bedroom. Then later the boys were digging through the esky like little hobos searching for food in a dumpster, stuffing ice cubes into their mouths like it was chocolate.

People ask ‘how was your trip?’ and we say ‘good’. How do you describe nine months of experience in a passing conversation? Really, I just want to catch up on what’s been happening since left and now it’s *almost* getting back to feeling like we’ve barely been gone. It’s funny how some people say ‘you’re back already!’ and others feel like we’ve been gone an age. Somehow it manages to feel like both. Despite social currents altering somewhat since we left I feel just as close to all my beloved friends. It’s like relaxing back into a giant beanbag, being home. Secure and comfortable and warm. Lovely!

Here Comes The Planet 44 – Tanzania 01

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The first of our Africa videos! After completing a long to-do list before arriving, we finally get to Tanzania. Our friends Leigh, Nicolette, Lucas and Kat are along for the ride, sharing the African leg of our trip with us. First order of the day is some relaxing on the island of Zanzibar before we start our safari tour. Amanda and Lucas get their hair braided at a local village after learning how to weave palm leaf baskets and make coconut rope and we all eat at The Rock restaurant – which sits on a rock just off the coast.

Also, surprise adoptions!

Packages!

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My dog loves tennis balls, so sometimes instead of throwing one for her we throw 20 and see her go crazy. That was a bit like me when I got home to all my packages.

Well, I say all… I’m still missing at least two – and two of the most exciting ones! Still, it was a most enjoyable hour or so, slashing tape, ripping cardboard and remembering what I’d bought. Half the packages are just bits of paper-  tickets, programs, maps – that will remind me of things we saw and did. I also bought an unholy number of teatowels. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before – they make the best souvenirs. Useful, pretty and cheap!

I did mess up the loungeroom something shocking, but I tidied most of it away almost immediately, proving that an addiction to tea is not the only thing to have changed since I left home.

Mess! And, since I’m sure you’re going to ask, Raptormas appears to have been celebrated rather than Christmas while I was gone. Apparently this is going to be our new thing and a new board will be painted every year until we have enough to decorate the front fence and confuse the neighbours. Lighting and sound effects may be involved.

So there you go, my packages! Quite possibly my best Christmas ever.