A Thousand Kilometers to Home

The Mongers are in Mwanza! Over a thousand kilometres and 16.5 hours of driving and we were here! The journey was great; we spread it over three days which we were all very grateful for; Tim because he had to do all the driving as his seat was the only one with enough room for his long legs and the three girls because none of us had any leg room at all, not a lot of body room and no lap space! So we all fell out of the car most relieved at each night's rest spot and made the most of swimming pools in both Dodoma and Nzega guesthouses! We had just one close call with a large eagle which was very impressive but would not have been so impressive through the windshield. And one rather significant jolt in a large pothole on one of the roads which shook the side headlight out, but a bit of plastic and duct tape and all was well again!


Loaded!

Fixing up the light

Beautiful scenery along the way

It was terribly sad leaving Iringa on Friday! We had a great send-off from our EI team last Wednesday - which included a delicious pork roast dinner and some photo videos of good memories - including one from Ben and Sam for the girls! Ezekiel and Mendriad arrived on Thursday to help up load up the car and carry remaining bags and boxes over to Andy and Angela's house to follow us later. They had fun looking through things we were leaving behind and chose some things to take home for their families! It was hard to say goodbye to them - they have been such great and faithful friends!  

Ezekiel and Mendriad with bubbles, balloons and sunhats!

And now here we are in Mwanza, or "Rock City." We are so very grateful to Dr. Makori for finding us a house within our budget (no easy task here!) and to members of the church here for all the work they have done to transform what was a rather neglected house! They have cleaned and painted inside and cleared the ground outside ... Dr Makori has helped us to sort out all the issues with plumbing and electricity and things like finding guards and any number of our questions. We don't know what we would have done without him!



Can you believe this and more was all in the car?
And this doesn't even include all the boxes and bags on the roof!

It has been a busy few days of unpacking (it really is quite incredible how much we were able to pack into one landcrusier!) and sorting out. It is a lot smaller than our Iringa house and with just three bedrooms it will be a squeeze to fit everything with Tim's EI office and a homeschool space as well! But we are gradually managing to make a new home! We have good internet and so far, good electricity! We have a water problem, but hoping for a plumber very soon! We are working at finding our way around the city, feeling very much the country bumpkins in awe of this huge place with all its traffic, shops, sights and sounds! The girls have been excited to see lifts (elevators), a "massive shop with trolleys and aisles" and best of all - a bakery with croissants!



Washing clothes out back

Living/Dining Room

We are looking forward to Andy and Angela's arrival on Friday! They are driving here (with a visiting friend of theirs) with another car load of our belongings ...including a freezer and large keyboard! They really are our personal moving company as it was they that drove all our first belongings from Dar es Salaam to Iringa back when we arrived in 2010! That earned us the title "Hu-Mongers" which we have lived up to again! We will have some fun with them on Saturday before they head off on Sunday to the Serengeti which is now on our doorstep ... well - almost!