Second week in Arusha

When we attended church on Saturday, we were invited to a wedding on the following day, which was quite an honour, seeing as we are just "mzungu strangers". Samwel arrived not long after noon, in order to guide us to the church, and were quite early, as there weren't many people there. We were introduced to some ladies and a young man, and we chatted as best we could with them. Another beautiful sunny day, with clouds building. The wedding was to start at 1pm, at the front of the church was a table with white satin tablecloth, and 4 highbacked chairs, with white satin seatcovers, the backs tied with maroon ribbon. The church benches were lined up along the long edges of the church, 3 rows each side.
   There was a man playing/practicing on a keyboard, and after a while, some young men huddled him around singing. We all waited and waited, the choir, most of whom sung yesterday, went thru 4 or 5 songs, while the bride arrived and sat in her car, and everyone wondered what was going on: found out we were waiting on the pastor to arrive. A little girl, daughter of one of the lady choir members joined us, and we kept her entertained, and she was delightful as she sang along with the songs in a little high-pitched voice, she was gorgeous.
   At around 5pm, some 4 hours later, the wedding ceremony proceeded. A kind of wedding march was played on the keyboards, first 2 boys in little black suits, side by side, slowly stepped in, first one foot, then the other, each holding a n embroidered pillow, then 2 sets of 2 young girls sprinkling glitter on the floor, then 3 bridesmaids, singly, then 2 teenage girls holding cans of spray foam stuff that they sprayed every now and then. Then 3 bridesmaids stepped in, holding small bouquets of flowers which they waved from side to side in time with the music, accompanied by 3 groomsmen, each holding a white handkerchief, which they waved from side to side too. The colour of the wedding was aqua and white, all the girls and ladies were dressed in combinations of those colours, aqua dresses with small white jackets; the groomsmen in dark grey trousers, satin aqua shirts, white ties, dark grey vests. Once all had arrived, they split themselves in 2 lines on opposite sides of the church, in front of the benches, stepping and waving their flowers/handkerchiefs. It was then time for the bride and matron of honour to enter from the rear of the church, and for the groom and best man to enter from the front side of the church.
   We felt so sorry for the bride, to have to have stayed in the car all those hours, but she looked great, in her traditional big white wedding dress and veil and large bouquet of flowers. The groom and best man were in dark grey suits, white shirts, aqua ties. matron of honour in a white dress and jacket. All of the groomsmen were also part of the choir, so they were kept busy! Once everyone had arrived, the ceremony commenced, with a long service, then all the official stuff, so after an hour or so we had a married couple, with happy parents, family and friends and mzungo onlookers who were relieved that the wedding actually went ahead! All the guests got themselves walking or in cars to head off to the party, we didn't attend as it was getting late - and dark - for other reasons as well. A long, drawnout day, tired we returned to our hotel for r+r and dinner, and an early night.

On Monday we spent a couple of hours at the Orphanage, teaching some basic English greetings and breaking up the learning with some games. There were 2 extra boys who joined in, one 12, the other 13, who came in on their holiday time for extra English learning. We returned to the hotel at 12 for a meeting with Samwel, Peter and James, to go thru the monthly expenses for the Orphanage, and to see if rent at a bigger, better house is affordable, taking into account any fundraising we are able to generate. It took much to-ing and fro-ing, with peter and James acting as prompts and interpreters for Samwel. Finally we got there, and it looks like it's a good possibility.
   The next thing to do was to take a look at the 2 houses Samwel has found - a few phone calls needed to be made, and soon we were driving towards Mount Meru Hotel, which is c1.5km closer in to the city than the Otakef, and 10 minutes later we found ourselves in a "nicer" neighbourhood, with many larger houses behind gated and walled compounds. We parked the car, and soon 2 men arrived with the key, and took a look at the house: 3 bedrooms [one a master with ensuite], a kitchen with benches, tiled floors, a decent sized living area, a toilet/shower, electricity, running water [a water tank outside], a small storeroom under the tank, and a grassed area, plenty of space to grow vegies, or for the kids to play; shops not far away, it's quiet, no thru traffic, etc. Not bad, the present renters still had stuff in there, so once fully out would need a clean and tidy and if NOCET decided to rent it, the kids and Joyce will not know themselves! The other positives is that this house is close to Samwel, Joyce, Dora and Elizabeth's house, as well as the church, closer to the city.
   We thanked the 2 gentlemen and headed off to another house, which was about 20 minutes away, again in a nicer neighbourhood. This house was bigger: 4 bedrooms [master with ensuite] all with plenty of cupboards, kitchen with pantry, large living area, a second toilet/shower, close to shops and transport; "garden" area all gravelled, with a small grassed area. We found out the first house was TZS300,000/month, this second house TZS400,000/month. The second house has far more potential for expansion, but being so far away from Samwel's house, church and city, would mean transport costs each day, and lots of travel time. Again, we thanked the gentlemen that came to open up for us, and headed off. As the budget looked at rent being TZS400,000, we pretty much came to the conclusion it was far better to rent the cheaper house, which had the other location benefits, so in fact NOCET would be far better off that way.
   Our next stop was Peter's house, where we are all invited to an early dinner. It was a further 20 minutes away, heading into lush vegetation, passing by banana and coffee plantations, with fantastic views to the cloud-topped Mt Meru, which dominates the skyline behind Arusha. Peter's house is less than a kilometer from Arusha National Park, and we were told that giraffes are often seen not far away. We were warmly welcomed by Peter's sister Eunice, and Peter's children Faith, Joash and Hilda, as well as another lady who is a pastor's wife and her children, and finally Monica, Peter's wife. They have a nice house, with plenty of garden space, with chooks and vegies, and obviously have more money as they have a nice tv and stereo sound system.
   A wonderful, bountiful buffet dinner was prepared, with chicken, potatoes, irish potato leaves with onion, beans, roti, rice with carrots … yum! We all dug in, especially the men. We had fun with Faith and Joash, who quickly overcame their shyness, both enjoying cuddles and tickles and being made a fuss of. It was a very enjoyable time spent with these people, who are very hospitable, and we were made to feel part of the family. The good thing is, by the end of our time there, Samwel had called the agent for the first house and said they'll take the house - looks like a contract will be drawn up in Swahili and English tomorrow, and NOCET will need to pay 4 months rent in advance - there is no bond required, rent is paid every 4 months. Tomorrow Peter and Monica travel to Dar Es Salaam for a medical appointment as Monica suffers from bad asthma, so they'll be away around 3 days.

Tuesday was a big day for us. Firstly we went to NOCET to do some more English and games with the children. Just before the children were given lunch, we left, to return to the hotel, to wait for Samwel and James; Loveness came with us [don't know why]. We had some cool drinks while we waited. Once Samwel and James arrived - more drinks - we methodically went through the monthly expenses for NOCET, and, after quite a long drawnout process, came to the conclusion that it was indeed possible for the orphanage to move to the first house we inspected yesterday, especially if our sponsors in Australia were guaranteed.
   We needed to go to an ATM to draw the last of the fundraising cash, before heading off to the house to meet with the agents, to go thru the lease with a finetoothed comb, ask questions about the lease, sign the papers, be witnessed, hand over the 4 months rent in advance, have it counted a number of times, etc, etc … the end result being that, over a number of days, the owner/agent will undertake various repairs and painting to ensure the house is in good condition, that the current tenants move out all their belongings and clean the house, that the final electricity and water bills be paid, so that by the end of December, early January, NOCET can move in. As mentioned before, a comfortable house, with glass in the windows, tiled floors, with running water, electricity, 3 toilets, 2 showers and a bath, a garden, in a nice quiet area … the children will be so excited to be living in a home! I wonder if for some, it will be their first true home environment.
   We finally headed for home around 3pm, tired and exhausted by all of the thinking and questions and procedures … we had a little rest, before deciding to walk c1.5 kms down the road to the local small supermarket, where we bought a few things for us. It was good to see our "neighbourhood", to walk down the roads we've driven along each day, especially the incredibly rutted one between the tarred Arusha-Moshi Rd and our hotel, which feels like forever when we're crawling up and down the hill, but is probably only 100m!
   Walking down the hill, and on our return, children and others called out to us, hellos, greetings, welcomes, or just smiles and waves. We decided we really need some time to ourselves, after an incredibly hectic 1-and-a-half weeks here. We want to relax and take our time tomorrow, maybe work on the text content of the NOCET website, maybe a walk, whatever. We also want to do some Christmas shopping too, small gifts for the children as well as some other people, maybe brave the city on Thursday?

Wednesday was great, a good, slow day, we took our time with what we wanted to do: relaxed brekky, cleaned the room, put in some washing to be done, emails, text for the NOCET website; we made our lunch, with some croissants, tomato and cheese; more work on the website in the afternoon. It was good not to have to think too much and deal with anyone else; it was also good to relax and spend some time chatting with Judy, the manager here, tell her more about Australia, etc. Forgot to mention she's looking for a husband, and because of her hours here, practically 24/7, she isn't able to meet anyone. We worked on her CV, hoping she may in time land a job at a better hotel, where she may have more chance to meet people - currently we are the only guests here, and hardly anyone turns up - and have more of a 9-5 hours so can be free to go out and meet people. She's 26, speaks reasonably good English, and wants a good man in her life. Any takers?
   Speaking about stories, we also found out recently that Elizabeth, who lives at Samwel's house, was orphaned at 5. Her parents were family friends of Samwel and Joyce's. They took her in, and so Dora sees Elizabeth as her sister. Elizabeth is herself a mother, that young Wilsum at the orphanage is her son - he's about 18 months old. Both Dora and Elizabeth want to complete their last year at High School in 2012, and both hope to study courses at Uni in 2013.
   And why do mobiles seem to be ubiquitous here? Well, infrastructure of course, or the limitations of it, that is. Easier and cheaper to use mobiles than to instal landlines. It seems only business and government use landlines, most people use mobiles. It's relatively cheap to text, and expensive to make calls. It's funny - ie, bizarre really - how people we may never see again want our number, and for us to add them into our mobile's contacts!
   One of the delicious dishes we had at Peter's house earlier this week was called matembele - sweet potato leaves - which are first boiled in a little water, then, fry onion with a little oil and salt, and there you have it, something that looks like spinach, and is yummy! Got to say, that foodwise, it's pretty much cheap and cheerful here, unlike Morocco, where it seems spices and flavour are really important. Understandable, when people have little money to spend on food. We have tasted probably the most delicious pineapple ever here, yummmmm!

Thursday — Both Samwel and James arrived, and it took ages to go thru the website content, with constant to-ing and fro-ing between the 2 of them, and Samwel taking calls, etc. Then it was time to go thru the list of what kids are full time and part time care. It worked out that there are in fact 18 kids on the books, that relatives of 3 of the part time supported children contribute TZS10,000/month. Once that list was sorted time to head off into the city to go to the ATM, but I left the ANZ card back at the hotel, which was very silly of me! Duh! Headed to Milk and Honey Cafe for lunch, which we paid for [less than TZS25000 for the 4 of us]. During lunch found out that Elizabeth's parents were Samwel's brother and sister-in-law, so Elizabeth is Samwel's niece!
   We also asked about what was happening for Christmas, what they usually do for Christmas, etc, and once more it was like trying to pin down mercury, conversation to and from between Samwel and James. Noone seems to have given it any more thought, like it was up to us, and bringing up again the idea we had way early that perhaps we go top a park, or national park, which raises the problem of getting people to the place, hiring a van, etc. So, Sheryl suggested asking isaac if we could hold it at Otakef. Samwel called Isaac and it's a goer, we have an OK. So, we said we would buy some food, and perhaps Joyce roast/fry a chicken, etc. That's where it was left when we finished lunch.
   To NOCET, great to see the kids again, helped Joyce cart water from c500m away from the orphanage - she had a 20 litre container, Sheryl and I 10 litre ones each, James came to watch! Joyce had to pay - coins - then we walked back home, with Joyce putting her container on her head, 20 kilos! Bloody hell, she does that trip 5 times a day! While I played with the kids, Sheryl was undertaking some discussions with Samwel, James and Joyce. We left c5 or so, but there was another flurry of ideas and notions and "proposals" from James about Christmas, such a huge kefuffle about a simple party! James again trying to work out what Joyce needs to do, etc. It can be REALLY quite wearing and frustrating, and annoying. In the car I said to chillax, it's only a party, not an agenda item for an important meeting! All we need is a chicken roasted or fried, simple as that! Back to the hotel with James, so tired.
   Dinner, and long chat with Judy, about Christmas lunch being held at Otakef, food shopping, costs, etc. Judy seems happy about the whole arrangement, and we said all Otakef staff to come too, so could be up to 13 adults and 6 children. We went thru what we need to buy, to cook, etc, looking at it happening at 1pm. Looks like we're going shopping at the market neat Shop Rite with James and either Judy or Stella tomorrow after 10:30am. Came up with a shopping list, which includes purchasing 4 live chooks, and for their slaughter and prep for Sunday lunch! Sheryl prepared a text to Samwel to say food and cooking is taken care of, that Joyce needs to do nothing for the lunch.
   We talked about the contrast of relative lifestyles and cost of living between Australia and Tanzania, that our dollar can buy so much more here. For example, we had lunch in the cafe in the city with Samwel and James, and with 4 mains and 4 juices plus tip it was TZS25000 = c.AUD13. We talked about the madness of Christmas for the average Australian, just how much is spent on gifts and food and drink, which Judy couldn't grasp - I told her if we plonked her in the middle of a Westfield shopping centre on any day of the week before Christmas to see the shopping frenzy, her head would simply explode with disbelief! Remembering Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, where the majority of people here live on less than AUD2 per day … being mindful that Judy is on less than AUD100 a month …

Friday — Brekky, then Sheryl wrote up shopping list. James arrived c10:30, once I was ready, Judy had changed into civvies - not her Otakef clothes - we headed off to the petrol station down the road to use the atm - all the notes issued were TZS5000 - so by the time I took out what I needed my pocket was bulging! Off to Shop Rite, where we parked the car, then walked over to the market, over the very busy road, the market also teeming with people, buying, looking, selling, large handcarts, some people riding thru on bikes and motorbikes, a cacophony of sights and sounds, as well as smells … again, nothing like the markets of Morocco, the range of food here is limited to the major vegies and grain and fruits, as well as clothes.
   Most of the vegie stalls sold the same range of vegies, like potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber, onions, garlic, carrots, silverbeet, spinach, cabbage, that's pretty much it. The fruits were mainly pineapple, watermelon, apples, paw paw, bananas, mangoes, coconut … there were small shops selling spices, but in packets, not piled up in beautiful displays as we saw in Morocco, no big stalls selling cakes, pastries, olives, dates, etc … we know we were thoroughly "spoilt" in Morocco - I guess the standard of living maybe was higher there, and perhaps had a history of more of a range of foods and spices than here in poor Tanzania.
   Not that I'm comparing in a critical way, but it's quite obvious a difference we're seeing. Anyway, we wandered from seller to seller, picking up vegies as we went - always a negotiation between James and Judy, which took a while, then the purchase - followed by a couple of young boys with their plastic bags. We were supplied a bag by one of the sellers, and bought a big yellow bag from one of the boys, as we were going to carry all our purchases ourselves …
   We reached the chicken-seller part of the market - along a wall were coops for chooks, covered with a roof, birds of different sizes. We were there to select 5 birds, and arrange for their slaughter and preparation. The selection took ages and ages - we are getting used to the fact that here everything that needs doing is a slow, drawn out process, which gives you time to stop and look around and maybe swap greetings with the bag-boys and others, etc - finally, after what seemed 30-40 minutes, 5 chooks were chosen - we wanted 5 biggies as we need to feed some 20 people on Sunday, and so the buyer needs to hold them upside down to assess their weight, while the chook might protest a little and then settle to their new position in life … around the corner, out of sight - plus I didn't want to see anything that involved blood and guts - the chooks were quickly killed and the plucking commenced, and then passed onto another man to wash and fully pluck, then another guy washed and gutted them and chopped the feet off - guts going into a bucket for sale - then the birds were placed into a bag for us to carry off … that's that for the chooks! Nothing like selecting a tray from the meat department at Coles or Woolies!
   We then purchased some rice, beans and maize, and then onto the fruit stalls, and Judy received a call from her hotel to add to her purchases, so after an age we finally staggered out of the market, back to the car with many bags of produce, lumped them into the boot. We still had the supermarket shopping to do, which took a good while as well, so while James and I were out front with the chooks, the ladies were inside.
   Finally done, we piled the groceries into the boot, and walked over to a nearby cafe, set in a grouping of very Western retail shops, to have a late lunch at around 2, 2:30pm. The owner, an Indian lady, spoke to us for a short while as we heard her mention "Melbourne" to a white lady and she noticed her prick up our ears to that word. Sandwiches and drinks for lunch, then the ladies went window-shopping while James had some more to eat and I had my first cappuccino in weeks!
   The ladies returned, Sheryl saying there was a lady running a bookshop that comes from Canberra! The Western shops obviously cater for all the mzungu that go shopping at Shop Rite, which is a very Western style supermarket. Many whiteys were around, shopping, eating at the this and other cafes, etc.
   We then had to steel ourselves for leaving the parking area, to attempt the right-hand turn onto the main street outside, with a t-junction almost immediately adjacent to the supermarket entry … and you know what I've written about the almost lawless, mad traffic of Arsuha … you have to cater for anyone doing anything walking by foot, on bike and motorbike, pushing or pulling a cart, dalla-dalla, cars, lorries, buses, coming at you in all directions, 2 lanes or more each way even though it's only meant to be 1 lane each way! It took quite a while, with much patience with a dose of assertion and people letting you in [which is rare, but thoroughly appreciated. being close to 3:30 or so, it was pretty much peak hour, so we crawled along this main road towards the inner city, again with people attempting crazy manoeuvers, with great skill, almost breathless with their audacity!
   As we were halfway along this road, Judy suddenly announced she needed to buy a charcoal cooker from the inner-city market, so with a suppressed heavy sigh - knowing we had another long wait ahead of us, and more crazy traffic and a crush of people to get thru - we found a park on a side-street, and while Judy and James went off, Sheryl and I sat in the slowly heating car, windows down, looking at the humanity walking by, with the occasional seller trying to entice us to buy potatoes, world maps, or other produce. It seemed like forever, we were hot and bothered, but after at least 30-40 minutes, J+J returned, packed the cooker into the boot, got into the car, airconditioning on at full blast, we backed out and crawled along the road with a mass of people all around the car, slowly moving apart as we progressed, then a left turn, then another, then another to return to the main road, and crawled again … and once we were out of the main city grid, traffic thinned and we were able to move at a faster pace, onwards and onwards to our hotel.
   Once at Otakef, we unpacked the car, most of the vegies going into our room fridge, the chooks in the freezer in the kitchen, groceries in our room, in a corner. We were exhausted and needed a cool drink, switched the fan on and collapsed. OMG! Cannot believe it took so long, such great effort, to get that shopping done, it was past 4:30, 5pm by then! We needed to be cooling off and be alone, we had had enough of long drawn-out negotiations and conversation, and the struggle to get simple things achieved! We decided to have tomorrow as a rest day, not go to church, as we will need to organise Christmas cards - which Sheryl bought at a shop near Shop Rite - as well as lolly bags for the children, and prepare and/or make the coleslaw and potato salads, and I want to make jelly for the kids too - maybe some of the adults will want to try it too.
   The great thing about having the party at the hotel is that there is a small grassed area with 2 tables and chairs shaded by large umbrellas, adjacent to the hotel lounge/reception - where we usually have brekky and dinner - which has 2 tables and chairs and various armchairs and other seats; there is a fridge laden with cold soda drinks and water; the office has a boom box stereo so we can have music on the day; a toilet round the corner … just hope for a little cooler day as it's so warm and sunny here. Stella and Diana will cook the chooks for us, as well as make the masai beans and maize, and the spinach with carrot dish as well. Should be a good, simple, hearty lunch, with rice, our salads, nibbles, drinks, etc, and Joyce doesn't have to lift a finger [thank goodness]! So, round 12:30, 1pm on Sunday we'll be here surrounded by our Tanzanian friends and some orphans, thinking of home, family and friends …
   We thank everyone for your good wishes and support in words, love, kindnesses, emails, messages, as well as financially towards NOCET. You can rest assured the funds that has been raised for NOCET has been wisely spent, and immensely appreciated by all associated with the orphanage organisation. Our Aussie dollar buys perhaps 4-5 times what it does back home in Australia, so a little goes a long way here in Tanzania.
Anyway, during the late afternoon we rested, checked and wrote emails, and then James left c6:30 - he hopes to go visit his aunt tomorrow afternoon and stay the night before returning for the Chrissy lunch. Dinner was the hotel's version of Supergett [brand of spaghetti pasta] Bolognese - we'll have to show them a more western version of it before we leave, as they don't have garlic, tomatoes or tomato paste in their version, probably because they don't know what it should actually taste like, and maybe costs too much, and might also be too rich for their taste … we'll see!

Saturday — Lots of noise, as usual with most mornings, cars being washed, conversations, phone ringing, shouts, humming, whistling, etc. So, off to the kitchen, found our brekky was ready, and so loaded up the tray, to our room, enjoying our meal in quiet. Stella came in with some pieces of mango, and noticed a jar of passionfruit jam Sheryl had bought in yesterday's shop, and she started to undo the tie and paper covering of the lid … then she left … when she later returned, I offered her the jar and spoon to try the jam, and she took the brekky tray as well as a spoon of the jam …
   I had made a 2nd cup of coffee, and when I went to the kitchen to return the cup, Doudi, who was washing the 4WD, gesticulated and said something I understood to be mean him to clean my runners, so I said OK, and collected them for him. He cleaned my runners earlier this week of all the gunge and dirt that had collected over the weeks I'd been wearing them in Bhutan, Istanbul, Malta, Morocco and now Tanzania, and they almost looked like new, for TZS3000 [less than AUD2]. Happy to pay him for that. We also hand over a big bucket with our washing to the young ladies, and the day or 2 after they are returned to us cleaned and ironed, and for less than AUD10 - why not? a little luxury for us, and some income for the hotel. We continue to be pretty much the only guests, with occasional people staying here 1 or 2 nights. We think there are also "liaisons" here, but that seems to be on a hush-hush needs-to-know basis … I'm sure we'll find out more goss before we leave, but we wonder how this hotel can possibly stay in business if almost noone stays here! It's still early days, having opened in July, and they aim to advertise on radio - which is very popular and big here, as not many have tvs … makes sense.
   Forgot to mention, when we had dinner at Peter's house, there was a Nigerian movie on their tv - seems that they have a big film industry there, and it's called Nollywood, haha! The movie was terrible, but hey, if they love it, then why not!
   Sandwiches for lunch, then we started on the salads in the kitchen, with Stella hovering - it was an effort to keep her away, haha, she seriously can't let go of her kitchen for the crazy mzungu! Washed and peeled the potatoes, Sheryl chopped up cabbage and carrot for the coleslaw, and she cubed the potatoes. Put a pot on the stove top electric plate, but it was taking forever so asked Stella to light up one of the burners, and that was doing much better. She needed to put on some lunch for themselves and so started taking over the kitchen and stove, Sheryl gave up, there was not much else she could anyway, so she left. Stella put on ugali and deep fried a fish and got me to grate some tomatoes for some sauce stuff she was making; she also reheated some spinach stuff that had been sitting in a pot on the stove, for at least 2 nights [unthinkable not to refrigerate it in Australia], and she moved the pot of boiling potato cubes from burner to burner.
   She put a pot of maize flour on the hotplate I had been using and burnt the bottom off the pot and the flour went everywhere - this is what happens when someone else uses your kitchen and mucks up your routine. There is no "please" and "thankyou" and "excuse me" if they want anything, or to almost push you aside so they can do something or get somewhere - it doesn't feel right, but that's how it is. It's difficult not to feel a little upset by that, but that's what we westerners are taught and are used to. Suffice to say, the kitchen started looking like a bomb had hit it, haha, oil splatters everywhere, melted bottom of plastic jug and maize flour on the stove top, and then we needed to empty the maize kernels onto a wicker bowl to sort out small stone and other extra bits out of the maize, and once all the bits were methodically taken out, Stella then sifted the maize in the basket, blowing on the maize to get rid of dust, etc, all going on the floor. I was then asked to put the maize kernels in a pot to rinse them. Then the same with the beans, the floor looking even worse after all that. The maize and beans were then put into a much bigger pot and covered with water, and stored in a cupboard under the sink for the night. Then it was time to sift the rice of extra bits, and once done, stored away in a bag ready for tomorrow. Sheryl returned by the time the potatoes were ready, drained them and put them in a large bowl to cool.
   I swept the floor and got rid of the rubbish, so at least we weren't walking on detritus, and helped clean the stove top, and we washed as much of the dishes and cooking utensils as we could. No, there isn't any hot water, not dishwashing detergent: it is done with cold water, and a bar of soap and a piece of old scourer. Once we were done we covered the coleslaw [sans mayonnaise] and potatoes with cling wrap - yes, we found that in a shop down the hill - and stored that in our fridge in our room. Stella then started on the chooks - since we bought those top quality birds and had them prepared for us, they'd been dragged to Shop Rite dripping blood, then stored in a cafe fridge while we had lunch after our market and Shop Rite shopping, then lumped in the boot of the car while we waited for a charcoal cooker to be bought, then stored in the freezer … now Stella was tearing the bodies apart with her bare hands and hacking them to pieces using a quickly blunting kitchen knife - no cleaver or bone scissors here - with bits of flesh and bone sprayed all over the place. I couldn't believe she didn't wait till the chooks had defrosted! They do things very differently here, haha! Once the birds had been chopped up and put in a tub, they were returned to the freezer. I stayed for a while to watch how the birds were being reduced to nothing resembling what we'd call KFC portions, resolving not to bother eating any chicken at tomorrow's lunch, and left Stella and Diana to it, as Loveness and Samwel arrived, all spruced up from church, so we walked over to the outside tables and sat down and chatted away. Samwel said that Peter and Monica's children - Hilda, Joash and Faith -  as well as Peter's sister Eunice, were coming to tomorrow's lunch, also 3 children from his and Joyce's next door, so 7 extra people now! … oh well, as the story goes "and a little bit more" …
   They left as it was growing dark, and we walked them down the hill to a laneway, with some of the neighbourhood children saying hello and "how are you" and us having a bit of fun … we parted ways with Samwel and Loveness, walked past the children and said "hi" and 'bye" and "I'm fine, how are you" … we could still hear them as we turned the corner for the hotel …
   To the lounge for a cold drink and relax, chatted with Judy. While Sheryl was away she had made up lolly bags for the 6 children, with one spare. We'd ordered dinner so it was just a case of relaxing in the meantime. Seeing as more children were coming, we needed to use up the rest of the spare lollies and even the bags contents out - lucky Sheryl had bought more lolly bags than we needed, but then she knew there would be extras! Like most nights when Judy has joined us for dinner, we talked away for a couple of hours. We needed to return to our room to write in the Christmas cards and enclose some cash as presents.
   Big day tomorrow!