Friday, August 28, 2009

Oooooh, it feels good to be free!

So I have survived the 1st week in my village! There have been ups and downs as to be expected, but so far I'm adjusting well the life completely opposite from training- being completely by yourself with nothing but free time! As far as starting work goes, Peace Corps really doesn't want us to do any big projects for our first 3 months at site. And believe me, that is a good decision. Every PCV who's been here for awhile has told us things like "In your first 3 months, all you should do is learn to cook beans." or something like that. Really, it's a time to adjust, really learn Kiswahili, get your house set up, and develop relationships with your villagers. Without that basis, any projects you try to start will probably fail. That's the theory at least. So I'm really glad there's no pressure to change the world right away because all of a sudden being on my own is pretty overwhelming!
My house is right next to the primary school in my village, so all my neighbors are teachers who are really nice and helpful. My house is also on the edge of the village so I have pretty awesome views of the small mountains that surround the village right out my back door. Everyone says if I think it's pretty now just wait until everything turns green during the rainy season. My house itself has some issues to work out...namely some critter infestations (lizzards and rats I believe) and one whole room is full of furniture and junk from the last teacher that needs to get removed so I can use the space. And the choo looks like it's about to fall over. And there's a random pile of bricks in my yard where I'd like my garden to be. But this is only the first week and everything will get solved Tanzanian style- pole pole (slowly slowly). The school headmaster has promised me the stuff will get removed, he's working on finding me a cat for free, and I've already started ordering my own furniture from the village carpenter. So soon enough I will make my house a home! So for anyone who wants to visit me, I promise I will have a bed for you, there are plenty of sexy Maasai men to look at, we can go climb a mountain in my backyard, and then we can make homemade wine! What could be better????
So the one thing I will be working on eventually during these 1st 3 months is the VSA- Village Situation Analysis. It is basically a big report on the status and needs of my village that I will write after researching through house-to-house surveys, village meetings, talking to leaders, and basically just asking tons of questions. Then I'll formulate a report along with my analyses of what projects could be done to help my village, I'll translate it into Swahili to give to the local government, and I'll present it to Peace Corps in December at our In-Service Training. At that training we learn to do grant applications and other more concrete things so that after that we can start the main projects we've decided on through doing the VSA. So if that makes any sense whatsoever that is what I'll be doing officially for the next 3 months. Although I don't plan to even start having meetings officially for at least a month because I just need to get settled, make some friends, and learn how to survive. But yeah....life in Dosidosi....it'll be cool, man!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Swearing In Speech

So here's the speech that a bunch of us wrote for our Swearing In ceremony and that Marshall and I read in English and Swahili. I'd say we did a much better job of writing it then I actually did of giving it, so here for your reading pleasure:

"We stand before you now at the dawn of our Peace Corps service. We arrived in the night, and in spite of our preparations we were still in the dark about what to expect. Many awoke to an unfamiliar noise- a beckoning call to prayer. We rose to the burning expectations of the African sun, full of exciting uncertainties.
From the outside looking in you could never understand the jam-packed buses, roosters before dawn, and survival through child-like communication- sema tena pole pole (say it again slowly). Or the traditional healers, bats in the choo, and cross-cultural exchange. From the inside looking out, you could never explain it. These are things at first we might have feared but now we have come to appreciate and embrace.
In this dawn of service we have been welcomed into unique families. Each hosting village came together to guide and protect us. With lessons in culture, life skills, and survival we became kakas and dadas (brothers and sisters), children to Tanzanian parents who held tightly to our hands. They have shown us one path that can lead us to overcome challenges and then another to follow safely back to their homes.
Through the efforts of our government working amicably towards improved quality of life at home and abroad, we have this unique privilege. Working with our counterparts on the front line of this grassroots movement, we will strive towards sustainable change.
If our claustrophobic peers can survive daladalas, if our vegetarian friends can make it through preparing a chicken, if the germaphobics can tolerate public choos, and if each of us is willing to readjust to exams and schoolbells, then surely we are capable of more than we know.
Today is the first day of the most fulfilling job we may ever know. We are embarking on an experience we are sure to love which will challenge us in new ways we could never foresee.
E.E. Cummings once said, "It takes true courage to become who you really are." We would not have the courage, nor the skills and abilities to begin our service without the guidance and support of the entire Peace Corps staff here in Tanzania. We would like to thank them for their patience, understanding, acceptance, and support. These qualities which they have so generously shared with us we hope to extend to our future villages.
To our fellow trainees- In a short period of months we have gone from strangers to family. Thanks to this shared experience we now have a unique bond, not only to each other but also to a large and diverse Peace Corps family. We will walk these days of service together with a unifying desire to accomplish our Peace Corps mission. It is our hope, that through our service, we will be able to contribute to sustainable growth and the continued prosperity of the people of Tanzania."

Friday, August 21, 2009

Out in the BOONS!

So I'm not even at my site yet so no real big news, other than that Swearing In was awesome, I totally skipped a paragraph during the speech and said "Oh crap" into the microphone in front of the ambassador and all these important people, so I'm pretty much a legend just for that for the next 2 years. It was awesome. But I'm still here so apparently I'm a real volunteer now despite that. Going the rest of the way to my village tomorrow and it will be awesomely in the middle of nowhere. If you want my address I'm going to be able to use the PO Box of another volunteer out here until I get my own. I'm technically not supposed to post it on here but it's on the facebook group I made, or email me and I will tell you. So get those letters coming!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Pre-Service Training Wrap-up

PST in 1 word: indescribable. I don’t even know where to start since so much has happened in the last 2 months and I’ve barely been able to write. Basically, I lived in a tiny village with a Tanzanian family who spoke only Kiswahili for the last 8 weeks. I woke up at 4 am every morning when the rooster living in our house started crowing. I walked down red dirt roads lined with palm trees, farms, and mud huts to go anywhere and gazed at mountains on every horizon. I shared a “bathroom” with 20 people, bats, cockroaches, and scorpions. I washed clothes in the river and saw more boobs than ever before as women bathed. I saw more chickens get killed then necessary and then proceeded to eat them for dinner. I cooked, talked, played, and got my hair done sitting under the stars. I carried stuff on my head. I constantly made a fool of myself singing and dancing with kids. I made numerous cultural faux pas and went on many frustrated venting walks with me fellow trainees. I ate more rice and beans than anyone ever should. I learned to love the sound of rain pouring on a tin roof. I became the secretary for a witch doctor. I learned to greet grandmas in Kibondi. I played with babies. I learned to tell age by number of teeth. I got eaten alive by mosquitoes, got sick and then got better, and got fat from eating all carbs all the time. I learned Swahili and I joined 2 new families-my Tanzanian host family and my Peace Corps bonded-for-life family. Basically, its been a blur of the biggest challenges and greatest moments of my life so far. And it’s only about to get crazier.
A couple of hilghlights in greater detail from the last 9 weeks: Pangani Beach and Shadow Week. We all went to a beach resort a couple hours away for a fun weekend after week 5. Of course to get there as economically as possible we crammed all of us into a mini bus and were sitting 5 to a row with some standing. And someone definitely peed in a water bottle rather than asking for a stop. We had the whole resort to ourselves, stayed in these HUGE luxury “tents” with furniture, electricity, and modern bathrooms. Yes! We ate the most delicious food ever and spent the whole time in the pool or the Indian Ocean. There were tons of sand dollars and at night these crazy little microorganisms that glow in the water. Had amazing midnight girl bonding talks in the ocean under the stars. One day we walked down the beach 4km into town, but no one told us it required some serious rock maneuvering, and of course my flipflop broke so I was scaling limestone boulders through crashing waves with 1 bare foot. But it ended well so it made a good story. On the way home we went to Amboni, this cool cave system. I fanyone wants a beach vacation, I’ll meet you at Pangani!
Shadow week- The 12 of us going to shadow volunteers in Iringa got picked up at 3:30am and driven to another town to catch the bus at 8 am. Watched the sun rise since sleep was impossible on a bumpy road. Got to the public bus and drove a long 12 hours to get to the Southern Highlands. Passed through Mikumi National Park so we saw giraffes, gazelles, baboons, and elephants. Bill (my shadow buddy) and I finally got off around 5 pm and met Cory, our Volunteer. He was completely crazy in a hilarious and awesome way. After waiting an hour or so we threw all our stuff and jumped on top of an already full back of a pickup truck to ride to his village. Held on for dear life for the 20 min. drive while we watched the sun set, and of course stopped to add 2 more people. The 2 days at Cory’s were basically Top Chef Tanzania- he had bought so much food for us! We made homemade mac n cheese, carrot cake, grilled cheese, and apple crisp, all TZ charcoal jiko style! Cooking took forever but was so worth it for the cheese and dessert! His village was also gorgeous to explore, his house was a great setup and just all around a great time to relax and speak English. The 3rd night everyone in Iringa and all our hosts met in Njombe to stay in a guesti before the 6 am bus departure. We went to this awesome waterfall and climbed all around the rocks on it. Me, Cory, and Bill were all just lying on rocks having total Zen moments. Transcendental. Then we got ice cream! And hung out w/ everyone at the guesti talking about how jealous we all were of the Volunteers living in Iringa region. It’s kinda the sorority/fraternity of the PC. I’m glad I at least got to visit.
Now PST is over and we’re in Dar! Our village threw us an awesome goodbye party with a drum/dance circle, and then had an all-night disco later on. I tried my best to shake it like a black girl! It was soooo fun. Pictures will be on facebook someday, I promise. Tomorrow is swearing in at the house of the US Ambassador. Marshall and I for some reason got picked to write/give a speech in English and Swahili. So that won’t be at all nerve-wracking. And we’re all performing a crazy musical we made up about PST. It’ll be great. Then Thursday I’m off to the boondocks!!!!
Congratulations to Justine and Bryan on getting engaged! My bestie is gonna get married!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so happy for you guys!!!!!
Peace out from AFRIKA!!!!!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Site Announcement!

So I know where I'm going! It's a tiny village, less than 1700 people, 40km from the town of Kiteto. That's in Manyara region, central Tanzania. Supposedly it's hilly and cold sometimes and I have a picture of my house (small) but with a cool mountain view out the backyard. It's in the Maasai Steppe so should be pretty. The thing that's kinda scary is that myself and my friend Keith are the 1st and only PCVs of any kind getting sent there! So we're gonna be 15km apart but we're a pretty good distance from any other PC people! Gonna be out in the STICKS with no electricity. It's gonna be super scary when I first get there, I'm gonna freak out. But hopefully I"ll end up loving it!
Right now I'm on shadow in Njombe, having a great time! Bill and I came to visit a PCV down here named Cory, and he has an awesome house in a beautiful village and we had a great time. Ate SO MUCH food. And we just walked to this beautiful waterfall and explored all around it. Tomorrow we go back to Dar (14 hour bus ride) then stay 1 day there to open bank accounds. Then we go back to homestays for 1 more week!!! Then Swearing In! Ahh! It's all happening so fast! Okay, 1 minutes left on the Internet so peace out.

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