What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger

This is exactly what you think it is, another cliche of a title. But wait, there is a catch. You see, sometimes what doesn’t kill you makes you wiser. December was one of those holiday seasons when I got to have a very slow two weeks. I struggled when my life slowed down. It felt odd being so busy, then all of a sudden everything slowed down. 

 To slow down, I worked on my arts and crafts. I made handmade earrings, bracelets, and I made a box from scratch. It was a good me-time that I needed.

Come January, I had a work trip that I needed very much. Traveling to different parts of Tanzania before delving into the busy bee work life. 

It took me falling ill for me to slow down again. My body knew I needed the break, but I cared about my work more. My body chose to say no. I felt like my body was defeating me, but little did I know, my body was telling me to slow down. 

So eventually, I listened. I worked from home, I allowed myself to have afternoon naps. I allowed my cousin to take care of me. I agreed to drink soups and whatever healthy meal I was advised to so that I can feel better. This is when I realized, even though I hated staying home, taking naps in the afternoon, or even eating healthy. I need all that for the next chapter of my life.

My body told me to slow down, because I kept pushing. My body was telling me it’s okay to slow things down, overworking doesn’t mean more happiness, more money or more joy. I am glad I listened to my body and I am now stronger because of it.

5 things I liked about New York City

Hey y'all,

My few days in New York city were filled with awe and joy. I was reminded of the Dar es Salaam life, but better. Here are 5 things that I liked about my little NYC break.

1. Lively

NYC is very lively and I liked that. People were putting on shows on the streets, the subways, at Times Square. I really enjoyed that life.The fact that I was in no hurry, it allowed me the time to stand or sit and observe my surroundings and see the joy in people's faces. 

2. Public transportation

The public transportation in NYC was my favorite. Having multiple forms of transportation makes life so easy for New Yorkers and I see why it's continuing to be the 'it' city of this nation. When I complained about the public transportation in Jacksonville, to some, I did not make any sense, but to those who've lived in other major cities always agree with me and said how transportation is better in metropolitan cities like New York. I believe having a good public transportation system is one of the causes for a city to develop, for more people to move to a city, and for businesses to increase.

3. Old building

I met someone for a short planned meeting and she asked me what I liked about New York city. I thought she would think I am crazy when I told her I loved looking at the old buildings, but much to my surprise, that's what a lot of people like too, including her. The old buildings reminded me of Zanzibar. I felt as though I lived in the 1880's yet in 2020. I was impressed at how most of those building are well maintained. New York city has a vintage yet modern feel to it, that's something to fall madly in love with. Unfortunately, not all the old buildings had Zanzibar doors styles, which means Zanzibar will forever remain the most beautiful island in Africa..

4. The United Nations

I found out about the UN visitor tour on Friday and I told myself, I would feel so bad if I left the city without visiting the famous UN head quarters. I paid for the tour online and off I went. Being inside that building made me want to apply for a job at the spot. Everything about United Nations is amazing. The staff, what UN is about, the goals, just everything. The tour was for about an hour, we got to visit the 4 branches of the United Nations, and hear a brief history of the UN and it's ongoing projects across the world.

5. People

The amount of people moving around in New York city is beyond what I had imaged before I went there. While sitting in a metro I asked myself how many people I had seen in a matter of few hours? I wanted to count those in the metro with me but I gave up. Sad to say, just because there are plenty of people around, it did not mean people didn't sit by themselves, or look lonely. I expected NYC to be a busy city with a culture where people talk to each other - strangers or not, but it wasn't the case. However, I met wonderful people who helped me out when I had questions about the metro and the stops I needed to make. 

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??! 

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. 

What I learned about traveling from my friend

I heard about the Ethiopian flight at Church on Sunday and of course I felt for the those that lost their loved ones, when I got back home around 2 p.m. I remembered Kaka told me he was in Addis Ababa headed to Nairobi. When that memory kicked in I shouted so loud that my sister got scared. I took my phone so fast to look at my chat with Kaka just to make sure he wasn’t on that flight (because we texted a day before the plane crash). I felt a huge relief when I saw his text saying he’ll be leaving Addis on Monday. I can only imagine how those that actually lost their loved ones felt, my condolences to them all. 

As Kaka will be heading to Nairobi, Arusha, Dar and Zanzibar, I wish I was there with him. Our Tanzania adventure holidays involved saving money by staying in non -luxurious hotels (we would search for budget hotels in Tanzania way in advance) and make sure the rest of the cash was used on exploring, enjoy the touristic experiences and eating well. Our travel around TZ taught me a lot of saving skills as a tourist, if I must admit. 

As a tourist one thing to keep an eye on is making sure you eat well yet inexpensive (because you would not want to get sick, nor would you want to go broke half trip). Have enough cash for transportation but also, use the most affordable means of transportation available to you (this way you get the authentic experience of the locals). It's easy to save on accommodation in Tanzania, all you have to do is search for places on online, but also make local friends and find out where they would stay if they were not originally from that specific town. But make sure to keep security as your number one priority regardless of your skin color or nationality, thieves are thieves and anyone is target including the locals.

Enjoy you stay in TZ kaka.

Bisous.

Home is where the heart is

Hey y'all,

One thing that I miss being away from home is the girls get together days and girls getaways. For the most part, life in Tanzania is very calm and relaxed and offers a lot of opportunities for random get together/getaways. However, with the usual life challenges, eg, health, family needs, education, work load, etc, the word RANDOM may be too far fetched. But for the most part you can easily plan a small get together with your girls and make it work. I miss that!! Sob Sob.

Kiki, Irene, Moi

Memory lane to our Tanzania Holidays, my sister and I made plans to be back in Tanzania during summer in 2010 and we made the most out of it (to the best of my memory). In Dar es Salaam, Mbezi with my ladies (photo credit - Nunu).

En route to visit Zanzibar  destination honeymoon part 2. (Photo credit - Jose aka Kaka)

Someone suggested we should visit Ngorongoro as part 1 of the honeymoon package. It was a fun safari until my phone got stolen on our way back home. What I liked about Ngorongoro is that we were able to make a day trip. That saved us a lot of cash, compared to having to stay in a hotel. Arusha will forever remain my favorite city in Tanzania followed by Dar es Salaam.

 BTW I took these pictures in Ngorongoro, the one with the Zebras is canvas ready yo!

Meet N Mingle August 18th

See you next Saturday at the @wateringhole_patio for our funfilled speed networking event. To book your spot in advance or get more info about the event call 0752487449 or 0655368988. Cover charge - 5,000! Save the date and don't miss the fun.

Meet n Mingle February 17th 2018

Guess what, Meet n Mingle is back!! 2018 February 17th  - Save the date.

Meet n' Mingle is a social networking event done in a speed dating format. WHY speed dating you would ask, well, how many social events have you gone to with hopes of meeting someone new and you would eventually leave the event without making new connections? Speed dating for social networking purposes is the best way to have an eventful night, purposes such as making new friends, finding potential business clients, promoting your business or ideas, finding love, or just having a night out. Men and Women ages 20 years old to 50 years old are invited to this fun filled event. You can reserve your seat now by paying 5,000 Tanzanian shillings to M-pesa 0752 487 449 or Tigo Pesa 0655 368 988. 

See you there!!

Another long weekend

The best thing about the month of April is the Easter holiday. This weekend is just the best. I mean, we get enough time to go to church, enough time to sleep, enough time to spend enjoying quality time with family and friends...what more can we ask for?

Have a lovely Easter weekend, be good this weekend and let your deeds reflect God's love for you that He sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for you and give you a chance to have an everlasting life in heaven.

My weekend so far...morning at the beach with my childhood best friend Erica (check out her blog at
http://mpenzy.blogg.se)

Cheers.

Meet & Mingle April 8th Saturday

 

How it went down, a.k.a photo booth shenanigans. oh by the way, it did not rain. yay. God is good.