My House

Where was I going to live once I got to Musoma?  When I first arrived in Tanzania the four months of language school looming ahead of me set such trivial questions on the back burner.  There was nothing I could do to figure it out, anyway.  Then one day I got an email from one of my future teammates, offering me her house while she is out of the country for seven months!  So I am enjoying the blessing of a furnished house, complete with night guards and a part-time housekeeper already in their routines.  The house is conveniently located near town; I should be able to get to most places I want to go by bicycle (once I find one to buy).

I took the above picture from the front gate by the road.  It's too hard to get a decent shot from inside the hedge, and anyway, the front of the house is fairly standard.  It's the view out the back that elicits a sigh of contentment...  That is Lake Victoria, second largest in the world, just on the other side of my backyard fence.  I keep some of the windows perpetually open, allowing the breeze to float through as well as the sound of the waves.

And yet another benefit: furry companions. :)  These are my charges for the time their owner is away.  (For those who wish to know, they are Betsy and Clive, from left to right.)  They are friendly kitties who love to be around people, following me from living room to bedroom and back again.  In addition, Betsy takes her hunting duties seriously and keeps the house as gecko-free as possible.

I hope to get better sunset shots in time, but here is one, just to say that the sky can be very pretty in the evenings even if the photography is poor. :)  The sun goes down to the left, over the peninsula.  I took this from the corner gate you can see in the other picture.  That's either a stork or pelican on the rock in the foreground, I forget.  (We get some giant storks here.)