So, what are we up to ... now that the majority of our friends here are bailing ship for one reason or another and we have no choice but to play the waiting game?
One thing is jumping through all the administrative hoops that Australian Immigration requires. We are still constantly filling out forms and uploading documents to our file on their website ... and waiting for a response.
One requirement is the 'medical examination'. It is necessary for all of us, but only accessible through one doctor in Dar Es Salaam ... for the majority of East Africa! YES really! After 2 weeks of phoning the doctor every day with no response and then just being told come tomorrow, come tomorrow, we heard he was meant to be in his office last week and so did the 8 hour drive to Dar to see him.
It was in the centre of a very busy city, down a back alley of one way and blocked off streets but we found it! We arrived promptly the first morning to get it out of the way, only to be told the doctor was out all day in meetings and to come back tomorrow!! Only in Tanzania.
We thought we would get the second part of the medical out of the way instead, so then went to the hospital to get chest x-rays ... only to find that protocol requires we see the other doctor first before they could authorise the x-rays. We did however register as patients (see below) in anticipation of better success the following day!
Instead, the rest of 'Day One' was spent visiting a few more western highlights that we don't get to enjoy in Dodoma. A play-park, a fun restaurant, the little book shop at Slipway where the girls got comfortable very quickly!
We also picked up a few fun memento's of our time in Tanzania, knowing that the 'clock is ticking' for us ... including these fun Tinga Tinga name plaques for the girls! But apart from that, we spent 5 of the 10 hours we were out of the guest house that day negotiating Dar gridlock not going very far and with very little to show for ourselves.
Dar 'Day Two', was a lot more successful! The doctor was there and this time we knew exactly where we were going! There were no requirements listed for things we needed to take with us but we took everything we could think of, the only thing that was missing was a passport photo for Naomi. While Mark and Abigail were sitting in the doctor's office with him, Jenny and Naomi nipped out and were tracking down a little shop that we could get a quick photo done ... no pressure! (Especially when Naomi threw a fit for about 15 minutes in the shop refusing to have her picture taken. Not pleasant!) Eventually though we had success!
After the medical we were escorted down the alleyway to do bloods and urine samples. Sounds wonderful eh?! The office was fine but when it was our turn, we were taken into a corridor, just behind the door there was a desk and we were all lined up along the wall (because that was the only space there was!) ... very bizarre and Tanzanian! It was however sterile and over very quickly.
Once that was completed we returned to the hospital for the x-rays again. It was another bizarre set-up, including one 'changing-room' being an old office with holes in the floor with wires sticking out of it and a section of cracked and missing tiles, a working computer on the floor and other randomness and then another 'changing-room' including a broken x-ray machine piled high with boxes of patients files and large canisters of some chemicals, complete with an alternative door, that random cleaning ladies walked backwards and forwards through whilst you were mid-change!
Needless, to say we were extremely relieved when it was all over, it was quite the experience! The girls were really patient throughout and we got it all done in the time we'd allocated. So, the next stop was the beach and a few days away from it all ... especially the traffic! This was our view! MUCH improved!
Although we hadn't planned for another Dar break, we were going to make the most of the fact that we were right there and spent a few nights at the beach and the adjoining water-park for the girls! When you think water-park, think Butlins 30 years ago ... with no improvements since! What you can't see from these photo's is the peeling paint, the rusted and cracked pipes that are not successfully holding up bridge sections or even the fish carcasses that were floating in the water dropped by the crows flying overhead! However, for Tanzania, this place is awesome and our girls had nothing else to compare it to, so for them it was the best thing ever ... needless to say we had lots of fun and ignored the inconveniences!
Before we made the long drive back home to Dodoma (which we achieved in record time!), we managed a trip to a shop that sells lots of recognisable home brand products or things that just aren't available around town in Dodoma! Other items we bought include: broccoli, iceberg lettuces, hula hoops and a box of Dorset cereals! All things you might take for granted normally back in the UK, just not if you live here!!
This was just the first week of the school break. Who knows what the next few weeks will bring, lots more packing (each week a couple more boxes are being filled!), hopefully news from Australia ... but also lots more fun!
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