I've been in Tanzania for about a week in Dar es Salaam doing our initial training week. So far I am having a great time and so excited to be here! I have 41 new friends from my training group who are either health educators or environmental workers like me. Everyone is so fun and we are all getting very close! We have been living in a nun compound in Dar, but it has been a very easy transition from life in Cali. We all have our own rooms that have a full sized bed, electricity, shower head, sink, mirror, and a fan. The food has been pretty good: lots of rice, wilted greens, potatoes, chicken with pretty much no meat, tons of fried dough, and lots of chai. We have had a lot of vaccinations, training in safety, some cross cultural classes, and a little bit of Swahili lessons.
Tomorrow we leave for our homestays in Muheza that is in the Tanga region. I'll be living with both a mama and baba but not sure on how many kids or other relatives there will be. They will most likely be a Muslim family. I'll be living with them in my own room, but will most likely have no electricity, no running water (yay bucket showers!), and a family choo (pit latrine). I am really excited to see what village life is like and try more traditional Tanzanian meals. I am really excited to learn Swahili as well since I only know greetings right now (Greetings in Tanzania are the most important thing and include a serious of different ways of saying hello and asking how your day, morning, chai, family, life, children, chicken, etc. are doing). We will be living with families that probably don't know English and will be in Swahili class from 8am-5pm 6 days a week so I should start improving fast. I'll be in the same village as two girls and one guy, but once every week the whole group (41 people) will meet for a day. The Peace Corps staff is amazing and I am looking forward to getting to know them more, especially my language and culture teacher.
I probably won't have much access to internet within the next couple months while at my homestay but wanted to post one last entry to say I am safe and happy! I am sure the next time I write I will have tons of wild stories of miscommunications, learning how to use a choo, and living with a new family. Thanks again for all my letters and pictures everyone gave me before I left!! I promise I'll try to send out some letters soon so you can get them eventually :) My address will still be the one posted on this page and I would love to read about you guys! Love you all and miss youuuu xoxo
October 17, 2011
October 10, 2011
Orientation in Philadelphia
October 9, 2011
I can’t believe I am actually off! It’s been quite an interesting time already getting prepared to leave to Tanzania for two years. I’m always an over-packer, but thought I was doing really well since I was still under weight requirements. But….It turns out I could not carry everything I packed! Oops! So after a great last sushi night with everyone still in Orange County, I repacked for the 5th time! And got about an hour of sleep before I took my last longgg hot shower J
These past few weeks have been a whirlwind! I am typically not too emotional of a person, but I guess that’s because it’s not every day you have to say goodbye to everyone and everything you love and know. I must say I truly enjoyed my summer after finishing at UCSB. It has been a long time since I’ve lived back home for so long and I am glad I did. I enjoyed cooking many new things with my mom, getting dropped off at a bar by mom and picked up by Ashleigh with Steven and Ali A. (hahaha that was one fun night!), countless memories with all my loves in SB, doing the breast cancer walk with mom, time at home doing absolutely nothing, driving my sister crazy, spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, reliving high school with Ali M., Ali A., and Matt now that we’re all back in Laguna Niguel…, seeing my brother off to Ireland to pursue his Masters Degree!, reuniting with Alibaba, San Francisco with Hannah and Megs, 4th of July Fiesta and Pukes and Staggers in SB, and so so so many more memories!! I’m going to miss you all so much, but I will carry these memories and many more with me!
I am so happy you are all participating in the game of sending letters to me! I have a bunch of stuff to read on my plane rides and have opened a few! Alibaba, Cor Cor, and Luce- I love love love the photo album!! I haven’t opened the other gift but think I am going to love using it J Ali M. and Ali A.- amazing photos too!! I love how creative you are and piecing together everyone into the pictures…especially since I ran out of time to really print any photos! Alibaba- Your poem is amazing! hahaha I already started using my journal Ashee but had to stop reading your letter and the others from everyone else since I started having to hold back some tears :( The game continues to see who will be the winner of sending me the most love- so start sending them to Tanzania pleaseeee!
October 10, 2011
So made it to my staging orientation in Philadelphia! The flights were not bad at all and getting to the hotel was quite simple since I did not need to carry my bags too far to get to a shuttle…we’ll see how carrying them in Tanzania goes!! Colin got to the hotel right before I arrived so we checked in my room, met the other volunteers from the West Coast, and we all went out for dinner and some beer. I knew meeting everyone here would bring a lot of relief to this whole process since we are all going through the same thing. Everyone is wondering how we’re going to carry so many bags, how big the spiders are going to be, and whether or not alcohol is still free on international flights J Off to orientation...
...My orientation went great!! They did a wonderful job of getting us to open up and get to know each other. We did different skits and activities to learn the best ways to cope and handle anxieties and how to stick to our aspirations and the core goals of why we are a part of the Peace Corps. I really like everyone in our group! A commonality definitely exists for us all and I love how open with each other everyone is. I just can’t wait to get to Tanzania now!! I ended up being the only girl who checked only one bag (thanks Ali!) so was convinced to check my hiking pack tomorrow to make my carry-on a lot easier. So packed again- but for the last time thank god! Ha After our long orientation, a few of us went to a last nice dinner to have Italian food and good wine. Off to get one last good night’s rest before heading to the airport tomorrow! Love you all xoxo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)