A Week in Dodoma

The older children are back at school and settling down for their long 10 week term. Andrew has been out and about flying medical teams and church workers to the more remote villages in the environs of Dodoma. Joel has been busy playing at home and growing 5 new teeth all at once (!!) and I have been busy with school runs, house-work and settling back into the routine of our MAF meetings and mum's/baby group.

Over the past week though, there have been a couple of events to liven up the everyday tasks.
We have had another MAF farewell, this time saying Goodbye to short-termers Margaret and Andy, who have been with us in Dodoma for 9 months and have made such a positive impact on our life here with their dedication and hard work. I think all of us ladies will especially miss physiotherapist Margaret's Keep Fit classes and her excellent help with all things domestic, from getting me to actually grow basil in the garden ( I am usually a disaster when it comes to gardening- I am not one of those people gifted with green fingers!), childcare and health advice and even cutting our hair! Andrew will miss Andy's expertise and hard work in the MAF hangar with the Flight Operations Team.
We had a Farewell over the weekend at MAF Compound B:

 There was also the excitement of Andrew's birthday this week. No impressive cake for Andrew though! Just a little round chocolate cake from the rather busy kitchen of Liz. Still, it was enjoyed by all...

  ...especially Joel, who was even allowed a little taste- and he certainly made the most of it!

 There was a also great excitement when we received a parcel of delicious treats from friends in far-off Liverpool! There was double excitement for me- not only do I get gorgeous chocolate and super-tasty UK brand tea, but I even get a new tupperware container in the form of a Very Useful ice-cream tub! You can NEVER have enough tupperware in Dodoma to store goodies away from uninvited guests of the 6-legged variety, so a pacel packaged in an ice-cream tub is an extra advantage for me, as it adds to my collection of kitchen tupperware!

 This past week has also provided some perplexing brain-teasers to keep us on our toes... My feet normally look like this:

 ..but since yesterday evening, my left foot looks like this:

 My toe next to the Big Toe seems to have been bitten by some unseen East African creature, who has certainly left his mark. We are puzzled about what strange insect or being may have sunk little teeth into me, but I am hoping that the swelling and tingling will stop soon, with the help of anti-histimine from our medicine cupboard!
Meanwhile, there is another puzzle in the fridge, as we wonder what kind of hen produced these VERY white eggs which I bought in town last week?? Apparently, so the egg-seller tells me, they are definitely hen's eggs, but I have never seen such white eggs before! Most bizarre...