Film, Football and Computer Games

So I finally got access to the internet today. A welcome relief but I am still unsure as to how much exactly it costs to go online. The family own a dongle and volunteers are allowed to use it to connect to the net. It requires you to buy a top up card much like pay as you go phones. A glaring contrast to the UK where I have a perpetually connected broadband connection with no download limit and Wi-Fi. Today I spent the morning heading to Shoprite, the local, more Westernised supermarket in order to buy soap for my bathroom. The afternoon was spent with my new found internet connection catching up on the latest Premier League action as I caught the Arsenal match on Saturday and the first half of Chelsea but there is no way to check the scores once I left the bar.

Speaking of Saturday's football, I was invited to watch it with Projects Abroad's staff, which included three Arsenal fans and a Liverpool fan. We headed via dala dala (a local minibus which apparently is exempt from what little road safety laws exist in Tanzania) to a bar on the outskirts of town. As the match started I was able to try my first Tanzanian beer called Kilimanjaro, which was crisp and refreshing if a little plain. The match itself was a tense affair, and I apologise to anybody who doesn't like football for the next paragraph or so, with Arsenal looking like they weren't that much interested in getting anything more than a draw. When Liverpool took the lead, I feared the worst but when we equalised, and Liverpool proceeded to miss more chances than humanly possible with only eleven men on the pitch, I did start to believe, especially after Suarez's nausia inducing dive to win a penalty from which Arsenal's man-of-the-match Szczesny produced a wonderful double save. Sure enough Robin Van Persie finished excellently from Alex Song's pin point pass. The bar erupted, partly because Arsenal are one of the bigger teams in Tanzania but also because Tanzanians support the club of their choosing and any African player. The three largest clubs are Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal but I was told an anecdote of how, even though many Tanzanians were supporting Arsenal in the North London Derby a last week, they cheered when Adebayor scored his penalty simply because he is African.

Football haters can read again now. In England football (there is a wider point I promise) on a Saturday dictates the day. You get up in time to make last minute changes to your fantasy football team before the 11:30am deadline, Football Focus at 12, early kick off at 12:45pm, 3pm kick offs, evening match at 5. However, in Tanzania the early kick off was at 3:45pm and Chelsea's 3pm kick off followed after. The sheer familiarity of being in a pub watching football on a Saturday immediately threw me back to the UK and half way during Chelsea's match, I started mentally cursing the broadcaster for not giving a list of the 3pm results. It was a shock when I realised that the game was a 3pm kick off and all the other games were being played at the same time. It was something that could have brought on a sense of homesickness but it didn't. It is, I think, a clear sign of how welcome I have felt in Tanzania.

At half time during the Chelsea match I decided to take my leave and hop on a dala dala home. It was getting dark quickly and I got off a junction before I was supposed to. Not being too familiar with my surroundings the dirt road I walked up looked fairly similar to the one I lived on but on further exploration I soon realised my mistake. Not wanting to wait for another dala dala I decided to risk it and take a lift on one of the many, many motorcycle taxis back to my road. It was the first time I'd ever been on a motorcycle and just made me want to get one even more! Although it was a little scary. Walking up a dark, muddy road lit only by the makeshift shops on either side and car lights surrounded by Tanzanians is an experience I will not forget easily. Not that I felt unsafe at all, though I suppose I had the same sort of apprehension that others do in England when the street lights go off at midnight.

Anyway, Sunday brought a trip to the supermarket and credit for my phone and credit for the internet. Quirine, the Dutch volunteer, and Glory headed off to swim while I marvelled at the download speeds via dongle in a poor third world country being faster than Rapidshare (the b*****ds). When they got back, I was in my room watching Community when Glory came and lay beside my on the bed. Now Community isn't really an inappropriate show but the scene at which she sat down to watch was the darkest timeline in 'Remedial Chaos Theory'. Thinking through the episodes, the only one that would be vaguely interesting to a child would probably be 'Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas' so I flicked to that and chatted to Quirine while Glory watched, seemingly happy. Twenty minutes later she had finished watching and was perusing my very limited selection of games. Which means the Microsoft ones and a demo of Chicken Invaders 2. Not to be put off, she tried most of the games on my laptop before moving onto my HTC, where I discovered that Angry Birds has a truly universal appeal. Now I do wonder why on Earth I didn't put more movies on my laptop that she could have watched. It would be fun, something we could do together and could possibly help her with her English. Titles such as Tangled, Toy Story, Aladdin, and How to Train Your Dragon spring to mind immediately as films both she and I would enjoy watching. A real facepalm moment if ever I had one. Alas.