Better Homes and No Garden-Tanzania Edition

Welcome to our home in Mbeya, Tanzania!  We have a two bedroom apartment with a view of the local mountains from our living room windows and front balcony.  Jason and I have spent time cleaning and organizing and now we have have a very livable home.  We still have some things we would like to purchase, but for the most part we are all settled in and can welcome guests into our home.  Karibu!

When you first enter our home, you will be welcomed into our living room.  We have maps of Tanzania and the world decorating our walls at the moment.  We have a nice selection of books left by the previous volunteer in our bookcase.  Jason and I sit and play games at the coffee table most every night.

Up next is our kitchen!  We have a nice, big kitchen in which to prepare our meals.  We have a little stove that has both electric and gas burners (the gas is very nice when the power is out) and a little oven.  We have a kitchen sink, but I need to do dishes in basins as the sink has no stopper and the water is not usually on anyway.  Jason and I bought a refrigerator a couple of weeks ago and it has been so nice to have cold water to drink.  On top of the refrigerator is our drinking water, which we collect from the bathroom sink, then boil to make it safe to drink.

Our bathroom!  We have a shower room with a shower that spills cold water, so we normally take bucket baths.  We have a toilet room with a Western toilet!  The downside of the Western toilet is that it really only flushes when the water is on.  And lastly we have a little sink area where we can store our buckets of water.  We have water ~3 times per day, so we need to collect and store the water in order to have it when we need it.

This is our guest bedroom.  We have two almost twin-sized beds, and a chair.  Come visit us!

Our bedroom!  We have a large, king-sized bed with the most amazing, fuzzy blanket on which Jason has bestowed the title of "Beauty and the Beast Blanket" as it is purple with pink roses that look like the forbidden rose in "Beauty and the Beast."  We have a big wardrobe in which to store our clothes and not pictured is a little vanity with a big mirror on which we store our toiletries.  Our bedroom windows look out over the mountains.

Attached to the guest bedroom is a little balcony that gets plenty of sun.  I hope to grow a bucket garden here one day soon.  The first balcony picture looks west to the eucalyptus forest and the farms upon which the teachers cultivate their maize.  The second picture looks east to more staff housing and the university beyond.  We are happy to call Mbeya and Mbeya University of Science and Technology our home for the next two years!

Peace,
Heather and Jason