Being thankful – seven

This is part seven of our short series on some of the cultural/practical/emotional differences we’ve experienced between our two lives (in the UK and in Tanzania). Use the ‘Blog Archive’ list in the right-hand column to find the previous parts.

Things we miss about Tanzania:
Sitting on our porch enjoying the cooling evening air. Although the evenings in Tanzania were short (it would go from light to dark in a matter of minutes), for an hour or so before the sun set the air would begin to cool. When the day had been especially hot it was always so nice to get home after a hot walk back from the office (it took us about 40 minutes) to sit outside with a cold drink and feel the air cool. We miss that time of day, listening to the sounds of the evening (people returning home from work, chatting as they go) and watching the sky change colour. It was one of our favourite times of day that consistently provided us with a chance to stop and take a breath – something that doesn’t always seem possible back here in the UK.

Things we like about the UK:
ATMs that always work (and have money in them). The fact that you would never know if an ATM in Mbeya had money in or not is not only a result of forward planning not being a high value in Tanzania (although this surely is a factor!). The fact that the highest value note currently available is 10,000Tsh (about £4) means that you have to take a serious wad of cash out every time to actually get any real amount of money (i.e. to pay rent etc). Add to this the fact that EVERYTHING has to be paid in cash (there is no paying by card at the market!), and the instability of data connections and power, and you can see why machines so often were not working! It is nice to be guaranteed money out of cash machines here, but also that in almost every case you don’t even need it because you can pay on card!