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Christmas Day in Arusha…..it may as well have been just another day apart from some tacky decorations that had been put up by one of the local staff. I sat around for the morning mindlessly watching the cricket on TV, until it was time to go and meet the passengers at Snake Park.
I had convinced Dave to do Christmas dinner there to avoid a repeat of the noise at Masai camp. The owners also cook Christmas dinner free of charge, so nothing really for me to do either. We arrived at Snake Park about two hours before the passengers arrived and I actually got a bit pissy drinking at the bar. The bar is covered in memorabilia, including photos of old overland crew and shirts signed by all the passengers who had been there. No matter how hard I looked I couldn't find ours from 2010 or any trace that I had ever been here.
The other truck arrived and I pitched a tent, still faster than the passengers even though the light was bad and I was half pissed. My passengers arrived back having had (thankfully) a wonderful time in the Serengeti. I had a few drinks with them and explained what the game plan was. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner of roast pork and chicken at 7pm, I hung out at the bar for a bit and then went to bed. I wasn't really that tired, but I missed my family and friends and didn't feel like socializing. I had a rather restless nights sleep, if I slept at all….my mind now wandering, thinking of a way to get home for a visit.
Boxing Day morning, I woke up, I took down my tent and helped, Natasja the other tour leader with breakfast. I cleared up all our stuff and packed up the truck. I went and paid the camping bill and bought myself some water and then headed off into town so the passengers could visit the shopping centre and change money. Dave then picked us up and dropped the two people finishing at the Impala hotel to wait for their shuttle and then drove us back to headquarters.
Once there I sat around for a bit, on Facebook mostly, being yelled at by my brother for not being home and helping with Mum and Dad, and for being on "holidays, having fun" and not caring. Before being told to mop out the toilet which had leaked all over the floor in the bathroom (totally not part of my job) I actually looked at Dave, like you're kidding right? The putrid water in the toilet was almost ankle deep and it took me about an hour to muck it out, I thought to myself, I have a Masters degree and I'm being paid an absolute pittance to muck out an African toilet on Boxing Day…..right then and there, I think that, was the worst moment of my life.
I woke up early the next day and looked at my email straight away, hoping for an answer from Mum and Dad, regarding my plea to help me get home. I got the next best thing, an email from my boss, telling me the exact dates of my first (and now last) big safari with Absolute Africa.
f*** it, these guys are taking the piss. I've had it with them just expecting me to know everything, not giving me any information, having to get bus trips that last for three days on the dangerous African bus system, having to smuggle large amounts of cash over one of the most dangerous and frustrating borders in the world (South Africa/Zimbabwe)…actually to tell you the truth it was the fact that my boss, who is unfortunately in Arusha at the moment, had me mucking out a leaking toilet on Boxing Day that did it. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Actually afraid of doing some real work? I hear you say. Well yes. You're right. But then again, I'm sure you wouldn't put up with what I've put up with for the money I get paid. One hundred British pounds a week, would you muck out an African toilet for that, or smuggle $2500 USD over the Bait Bridge border at 5am? No, I didn't think so. Tour Leaders do this job and put up with the pittance we get paid, because it's a fun job. If it's no fun, there's no point. We may as well be stuck in a corporate office making s*** loads of money, at least there if you hate your job, you get paid well for it. Hating your job and not getting paid well for it….well that's what we call stupidity.
I was actually working on my itinerary for my next tour, when my idiot boss knocked on my door and demanded I get up…obviously thinking I was still in bed. I got up and got a lecture (the cheek) and then went out to work on yet another truck that I wouldn't be taking anywhere This one is a real s*** box of a thing, so I'm glad I'm not taking it anywhere. I managed to speak to Mum and Dad in between doing some paperwork and fixing up the truck, who agreed to put up the fare home from London until I get there and I can pay them back in cash. What a morale boost! Knowing that the end is in sight. I have also accepted the job with Med Experience so I have return ticket to London, so come May I will be back out there, having fun sailing the Mediterranean and getting paid for it. Double actually, what I'm being paid for this s***e.
I spent most of the day doing that and ended up going to the shopping centre as there is never any food around in this place. We usually manage to get breakfast and dinner (which they are supposed to give us if we are stuck here) but never lunch and well, I'm really sick of being hungry.
I got back and did some paperwork, before sitting down and reading a book I had bought, I spent the rest of the evening doing that before having yet another cold shower, because the boss is too cheap to allow the hot water heater to continually be turned on. April can't come quickly enough, I can't wait to see my family and have some drinks with my friends, especially Tim and Aaron.
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Mum Not the best Christmas.