Show (little) and tell (much)

Did I mention the showroom? Vicky wants some drawings for a variety of cookers. She never told me that it had to be done anytime soon (I think she first brought it up Friday). Only to tell me today (Monday) that it had to be done Wednesday. Of course I haven't broken the news to her yet that my art teachers rather committed suicide than having to deal with my 'art'. Most of the times they were just resigned to giving me a C just so they wouldn't have to grade my stuff. Anyway, apparently a group of visitors is coming Wednesday and Vicky needs to have something to show in the showroom, even if it's just drawings. But I guess it'll be more like a show and tell – with little show and lots to tell.

Speaking of art. The job market here is rather small. Either you are in some way connected to Safaris or a Kili climb or you are "teksi" driver or you are an artist. A couple of times I talked to a guy who saw me running and said he used to run marathons and is now trying to get back into shape (but in the mean time I should check out his art store, of course). He asked me to run with him, but of course if his claims are correct (i.e. he was part of the Tanza national team and his PB is a 2h18) he'd be getting bored with my slow running after half a mile.

Sunday evening I heard a chicken in the kitchen, stuck in a plastic bag and trying to get away. An hour later it was dead, lying in the food storage room (but still complete). The next morning I noticed some cooked chicken in the fridge. Well, food is certainly fresh here. Hopes that it may have been in a rooster instead (and with that I mean the alarm clock next door) were dashed.

As for my thesis, I have formatted the questionnaires nicely (but lazy as I am I used a template from another student which saved some work figuring out the tables in Word. He did a nice job!) I am not a big friend of Word. But what really makes me cringe is Works. Because the full program name comes out to "Microsoft Works." Whatever.

Today I finally got behind the secrets of the phone card system here. You can buy a phone card of 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 or 10,000 shilling (there may be others available). But don't try to use them at the phone booth. You first have to buy a different, permanent card that has a card number and a PIN. Then you dial 800400 and follow the instructions. If you are lucky, some prompts are repeated in English, but not all. Anyway, when I entered the card number and PIN it always went back to the same prompt, asking for the card# again...

So two nice ladies from the phone company (TTCL) helped me. They got passed that point to enter the PIN (successfully) and then dialled 11# (this was not anywhere in the instructions btw.) With that you can add the credit from the card you just bought (in my case a 2,000 card) by entering its 12-digit#. Have I lost you yet? Sorry, I wish there'd be an easier way to explain it. Basically you fill the permanent card with the cards you buy and then can use the permanent card at the phone booth. Also, you can buy a card and use it at home, but the entire credit (like the whole 2,000) are transferred to the phone. So you can't just use the card one time at the home phone and later at the phone booth. I realized that the system is really complicated after even a few TTCL employees couldn't quite get it right...

Which is why everyone has a cell phone. But I still haven't found it to be necessary. And the one time I needed to call someone (remember, our land line is broken...) Dora gave me her cell phone, but there was practically no reception, so it was useless anyway.

I am glad for the internet connection at KIDT, though. I have been writing in the evening (like right now) and then posted it in the office. SO far have been going there Mo-Fr, but it may change a bit in December, as more field trips may be coming up. At least I hope so – a few promised visits have been postponed several times, which is a bit frustrating. But all you can say is "Hakuna matata". No worries, mate.