Change

Photo by Liviu Gorincioi

Change is the most difficult yet is much needed in our lives. Things change, we change, life changes, people change, our environment change, years change, age change, everything changes but God. 

We struggle with change because, one, we either walk into a new era with expectations based on what we have been told or seen from others, but when our expectations are not met, we fight and even hate change. 

The second reason based on my understanding, is being comfortable in a position where we are and all of a sudden a change happens that forces us to deal with it.  Anything that disturbs status-quo is an enemy, especially when it’s a change that comes with certain limitations. Because our minds like things to be easy.

When faced with obstacles that come with change, we tend to be ungrateful of things around us however fabulous they may be. There is a saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. The same applies in real life. If you date a woman who is 90% perfect but 10% imperfect, if their imperfection is something that will drain you, you will be too blind to see the 90% perfection in her. 

It is also said that sometimes we get the right man/woman/job/opportunity that we need but when we did not plan for, expect or prepare ourselves mentally, emotionally and psychologically for it, we will not see those things as opportunities or a blessing.

From 2015 to 2019 I have learned about change, the struggles that come in accepting change, and worse enough, the toxicity that comes from the inside out based on my reception of the so called ‘change’.

Serviced Apartments

I have just come across a new terms 'serviced apartments' and 'serviced offices' for which I needed further explanation, and I also googled and much to my surprise, I never knew such services exist in Bongo even though I had come across an apartment in Masaki that offers these services. I must admit, I do like this concept, and even though I would not have thought to come up with something like that in a million years, I must give credit to those who did. 

So, basically serviced apartments are fully furnished apartments providing hotel like services and more. So, why would someone decide to stay in a serviced apartment instead of a hotel room or a non serviced apartment you would ask. Well, if you are in town for business or work for a few days, weeks, months or even a year but you are not yet quite familiar with the place, getting a serviced apartment is a better option than renting a non serviced apartment because now you would be fully independent in some aspects like hiring your own maid. Then you would opt to stay in a hotel and lose the homely feel of being in your own place. Not only that, you will get a much bigger living space than you would in hotel room, you get to have kitchen space where you can cook and not rely on restaurants with food that you would probably get bored of in a matter of days. 

You get room service and house keeping services which are also provided in hotels, and other concierge services. Now, most of the amenities  are similar to being in a hotel, like swimming pool, gym, recreation area, WiFi and laundry services, but the good thing about apartments, and mostly if you are staying longer, is that you get to have that homely feeling, especially if your next door neighbor is staying a while as well, you can actually forge friendships like you normally would if you were in your house or apartment back home. Hotels just feel some type of way that take away that homely feel where you can sit back, be lazy and enjoy your space and surrounding.

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Exploring Zimbabwe - Food

Another thing I noticed while in Zim is the shortage of food options, this included fruits as well. The  fruits that were predominantly available on every corner of the street were bananas and avocados. However, we did come across more options in the supermarket (perhaps they were imported).

I like how their supermarkets served cooked food - buffet style, I guess they are not in shortage of food preparation equipment. It was very convenient for us since we mostly ate when we were already hungry. If we had to be at a restaurant and order food and wait for it to be served 10 to 15 minutes later, it would have been so stressful. We ate supermarket food for the most part of our trip and we did not fall sick. The options were not as many as there are in Tanzania but we survived. My favorite dish was Sadza (Ugali). 

BBQ section at the supermarket

The one thing that disappointed me was the lack of small bottles of Amarulas. We hunted for those babies in every supermarket we went to, but to no avail. That was very disappointing. Living the African dream, African Safari.

One of the things I will miss

One of the many things I am going to miss about Dar are the affordable hair saloons/beauty parlors. As a woman, one area that will never fall short of clients is the beauty industry. When I had to get my hair cut in April back in Jax, I had to search for hair Saloons or barbershops near me and not many showed on google maps that were within my vicinity. My sister took me to one of the saloons she goes to, unfortunately the lady was fully booked so she gave me an appointment for 3 days later. I was not happy at the fact that I could not get service as soon as I got there. A friend then took me to a different saloon and I had to wait for three other clients to get done before I could get the service. That wasn’t so bad. 

Then I kept wining about how easy it is to get serviced in Dar because hair saloons are plenty, and for all budgets. I could walk into a saloon and get serviced within 5 minutes of walking in. The fact that there are so many hair saloons for women all over the place, you never lack quick and affordable service. Don’t get me wrong though, not all beauty saloons are easily available. Some that are very well known for servicing brides and high end customer or serve other wedding solutions can be booked months in advance. 

And to add sugar to an already sweet snack, is the fact that beauty products are easily available and for different prices, from cheap to expensive depending on where you are shopping. You have the high end shops and the low end street shops and both sell quality and reliable products, with some exceptions of the the street shops that do sometimes import and sell the not so reliable products, hence customers must be aware of the transactions their undertaking. 

I will miss this life if I must be honest. I could care less for the fancy expensive products and beauty parlors. The fact that I can walk into a place and get sorted on the spot and affordably is key for me. The fact that I get annoyed to wear wigs and I prefer having crochet hair instead, I want to be able to get that done frequently and affordable. Unfortunately, not being able to get that unless I schedule an appointment days in advance and for a price that I don’t really want to pay, it has forced me to learn some serious hair braiding and crocheting skills thanks to YouTube. And I must confess, I get very jealous when I check out Instagram feed and see TZ girls looking fab in their good looking hair styles and I am like DANG IT, why can’t I get that here too??! 

What apps are you giving access to your personal data?

Hey'all,

A friend told me a story that got me somewhat angry with myself for using a smartphone, it's not something new, but I just dislike the lack of privacy with these gadgets nowadays. So, she’s been getting personal loan through mobile apps, and she had been very faithful in paying the loans as well. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, she applied for a loan and she was denied one due to lacking credentials to be given a loan. Upon inquiry from a different company, she was informed that giving access to some of the apps also means they get to see your loan trends and how you spend your money and can even access your text message. I don’t know how true this actually is, but it creeped me out, then I realized I have been giving access to so many other apps and to make things worse, I give them access to my pictures and other media as well. I am so not happy about that. 

On another note, as we continued chatting, she said a good number of Tanzanians apply for personal and business loan via apps and mobile money. For a greater part, it has been a good idea that these loan opportunities exist for simplicity of life and it reaches more customers compared to physically visiting microfinance institutions. But I wonder though, how do they get their money back? Especially since they don’t request for loan security. Do they know how to track these people down? How successful are these businesses? I would hope they are able to recover their funds as easily as they make their loans accessible to people. 

Grown up mindset

Hey’all

I think as we grow up, our talk and direction of our thoughts should change to reflect our goals and aspirations.

Lately, a good part of my conversation with my female friends is about buying land or building houses (that’s where I am getting my inspiration from). A friend has been sharing with me pictures of a house she’s building and I am uber jealous (in a non malicious way). I feel like we are motivating each other. Women motivating women. One of my goals for 2019-2020 is to buy a couple of surveyed plots while the prices are still manageable, but not necessarily in Dar.

Anywho, I have been falling in admiration of houses with appealing exteriors and amazing interior decor and designs, it’s making me want to start building my house like asap (yes, I have a plot but I do not have the cash to begin construction work.

My sister and I are looking for interior designers to come take a look at our apartment (sister’s idea) and give us a few sketches on what the apartment could look like. We are looking into getting new appliances and repainting the place. I came across a shop that sells home appliances but I can’t tell if their prices are fair or a total rip off, but I like where the idea is headed. I think from doing this project, I will start having ideas on how I want my house to look like when I am ready to build one.

I like this type of mentality honestly, the grown up mentality (at least I think it is). Investing in land and immovable properties for the future.

Exploring Zimbabwe - Cars

As I continued to explore Zimbwawe, I got a chance to speak with a few people about the country, and guess what I discovered? So Zim being a landlocked country, meaning they do not have a sea or port, they get to import their cars through Tanzania or South African ports. For a landlocked country though, they do have a lot of cars for sale. I have seen a good number of showrooms in Harare as we commuted towards the city center.

Most of the cars that I have seen around here are Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans. Unlike Tanzania, we seem to lean towards Toyotas more than other brands. But lately, I have been seen a few more Mazdas around. It's interesting how Toyotas are heavily available in Tanzania you would think we manufacture those babies. I too am guilty of making Toyotas prominent in TZ because I own one. 

Talking about Honda cars in Zim, they predominantly use Honda Fit as a shared taxi, and boooy are they tiny when 6 to 8 people get in them. I got to experience that first hand. For some reason though, people just don't mind squeezing in for a ride. 

I used to tell my sister how affordable Toyotas are in TZ compared to the US, when she came back, she understood what I meant. She saw every Toyota you could possibly see on this planet in a matter of a week. My African dream safari.

Exploring Zimbabwe - Architecture

Zimbabwe architecture is just amazing. I love their buildings, and it’s sometimes hard to tell if they are old buildings that have been well maintained or if they are new. I like how a good number of the buildings are built with bricks. The western influence in the architecture is a pleasing sight to see. While walking towards the National Art Museum from EastGate, we walked through a garden that was clean and well kept. Some of the water fountains were not functioning, but the overall sight was calming.

A lot of people were at the park, I can’t assume what they were doing, but we saw a few people that were doing photography business, some were taking their meals.  The trees at the park were interesting as well. Of course not all parts of Zim were breathtaking, some parts were like most African countries are, a bit run down and deserted. Going to a somewhat rural place like Masvingo and the architecture still being pleasing to see was mind blowing to me. Unfortunately, I had not seen a single shop selling construction materials, I am guessing maybe they have specific locations for such businesses.

I have been to some other parts of Africa before but I never felt like It’s a place I would want to live for a long time, however in Zimbabwe, I would not mind living here for a while. The weather is so good, it reminds me of Arusha. The houses, oh man, they are huge. They have so much land and the houses are just huge. We got to stay with two couch surfers and both their houses were amazing. One was medium size and very cosy. The other was large, spacious, has a pool, a large garden, a big parking garage. The calmness of this place is what we all need. If I had funds, I would get into real estate in Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The African dream, African safari.

Check out Seedspace while in Dar

I am back in my heat city a.k.a Dar and I am not complaining at all. 10 days of backpacking in Zimbabwe was a great experience. As much as the Mzungu conversation therapy that Kaka started on me in 2010 is still in the process, I must say, hiking is not a bad experience at all (except when I thought my lungs were going to fail me). 

Being gone for a year has shown me how a city can change so much. I woke up today with one goal in mind, getting some work done and I needed to be away from home in order for things to actually get done (being still for an hour or two staring at my laptop and hoping things will actually get done), a friend suggested I check out a new place (not really new after all), it's called Seedspace located at the Tanzanite Park building along new Bagamoyo road after Victoria Gas station. 

I walked in, saw a good number of people busy on their laptops and some seemed to be having small meetings. I didn't want to be one of those people that crashes to a new place, uses free WiFi and bounce, so I asked around and one nice lady took me to the person in charge, a very well versed TZ guy named Innocent. 

A simple, "how does this place work" turned into a grand tour of the entire Seedspace co-working and co-living space, as well as the upcoming restaurant and training space. I am so impressed. first of all, the person that came up with this idea is a genius. I never would have thought of such an idea.

The co-working space is a good concept especially for startups and entrepreneurs, but you need to check out the co-living space. I was blown away by what they are offering and for the price they are offering it for. 

The co-living space currently goes for US $45 per room, which is a twin bed, has a two-seater chair, a coffee table, a TV, a spacious bathroom and a nice little kitchen with utensils and cookware. The co-living space allows up to two people a room (YES MY FELLOW BACKPACKERS, THAT'S $22.5 EACH). The co-living space offers a nice spacious living room and allows for interaction with a pool table on a side and a soon to be installed play station. I love the decor. I am super impressed about this because once you pay $45 you get access to the co-living space, with free WiFi, laundry, gym on the 8th floor and swimming pool. And I shall not forget to mention the view of the city, this place is to die for. I know backpacking hostels and dorm rooms are cheaper but there is no way you would want to miss staying at this place especially if you are going to pay $22.5 and share a room with a co-traveler you've met on your way to Dar (wink).

I am super impressed that I had to write about the Seedspace while my excitement is still high.