Wednesday, June.1st, 2011
Unfortunately, we had to cancel our trip to the KidzCare orphanage for a few reasons. Although I was disappointed that I would not be able to spend time with them... it was still a really good day. Probably one of my best moments out here... selfishly, that is.
Early in the morning I got my business done... serious business! haha And then for the first time in quite awhile, a large group of us went to the beach. We went to a nice resort and it was refreshing. We all have been running around with our internships and sometimes the only time we get to see each other is at dinner before people start to collapse into bed. There were a few that still have to go to their internship, which was unfortunate, but it still was a great day full of sunshine, a nice breeze, a beautiful beach... and for Mike and I, white capped waves!
Another particularly exciting part of today was Andrew [Jodi's boyfriend/our new babysitter] arriving in the morning and joining us at the beach. It was cute to see how excited Jodi was to see her man who she has not seen for a month. For a moment it made me wish I had someone to come visit me! Who am I kidding, I've been wishing that this whole time! Feel free to book a flight and come see me... anytime... honest! <3
So, Andrew is great. He fits right in with our group and I hardly notice the awkward moments when he has to change all our diapers....
Sorry, bit of a joke... hahaha I made a funny! So yeah, we are getting babysat, but it really is not that bad. It is just an addition to our group.
We ate lunch at the restaurant in the resort and there were a few complications with the waiter forgetting things ordered, mixing up orders, etc. With my order he told me I had to choose something to go with my Indian dish, which I chose rice... thinking that it would come with it. Apparently not. An extra 3500 tsh was on my bill and as I was discussing the bill with him I found myself annoyed and frustrated, as I was not the only one who had mix ups. He ended up telling me he did not want me unhappy and so he would take it off. The manager had already been over to our table earlier for one of the other interns, requesting they fill out an evaluation card in regards to our waiters service so I could tell he was on thin ice.
Amongst my frustration, I stopped and realized the guy was trying hard and was just not succeeding. In my self-righteous smug moment I was arguing over a miscommunication due to a language barrier. I was retracting my desire to give him a tip because, through some unfortunate series of events, I had to pay an extra 3500 tsh. Seemed petty and so I paid my bill without mentioning a word to the manager who took my money. And then, I returned to our table and gave our waiter a tip and thanked him for his service. Who am I to not thank someone for their hard work just because it did not work out the way it is expected to? Life is not always about rewarding the people who do things perfectly. People may fail by our standards, but that does not mean they failed. Remember that Albert Einstein quote? It does not fit perfectly, but it makes you think.
After lunch we returned to the beach area, noting the tide had come in. The water was warm like a swimming pool and even in some spots almost as warm as a bath at home! Mike and I took to the water and started to jump waves! Where we were walking was a pretty cool spot, with waves coming at you from left and right and exploding in the middle. It was one of the best times out here as of yet, diving into the waves and letting them pull us with them. It was exciting to feel the power from the waves tossing you around like a little rag doll as you try to not gulp salt water. At one point, the waves pulled me out past where I could stand and the waves were pretty big, making it difficult to make it back to the shallow area. Mike had to pull a David Hasslehoff and rescue me! We continued jumping waves and caught a really great wave that hit us pretty hard, knocking Mike's shades into the ocean never to be seen again. haha He was pretty bummed, so we spend a good 10 minutes looking for them before we continued our wave crashing adventures!
Ever had a sand fight? Makes for a big mess! As if we did not already have enough sand on us!
The beach day ended shortly after. We returned home and ate hamburgers and salad made by Joel and Jennifer. Delicious!
After dinner we meet up with swissie at the Irish pub for karaoke night, bringing along our new intern friend who is from Cali. We call him jewie. He is out here doing an internship with a company and is staying where we are too. Swissie is on a year contract out here in construction, and we met him because he was staying here for awhile too. He has his own flat now one minute away. We meet a lot of cool people!
Karaoke was great, and when we first arrived it looked like we were going to be the party, but by 10:30 the wazungus piled in and we had a great night!
Unfortunately, we had to cancel our trip to the KidzCare orphanage for a few reasons. Although I was disappointed that I would not be able to spend time with them... it was still a really good day. Probably one of my best moments out here... selfishly, that is.
Early in the morning I got my business done... serious business! haha And then for the first time in quite awhile, a large group of us went to the beach. We went to a nice resort and it was refreshing. We all have been running around with our internships and sometimes the only time we get to see each other is at dinner before people start to collapse into bed. There were a few that still have to go to their internship, which was unfortunate, but it still was a great day full of sunshine, a nice breeze, a beautiful beach... and for Mike and I, white capped waves!
Another particularly exciting part of today was Andrew [Jodi's boyfriend/our new babysitter] arriving in the morning and joining us at the beach. It was cute to see how excited Jodi was to see her man who she has not seen for a month. For a moment it made me wish I had someone to come visit me! Who am I kidding, I've been wishing that this whole time! Feel free to book a flight and come see me... anytime... honest! <3
So, Andrew is great. He fits right in with our group and I hardly notice the awkward moments when he has to change all our diapers....
Sorry, bit of a joke... hahaha I made a funny! So yeah, we are getting babysat, but it really is not that bad. It is just an addition to our group.
We ate lunch at the restaurant in the resort and there were a few complications with the waiter forgetting things ordered, mixing up orders, etc. With my order he told me I had to choose something to go with my Indian dish, which I chose rice... thinking that it would come with it. Apparently not. An extra 3500 tsh was on my bill and as I was discussing the bill with him I found myself annoyed and frustrated, as I was not the only one who had mix ups. He ended up telling me he did not want me unhappy and so he would take it off. The manager had already been over to our table earlier for one of the other interns, requesting they fill out an evaluation card in regards to our waiters service so I could tell he was on thin ice.
Amongst my frustration, I stopped and realized the guy was trying hard and was just not succeeding. In my self-righteous smug moment I was arguing over a miscommunication due to a language barrier. I was retracting my desire to give him a tip because, through some unfortunate series of events, I had to pay an extra 3500 tsh. Seemed petty and so I paid my bill without mentioning a word to the manager who took my money. And then, I returned to our table and gave our waiter a tip and thanked him for his service. Who am I to not thank someone for their hard work just because it did not work out the way it is expected to? Life is not always about rewarding the people who do things perfectly. People may fail by our standards, but that does not mean they failed. Remember that Albert Einstein quote? It does not fit perfectly, but it makes you think.
After lunch we returned to the beach area, noting the tide had come in. The water was warm like a swimming pool and even in some spots almost as warm as a bath at home! Mike and I took to the water and started to jump waves! Where we were walking was a pretty cool spot, with waves coming at you from left and right and exploding in the middle. It was one of the best times out here as of yet, diving into the waves and letting them pull us with them. It was exciting to feel the power from the waves tossing you around like a little rag doll as you try to not gulp salt water. At one point, the waves pulled me out past where I could stand and the waves were pretty big, making it difficult to make it back to the shallow area. Mike had to pull a David Hasslehoff and rescue me! We continued jumping waves and caught a really great wave that hit us pretty hard, knocking Mike's shades into the ocean never to be seen again. haha He was pretty bummed, so we spend a good 10 minutes looking for them before we continued our wave crashing adventures!
Ever had a sand fight? Makes for a big mess! As if we did not already have enough sand on us!
The beach day ended shortly after. We returned home and ate hamburgers and salad made by Joel and Jennifer. Delicious!
After dinner we meet up with swissie at the Irish pub for karaoke night, bringing along our new intern friend who is from Cali. We call him jewie. He is out here doing an internship with a company and is staying where we are too. Swissie is on a year contract out here in construction, and we met him because he was staying here for awhile too. He has his own flat now one minute away. We meet a lot of cool people!
Karaoke was great, and when we first arrived it looked like we were going to be the party, but by 10:30 the wazungus piled in and we had a great night!
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