Moshi Wildlife Park

I've decided to open up my house to the public as a wildlife park.  I reckon I can make more money than I do from my writing by selling all day passes at my gate to tourists keen to see the real Africa.  Forget lions, elephants and buffalo.  Seriously, they are completely over-rated and look the same as they do in the National Geographic.  Rather experience the everyday wildlife found in Moshi houses.
Besides many different species of lizard which grace my garden, the bright turquoise ones with the neon orange heads are my personal fave, scratching in the lush tropical plants might unearth a snake or two.  But the best is the five different species of ant that have taken over my house.  The big sugar ants attack anything sweet.  The big black ants with a ferocious bite use my toilet bowl as their personal watering hole.  If you use the toilet in the middle of the night without turning on the lights, prefering to go in the dark, you are at risk of being bitten on the bum by an angry ant who was there to drink water.  Then there are the tiny ants which appear out of nowhere and descend on any kind of drink or foodstuff within seconds; and the medium sized regular ants who march in single-file along the doorframes of the house.  Just outside the back door are the giant siafu, dinosaur-type ants who attack you en masse if you stand still near them for anything longer than 5 seconds.
In the rainy season we had the flying termites leave piles of discarded wings underneath the outside lights but thankfully their time has passed.  Big fat juicy geckos hide in all the curtains waiting to drop on you when you open or shut the curtains.
At least once a week a giant cockroach makes its appearance before getting taken out by a spurt of DOOM.
But the most exciting thing I can offer at my Moshi Wildlife Park, is the chance to go on the trail of the cleverest rats on the planet.  You can follow their poo, see samples of their diet (half-eaten fridge magnets, soap with bite marks, chewed candles, half-eaten painted egg shells) and try and find their nests.  These rats have super-powers, able to drag the rat trap across the floor, remove the special treat, without setting off the trap.  In broad daylight a chicken carcass mysteriously disappeared and was found later, well-chewed, behind the fridge.  The rats even managed to lick off peanut butter which had been spread lovingly across the trap without setting it off.
The crows in my big tree next to the barbecue create a fuss everytime I light a fire and dive-bomb me while I'm cooking outside.  Seriously, how stupid can they be to build a nest in the branches of a tree above a barbecue!  They should get some brain matter from the rats.
The dogs next door save their howling, barking, yapping, whining, crying for between 11pm and 1am, so unless you want to do a night drive, you might miss out on them.
And this is November, the month I look forward to all year, the month I compete in NaNoWriMo and attempt to write 50 000 words of a novel.  Here's hoping that my wildlife grant me some respite so that I can get to do some writing this weekend!
Have a great weekend, and if you know any rat-catching tricks, please pass them on!
Cindy
PS. An added attraction might be the askari I am thinking of locking up in a cage after he entered my house while we were there, and stole my Blackberry off the kitchen benchtop.  He was hired as a security guard to protect the house occupants from local criminals, but instead turned into a criminal himself.  Luckily, the askari chief arrived and used psychology to persuade him to give the phone back.

Coughing my way to Cape Town

The last few weeks buzzed past in a blur of reports, end of term dramas and bouts of acute coughing fits. I'd like to state categorically that I hate coughing. This cough that attacked me is one of the most annoying ever. I just wish it would respond to medication and disappear. Where is Harry Potter when I need him? With a wave of his magic wand he'll make my cough go with a poof!
Despite the cough the term still managed to wind to an end with a few great barbecues as highlights. The sad part of the end of any school year is saying goodbye to colleagues who are moving on. It's one of the negative parts of international school teaching. Saying goodbye always means that things are going to change, new people are going to come in and things won't be the same. But different isn't bad and is often better. Change is hard though and as I get older, it becomes more difficult to cope with.
Like today when I decided to visit my favourite shopping centre in Cape Town, Tygervalley. All I wanted was a haircut. But they are revamping, you can't get where you want to go, shops have been temporarily closed, construction is everywhere. And I was miffed to put it mildly and just wanted to go home. This is when I thinks change sucks and I can't cope with it anymore. I know the finished product is going to make it a better shopping experience than it was before. Well, that's what all the billboards tell me. But that doesn't placate me. My hairdresser has disappeared and I'm disappointed. When I'm disappointed, then I'm not in the right frame of mind to handle change. I don't think I'll return to Tygervalley this holiday.
We're lucky we managed to arrive in Cape Town. The travel agent cocked up Siobhan's flight which I hadn't picked up. For our Joburg to Cape Town connection, instead of the 18 June, the agent had 28 June. After buying a new ticket for her it was sorted. Then while waiting for the plane to take-off, the pilot informs us that the plane is delayed while technicians quickly perform some repairs. Very motivating that was. Especially when he says the repairs are necessary as they have our safety at heart. While we were waiting the cabin crew escorted the three young drunk girls sitting behind us to the galley for a lecture on decorum on a plane. They were told to pull themselves together or leave the plane. Entertainment for the rest of us sitting waiting for an hour before the plane was fixed. Because of the technical problem, the plane had to low-fly below the clouds instead of above them.
As we arrived in Cape Town, the pilot announced we were the last flight to leave or arrive for the night as all other flights were cancelled because of the volcanic ash cloud that had arrived from Chile. So we were lucky we'd just escaped that.
So here we are in Cape Town and we have power. I can't describe how wonderful that is. The last few months in Tanzania the power has been the pits with daily power cuts. Despite the power cuts, or should I say - in spite of the power cuts, I managed to finish the first draft of How to say no to sex and other survival tips for the suddenly single. Now the editing and rewriting process begins.
If you're on holiday now then I hope you have a fantastic relaxing stress-free break. If you're at work, as they say in Swahili, "Pole sane!"
love
Cindy

Siobhan singing at the Variety Show.

 This is a short clip of the video taken of Siobhan singing Taylor Swift's Fifteen at the Variety Show at International School Moshi.  Unfortunately the whole clip of her singing was made as a Quicktime movie, and I couldn't get it on Youtube or anywhere else.  I eventually managed to find free software to change it into WAV format which is more acceptable to Youtube, but as it's free you can only change the first 3 minutes.  The actual Quicktime movie is 4 minutes so with this you miss the ending, but gives you enough of a taste of the talents of my beautiful talented little girl.
Enjoy!
love
Cindy