My new home!

So, this time I am not in a panic online, so I figured out what the name of my blog is! How silly of me! So last Friday I found out where my site is. I really don't know much about it yet, but I know that it is a small rural village near (not sure how near) Mpwapwa town in Dodoma region. There are two people from my group who are in the same region as me, as well as a couple people who are education volunteers who have been here for almost one year. I have no idea how close I am to any of them either. Not knowing much about it is making me anxious, but I'm sure that I will love it! I will update when I find out more!
This weekend I went to visit a current Peace Corps volunteer, who lives near Singida town. We all broke up into small groups to travel around to different regions throughout the country to shadow volunteers, practice traveling on our own here in Tz, and just get a better idea of what the life of a pc volunteer looks like. It was a fun weekend! We cooked some really good food and got to eat cheese, which was super exciting! Not much cheese here-however Dodoma is supposed to have some, so that's good to know!
We only have one and a half more weeks at our homestay sites. I can't believe how fast this has all gone by. I am feeling many emotions about leaving. I am so so sad because I absolutely love my family and the children in my village and I feel like I have really been able to integrate well into their community. This weekend there is a big farewell party for our training groups, each in our own villages. I don't really feel ready to leave, to be own my own. They are so helpful in teaching me everything from Kiswahili to ways of living in a rural Tanzanian village. I totally plan to keep in touch with them after I leave. While I was away on shadow this weekend, my Baba called me a couple of times and texted me everyday to check in. It's really weird to have a phone here, but even weirder to be calling and sending messages in Kiswahili!. Also though I am excited to get to my new home and to begin integrating there, getting to know my new family, my new region of the country, and really starting to get my feet wet in projects and work with the villagers. For the first three months, we are told not to start any projects. Instead they want us to just focus on building relationships and getting to know the people of our villages. That is really nice, because I imagine it being very overwhelming in the beginning, which is why I am real nervous. It still is in my village now and soon I am going to be totally on my own. Yikes!
I hope this is not too boring, but I'm feeling a little bit out of it today. I needed to take this opportunity to update a little though. As soon as I know more and am able to get online again, I will update and try to be more entertaining!!
I am extremely happy here in Tanzania, each day bringing new thoughts, new lessons, stronger relationships. It's great! Please remember me on August 18th as I will be dropped off at my site, and spending the night in my new house alone for the first time. It could be pretty intense!
I hope you all are doing well and as always, I would love to hear from you in any form-mail, email, or telephone! Thanks for following!
Randi