Once upon a time there was a little dragon called Elliot. He lived in a cave with his Mama Dragon, Dadda Dragon, and little brother Callum Dragon. Elliot was a golden dragon and Callum was a pink dragon. The family loved each other very much and most of the time […]
One of the common laments for westerners living in the majority world is how long it takes to do things. It’s often hard to work out why, so every now and then I record all the steps it takes for me to fix things. For example, it took me this […]
I sprained my wrist cleaning a cupboard. I’m not normally one to clean cupboards but a layer of mould had permeated our house while we were in Australia. 4 days in to our return to Tanzania, I had a stress injury. And I say stress injury, not just because it’s […]
I like routine. Someone told me I’d be a liability living cross-culturally because of that but I’m not wedded to it. Things come up: kids get sick, sometimes friends are in need, I’m asked to teach at something at the last minute, we’re informed that we’re hosting a dinner, etc. […]
Navigating in Tanzania requires an entirely different headspace from what we are used to. Here are some snapshots. In 2013, on our first trip to Dar es Salaam after we arrived in Tanzania, we got lost. Badly. We had a map, but it didn’t help because most of the streets on […]
It’s a Sunday afternoon and I’m standing at the sink trying to do the dishes because I don’t want to leave too many for Mama Velo the next day, and Elliot’s refusing to play outside. He pulls up a chair next to me at the sink and I find myself […]
I love to cook. Many expats employ a cook for a number of reasons, but I don’t because cooking is a significant de-stresser for me. Tanzanian meals tend to be high in fat and carbs, but they don’t really do baking or desserts. You can buy them in towns but […]
