pro's and con's

A new Danish-British friend was asking me last night what I would miss about Dar, and I said:

the view from my terrace
samosas from A Tea Room
being near the sea
the possibility of doing work here that I can't do anywhere else
being able to be outside at night [we were laying on the warm cement in the courtyard she shares with a bunch of expats]

She then asked what I would not miss about Dar, and I said:

ANTS
the general lack of security/predictability in knowing what to expect
how things take forever sometimes
not having my kitchen stuff


I add to this, today...

Miss:

the incense on the 7th floor of my building, and the cooking smells on the 4-6th floors
incense generally
the pastel 1950s-era buildings downtown*
walking around the part of the city that's mine
the nice people in my market

Will not miss:

really awful trash smells, especially trash involving fish
"Hey! Mchumba! Baby! Mzungu! Hello!"
haggling over taxi fares
not being able to be outside at night [unless in a taxi or someone's home or a restaurant]

I'm sure there will be more. But perhaps the nicest thing, somehow, is knowing that I will have work here, and I can come back.

*just to document my shock, my suspicions that a lovely building, called Bagamoyo House, was being razed today were confirmed. Dar is changing overnight, but this is one that I remember liking two years ago, and it is a goner. Knowing what it looked like, but seeing the name and date already knocked off today was something I don't quite know how to describe.