The Dalla Dalla in Dar es Salaam

Hey Peeps,

Thank you all for your kind and encouraging words. I am sooo blessed to have all of you in my life. The last couple of days have been pretty good for me. Though it is taking some getting used to, I am adjusting.

The Dalla Dalla:
On Wednesday morning, Gaudy and I took a bus ride to Dar es Salaam so that we could be closer to Iringa. We decided to wait until Thursday so that we could ride on a safer bus line... Thanks for your prayers because we arrived to Dar es Salaam safely and all put together :o) When we got to our hotel, we prayed and just asked the Lord to protect us and our things. I was"itching" to walk around so we left the hotel room to go into town. Now, for those of you that think I am referring to the bus system in America... think again... We caught a ride on a "dalla dalla" and boy was it quite the experience. The concept here is that a "dalla dalla" is never full.

We jumped on and it was already full according to American standards... So we were pretty smushed for lack of better word. I knew that it would be this way so I wasn't uptight about it... It was the ride back to our hotel that threw me for a loop.... :o) After walking through town and going to the ocean, we waited about 20 minutes to catch a dalla back to our hotel room. Wehn we finally saw one, we jumped on the dalla and squeezed our way in. It was even tighter than the first one that we rode on. Gaudy was standing about two people away from me and we were both haunched over the front seat. Yes, it was uncomfortable. There was a man right behind me... so I kept trying to push my backside to right of him so that I wouldn't be right up on him... :o/ He didn't seem to care either way but I was feeling a bit uncomfortable by this point. One of the other men on the bus motioned for me to stand up straight. I didn't realize that I could but I found away... I told him thank you in Swahili which is Asante (ah suhn tay)... I had finally gotten used to the idea of standing there so close to men that I didn't know until the dalla pulled over to let more people on... About three people jumped on and I had to transition to one foot... Mind you, we are in traffic.... We were on this dalla for about an 1hr 1/2... So... the rest of the time I just jumped from one foot to the other when one leg got tired... Though I was uncomfortable, I knew that it was apart of Tanzanian life so I was able to bear/bare (I can't remember which one is the correct way to say it) it.... Though I was dirty and smelly by the end of the trip, I realized that it wasn't so bad... We arrived back in one piece and I got the chance to experience a small percentage of life as a Tanzanian... It was alright :o)

When we got back to the hotel, we went to eat and then we took some time to dance and worship the Lord. I taught Gaudy a dance that goes to the song "Beyond the veil." It was great!! God is sooo good y'all...so good.... She taught me the song, "You are Alpha and Omega" in Swahili and we sang it together, just worshipping the Lord. It is amazing how the Lord can take two people from two sides of the world and bring them together to glorify Him. It is great...