Tanzania!

Hamjambo! (How are you all?) I am extremely well -- very excited, loving my homestay, and learning tons of kiswahili every day. Staging was good, although since it was in Philly I didn't feel like my PC journey had begun... and then we all piled into a bus and went to JFK, so I felt even more at home and less like I was embarking on this big adventure. But I eventually left the NYC skyline behind and flew to Amsterdam, where I got some of those delicious sugary waffle cookies (shared the rest with my host family a few nights ago and they loved them! I was sorry I had only gotten one pack). My next flight was also uneventful - I spent both either sleeping or watching movies/tv (flight of the conchords, arrested development and the office). I didn't get to see much of Dar because we pretty much just drove back and fort from headquarters to where we were staying, but the info sessions were helpful and I got to hang out with all of these awesome PCTs! We're all math and science geeks (my training group is all math and science education volunteers) who want to do something to help/make a difference, care about the earth and are environmentally conscious, and are socially liberal. I'm really excited to be with them and am looking forward to getting to know them better! A lot are from the midwest and south so it's interesting to hear about the different places people come from but it's weird being 1 of 2 jews and not having my se/asian, hispanic, or pacific islanders around (i miss you!). Some of them had never heard of okra or cassava... strange. That was an adjustment I hadn't even thought about (side note -- a Filipina soap opera that's dubbed in english is hugely popular here along with 2pac, beyonce and other american music). Members of my host family like the above along with kanye, neeyo, john legend and daddy yankee to name a few -- not that to mention that I heard avril lavigne and smashmouth songs coming from the living room yesterday . Oh yea, and my kaka (brother) wants to learn spanish so I was teaching him spanish as he helped me with my kiswahili. We started off with basic greetings and then he asked me what "dale" meant... and then "lo que paso paso;" yes, my tanzanian bro wants to learn spanish because he loves and listens to tons of reggaeton. (ybi, you would be doing what i'm doing so much better) This kaka is pretty much fluent in english, which has been wonderful because it means I haven't had major miscommunications, have had real conversations with tanzanians, and have had a personal tutor/teacher!

Culturally, extended family is important so in addition to my dada (sister) who's the only child living at home full time, my mama, and me in the house there are a few other kakas who are actually cousins that are at the house a lot. They are all so friendly and I'm the 5th volunteer they've had so they know all about the program, what I need to do, what they need to do, and xc exchanges. They all greet me and ask questions slowly with vocab they know I know, as well as much me to learn knew vocab and wait patiently as it takes me 2 min to process a simple question and respond. But when I look through my notebook or simply realize that I had my first kiswahili lesson under 2 weeks ago it's incredible how much I've learned! Family and community relationships are very important, so it really is like I'm being adopted into the family -- I'm really excited to keep in touch (cell phones!) with my tanzanian family and hope some of them visit me at site. It'd also be awesome for them to visit the US so that I could show them I'm not usually as inept at taking care of myself as I am here!

Pretty much I'm just learning kiswahili and hangout out -- in a few weeks I'll teach a few math classes in form 1 or 3 (roughly grades 8 and 10) but I'm trying not to stress about that too much. My small language class (6 other PCTs and one language instructor) is awesome and my mwalimu (teacher) is hilarious and wonderful. I wish you all could spend a day with me because I can't fully get the experience across -- friendly people, red/brown dust everywhere, vivid colors, gorgeous mountains, incredible poverty, incredible people, cartoon network, charcoal stoves, rice and beans, ps2, sleeping under a mosquito net, being asked if all white people do something i did, sexism, booming laughter, huge smiles, latrines, bucket baths, house helpers, filipino soaps, US presidential debates, live chickens walking around the kitchen, nigerian movies, american music, bongo flava!

My address wont change until the end of November when I move to site, so feel free to write me a letter! The best way to send packages is to use a padded envelope and have it be under 4 lbs or to use the media mail (?) one size boxes. Also, if anyone who has lots of american music wanted to make me a mixed cd to share with my host family that would be awesome! I am so glad that I am here and really excited for the next two years. Ask my mom or sis for my cell phone number (free for me to receive texts and calls) and check out noblecom.com for good rates! much love and hope you're all doing well!