Sunday, June 17, 2007
Father's Day
Pancake breakfast with the girls and our only plans after that were to go to the mnada (market) that is held twice a month ten kilometers from Haydom. We hung out in the morning and were visited by Douwe how stayed for coffee. We then received a phone call from Emma Stella asking if we could come over at 10 instead of 2 (we had offered to take some pictures of her family and print some out in Arusha when we are there. We had said we would pop over at 2:00 after the market to do this but Nicole had misunderstood the time. In Swahili 10 is Sa a nne (four o’clock) and 2 is Sa a nane (eight o’clock) so the misunderstanding is very understandable. So we bolted out to her house after kicking Douwe out – which was not a problem since the coffee was finished.
We had a nice time as Nicole took a lot of pictures of the family, the children and everyone individually. It was nice to speak a bit of Swahili and watch the smiles and listen to them all laugh a bit. The reason we had to go in the morning was that Emma Stella’s husband was going to Kidarafa to the market as well and was probably planning to walk. We offered him a ride and he happily accepted.
We came home to find the bees, that nest in the large tree beside the house, swarming like mad and had to run like hell from the Cruiser to the house. Our fear was unfounded as we made it just fine but we are still confused as to why they were swarming. Perhaps they also had a visit from the ants last night and were checking to see if they were coming back.
Douwe and Anne and two of the Norwegian students were joining our excursion and we picked them up on the way to pick up Emma Stella’s husband so we were 7 and we also took Emma Stella’s son and housekeeper so the truck was pretty full. I was happy to be driving again and with such a new vehicle (only 12,000 Kms) the bumps were smoothed nicely. The road was full of people coming and going to and from the market so I had to give little toots of the horn every now and then when Cyclists didn’t notice us coming up from behind them. This is a very Tanzanian thing to do and I reserve the horn for those situations when it is necessary.
It is very funny to watch the people on the bikes. Many times we will see a man with a woman riding sidesaddle on the rear rack of the bike. As a vehicle approaches – if the road is somewhat narrow – the woman, whose feet always point to the near ditch, will leap off at a half run and the guy will either leap off as well and lift his bike to over the ditch or simply ride on, seemingly leaving his wife or girlfriend behind. There are also those who carry whatever they buy at the market on their bikes. I have mentioned previously about the bikes with many chickens hung by the feet from the handlebars and rear rack, but today I saw a variation of this. The guy had a piece of wood – two by fourish – across his handlebars about 6 feet long and a similar chunk of wood across the rear rack. There were about 60 chickens hanging off the thing, it was quite a site. I also saw three guys who I think were together, each with a roll of corrugated steel roofing strapped to their bikes. I can’t speculate on how heavy this would be but the roll was about 14 feet long and 6 inches across. They didn’t push their bikes with this load they actually got on and rode them. There was also a man with a 45 gallon drum, presumably empty, with a rolled up foam mattress on top of that. He was also riding and not pushing. Another had a crate of 24 soda bottles on one side of the rear rack and a crate of 30 beers on the other. The crates had a heavy stick through the handles and were balancing across the read rack of the bike. I could go on and on but this paragraph is beginning to look like something a Tanzania would try to carry on their bike.
I have to mention the funniest of all though; when we were driving back we passed a guy riding his bike with a spare bike strapped to the rear rack. This looked too funny and we should have taken a picture but because of my Photoshop skills no one would have believed it.
Enjoy the pictures below of the market.
We had a nice time as Nicole took a lot of pictures of the family, the children and everyone individually. It was nice to speak a bit of Swahili and watch the smiles and listen to them all laugh a bit. The reason we had to go in the morning was that Emma Stella’s husband was going to Kidarafa to the market as well and was probably planning to walk. We offered him a ride and he happily accepted.
We came home to find the bees, that nest in the large tree beside the house, swarming like mad and had to run like hell from the Cruiser to the house. Our fear was unfounded as we made it just fine but we are still confused as to why they were swarming. Perhaps they also had a visit from the ants last night and were checking to see if they were coming back.
Douwe and Anne and two of the Norwegian students were joining our excursion and we picked them up on the way to pick up Emma Stella’s husband so we were 7 and we also took Emma Stella’s son and housekeeper so the truck was pretty full. I was happy to be driving again and with such a new vehicle (only 12,000 Kms) the bumps were smoothed nicely. The road was full of people coming and going to and from the market so I had to give little toots of the horn every now and then when Cyclists didn’t notice us coming up from behind them. This is a very Tanzanian thing to do and I reserve the horn for those situations when it is necessary.
It is very funny to watch the people on the bikes. Many times we will see a man with a woman riding sidesaddle on the rear rack of the bike. As a vehicle approaches – if the road is somewhat narrow – the woman, whose feet always point to the near ditch, will leap off at a half run and the guy will either leap off as well and lift his bike to over the ditch or simply ride on, seemingly leaving his wife or girlfriend behind. There are also those who carry whatever they buy at the market on their bikes. I have mentioned previously about the bikes with many chickens hung by the feet from the handlebars and rear rack, but today I saw a variation of this. The guy had a piece of wood – two by fourish – across his handlebars about 6 feet long and a similar chunk of wood across the rear rack. There were about 60 chickens hanging off the thing, it was quite a site. I also saw three guys who I think were together, each with a roll of corrugated steel roofing strapped to their bikes. I can’t speculate on how heavy this would be but the roll was about 14 feet long and 6 inches across. They didn’t push their bikes with this load they actually got on and rode them. There was also a man with a 45 gallon drum, presumably empty, with a rolled up foam mattress on top of that. He was also riding and not pushing. Another had a crate of 24 soda bottles on one side of the rear rack and a crate of 30 beers on the other. The crates had a heavy stick through the handles and were balancing across the read rack of the bike. I could go on and on but this paragraph is beginning to look like something a Tanzania would try to carry on their bike.
I have to mention the funniest of all though; when we were driving back we passed a guy riding his bike with a spare bike strapped to the rear rack. This looked too funny and we should have taken a picture but because of my Photoshop skills no one would have believed it.
Enjoy the pictures below of the market.
