...today I am packing up everything I own and tomorrow I am boarding a plane for home back in the U.S.!!!
Seriously, I can't take it anymore. I know I've been writing about all these fun things like wildlife safaris and beach weekends, but now it's been raining for three days in a row and there's mud everywhere. There was a smashed gecko on my sitting room rug this morning. My house has had no water supply for four months. I can't understand any of these Tanzanians and they can't understand me. I don't like the other foreigners who live here. I miss having pets. I want to go skiing. I want to drive through a drive up window to buy fast food. A Maasai hit me with his herding stick and broke my camera when I tried to take his picture, so I can't continue blogging without my camera...
...so that's it. Good bye. I'm off to the U.S.
APRIL FOOL'S!!
Just kidding! Really, I'm staying at least for a few more months. I still have my camera. Nobody hit me with a stick. It would be fun to go skiing, though. And I am getting tired of the rain.
I've always loved April Fool's Day. When I retired, I lost that pool of coworkers just waiting around the office to be fooled. One of my coworkers, Lee J., was the biggest joker in the office and an expert at April Fool's Day. The first year after I retired, my coworkers speculated and worried about whether I would run off to Africa and get married without giving it enough thought. On April Fool's Day, I stood in my living room in Utah, cell phone in hand, African CD playing loud, and called Lee J. at his desk. I pretended I could barely hear him and shouted into the phone, "Lee! Lee! Is that you? I'm getting married today! I'm in Tanzania. I'm calling you from my wedding! I'm getting married!" He was obviously stunned, but wanted to be a supportive friend. I let him congratulate me for a couple of minutes before I let him off the hook and yelled, "April Fool's!" Then I called three other people in the office to tell them how Lee J. totally fell for my joke.
So, anyway, I'm still here and intend to stay awhile longer. I'll still be blogging and taking pictures. And Happy April Fool's Day, everybody! Now I'm off to Facebook to change my relationship status to "married" and scare all my friends back home!
Phew! I only found you, and started following you yesterday and then I saw the first bit of this post and thought I'd put a jinx on it. Looking forward to finding the time to read the blog from beginning to end :0)
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ReplyDeleteWhat a relief to know your camera was not broken.
ReplyDeleteYou got me!
ReplyDeletePeeJay-thanks for signing up as a follower! When I first started reading a bunch of blogs a year ago, I found two that I really liked, then realized that one, I'd stumbled onto her last post that was three months old, and a second one, after I saw three posts, she shut down the blog because she'd been writing mean (but funny and interesting) things about her family and someone found the blog!
ReplyDeleteYou almost had me until you said, "I can't understand Tanzanians and they can't understand me"!! the REAL Barb Shuster would NEVER say that - smashed geckos, mud, and unending rain are another story!
ReplyDeleteGlad you're sticking it out - I need another year to save the $$ to come over!!
Diane, thanks for that! What a nice thing to say about me right after I played a sneaky trick!
ReplyDeleteHey Barb, I also fell for the April Fool's joke - I was actually shocked that you were writing the first few paragraphs since it was so out of character for you -oops, I was FOOLED! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'll call Lee J tomorrow and tell him to read this blog. Carol Brown
Well, I'm so glad I found your blog! Would you believe I was Googling images for something to do with Pemba (can't remember exactly what now) and your photo of the 3 local ladies came up and that lead me here.
ReplyDeleteI've now read your blog from beginning to end and what an enjoyable & fascinating read it's been. I was in Tanzania February/March 2010 - leaving as you were arriving. I only spent 3 weeks there but as a 'typical' tourist and not in the way you are - actually living the life. I would have loved to have spent time 'native' as what I experienced was nothing near 'native' but it was fascinating, none-the-less. I spent a couple of days in Dar, then on safari (Selous Game reserve) then 2 weeks on Pemba. One of our Coastal air pilots was an American woman. Wonder if it was the same one you had? Spooky if it was. I put together a photobook of my stay, selecting just a few of the 1000s of photos I took (thank heaven for digi cameras - lol) which, although so different to your experiences - hold many happy memories for me. http://www.photobox.co.uk/creation/526122044 You may have to join to view but it's pretty much on the same lines as Snapfish. I also documented the time spent there on my blog once I'd returned. You can find that using the labels on my sidebar.
I've still to browse your albums you've linked to on your sidebar. I want time to digest those :0)
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. Can't wait for you next update :0)
Peejay, I'm so happy you're enjoying my blog. Two weeks on Pemba doesn't sound like the usual tourist rounds (although in Tanzania, even the "usual" tourist rounds are exciting). I'll definitely be back over to your blog and look for those posts and see what you were doing on Pemba.
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