Mwanza in March

During the last month since my adventures in Zanzibar there has been some ‘living in Tanzania is very annoying’ and ‘Wow! We live in an amazing country’ moments.

The living in Tanzania is very annoying moments have mostly been the evenings where we have had no electricity, the days and evenings when the internet connection has been so bad that it won’t even let you get onto any page let alone check emails or use Skype and very heavy rain just at the point that you need to walk to school. Although all these moments have been more frequent recently they have still been far out weighed by the ‘Wow! We live in a amazing country moments’.

Although I thought that I had seen most of Mwanza and eaten in most of the restaurants there have been some new discoveries recently.

 If you look up Mwanza on the internet the one thing that you will definitely see is Bismark rock, which when you get here is actually quite insignificant but I felt like I had to see it. The view behind of the rock is quite impressive. We also had to share the amazing view with the very ugly and massive Marabou Storks which we normally see scavenging in the rubbish…… we kept our distance!

 

We were also taken on a walk to enjoy the amazing views of the Lake Victoria. To get to the start of the walk we were driven up a very thin, steep and bumpy track which we then preceded to walk nearly all the way back down again. I was not liking the look of the very steep and rocky way back up to the top! After a lot of scrambling up rocks and through very thorny bushes we reached a view that was well worth the scratches and bugs down the t-shirt!

 

 We discovered that there was a church meeting at the top which we tried not to disturb but when there are 6 white people walking past, you do create a bit of a distraction. There was also a drama lecture from the university taking place…….what a lecture theatre! We all went for a well deserved drink at a unusual bar that had made little huts for people to sit in up the rocky hillside

I wish my uni lectures had had this kind of view.

Fun but quite a squash!

There are not that many restaurants to choose from and we have sampled most of them! Some better than others. We have been wait for a special occasion to try out Teppanyaki, Japanese cuisine. It was Ellie, one of the teachers, Birthdays so we tried it out. All the food was cooked on a grill in front us with a beautiful sunset over the lake.  It was quite spectacular watching it all being cooked and it tasted delicious.

There were a lot of ooos and aaahhs that meal.

I made the chocolate one.......don't worry my cake making skills have not been lost in the heat.

I would also like to introduce you to my 2 new flatmates. They always hang out with us in the evenings.  We love having them to stay as they eat all the bugs and keep us entertained as they run on the ceiling and play hide and seek behind the pictures on the wall. (Emily and Kate .......don't worry you will not even know they are there. It is only when you have watched them for 6 months that they become noticeable......I promise!)

Dec the geck. He is named after Dec from Ant and Dec
 because he is very cute but very small!
 I have only nearly stepped on him once when he flicked
 himself from the ceiling to the floor right in front of me.

This is Gordon the gecko. He normally joins us around
 tea time and helps himself to his dinner of bugs that live near our windows.