December is not my month. Call it holiday blues, call it winter depression, call it whatever you like but December just really is not my month. All I want to do is fast-forward the year to its inevitable conclusion and start fresh. January is better. Maybe it is the illusion of the blank slate, maybe it is the slow lengthening of the days but January inspires me to look forward rather than backward. Before me now is a new adventure: two weeks of field work in Tanzania. Over the next 14 days I will be working both in Dar es Salaam and in the Northern parts of the country.
I have been to Dar before—less than half a year ago—so naturally my arrival here has had a slight déjà-vu feel to it: the prerogative of the returning traveller. I am even staying at the same hotel I did last time and recognise some of the faces of people working here. The temperature is equally familiar. So near to the equator defining seasons as "winter" or "summer" is pointless. Strictly speaking I have moved from the European winter to an African summer but I can't really tell the difference with my last visit here when the situation was reversed. It was hot then as it is hot now.
After a productive first working day, I fall back into a routine I established during my previous visit and wash away the city dust in the hotel pool. After weeks of darkness and inactivity, I feel reinvigorated by the light and excitement. The new year is off to a good start.
No comments:
Post a Comment