I sat in front of the computer at the office for 4 hours trying, among other things, to post articles to the consortium's website. I managed to get 1, just 1 article up. When I get home I think I will be amazed at the speed of internet all over again. How spoiled  I was those days tapping my finger thinking I was waiting sooooo long for the page to load. HA!  3 minutes, 4 minutes even. How about 15 minutes to load a page before it decides it can't load?

When we drive along Ocean Rd. I just watch the Indian Ocean at high tide kids are swimming and playing and every now and then there is a tree, closer to shore but sprouting out of the ocean.  At low tide the ocean is crowded with people. I'm no good at guessing distance, but it seems the tide is so low people walk out 1/2 mile or more. They are fishing, digging for, I imagine, whatever edible creatures are there but I don't know enough to say what. I thought clams but I've never seen clams on a menu anywhere here. Can scallops be picked at low tide? Maybe it's seaweed they are after.  I enjoy watching the ocean high, low, the kids, the adults.  I really want to spend a day relaxing on a beach but I don't know where, isn't that nuts? Along the road we take downtown there are a lot of people, barbecue stands/restaurants, people looking like they are living there, etc. Just not a peaceful beach. Also from this beach the humongous oil tankers and other industrial type ships are on the skyline, moving in or out of Dar. 

I am adjusting to life here. I do still take quick breaths or "ohs' luckily no "shit!"s when we are driving. The car that suddenly stops in front of us, or turns into traffic, or when we make a right hand turn and all these cars are coming at me in the passenger seat because there are no streetlights so drivers just go for it whenever there is a break in traffic.  I have come to trust our driver though, now I can apologize when a noise comes out of me or I grasp my chest. He has been driving 20 years so knows the streets well, and the traffic. This is also another reason I try to show up in the office later in the morning and leave early afternoon, to miss as much traffic as we can.  So many photos I'd like to take from the car but they rarely turn out well.  Today, in the middle of 4 lanes of traffic plus turn lanes, motorcycles and bicycles running between cars, guys selling and begging in between cars, there was a policeman standing in the middle of all this. He had a walkie talkie in one hand and he was dialing or texting on his cell phone at the same time.

 Last week a young man was walking car to car begging while an old man, blind, shuffled along behind with his hand on the younger's shoulder. Begging with props. Most beggars are missing 1 or 2 legs, or paralyzed--polio is a problem still existent here.  My landlady told me some rich people provide housing to poor people who pay "rent" by turning over all the money they get from begging. There is, of course, no way you could give $ to one without a) being surrounded or b) have repeat "customers" daily.

Time for downtime. Everyone take care.