So many people ask how my life has changed since I moved to Arusha & I often struggle to explain the differences between life in Cape Town and life in Arusha.\u00a0 Let me run you through my day today so far\u2026<\/p>\n
07.30 am : The landlord from the properties next door arrives with 4 fundi\u2019s to fix our outdoor lights, paint one bedroom and put some things on the wall \u2013 one is an electrician and one a plumber.\u00a0 Still not entirely sure where the Plumbers fits into the picture but was quoted TSH 80000 for everything which after some negotiations came to USD$40<\/p>\n[Cape Town $400 at least for the same work] [Happy]\n
08.00 am: The new house girl arrives and tells me that her 2 year old son Blessing send love to \u2018Grandma\u2019<\/p>\n[Cape Town \u2013 Mavis would be dead if her kids called me Grandma] [Alarmed]\n
09.30 am: Driving to town with our Askari and have to take a detour on a dirt road, we are following a water truck that is spraying water over both sides of the road and saturating the cars on either side in the process.\u00a0 As I think it, and start smiling at the thought, we see a motor bike coming.. He of course got saturated but it was a toss-up who was laughing more, us or him.<\/p>\n[Cape Town \u2013 tarmac roads \/ very annoyed motor bike rider] [Nearly peed myself laughing]\n
09h40 am: \u00a0A long 3 hours in the queue at DHL with no kindle<\/p>\n[Cape Town \u2013 would have done it online or Mr DHL would have collected] [Grumpy]\n
12h40 pm \u2013 leave DHL and the traffic is complete chaos in town so successfully execute a U Turn and manage to cut in front of 3 taxis and get screamed at, by every car on the road which is rare in Arusha, only to have both Masaai Askari\u2019s high fiving me and congratulating me on my fine driving whilst very proudly telling everyone that was screaming at me that I was their \u2018madam\u2019<\/p>\n[Cape Town \u2013 similar driving style\u2026different reaction]\u00a0 [Well proud of myself]\n
12h50 pm : Take our Masaai Askari to the book shop to buy him an English book to help him learn English and he gets presented with a book called \u2018How to Beat your Wife\u2019<\/p>\n[Cape Town \u2013 women\u2019s libbers & lesbians would have had it off the shelves in seconds] [Bemused]\n
12h45 pm: Lift to the 4th<\/sup> Floor with Moi, our Maasai, who had very clearly never ever seen a lift before\u2026first he refused to get in, then finally got in and held onto the man\u2019s hand next to him, then he nearly crapped himself when it landed very roughly on the 4th<\/sup> floor\u2026.then he found the staircase to get down!<\/p>\n[Cape Town \u2013 he would have had the choice between steps, escalator or lift] [Nearly peed myself for the second time today]\n 12h50 pm:\u00a0 Go to Fast Jet offices to pay for the flight from Dar to Kilimanjaro that I booked on line 2 hours before for $40 to be told they can\u2019t find my booking, find my booking but no printer to print my confirmation, pay the money in cash\u2026ahh madam we don\u2019t accept\u2026hand over my credit card\u2026ahh the machine she is not working! Give the complete stranger next to me the money in Shillings and he writes a cheque \u2013 problem solved<\/p>\n[Cape Town – would have booked, paid and checked in online] [AWA\u00a0 …Africa wins again]\n 13h45: Hellellula confirmation from FNB that my forex payment to Tanzania to pay for my new car has finally gone through 13 days after I transferred the funds.<\/p>\n[Cape Town \u2013 that was CPT] [Very happy, no more one car family]\n 13h50 :\u00a0 Get to the same Detour of motorbike and water truck fame this morning and despite the ROAD CLOSED sign the policeman waves me through and says continue straight which I do\u2026only to come to the very same 6m deep hole in the road that has been there all week and another ROAD CLOSED sign…. So we turn around and battle all the other traffic that Mr Plod has also sent to the hole in the road and eventually 45 mins later get back to the first road closed sign.<\/p>\n[Cape Town \u2013 not sure the result would have been any different] [Grumpy for the second time today]\n 13h50: Get home to a beautifully clean house with 3 bedrooms painted even though I only paid for one & 2 very excited puppy dogs that have been left with the chickens, four strangers and a small child and not eaten anything or anyone.<\/p>\n Was I crazy to move to Arusha, as I sit on the balcony with a gin & tonic with a beautiful view of Kilimanjaro, I am very certain I wouldn\u2019t swap my new life for anything in the world!<\/p>\n \u00a0Written by: Leanne Haigh, Acacia Sales\/Marketing Manager<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So many people ask how my life has changed since I moved to Arusha & I often struggle to explain the differences between life in Cape Town and life in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,20],"tags":[48,50,128,249,319,329],"class_list":["post-1151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-about-acacia-africa","category-acacia","category-tanzania","tag-adventure","tag-africa","tag-culture","tag-local-responsible-travel","tag-responsible-tourism","tag-safari"],"yoast_head":"\n