Soph posted this morning about the end of winter and the beginning of springtime. Which got me thinking: I may have had my last winter for a very long time! There’s a wet season and a dry season in Dodoma but it’s 25-35 degrees all year round. When people who live there have given us advice about what clothes to bring, they suggest only 1 cardi!
When we were in Tanzania, one of the things that fascinated locals we talked to about Australia was the comparative extremes in our climate. Adelaide, for example, can get 10 degrees hotter than Dodoma and more than 10 degrees cooler too!
I’m not a winter person. I much prefer to be hot than cold. And wearing lots of layers annoys me. But even so, I felt a wave of grief as I realised that winter might not feature in my life from now on. It’s not that I suddenly love winter, it’s just that it’s been part of the rhythm of life for me for almost 30 years.
These six months of preparation for Tanzania are chocked with good byes and ‘lasts’. It’s important to grieve what we’re leaving behind so that we can embrace what we’re going to. And we grieve not just the things we love but the things that have always been a part of our lives and now will change.
Winter has always brought with it a sense of expectation for me, looking forward to (sometimes longing for) the warmer weather. This year, the end of winter has greater significance as an entirely new chapter of our lives draws closer and closer.
Categories: Tanzania Uncategorized Written by Tamie
Tamie Davis
Tamie Davis is an Aussie living in Tanzania, writing at meetjesusatuni.com.
Meet Jesus at uni 
I arrived back in Australia from the tropics at the beginning of August, in time for one month of Winter. It’s the first winter I’ve had for many many years. I’ve loved it. It’s been COLD. I’ve enjoyed cold fingers, the cold end of my nose and even the suggestion of chill blains forming on my toes. Slippers and jumpers and doonas and wrapping fingers around steamy hot chocolate have been an absolute delight.
And now I’m watching the beginning of Spring. Amazing.
This winter was one I was very glad to see the end of. I think living in a house that gets more cold than it gets hot has made me dislike winter more than summer.
(It was a lovely day for Glenys’ wedding yesterday!)
My time in Uganda was only a month of summer, but I felt as though I had missed summer (although the weather there was near-summer).
On a similar note Christmas was a single day and thankfully not the theme for the whole of December out in the islands, so that’s something you might notice. In February, in the shops back here in Adelaide, I found myself thinking “Haven’t had Christmas for a while, we must be coming up to Christmas soon”.