Tamari Ava's blog

Kilimanjaro Marathon 2011

2011-02-28T01:05:00.000-08:00

Hi again!
Today I will tell you about the adventure I had yesterday! My whole family went to the Marathon that happened in Moshi. Plus my friend Tony and his family. : ) Tony and I did the 5km FunRun. In case we got tired we brought our Moms along with the buggies. Good plan! Tony's Baba did the Half Marathon, wow! And guess what my Baba did? You will see later!

We had to get up sooooo early, because our race started at 7.15 in the morning! That is us at the starting line.

Mama Tony is giving us the last instructions. There were TV-cameras as well and they kept filming us. We are just toooo cute, I guess. ; )

Right, we do look a little tired still, but there was so much to see and so many people around us!

This is us at the finish! We made it! And we were running quite some bit ourselves! No fotos from the race, sorry. Mama didn't have her hands free, as the streets were not really blocked and she had to watch out for cars all the time. But there may come some more pictures from other people later.

Now we are walking towards the big finish, to see Baba Tony coming. There was even a dog who ran the full marathon! We loved that! And see all these people in the stadium!

Then I wanted to see my own Baba. So, what do you think he was doing there? Half marathon, full marathon, or................................................................................................

Patient marathon!!!! This must have been the hardest of all! Pole Baba! Once a doctor, always a doctor.

So much for my Sunday! Finally there was some excitement in Moshi! Yeyh! Hope you are having fun too and I will see all of you soon! Kindergarten is going well and I got rid of the nappies! My parents are very proud of me and I like it too. Bye bye diapers!

Lots of love from Tamari

Kindergarten "Little Clementines"

2010-12-07T23:25:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone!

It took me some time, but here I am again! I am very busy now with going to Kindergarten and still playing in the afternoon and helping Mama around the house.

My Kindergarten is called "Little Clementines" and I LOVE going there! It took only a few days in the beginning to get used to let Mama go. After just a few more days I insisted on having lunch there and going home by the shuttle-bus. They need me there! I can't just go home early and be picked up by Mama like a baby! No way!

We are playing a lot and sing and dance. We have a playground outside with a trampoline and we do walks all the time. Our teachers are great! They are called Teacher Lillian and Teacher Fatuma and they are sooo busy with us lot! They try to teach us numbers and shapes and we sing ABC.

At home, I am really trying to teach everyone ABC as well, but it is hard work! I am sitting Baba and Mama and Neema down, bribing them with stickers. They will get it some day!

With my friends from Kindergarten we even do monthly trips to farms and environmental projects. We watch movies sometimes and on Mondays we have music lessons with a german teacher!

Watch me coming home by bus!

And last Saturday, we performed at the Moshi Christmas market! All kids were reindeers and we danced to the song "Rudolph the rednosed reindeer". We did so well! Everybody cheered and clapped. Then Santa himself came and we all got sweets and a gift! Can you imagine!

We had so much fun!

Now the holidays start soon and I can't wait to go back to school in January!

Have a wonderful christmas season all of you and a happy and healthy new year!

Love you lots!

XXX, Tamari

P.S.: Guess who I finally met! My little cousin (or brother as they say here) Konta!

Time is flying!

2010-08-09T04:28:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Tomorrow is going to be my first real day in kindergarten! Can you believe it!!!

Pictures soon to follow!

For now I send you some pictures of my life in Moshi, with Bibi, Babu and Baba mdogo visiting, playground-fun and party-fun. I can sing "Happy birthday" now, I have a lot of practise!

I can count in Swahili, German and English. I love to sing "Twinkle twinkle little Star"!

My Mama uses me as a dicitionary. If she forgets a word in Swahili, she just has to ask me "what does Baba say for this" and I tell her. She gets so excited about it! Why??? How can I not be smart, coming from the Steingrube and Kilonzo clans???

Take care! Sending you lots of love!

Tamari

Moshi and my friends

2010-06-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!
I am so busy playing, but have to show you the fun I have with my friend Daniel
and everybody else! We went to a birthday bash with a bouncy castle and at home I did some art
with Mama! Enjoy!
Love, Tamari

Tamari and Nina on Safari

2010-05-06T07:46:00.000-07:00

Today my friend Nina had a great surprise for me! We went to Arusha together to a lodge where you can have juice and see real animals! We ran with the zebras and had loads of fun!
But see for yourselves! And check out the funny ostrich, that kept looking into the window of one of the bandas! I loved it!

Happy 2. birthday Tamari! (30.03.2010)

2010-04-29T00:41:00.000-07:00

Just some days after returning from 2 literally cool months in Germany with Julia, Omama and Opapa, I celebrated my second birthday! It started with Mama and Baba giving me this amazing princess tent for my room. All my friends love it and by now I have practically moved in .

Baba went off to work and Mama and me decorated the house haraka sana. I got 2 cakes to share with my friends. We had loads of balloons and so much fun. My whole playgroup came to celebrate with me.

Blowing out the candles!

Happy people!

Here you can see me proudly climbing on my new bike! Omama and Opa sent it with us all the way to Moshi! And to keep me safe, Julia gave me this beautiful helmet that even has backlights!

Now let me go and start enjoying my third year of life! All my friends are back in Moshi and I am busy playing every day. Karibuni sana Moshi! We are always happy to have visitors!

Winterwonderland!

2010-01-30T08:06:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
Just arrived in Hameln, bought a snowsuit and boots and off I go in the snow!
Very cold, but fun!
According to my Mama I am suffering from a heavy case of "Opamania".
But see for yourselves!

Kiss, Tamari

Christmas in Moshi and Suji

2009-12-30T04:11:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! How was your christmas? Me and my parents had wonderful days in Moshi and Suji. Santa gave me lots of cool stuff and I am busy playing with it now. Up here you see me unwrapping gifts with my Baba.

On the 25th we climbed in our car and drove to Suji, which is in the Pare Mountains, 3 hours drive from Moshi. I did well on the trip, reading my books and sleeping and just occasionally asking for Mama and her milk. ; )
Look at those mountains! Here we are already way up and heading towards the clouds. The "road" was so bumpy, it just sent me off to sleep.
Now we arrived and I met some other kids to play with. Obviously we are all related and I felt like a real Mpare in my homeland. Waiting for my Bibi and Babu.

Where are they???

Later that evening we finally met them and went home to their house. It had been raining a lot and the way through the village was very muddy and we were just skating along in the car. I was asleep anyway, but my Mama got quite scared I was told.

Here you see me with my brother/cousin/??? hanging out in the livingroom. We had a blast playing and I shared all my uncles foods. The poor aunties only got a "NOOO!" though, every time they wanted to play with me or carry me. Only Bibi was allowed to talk to me and she even got a kiss!
Here she is with Baba and me on the morning of the 27th. We sadly have to leave again.

Bye mountains! Bye Bibi, bye Babu, bye everybody! Above you can see the road we used 2 days ago. Now a big piece is missing after all the rain. Scary!
Hope you enjoyed the pictures! See you in 2010!

Love,
Tamari

Merry Xmas TO YOU!

2009-12-21T04:17:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a very merry xmas today and a "nice glide" (as they say in Germany) into a happy and healthy 2010.
I listen yo Xmas songs every day now and I love to sing "To you". Neema likes it too, so we put the CDplayer on repeat and drive poor Mama nuts!
Love you all!

XXX,
Tamari

Time is flying!

2009-12-06T23:35:00.000-08:00

Long time no see... Moshi is getting better and better with all of my friends, Santa Claus coming and a new Cafe with playground! Yes! Besides I had to do the household (see above) because Neema, our housegirl, went on vacation and got stuck in the tanzanian countryside. Help! We had to manage 5 weeks without her and frankly, my Mama just seriously needed my help!

To relax in between, we went to Playgroup at my friend Sahil's house and cooled down in the pool. Boy, we had some fun!

Okay, back to work... here you can see me cleaning the lounge.

Here I am having fun scrubbing the sink in the bathroom. If you splash enough, the floor is done as well. No idea why my Mama didn't like my approach to cleaning.

And now, watch this! Here I am, getting my hair cut again! Last time (January 2009), my Omama did it on our front porch. This time, Omama was in Hameln, so we went to a lovely lady called Alice and got it done on her front porch. I wasn't completely convinced though...

What do you think???

I had to recover fast, because Mama's friend Manal from Germany came to visit. I showed her around Moshi and here we sit at the bar of the place where the Moshi Christmas Market took place. I met so many people I know and had a lot of fun. We sang for Santa Claus and had german waffles and Punsch.

How are you guys? I am fine and growing real fast! Just running around the place, climbing on tables, etc. I can say loads of words in German ( komm, schlafen, Kuh, Auto, bauen, malen, Ball, essen, Klo, Katze, ja, Schuhe, Baer, Saft, etc.), Swahili (kaa, lala, mkubwa, mtoto, mbwa, Bibi, Babu, sitaki, mkate, embe, ndizi, etc.) and in English (nooooo!!!, bye, jump, juice, etc.).
Baba and Mama and me are having a great time and we can't wait to see all of you again! Enjoy the season!
Love, Tamari

Celebrating the Mamas!

2009-09-22T05:05:00.000-07:00

This cake was personally chosen by me! Okay, Baba helped a bit and drove me to the shop, but still... As you can see below, Mama was very happy about our gift! We had a fun day and I never even mentioned her age. ; )

One day later, my playgroup-friend Scarlett's Mama turned one year older, too and we went to celebrate with her at a real swahili tea-party! Dressed up and everything!
Mama and me went to my friend Nina's house first and her Mama gave me these beautiful flowers for my hair to match Nina's! I even left them in for a bit!

Here you can see Nina and me and the flowers! Aren't we beautiful???

Now we are already at the party. Extra table for us kids, how cool is that? We had a lot of fun without our parents bossing us around and listening in on our conversations... Brilliant!

Inbetween there was time to play! Look at the bike of my dreams! Nina liked it, too! How many months till christmas? Santa Clause, are you reading my blog??????

When it was getting dark, we sat down for a last bite of chocolate cake. Yummie! What a wonderful afternoon!

Some days later I got sick. That was awful. Vomiting, followed by diarrhoea and me not in a good mood at all! No chocolate cake then... But my parents were taking good care of me and today I am almost back in shape. Can't wait to play with my friends again!
Hope everybody is fine out there!

XOXO, Tamari

Life is a circus!

2009-09-07T03:38:00.000-07:00

I am back! Hope you are all well! I was terribly busy these last weeks, playing with my friends and getting organized with my new job. You will see that later. Now here you can see me working on this blog. It is hard to find some time, without my parents disturbing me though! Phew...
And they like ALWAYS want the computer! Surfing the web, watching a movie...hey, I have some serious business going on! Loads of people are waiting out there, to read another blog written by me!

Had to move to the living room to get some peace and quiet. And I didn't even have a chair!

Now I am relaxing a bit. Put the chair up there myself and feeling like a princess on her throne. Life can be good. ; )

Back at work! This is the job I was talking about. The guys from the Police College just wouldn't get it done. As you can see below the cows and goats and sheep were running all over our place all the time. I decided to step in and to help them out. No problem, I like animals.

Below you can see my toy animals. We just finished helping Mama to change all the sheets and are taking a break now. Nothing like a freshly made up bed!

And where did I get to go on Sunday afternoon???? To the Circus! Yes! "Mama Afrika" was in Moshi and Mama and Baba took me there! We had loads of fun! The picture below was taken after 2,5 hours of that fun, so Baba and I look a bit tired. The Circus had lots of artists and people juggling things and dancing and a really funny clown! He wanted to take Mama with him, but lucky her, I saved her! He took my friend Aiden's Baba instead and did some funny things with him and some other people. I stayed the full 2,5 hours without any problem! I mean, hey, I am already 17 months now!

We were not allowed to take pictures inside. Sorry for that, but it was a brilliant show!
Take care everybody!
Love,
Tamari

Uncle Isae's and Auntie Brid's wedding in Dar

2009-08-11T07:22:00.001-07:00

Here we go! On our first morning in Dar, Mama, Baba and me went to City Garden for breakfast.
I got to ride this lion, eat some toast and help with the cleaning. That last one is my favourite hobby, as you will see later again.

This was my uncle Noeli, Mr.Obama and me in Chamazi. We had a pre-wedding-lunch there and I was so happy to see Bibi and Babu and everyone! I especially liked all my uncles this time! We had fun and good food and in the evening I went back to town in my pajamas.

Next morning, still wearing my pajamas, I busied myself with cleaning Bibi Margaret's place a bit. Not that it was dirty, but my parents crumbled bread just everywhere!
We had a very nice time in your apartment, Bibi Margaret! Thank you so much for letting us stay there! We missed you so much!

Now we are getting there! This is me, doing some cool breakdance-moves on the dancefloor of the new Holiday Inn-Hotel-bar! Even me being underage, they let me in! All my uncles and Aunties and my parents and me had fun there, waiting for the reception to begin.

Here we are greeting bride and groom at the party! They are getting out of the car just now! That is my Auntie Pamela, Mama and me!

Now Uncle Semkae is introducing me to the dancers. Brilliant show later!

And here they are! Happy bride and groom! Hongera tena! I was happy to share your second big day !

The morning after...need I say more...

Lining up at the check-in desk. Going back to Moshi. What would my parents do without me??

Mama (very tired) and me (reading the emergency instructions) on the plane.
I do hope you liked my story. Now I am back home in Moshi, spending time with my friends and waiting for more adventures. Or visitors coming???????????????????????????????

Party girl

2009-08-02T03:11:00.001-07:00

Last week was pretty busy! As you can see, I cleaned my sandbox and am enjoying playing there now. With me are playing lots of ants and bugs and mosquitos and my Mama.
Baba sometimes comes to visit.

If it is cold and raining outside, I stay in the house and take care of my children Oliver and Ava.
I feed them and carry them around and give them rides in the little buggy.

Friday and Saturday, Mama and I went to celebrate some birthdays! First my very good friend Daniel turned 1 year old! You can see how I dressed up for that party! Thanks for the beautiful dress Auntie Brid! It will last me some months, I am sure!

There were some other kids, too and we played outside in the garden. Good thing I can walk now! Later someone made bubbles and let them fly for us and Daniel and me were lucky enough to be picked up and saved from the wild big children! Here you see Daniel with his Mama and me with Baba. We are all having loads of fun!

On Saturday, my friend Leon turned 2 years old. Wow! That was a huge party with lots of children and toys! And I was eating so many sausages! My Mama got scared I might get sick!
Later, some big girls carried me around and fed me chocolate cake. Yummie! See below!

Today is Sunday and I finally get to relax! I have to get my strenght up for next weekend and the big wedding party in Dar! Thinking of Bibi and Brid and Isae in Ireland! Hongera sana! Have a wonderful time and come back soon so we can celebrate together!

Big kiss to all from
Tamari xxx

Luggage

2009-07-24T00:25:00.001-07:00

Voila the promised picture. There we went...and as I was sitting on the check in-desk later, distracting the lady who was working there, we didn't have to pay any extra money! Now my parents really owe me...

Karibu Moshi!

2009-07-22T23:35:00.000-07:00

Boy, am I tired! After a long flight I am sitting in my room in Moshi (marked as can be seen below), looking at overflowing suitcases, waiting to be unpacked...
Our trip was fine. Minimal space, but I could sleep on the floor for a long time.
Was very happy though, to see my Baba at Kilimanjaro Airport, after having filled in a long form, to state that my Mama and I don't have Swine Flu. Help!

Will post a picture later, where you can see me with all our luggage at Hannover Airport in Germany. Luckily we had Omama and Opa to help us!!!

Taking a break in my new carseat. By now it is fixed in our car and I already took some rides. Was laughing so much, cause they installed some new speed-bumps, to make me jump. I LOVE those!!! My Mama doesn't...Pole!
Anyway, I am back home and of course I still knew my Baba and Neema and the house and all of my friends. I am very busy with play-dates right now, as they all missed me very much!
So I will be back soon with more pictures! Looking foreward to the trip to Dar and the wedding! It is COOOOOLD over here!!!

Bye bye Hameln!

2009-07-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

Final tasks done! After 98 days in Hameln (wow...unbelievable), I helped Opa with the heavy work outside (as seen above) and pointed out the dirty spots to both my grandparents (as seen below). With me gone, they will have to do the cleaning again. Pole sana.
Mama packed a mountain of things in 3 suitcases, no idea how she did that. I am sure she used some magic. I offered my help several times, but she insisted on doing it by herself. Her problem... Now tomorrow we will be off and you will hear from me again when I am home with my Baba. Can't wait to see him and show him what an awesome walker I am! ; )
All of you, take care please!
Love,
Tamari

La Fashionista shopping for groceries!

2009-07-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

What do girls like to do? Shopping! Yes! And what for? SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lucky me was taken all over Hameln with my parents' creditcard and my Omama's support and we ended up with awesome ; ) walking-support-devices. Not that I need any support...
But with these fashionable sandals, I am almost running around the place.
Have a look! And see how well prepared I am for climbing Mt.Kilimanjaro. At least that was what my Opa said, but Mama and Omama told me, that guys don't have a clue about shoes anyway.

That is me shopping for groceries. Nobody was available, so I put on my new driving-sandals and went with my own car. Well, it is a rented car, but anyway...

Ready to go home! Fasten your seatbelts please! Some hungry people are waiting for me!

These feet were made for walking!

2009-06-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Walking is the best thing ever! It gets you from here to there in just no time!
I am walking through the house, the garden and today I was even drinking water
while walking. Downhill is fun! I am going faster and faster and luckily I do have enough
people around to catch me.
It is becoming harder and harder though to make them do what I want.
Even my special scream is losing its grip. Hmm... Decided to practise my
best "oh Baba nakupenda sana sana, please do what I want"- look. ; )
Not much time left!
Sending you some more pictures to show you, what I am up to all day!
Love,
Tamari

Der Tag der Niedersachsen (Day of the LowerSaxons')

2009-06-20T04:47:00.000-07:00

Hey, today I had a blast! There was a big festival all over Hameln and I went there with my friend Linus and our Mamas. We got balloons and candy (that our Mamas ate...), watched dancing shows and firetrucks and ships on the river Weser. We loved the tractors most though and the bouncing-castle. There were soooooo many people! Now I am taking a nap but later I will go there again, too and have a look at police helicopters and rescue-dogs, etc.
I wish my Baba was here! And, hey, all you uncles would enjoy it, too!
Maybe we can have a "Day of the Pare" in Moshi. Mama explained to me, that I am Mpare AND LowerSaxon. How cool is that?!?!
But whatever you are, I love you guys!

Visiting Uromi (Greatgranny) Inge

2009-06-20T04:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got to go on a daytrip to the Lüneburger Heide.
That is a very beautiful landscape in the north of Germany.
And my grandaunt's mother in law (??????????????? okay, she is like my Mama's Granny)
lives there. I saw a lot of cows and beautiful houses and Uromi Inge was delighted to finally meet me. Of course! She is 81 years old and I was thinking of my Bibi Julia back in Dar!
I hope she is fine!
During a walk around town, I got tired and decided to continue by Taxi. Luckily nobody wanted to see my driver's licence...puh!

Here I am!

2009-06-17T01:58:00.000-07:00

Hello family and friends!
I have decided that it is time for my own blog.
Newsletters are for babies and I am a toddler now!
Things are great in Hameln. Only I do miss my Baba very much
but Mama and I will be home soon.
I still have 6 teeth, but they are really usefull for eating Salami! I love spicy one! And I like fish and potatoes and german bread and the cute little strawberries from Omama and Opa's garden. I can go outside all by myself and pluck some! So cool!
I love the playgrounds here a lot. The slides! Wowoo! And all the other kids you meet there. So much fun!
If I see a dog (and there are lots of dogs here!) I go "a aaa aaa". Sounds just like barking! No idea why Mama thinks it is funny.
Hoping you are all well!