Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Entering the "real world" tomorrow!

Karibuni Rafikis! (Welcome Friends!)
It is only day six or something and it feels like I have been gone for so long already, however it still doesn't really feel like I'm in Africa. I have moments each day where I stop and think, holy smokes, I'm in Tanzania!!! As I said before, we have been staying at the Mzimbaze Center in Dar es Salaam since Wednesday of last week. It is some sort of compound, all gated in and we are not allowed to go beyond the walls. There are hostels inside that we are sleeping in, each in our own room. There are also classrooms that we have spent a lot of time in, and also a cafeteria type room that they cook food for us in each day. Breakfast is very interesting. White bread, hot dogs, plain crepe-type things, fruit or hard-boiled eggs if we're lucky, muffins that are like cupcakes, and then some different fried options. Everyday the options are different-needless to say, I am usually pretty hungry in the mornings! At ten o'clock everyday they have chai time. There are always different snack offerings and chai. Lunches and dinners are pretty yummy and pretty similar. Always rice, beans, and some sort of meat options, which I couldn't really tell you what they are because I have not had any yet. It kinda scares me a little bit! Every meal there is some kind of cabbage and greens mixture that is yummy and exciting cause it's the only source of vegetables. Also we have potatoes sometimes, plantain stew, fried potatoes. I am very interested to see what kinds of food we will get at our home-stays because I'm sure it will be different and also there will not be so many choices at each meal. And I still haven't tried ugali! I'm definitely not complaining!
We did get to go into Dar on Sunday and walk around with two current volunteers that have been in service for a year. It was a fun day, but quite overwhelming and overstimulating as our first time in the city and after being "locked" up in here for a few days. Small world moment though-one of the current PCVs that is here helping us this week is friends with Hollie Romei, who is a friend in Twisp! We have a mutual friend! It was pretty fun to see her right away because Hollie had told me she was going to be in Tanzania but I had no idea she was already here and that she was with the Peace Corps! What are the chances that she would be one of the first people I meet!
So, tomorrow we are leaving Dar and heading to Muheza, which is in the Tanga region. We are dividing into small groups and going into different villages within Muheza, about five of us per village, but we are each going to different homes with separate families. I am so very excited to really start the experience, but it is going to be really awkward because we have only had three language classes and we really don't know all that much yet. We have done greetings, how to introduce ourselves, and we just got a bunch of phrases today to to help us try and communicate with our host families. So I have a good picture of me having questions for them and pulling out my flash cards real quick to figure out how to say it!! I have great expectations to be laughed at hysterically for the next several months and so I'm just ready to begin the process!!!
We had a class today on etiquette for home-stays. There is so much I am learning and so much I have to still learn over the next few weeks. How to bathe with a bucket of water, how to use the choo or the pit latrine, how to wipe with my hand (though many of you know that I was already practicing that at NOLS) and actually they say that most PC volunteers just BYOTP-Bring your own toilet paper!!!) Hand-washing clothes, using a charcoal iron, cooking on a charcoal stove and probably lots more that I'm not even aware of yet.
The thing that has been stressed the most so far is appropriate dress, especially for women. Tanzanians are very conservative and they take their appearance very seriously. It is very important to be clean, and for certain parts of the body to be covered-the knees and below, and the shoulders are the biggest ones. We have already begun to acquire khangas, which are wraps that you can wear as a skirt or use to wear over pants or shorts and over your shoulders. It's not appropriate in many situations to wear pants alone-something about the rear end that is to be covered up. The khangas are beautiful though and they sell them all over the place.
These next weeks of training in Muheza are going to be pretty intense. Monday through Thursday and Saturdays we have classes from 8 to 5 with our small village groups and then Fridays we meet as one big group to work on things together. The first four weeks are going to focus more on the language so we can get a good grasp on it and then the last four weeks will be more on technical training in Environment and Health education and how that will look in our villages. We will then be placed in our sites and spend the first three months just getting to know our communities and assessing the needs of the village. Then we go back to have a week of in-service training where we will bring ideas to the Peace Corps facilitators and then begin working on projects. We did a bit on permagardening the other day, sort of an intro. and I got so excited! Another point of excitement was yesterday we had a session with Brian Connors who is the Assistant Country Director for PCTanzania. It was on sustainable development and the approach that is used in Peace Corps. It was so inspirational and it was beautiful to see how passionate he is about his work.
It is winter here right now, which is good so that we can acclimate slowly-so it's only 70-80!!! And really humid! That's actually what's taking getting used to. Go for a run in the morning and are dripping with sweat and then even after showering, you're still just drenched! It really makes the mosquitos come out! But we're all on anti-Malarials and sleep with mosquito nets on our beds, so I'm hoping for the best!!
That's all that I've got for now, but I'm sure that even after tomorrow I will be filled with so many stories! I'm not sure we are going to have much internet access during our training and actually it sounds like most PCVs only have access during their town-time, not at their villages. That totally makes sense to me and I actually prefer that. It would just seem too weird to be out in a small village in Africa on the internet. But I will still keep you updated when I can!!
I love you all and hope that things are going well in your lives! I hope that summer will be arriving shortly cause it's time! Take care and thanks for being a part of this journey with me!!!
Asante! Kwaheri!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Leaving in 3 days!

I'm off on Sunday! First a couple of days in Pennsylvania for staging and our flight to Tanzania is on the 18th. Suddenly time is really flying. This week has been a bit hectic, but I am getting so excited! I'll do my best to keep this updated as often as possible!