Beautiful Tanzania!!!

Here are more pictures of where I am in the world. All of these are of Dar es Salaam and an Island right offshore from Dar that we went to this past weekend.














Things are still going really well here in Tanzania! I've been really surprised about a lot of things here. The people are very nice and I never feel afraid to walk around during the day. However, at night we don't venture more than a few blocks from the hotel just to be safe.
We've pretty much gotten our bearings down, so we've got the rental car now. That being said, I'm still gonna observe for a couple of weeks before I start trying to drive on the 'wrong' side.

My first week of work was great and I'm really learning a lot about my job and a ton about the country; the place really has a 100 times more to offer than I thought. From the Serengeti, to Mt. Kilimanjaro, to Zanzibar island resorts, there's so much to see and experience; I'd recommend to anyone to take trip here for a safari, some of the best snorkling and diving in the world, to relaxing in a private hut on a secluded beach just outside the city. Needless to say then, I love this place and will definitely be back!

After the week's work, we went to a cool restaurant in town where I tried Ethiopian food, which was really good (pretty close to Indian food) then we headed out to a pub that's popular in town. We had a good time and got to sleep late the next day for the first time since I'd been in Dar.

On Saturday, we decided to take the remainder of our per diem and go to an island about 5 minutes from the city center. We took a ferry over (the one you see in the pictures above) for about 10 cents. It was interesting, but not as bad as you may think. We actually had a good conversation with some of the locals (one of them is pictured above reading a paper) on board. Most of the people here speak at least a little English, so you can pretty much talk anyone.

From the drop off point, we took a cab for 2 bucks to a secluded beach on the other side of the island, so we were only about 15 minutes outside of the city of Dar es Salaam, but you would never know. It was incredibly quiet and we were in a protected beach with no worries at all: just hang out, have a couple of drinks and unwind by the beach. The hut in the pictures is the one that we rented for $10 a night. It was a private hut with a fan and electricity; It was awesome!!! We felt a world away from our job, so it's good to know that we can go 15 mins away and spend roughly 40 bucks for 2 days on secluded beach to get away from it all! :)

Now, here's my story of the week, or month, or maybe even the year!!!
Well, we got back into Dar on Sunday and later went to dinner at an outside restaurant that we'd eaten at the week before. I was eating and my collegue had on flip flops and was moving them around under the table.

I thought his flip flop fell off and landed on my foot. Now, I was wearing loose Khaki pants and when I went to pick up the 'flip flop'. I SAW IT. A tail hanging out of my pant leg!!!!!!!!!

I jumped up screaming like a 5 year old girl. This caused the thing in my pants to run up the inside of pants all the way to my thigh. I was flailing like Lord of the Dance and had my pants unbuttoned and if it had gone on for 2 seconds longer those puppies were going to be off. It was only about 15 seconds, but seemed like a lifetime! Finally, the thing flew out and we saw that it was a freakin' rat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I don't mean Hampster-sized. Just writing about it freaks me out and I swear I'll have nightmares. yegghghhg.

Anyway, to make it more interesting, everyone of course looked at me, then the workers started trying to chase it out of the patio. Everyone laughed (even the workers) and we went back to waiting on our dinner. It pretty much ruined it for us though even though we were outside and the kitchen was inside. I won't be going back there that is for sure.

Oh, and of course no one got up and left and I wasn't given the dinner or even a drink for free. Anyway, nothing like that has ever happened. I was preparing for malaria and yellow fever coming over here; no one told me about the fearless rats that run up pant legs!!!! It made for a good laugh at the end of the day, though :)

Well, that's it for now! Hope to hear from many of you reading this soon!

~Daniel

P.S. I still have a Texas-based cell phone number with voicemail. It's 8 hours ahead of central time, so keep that in mind

Dar is...

AWESOME!!!



















































I just made it halfway through my first week here in Dar (as many travelers through here call it) and I have to say that it is an amazing experience. Of course, walking down the street here or driving to a meeting is very different than anything I've ever seen, but it is really interesting to just take it all in and see how life goes on here.

Driving here is basically like a video game; you just take an opening when you see it with no real rules as to how to go about it. Instead of signaling, most people just honk their horns to let cars know they're approaching (or the people that just walk or ride bicycles everywhere). They drive on the opposite side of the road than back home, but from what I've observed, if there is an opening in oncoming traffic, you take it and the others just have to wait.

We definitely stand out here being white, but I almost don't notice just after a few days, because people don't bother you at all like I thought they may. In fact the people here have been just as nice, if not nicer, than they are in good ol' Texas.

The food has been really good and extremely cheap. I can have all 3 meals out and get completely full for a grand total of under $10, so I can't complain there at all.

Our hotel is really great; every Wednesday is Tanzania night here with a huge buffet of local foods (really good by the way), singing, dancing, and shows by tribal dancers and performers.

Now that I've gone through that, my job is great, too. I basically work 9-5; just not in an office setting. The day is spent out and about going from meeting to meeting. Between meetings, we're usually preparing for meetings or on the phone setting up more meetings. We're just getting going on those, but today we did head to the U.S. Embassy to meet with a diplomat there and should be going back next week to meet with the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, as well as reps from USAID. We'll also be meeting with officials from World Bank and International Monetary Fund next week while we wait on the government to wrap up their budget session in the political capital (Dodoma). Once they get back, we'll start up those meetings.

The job is fast pasted and requires a lot of responisibility, as well as quick thinking and a positive attitude. I absolutely love it so far and look forward to waking up and facing a new set of challenges every day (it makes life more interesting).

This weekend, my collegue and I are thinking of a day trip to Zanzibar Island, but other than that, we'll just be taking it easy around Dar and learning our way around more. My coworker is Irish, so I'm getting him to teach me how to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road. Sounds easy enough, but I'd rather not just jump behind the driver seat in this crazy traffic; it'd be hard enough if they were driving on the 'right' side of the road with the way they drive over here.

I'll try to upload a few pictures and videos (if that's possible) for now and will put more up over time, of course!

Hope all is well with everyone!
email me if you get the chance

Dar es Salaam, here I come!!!

Well everyone,

I've finished my first two weeks of training (1 in Overpelt, Belgium and 1 in Brussels, Belgium) and am headed to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in about 6 hours!!!!

So far things have been great with my job and I've learned an incredible amount already. This is going to be a difficult job, but I'm up for the challenge and look forward to all the adventures and people that are going to be brought my way (or maybe I'm going their way)! There's a ton of information to remember and hopefully I can keep it all straight in my head.

The people that I've met that work for the company so far have all been great and I am really glad to have so many people like me as co-workers. We've all gotten along really well and have enjoyed going out and visiting places together.

Overpelt is a small, quiet town about 5 minutes from the Dutch border. The town is really picturesque and people ride bike everywhere there; it's crazy!

We took a weekend trip to Amsterdam, since it was only a couple of hours away and had a lot of fun there. It is crazy there, but not nearly as everyone imagines it back home; It's actually a realy pretty city.

Brussels is very pretty too and has a good amount of things to do. I've had a great time here, but was mugged last Friday night. I'm fine and they didn't get any money, but I was pretty banged up. The people here were awesome and really helped out when they realized what was happening and one of the guys got arrested (2 of the 3 got away)! I did get one good swing in, though in defense and gave one of em a fat lip. Though, they all got much more in on me. Oh well, I'm fine, they didn't get any money, and one was arrested, so everything worked out.

I leave early tomorrow morning for the airport and will have a small layover in Zuric before the direct flight to Dar; I can't wait!

Until next time!!!
Daniel