Next Adventure, Help?

After coming home from Tanzania, I went straight back to university for my last couple of months of stress! The end of second year was hectic and whilst doing the last few assignments I was also trying to find a place for my boyfriend and I to move into in a matter of weeks, even more stress! But once everything was sorted I could finally breathe a sigh of relief and say I've got four whole months off University. I can hear you all saying this would be the perfect opportunity to go travelling, not this time. 

Having decided to move in with my boyfriend, everything this summer is revolving around our new home and getting it all furnished and just so, which is amazing and I wouldn't of changed a thing, it was the right step for us to do and it's just a different kind of adventure. But that doesn't stop me from seeing some of my friends that our currently travelling the world, i'll always have the travel bug and I look endlessly at different destinations on Pinterest. (Who doesn't) Whilst hoping to learn to drive this year too I also want to have a little get a way somewhere in the UK but that'll be for a blog post around winter, my favourite time of year. So anyway what I was getting onto, my sister has just moved her entire life including her puppy to New Zealand to live their with her boyfriend, which gives me a great reason to go and visit that beautiful country, but with still being at Uni and not knowing what job I may get at the end of it, I am at the moment only planning to go in Dec/Jan 2017/2018, which feels so far off but it will give us time to save and hopefully work it around our jobs. We are planning to go for a month but on the way we would love to stop off in Japan, this stop off would only be for four or five days. So this is where I am asking for help, People of New Zealand and Japan, or those who have travelled there what would you recommend doing? I open to all suggestions, I already have some in my head so I know they are a must if they are suggested. 

Travelling Home.

We had quite the wait at Kilimanjaro airport, it's a strange set up, you only got through security once your gate is open. There was one security conveyor belt too which would be unheard of back home.  Once we were through security we found out our plane was delayed, we knew we only had about an hour lay over in Doha airport and its a massive airport so we were slightly worried about getting that one on time. Once on the plane we were settled and had decided on the films we were going to watch, we had lucked out again and had no one next to us until, half way through the flight a guy decided to change seats and sat next to me, I don't get why when all he did was sleep with a blanket over his head, he wouldn't even move out the way for me to go to the toilet. Finally arrived at Doha airport we rushed to out gate which was about a 15 minute walk and we were walking fast! We were trying to multitask by connecting to the wifi to let family know how we were. So very out of breath we reached the gate to find out that flight is also delayed. We weren't too bothered this time because at least we had internet. 

This flight didn't have TV's but we wanted to sleep so didn't mind, we were on the front row so had a nice extra leg room. I managed to sleep for about 3 hours but was disturbed sleep. Soon we were approaching Manchester and I have never been so happy to see the rainy, miserable city more in my life! When we landed I was bombarded with messages off my mum of baked goods and homemade pie she had been making for my return. As we got off the plane and walked through the bridge, I saw a familiar face, my dad was there to greet me, it was so nice to see him, walking at the airport has his perks! A worry of myself and Rachel's was that we wouldn't have our luggage! But it was there, we had no problems and headed out to be given a cuppa by Rachel's mum and a huge hug of John! I was so happy to be home, but couldn't help but feel guilty, I was back to reality, where I have a loving family, boyfriend, amazing friends, constant electricity, hot water and a brilliant education. I would have loved to bring every single children from the orphanage home with me and give them a care free, trouble free life. 

Our Last Day

It was quite a surreal feeling when we woke up on Tuesday morning, everything was now the last time, last breakfast, last walk to the center, last time we see the children. It was starting to feel real that we were going home. When we woke up it was again lashing rain, we had got ready and eaten, but now we had to wait for the rain to stop so it was safe to walk up to the center. Eventually it stopped and we headed up to the center, it was a slow walk up because we were trying to be so careful so we didn't fall. Seeing the children for the last time was so sad. What made it worse was because it was the easter holidays some of the children go back to relatives for the break, we didn't know who was going and when they were going so each day for the past three or four days we would turn up to the center with children having gone home, and we hadn't been able to say goodbye. I know its wrong to have favourites but it's bound to happen and as long as you don't give special treatment to individuals what harm does it do. So the day my little boy wasn't there when we went up to see the children I was heartbroken, I would have brought Elihuruma without any thought, he was the cheekiest, funniest little boy with a smile and eyes that melt your heart. The children gave us some many notes to take with us, and got ordered not open them until we got on the plane. I even got on note for my family off Brenda which was the sweetest little message. The children sang for us and we gave out sweets or 'pee pee' is what they say. Walking towards the gates was a sad moment I may never see those children again. Then as soon as I stepped out the gate I slipped and nearly did the splits. Within a few meters I slipped again luckily just about stopped my self from falling onto my bum. Walking down the hill was hilarious, we were being so cautious! Luckily there were no more falls was grateful to be back at the house, we washed up, locked our suitcases and had lunch for the last time here, then we were getting a lift to the airport from David. Sadly we didn't get to say goodbye which was really sad we had such a good relationship with him and he wanted us to give him our contact details but didn't get the chance. Little David started to cry when we were leaving so he ended up coming to the airport with us. It was quite a long journey to the airport but knowing we were heading home made it go quite fast.

Still No Power.

With us heading home the next day we needed to get a few last bits from town, Deo took us into town, so we could get last minute presents. Then we needed to go to a internet cafe to check in to our flight and print out our boarding passes. With no power still at the house this would have been impossible. Deo dropped us off at the internet cafe, and asked if it would be alright for use to make our way back to the house, we were fine with this, having taken the Dala a few days back I felt I knew what I was doing. So after printing everything out, having a quick check of Facebook and checking in with my family and John we were done. We headed to what we would call a bus shelter and waited, we agreed we wanted to get in a slightly empty looking one, Dala Dala's are known for theft on them and being white your an easier target. After a good half an hour waiting we finally got in one that was virtually empty. It's only about a ten minute journey to the road that leads down to the house. We decided that we would head to the center and see the children before going back to the house, as we were walking to the center we saw a power line being repaired (about time) when we got to the center the children were all shouting the power is back on so can we bake and watch a film. It was way to late now, and we obviously didn't have the film things with us. We were also disappointed that we didn't get to bake with them but you can't plan for no electricity. The children had asked before when we were leaving and we were always honest with them, one child asked today, we said we leave tomorrow, we are coming to see you in the morning then we are going to the airport. They were all shocked, and wanted to know if we had any paper, we didn't have anything on us at all having come from town, so I said I'd bring some tomorrow morning, I knew it was for them to write notes for us to take with us. So after an evening of packing up and making sure we had everything, it was time for our last nights sleep in Tanzania. 

No Electricity.

With it being the weekend, we had organised to bake with the children and watch a film, we had all the ingredients bought. We were there thinking we were all organised, but we couldn't of predicted that were going to be out of power for two nearly three days! So when we went up to the center on Sunday, all the children wanted to bake and they were asking what film we were going to watch, with the only electricity they use are light bulbs they hadn't realised there was no power, so we had to break the news to them, they didn't believe us at first they ran to one of the classrooms and tried the light bulb, when it didn't work straight away they said as soon as it comes back on can we bake and watch a film, we said yes as long as it came on early enough for us to fit it in. As the message got passed around the children they all started asking if they could bake yet, there was still no sign of power. By the time we went to bed there was still no sign of power. 

Poorly In Tanzania

Today we had planned to go to Moshi, which was a town near to Kilimanjaro, there were some beautiful hot springs that Deo had told us about and he wanted to show us around Moshi too because that was the town he grew up in. I had been poorly for a few days,I had been sick the day before and suffered from an upset stomach for a few days too, when it got to Friday I thought that I must be better by now, but I was very much mistaken, I had a tiny bit of dry toast at breakfast and straightaway headed to the bathroom, there was no way I could go on a 2 hour car journey like this so I stayed at the house. I was telling Deo that I wouldn't be able to come with them I said i'm poorly, which is very close to Pole in swahili which means sorry, so he thought I was saying i'm sorry but really i was saying I was sick, this was cleared up later and we taught him some other words such a chippy, cuppa, gutted. 

I stayed in bed, reading most the day, because I had decided I wasn't going to eat anything to give my body a chance to recover, later on when everyone was back, I told David I wasn't well, he then told Mama, who straight away came to see what was up, she then sent one of the boys to go get me some lucozade, which was a big help. I woke up the next morning feeling much better, No food and lucozade did the trick. If I hadn't have been better the next morning they were going to take me to the hospital, which worried me, that fear might have made me better haha. 

Rain, Rain and More Rain.

After being awoken during the night by the heavy rain, it was still pouring when we got up, now i'm used to rain living in England, but this was on a whole new level. Apparently the people in Tanzania do not cope well with the rain and everything basically comes to a standstill, when we arrived at the center we were greeted with all the children under shelter, we asked why they weren't in class they explained that school was cancelled because of the rain, but all the teachers were already there so I didn't get why classes were cancelled. Today was also the day that three volunteers were leaving, it was going to be strange we were a group of seven down to four. Linda and Anna two that were leaving were so lovely, they had been coming to the center for quite a few years so they new the children really well so all the children were so sad that they were leaving. When we started goodbyes, the children were starting to sing and say their goodbyes, everyone got so emotional, seeing the children get upset made me get upset, it was such a shame to see them leave, when we first arrived, Linda and Anna were the most helpful and caring people, it was just what we needed when we first got there.