Home sweet home?

The inevitability that diary (blog) writing comes last on the list is even more so with 3 children in tow. A little more bedtime supervision is required to remember things like not to use the tap water to brush teeth, if its yellow let it mellow, how to have a cold shower, tucking in mosquito nets (for the 5th time after we've remembered everything!).
Here we are a whole 24hrs into our stay in our new African home and I am finally making myself sit down to put some of my jumbled mind on 'paper'.
Our long long journey already feels a distant memory - still quite stunned that after 24hrs on planes, that first wall of heat, a first night trying to find essentials like torches in the darkness of a power cut, having to wake up and take malaria tablets again, that our children then continued on their stoical acceptance of 8hrs with 4 of us girls wedged into the back of a van (and yes daddy did get the front seat). Admittedly we had 1 hr of sobbing from the smallest person who woke from sleep completely confused as to why she was crammed into 3 inches of space, but miraculously, rather than scream at her and throw her from the moving vehicle, her sisters somehow coached her back to laughter. If moving to Tanzania for 5 months does nothing else than bring us sisterly bliss, then bring it on!
Oh alright, they haven't been total angels, but pretty close in the team building stakes.
Images, thoughts, come to fast for me to assemble; such a rollercoaster of emotions we have been through - veering swiftly from relief at being marshalled through our first assault on the senses by our friendly hospital taxi man, to the realisation that there is absolutely nothing we can do to 'blend in' as we take our first tentative solo steps onto the streets of Muheza,
We are mostly unpacked, compiling lists of how to make this place feel more like home, getting used to the nightly ritual of pulling down the mosquito nets. Definitely should have done more food preparation as I have to confess the nursery staples of spag bol, macaroni, fish fingers & sausages are most certainly not on the menu.
A thank you to Dr K & R, our lovely mentors who linked us with this place for the top tip of stopping at the supermarket in Dar for a few basic supplies. Our housekeeper greeted us with soup & bread (thank heavens the girls eat soup; shim family specialty is 'random' soup, aka whatever mum finds dying at the bottom of the fridge, the predecessor of which is the Stephens' family specialty of Lake soup, origin Malawi). However I need to work out vegetarian cooking and fast - so any of you with simple, kid friendly dishes please send me your thoughts. Our staple ingredients will be tomatoes, onions, carrots, cucumber, okra, eggs, lentils, dried kidney beans & fruit in abundance.
I risk rambling far too long and should really take myself to bed......fingers crossed for a better night ahead now everyone more settled in their beds x