Football

For about a year now Rich has been regularly playing football with some local guys. There are groups all over town who get together every evening until sunset to have a kick about. From what Rich used to tell me and the injuries he would come home with, the guys all play a pretty rough game here (Rich earnt their respect when they learnt that he would go in just as hard on a tackle as they would).

Since we arrived back in December, Rich has been playing three or four times a week which is no mean feat in this heat. He also took along some goals and nets which were made and provided by some guys who were here for a week or two and the 'kick about' has been completely transformed. All the players now wear bibs. they have shirts for the team (Rich has one too) and there is a ref which has resulted in a slightly less violent game.

Anna and I took a walk along a couple of evenings ago to watch Daddy play footie and took a couple of pictures while we were there.

Rich taking a corner while his team mates are ready and waiting for the cross in...

The guy wearing the green shirt is the ref. Some bizarre decisions are made most days but the players do what they're told (could teach some premier league players a thing or two...).

A big day

On Thursday 6th January 2011 , just less that two years after the official Ground Breaking, PAMOJA Vocational Training Centre and car Workshop was officially opened. We had special guests, a military brass band, speeches and even a ribbon cutting ceremony! The school and workshop looked great having received finishing touches, such as tiles on the classroom and office floors and toilets in the bathrooms, in the time we were back home.

Now officially open for business the workshop side has had a busy week with cars, a motorbike, a bus and even an ambulance! English and computer classes are currently running and the auto-mechanics class will begin in February, so all in all things are looking to be pretty busy in the months to come. (Roxanne is teaching the current English class while I am looking into completing an on-line TESOL/TEFL course before beginning my stint of teaching in mid-March.)

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the day.

The view from the road. If you look closely you can see the blue ribbon across the white gate

!

The arrival of the guests of honour.

An actual military brass band (I think they may have been from the police actually...).

Walimu's (teacher's) Roxanne and Paula outside the English classroom.

The guests of honour in the office eating the party food. Each person was seated in a chair whose comfort was directly proportional to the importance of the person sat in it!

Anna and...

One thing about living here that you would definitely not find back home, is that it is OK and even normal for strangers to greet you and take your child off you. What's more is that the stranger may begin to walk away with your child in order to show them to a friend/neighbour/relative. Alarm bells would certainly be ringing by this point. To be fair, there aren't that many mzungu babies as young as Anna on the island, and everyone knows who she is and therefore who I am ('Mama Anna!') so I'm not overly concerned about a lady in a buibui doing a runner with her.

It makes me laugh though when all of Anna's new found friends want a photograph with her. I am the one who takes the photo's on my camera and quite why they think I want a picture of Anna with every single person we meet, I am not certain. There have even been times when people have come up with their own camera and asked if they could have a photo with Anna...

Coming from a country where using a camera within sight of children, who just might possibly find their way into your picture can cause the odd problem, this is sometimes a little disconcerting!!

Here are some photo's from a party we were at recently of Anna and some new found friends.

Anna and Mariam, our house help.

Through it all, Anna is generally pretty patient and willing to bestow the odd smile :)

Growling match

Our entertainment comes in unusual forms these days. My mum always said that babies are little time wasters, and it's so true! How much of my day could I spend just watching our little girl just waiting to see if she will do something?! These days she is starting to do more than just lie there helplessly. She smiles and (sort of) laughs and talks all the time and I'm sure it won't be long until she rolls of something. I walked in on her having the following conversation with her Daddy:

Did I say conversation?!

Our 1st Krismasi

Our Krismasi was certainly a bit different this year. We find we are slowly but surely being taken over by all things baby and small child. We definitely missed being with our family back home, especially this year, but having Anna around certainly made the day extra special and eye opening when you think about what it is we celebrate on this day - God come to earth as a baby.

We got lots of exciting zawadi's (gifts) through the post (mostly for Anna who didn't have the foggiest what was going on and why mummy and daddy were acting so strangely and propping her up to take pictures of her 'opening' presents...), we read the Christmas story together, had an enormous roast chicken dinner with Christmas pud, went to the beach and then watched 'The A-Team' in bed with the A/C pumping in the evening. All in all a good day :)

Stocking ready and waiting!

Zawadi heaven!

Princess dress up now comes in baby size! Completely ridiculous but gorgeous all the same!! (It's Cinderella just in case you can't tell!)

We hope that you all had a Happy Christmas wherever you were, whether you were where you were supposed to be or not!

Following in Daddy's Footsteps.

Paula's Piki Piki Lesson

I always fancied having a Vespa and zooming around town on it but it never really seemed appropriate for our needs before. Here everyone gets around on 'piki piki's' (used generally for any kind of bike with an engine). Got a family of 5? No worries! Need to transport your new car windscreen? No problem! (Seriously, we have seen both these and lots more.)

Our school was recently given a couple of piki piki's from Germany and after bringing one home today, Rich decided I should have a lesson. Obviously since I was refused a license on account of my gender, I was limited to riding round and round our house. However, if I may say so myself, I got quite good at this particular route and as you can see from the smile, I rather enjoyed myself!

(Now all I have to do is convince Rich that I should have one :))