One step further every day

For you Romanian readers out there, I will write all the Tanzania-related posts in English, so that more people can benefit from my experience.

To start from the beginning, about a year ago, a friend of mine (hi Khaled) started telling me how good it is to be in Tanzania, to work for Zantel (a GSM company owned by Etisalat). He asked me whether I wish to join him here, because the only department that had issues was the IT department.

Now, one year later, I’ve finally managed to come down here (”down” as in “South”). Exactly one week ago, I’ve left my home in Bucharest, heading towards Dar es Salaam (via Dubai). Much of my decision to come to Dar was because of Ruth and her Dar Es Salaam Diary.

The flights itself were quite enjoyable (I’ve managed to sleep for five minutes on the second flight), but the 8 hours waiting in Dubai have been exhausting.

My first contact with Tanzania was actually with the Visa Office from within the airport.I’ve waited in queue for at least 45 minutes until I’ve managed to give them my Visa Request Form (together with some other form). After this, another one hour and a half wait for them to call me to get the passport and the visa. And everything in a non-AC environment (we were like 50-75 people waiting there, in a mob)

Because I’ve been invited here by Zantel, I had to pay (instead of the standard $50 visitor visa) $100 for a business visa. So, I got the visa and was preparing for passport and luggage check. Luckily for me, the visa office already put a stamp on my passport, as there was nobody left to check it afterwards.

The Zantel driver was waiting for me for a couple of hours already (Hujambo Jamal?) so I got in the car and left towards the hotel.

My first perception of Dar was “poverty”. Not because of the people or the cars, but because of the lack of sidewalks, the tons of plastic bags on the side of the roads, the poorly maintained roads and buildings. On the other hand, there are only few places in Europe where a person looks you in the eye when talking to you, where they look at others when walking on the street (I remember London…).

So, I’ve finally checked in and, an hour later my friend came and picked me up, to go for dinner.

The next day (Monday) was the actual start at the company. After filling in more forms, I was instructed to go and take 12 passport-sized pictures of myself, for all the paperwork. You can see the pictures from the office (within Z Park) in my previous post.

Since Monday, I’ve finally managed to get a little bit used to the African names of my colleagues (not to remember, but at least to pronounce), and also to the traffic chaos on the streets (the Dalla-Dallas are a killer…). At least, the hotel is only 5 minutes drive from the office, so I don’t spend too much time in the traffic jam.

I’ve also been in Zanzibar already, at our office there. I will include my impressions about it in a future post, after I manage actually to see some of the island (this is the bad thing when you go on business somewhere: you never get to see anything).

Being a white male in a land full of black people also has it’s fun moments: I’ve just been called at the hotel by a girl (I have no idea who it was - but she knew my name) and asked whether I was married or not (Should I get used to this? We’ll see…). Of course, the answer was “yes”, although not true.

The biggest problem I’ve encountered so far is the Mosquito-Problem (yeah, with capital “P”). There are so many that you cannot pass a day without being bitten by one. And, did I mention? I HATE MOSQUITOES! I’ve hated them my entire life, but now more than ever.

The room in the resort in Zanzibar had mosquito-nets everywhere and, at nightfall, they’ve sprayed with some anti-mosquito stuff at the entrance of each room. Basically, I’ve slept like a baby. I’ve even shut down the A/C and opened the balcony doors, as the mosquito-net was protecting me on the bed.

To sum up, I think I’m going to manage with the weather, with the mosquitoes, with Malaria.

Here are the pics I’ve taken during the flight to and from Zanzibar, as well as the ones from within the resort. There is also a movie available here (unfortunately, the movie from the hotel room will have to wait, as the internet down here is slower than dial-up).