This is your life...

“It’s when you cry just a little but you laugh in the middle that you’ve made it.” – Jason Mraz
First of all, I want to give my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Joseph Chow. Peace Corps TZ suffered a horrible loss this week when Joseph, an Education volunteer in Songea, passed away after a rock-climbing accident. I never met Joseph but PC TZ is just one big family, so I’m still deeply saddened to lose a brother. My heart goes out to all the other Volunteers in his class and region who I’m sure knew and loved him a lot. RIP.
It’s weird to be in the village and get news like that via text message. It’s like business carries on as usual except you can feel the shock waves vibrating throughout the entire PC population of the country and the sadness everyone shares. So that news was really hard.
Other than that, this has been a productive week. I was pretty much a culinary genius and made PB-Choc Brownies and an excellent loaf of bread jiko-style. It’s amazing what baked goods will do for your mental health. I also made a bucket of banana wine, so if all goes as it should that is fermenting now and will be delicious in 3 weeks! My villagers probably thought I was crazy buying 80 bananas to make “juice.”
I also am starting a penpal exchange between a class of 5th graders here and a class of 5th graders in America through the World Wise Schools program. So I went to the class to introduce the idea and ended up basically teaching a lesson on what students do in America and what the similarities and differences are. And of course this was all in Swahili except for when they made me sing the US National Anthem solo for them. Great.
I also went back to help out at the clinic, where I can’t believe how overworked the nurses are. I basically just weigh people and fill out their charts. But they need so much help I’ll probably end up going there 2x a week as a main project to help them with Monday baby-weighing and Thursday pregnancy exam days.
This week I also started House-to-House surveys to help complete the VSA. I’m working with Hadija, a 23-year-old girl who finished secondary school and wants to be a lawyer someday. So she speaks great English and is wonderful help. She’s also pretty cool to hang out with. We’re both quiet but I’m hoping we’ll get to be friends. We’ve visited 4 households so far asking questions about the village schools, health, agriculture, what they do for fun, etc. Just to get some baseline info on the village stats.
I also met Mariam, this lady who was sitting outside her house making beaded rings. So I told her I loved jewelry and she said she’d teach me how to make them! And she gave me a ring as a gift which I love. So possible income-generating-activity for a Mama’s group? Or just a fun craft hobby either way!
So in other news my cats like to run away to school and the neighbor’s houses, I eat an inordinate amount of peanut butter because I’m too lazy to cook more than 1x a day, and it has gotten HOT. Nights are still comfortable but in the daytime the sun is intense. Also, I’ve realized my biggest animal problem is bats; they keep me up all night squeaking and every morning I have to sweep up all their poop. Gross. I’ve also had a cold for the last 2 ½ weeks which is annoying. The overriding theme of this month has been just trying to handle the extreme mood swings of being here. Every time I see another PCV and get to speak English and hang out Marekani style it’s awesome, but then it makes the return to the vill that much harder. My worst days have been the ones I’ve returned from hanging out w/ Keith in town or something to being by myself. It is really lonely and difficult sometimes. There are definitely days where I’d rather lie in bed reading than get up and speak Swahili and integrate. But every time I get out there it gets better and easier. I’ve never had more than 1 bad day in a row so that’s good. And I always knew this settling-in period would be the hardest part. I just wish I could fast forward to after IST in December when I’ll have friends, better Swahili, and project ideas. But this is Tanzania, “polepole ndiyo mwendo” (slow and steady wins the race). Well that’s about it. Know what makes me the happiest person in the world? Getting mail!!! So write me letters or send me trashy magazines or postcards or anything!!! My address is on my facebook group, or you can message me to get it. If you write me a letter I’ll have your address and I’ll guarantee to write you back!!!!!
And HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!
-Mboza (my Kinguo name...yeah, I'm not a fan either...)

Life in Kiteto: The Carrie and Keith Show!

Mambo! So here I am, alive and well, trying to collect my thoughts enough to give you all a decent update on my life for the last 3 weeks I've been at site. There have been some ups and downs for sure. I really am really remote, even by Peace Corps standards. There's 1 spot on the main road I can walk to to get maybe 1 bar of cell reception to check text messages, but other than that I am off the grid! My feelings about this are mostly "Well, it IS what you signed up for..." I've definitely had some moments of extreme loneliness in which I can't believe how long 2 years seems. But I'm starting to get settled and things are looking up so let's focus on the highlights:
1. My house is becoming a home! This week I got all the furniture I ordered delivered so I actually have my own bed, a clothes closet, some couches, and some tables. So I got to UNPACK for the first time in 3 months, woo!!! I also put up a ton of pictures on my wall to remind me of people back home, but if anyone wants to send me more or anything else to decorate that would be awesome!
2. Exploring the mountains and environment around my village has been pretty cool. There are several small mountains right around my house and Keith and I are determined to climb them all eventually. I also found an awesome little hilly trail to jog on where I only pass a few people herding cows usually so I don't have to deal with THAT many weird looks and people asking me why I'm running. Oh, and there are MONKEYS!!! Tons of them, actually. There are also apparently hyenas but I'm not trying to go walking around at night by myself to find them.
Yesterday I took the bus to Keith's village, almost passed out because I was standing with 2 heavy bags packed into the aisle and wasn't feeling too good. So I had to ask this guy to give me his seat which thankfully he did since I'm the wimpy white girl. But then of course I got to Keith's house (an hour bus ride) and we went and climbed a huge boulder-y hill in his village. It was really cool, we could see for miles around the whole valley. Also saw some naked Maasai guys bathing in the water holes which was scandalous. So yeah, there will be lots of mountain climbing in the next 2 years.
3. Making friends in my village is going well. All of my neighbors are teachers and they're all really nice (except for 1 stalker who I am doing my best to shake). The headmaster of the primary school is my main guy so far- he speaks English and is really smart and helpful. And his wife is HILARIOUS and feeds me so much and visits me every day if she doesn't see me. She taught me how to greet in Kinguo, the local language, so now I'm considered like the smartest person alive by all the villagers for knowing those few words. So she's like my best friend so far. The other female teachers are also awesome and I talk to them a lot to practice Swahili and there are 2 woman nurses who I'm also probably going to work with a lot. And of course the kids are constantly at my house trying to talk to the weird mzungu. So yeah, I have friends.
4. I HAVE KITTENS! Now those of you who know me know that I'm not a cat person, but as soon as I realized how many critters my house has, I was like "I need a cat." So my headmaster started looking for a kitten for me. So one day I get back from Keith's village and all of a sudden I'm presented with not one, but TWO little black kittens. So at first I was like "Crap, I don't know how to take care of cats..." but they are now like my best friends and they definitely know I am their Mama. They follow me everywhere and jump on me constantly. Sloopy is the girl (cheesy Ohio pride) and Buttercup is the boy (Keith picked the name in hopes that a girly name would produce a super-ferocious rat killer...so far it's working 'cause Buttercup is CRAZY.) So now I'm obsessed with my cats since they provide entertainment and companionship. The other day one of them wandered over to my neighbor's yard and he was like "Carrie...Mtoto yako yupo hapa." (Carrie...one of your children is here.) So that confirmed that I'm totally the crazy cat lady but I'm fine with it.
5. Getting stuff done! So I'm actually trying to follow the suggested schedule for what to do each week in order to complete the VSA. So I've been to village government meetings, introduced myself at both schools and to all the teachers, and basically just sat and talked with anyone who invites me in. I'm just starting to learn about all the problems in my village and trying to figure out what I can do here that will bring sustainable change for the better. On Monday I went to the clinic to help the 2 overworked nurses with the baby-weighing day. So I was weighing babies, writing charts, and giving polio medicine. It was crazy busy but awesome 'cause I feel like I actually helped a lot just by being an extra set of hands. So I definitely plan to help out at the clinic a lot.
6. So basically just hanging out in my village trying to survive and actually do something productive. I see Keith about once a week which is good...any other PCVs I see only when I feel like at least a 3 hour bus ride. But we're planning lots of fun holiday trips and outings so it'll be great. And apparently, I will be home in March to be there for Justine to get hitched! So get excited for that!
Peace out, leave me comments!!!

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!

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."

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!

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!!!!!

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.

Maisha Mazuri (Good Life)

Hey all my fans!!!! I don't really have time to post a detailed blog right now, and I don't think I could accurately recount all that's happened in the last 3 weeks even if I tried. So I'll try to be concise yet hilarious using handy dandy bullet points:

Interesting Things That Have Happened to Me in TZ So Far

• Getting charged by a water buffalo
• Scorpion in the choo (pit toilet) my first day at my host family
• Bat living in the choo
• Seeing a crocodile in the river while sitting on a rock washing clothes
• Teaching my host family how to make spaghetti and them loving it(Cultural exchange woot!)
• My host family me telling me every day that I'm "numba moja kwa Kiswahili" aka the best at speaking Kiswahili in my village and they're proud of me
• Getting my hair braided by my aunt while sitting on the ground outside looking up at a million stars
• Watching crazy Swahili music videos called "Taarab" and listening to Bongo Flava
• eating ugali at EVERY meal....ughhhhhh
• naming a baby after my brother...that's right Tim
• eating everything with my hands out of communal plates (including the aformentioned spaghetti)
• being the daughter of Mama Bonge (aka Big Mama), a witch doctor
• getting to watch Mama Bonge heal people using herbs, smoke, chickens, chanting, and all this crazy stuff
• watching a "scanner" ceremony in which people were speaking in tongues and going into comas due to "evil spirits" being in them
• cooking everything over a fire and taking bucket baths every morning
• riding my bike in a skirt and khanga because only prostitutes wear pants
• hearing about people in my village being attacked by pythons and crocodiles at the aformentioned river
• teaching all the little kids at my house the hokey pokey, the shark song, peace like a river, if you're happy and you know it, and any other song I can remember from childhood. THE KIDS HERE MAKE MY LIFE!!!!!
• learning tons of kid songs in Swahili from them
• carrying my baby nephew on my back in a khanga like a Tanzanian woman and everyone loving it
• learning Swahili from our teacher Chacha Busada (aka Chacha the Wise) every day
• speaking all Kiswahili with my family and actually being understood most of the time (though understanding them is harder)
• it being absolutely BEAUTIFUL everywhere!!!!!!!!
• making up songs with my fellow trainees
• eating a whole plate of chocolate peanut butter soup on the day we did experimental cooking
• 34 Americans singing the National Anthem together in the middle of a field in TZ on the 4th of July
• totally impressing the Country Director when she came to visit by showing her my house and Mama Bonge telling her that I'm "like her own daughter and she can't imagine me leaving"
• haven't been really sick yet, but my GI tract is definitely on constant high alert
• basically just being a total DBA living with no power, water, anything, and loving it (most of the time)

Basically, I've survived a month in TZ! This week I have my placement interview and my Swahili midterm (not worried) then we are going to the beach for a mini vacation Friday-Sunday! It's awesome but hard living with a host family and having them constantly checking up on me so a break is definitely in order! After that we have 1 more week of language, 1 week of tech training, and then we find out our placements! CANNOT WAIT to know where I'll be for the next 2 years. After that we shadow current volunteers for a week then come back to Dar for Swearing-In on August 19th. So the time is ticking down!!! I promise I'll try to post pictures soon but I haven't busted out my camera with my host family yet so I don't have too many. Life is good, crazy, and I love it. Miss you all so much though and hope all is well back home! Write me!

Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam

The beach at Kigamboni, near Dar

The first part of this blog is directly from my journal entry of June 21:

"So let me tell you about the craziest day ever. After 2 days of travel and 5 days of learning we finally got a day off! That meant that instead of getting up at the usual 6 am, I got to sleep until 7:30! Of course I still heard the Call to Prayer at 4:30 and the roosters start crowing around 6:30, but it was great just to lie in bed!

When I get up, I take my usual "shower" with a bucket since my showerhead is broken. I am still in the lap of luxury though compared to where I'll be going. After getting all nice and safi (clean), I perfume myself with the pleasant aroma of 30% Deet bug spray. Ooh lala. I put on my usual below-the-knee skirt, shoulder-covering shirt, and sandals outfit and set out to breakfast in the canteen. Breakfast is fried bananas, hard-boiled eggs, bread, and chai as usual. After breakfast we girls get a quick lecture on choo (hole-in-the-ground toilet) techniques by Emilia (Current PCV who's helping us this week) and then we set off to explore Dar es Salaam for the first time. We all went with our Cultural Based Training groups (the 5 people we'll be sharing a homestay village and going to school with for the next 9 weeks) and a leader; ours was Emilia, who is awesome. We walk down the road for a ways, dodging bikes, piki pikis (motorcycles), cars driving on the walkway, and other people. Since it's Sunday today is supposedly a quiet day in Dar, but it's so crowded I'd hate to see it on a weekday. We've all hidden our money in bras and underwear which turns out to prove necessary when 1 guy grabs Harry's arm and another tries to reach into his pocket. Maureen literally smacks the guy in the chest, they back off, and we've survived our first Dar robbery attempt. Walking through Dar is sensory overload- people yelling at you, staring at you, cars almost hitting you, exhaust choking you and fish smells from the street vendors. All the while dust si coating your feet and legs and teh sweat is soaking through your clothes but you feel exhilarated because you're surrounded by life, color, danger, work, happiness. Finally, this is Africa. At least if you're me, that's your reaction.

We finally catch a dala dala (small bus, pronounced as in "dolla dolla bill y'all") and head downtown, crammed into aisles and onto laps; the heat would be unbearable except for the merciful ocean breeze coming through the windows when we drive. We get out and Emilia walks us around pointing out restaurants, guestis, stores, and currency exchange places, anything we might need to know. We stop to get ice cream and for 600 TSh, 60 cents, I get the last chocolate cone I'm sure I'll see for a long time. So delicious and such a perfect reprieve from the heat. After that we journey to a supermarket to linger in the AC, then we stop for a soda at "The Red Onion", a famous wazungu restaurant. They're playing nothing but the Backstreet Boys. Emilia and I discover we were both obsessed teeny-boppers and have a great time singing along and reminiscing while the other 3 make fun of us. She even knows the chair dance to "Everybody" which is amazing. ( I miss you Justine.)

For lunch we meet everyone else and go to Steers, a South African chain that's like a food court with many western options. I got a small Margherita pizza and ate the whole thing since it will surely be my last for awhile. Delicious. After that we are off to the beach! We have to walk to the ferry to go over to Kigamboni, this island where there are good beaches. The view of Dar from the ferry is great and so is the ocean air. When we get off, we walk thruogh a crowded village up a hill, attracting tons of attention as 30 wazungu would. We all have a "buddy" to keep track of which is incredibly kindergarten but necessary. Randy (another current PCV) finds 2 dala dalas and negotiotes with them to take us all to the beach, yay! Crazy African driving as usual, but it's nice to get out of the city. The beach we go to is some resort with a restaurant, hotel, and bar, and we're supposed to pay 8,000 TSh to get in but Randy knocks it down to 2,000 by telling them we'll be repeat customers if we like it. We dump our stuff and hit the water, most of us girls in 1 pieces which is good since tons of people there wear skirts and full shirts. The Indian Ocean feels amazing and it's so salty you barely have to try to float. So there are about 20 of us PCTs way out from the beach just hanging out treading and swimming around because it's so easy and relaxing. We were in heaven. Being in the water was exactly what we needed after a long hot walk. We chill at the beach for hours- swimming, frisbee, relaxing. It's great.

The trip home is slightly crazy since it's dark by the time we get to the ferry and you don't want to be in Dar after dark. Everybody's wearing their backpacks in front and of course none of us could bring cameras because it's too risky. Walking through the town we hear the 1st annoying pickup lines like "I love you, kiss me!" by random strangers who barely speak English. But Randy gets us 1 huge dala dala and we're safely back to Msimbazi Center by 8 to go eat dinner and pass out. It was an amazing day to get to know Dar and a much-needed adventure in Africa!"

Alright, so if you got through that novel and are still reading, I applaud you! I'm sure it will be rare that my blogs are that thought-out and descriptive, so enjoy it. As for now, we just finished our last day of class and training as a whole group at Msimbazi Center. Tomorrow we load our stuff and drive 5 hours north to Muheza, where we split up into 7 different CBT (Cultural Based Training) groups that each go to a separate village. I'm happy with my group and excited, because we're the only group that gets bikes right now! Our village is the closest to MATI (the center where we'll meet as a whole group every Friday for trainings) so we get to bike the 4k there every week while everyone else gets picked up in vans. Should be fun and good exercise! For my homestay family, I was only given the name of 1 woman, so it could be either a grandma or a widow, I'll find out! I just hope there are kids! We know there's no electricy in our village so we'll be getting used to that right away! For the next 6 weeks we'll be going to language classes from 8-5 every day 6 days a week and learning more by living with families who don't speak English. Then once a week we all meet at MATI as I said for other types of training. I think we're all equally nervous and excited. I know I am! It's definitely going to be a challenge. But I think (hope) I'm ready. So yeah, gotta go pack, that's about it for this marathon blog entry.

Baadaye! (Later!)

I MADE IT!

So here I am, sitting in a humid Internet cafe at the Msimbazi Center hostel in Dar es Salaam, TZ! I have arrived! And life is good. Except for the fact that I've begun the poor Peace Corps life so I feel like I have to budget every second I spend on the Internet so as not to spend my entire 3,000 TSh/day allowance (about $3 a day is what we get from now til we swear in and become actual PCVs). Life has been crazy and busy so far! I love everyone in my group and we're all getting to know each other quite well since we spend 24/7 together. Unfortunately we already lost 1 person who apparently got cold feet in NY and disappeared right as we were boarding the plane w/o telling anyone. So thanks to him our flight ended up being delayed a good 1.5 hours. So 36 become 35. Hopefully the rest of us all stay! Flights were long, and unfortunately I hurt my ankles before leaving but never got time to ice/rest them, so they were swelling to high heaven on the plane and once we landed and I had to carry all my masses of stuff. They're FINALLY getting better now, though I'm still living on Advil. So until Tuesday we all have our own rooms in this hostel and we're spending long days together studying PC policies and missions, TZ culture, the schedule for our training, starting Swahili, how to not die here, and many other things. We visited PC Headquarters yesterday and had a little language test convo w/ one of our teachers. I was nervous but she said I did great with it and had a lot of good vocab. Then once we started learning survival language in groups I felt so confident because I realized that I really am leaps and bounds ahead of everyone just from taking those 2 semesters in college. Lots of people didn't even do any Rosetta Stone so they're starting from scratch. So I feel a lot better about that.
Sorry this is really rambling. I should've organized my thoughts before coming here. But I didn't. Alas. There are 2 other girls here from Columbus! They're both environment volunteers but they're both awesome. Mary and I decided when we're home we're going to go to the bars in Columbus and sit there speaking Swahili to be totally awesome and impress everyone. Hahaha. I love all the other volunteers so much because it's the 1st time in my life I've been surrounded by people who so completely GET me. We all have the same doubts and fears and everything, but we're all still so passionate and determined to do this anyway. So awesome to be around 34 other people with the same outrageous goals and life philosophy!!! Also, we've gotten to talk to several current volunteers who are here to help with this 1st week of training and picking their brains helps us realize more of what it's going to be like here. And hearing them speak Swahili fluently after only 1 year is awesome.
Today was interesting. First we talked about our technical training schedule, then we had a session on malaria and how to prevent it. Blablabla, take your medicine and use your mosquito net and you'll be fine basically. But of course since every day PC makes you do something you never thought you'd do, we had to learn how to do malaria self-tests. So we're all sitting in this sweaty classroom stabbing ourselves in the finger trying to draw blood and put it on slides and mix it all up w/ this chemical indicator thing. Never thought I'd have to do THAT! It was quite hilarious when you think about it but not at all a natural thing to have to stick yourself like 25 times to get enough blood. Pleased to say none of us have malaria. Then of course after that we had to get shots. Some people got 4 all at once, I only had to get 2...the 1st rabies one and renewal of meningitis. Woot. Done with that til more next week.
More language later today then dinner and hanging out time. It's definitely tiring...waking up every day at 4:30am when the Call to Prayer goes off. But it's good not to have much time to miss people yet. Everyone's nervous because Tuesday is quickly approaching and that's when we go 5 hours north to Muheza to go to our homestays. I'm really nervous actually. But I'm sure it will be good and a great way to learn Swahili really fast. This is the 1st time they're doing homestays in that area so no one knows what the Internet situation will be like. I might not have it at all for the next 9 weeks. I'm going to get a phone ASAP though and when I do I'll text everyone with my number. I'm not going to be able to afford to call internationally but if you call me it won't cost me anything. Apparently there are cheap calling cards available for you to use to get a better rate. Google it.
Anyway, life is good, sorry for the rambling, but my time's about up on the Internet. Love you all and thanks for the support. Send letters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!