End of Training

Training is nearly over and it has flown by. Swearing-in is Wednesday the 26th and the day after we start traveling to our sites! Let me back up a bit, though…
PC Staff were so accommodating about watching election results – they arranged for us all to get picked up at 6am and taken to a hotel in town that has satellite tv (and thus, the international CNN channel) so we could watch in real time. Unfortunately, it started to rain after Virginia was called for Obama and the signal was lost; but some people had computers and so we were able to check results using the hotel’s wireless, plus a few of us got phone calls and texts with exciting news! (Thanks Lys, Dasha, and Mom!) I was giddy all day, jumping around and smiling nonstop. Then I wore my Obama shirt for a few days straight…
The next big part of training was shadow visits, when trainees go to visit current volunteers to see what life at site is like. I went with one other volunteer (who’s awesome) to a village south of Moshi in the Kilimanjaro region; it was a great experience and the volunteer we shadowed was very welcoming. He lives in a fishing village that’s on a lake in a desert; we could see Kilimanjaro when the clouds weren’t in the way, but it was super hot and the vegetation was really sparse. We took a small bus (daladala) out to his village, but to the only buses that go back into town leave between 3 and 4 in the morning so we decided to bike it instead. Instead of taking 3 bikes and then the volunteer having to worry about getting them all back to his village, he and a Tanzanian friend rode the bikes while the other trainee and I sat on these little shelf-things on the back of the bikes. It was a 1.5-2hr ride in the hot sun and slightly uphill most of the way. I enjoyed it because I was just sitting there, enjoying the beautiful scenery and the breeze, but the people riding the bikes were incredibly sweaty and tired by the end. We also went to another volunteer’s site close by to have the opportunity to see another placement. She lives in a tiny village in the Pare Mountains, but it was such a beautiful place! She decorated her house and really made it into her own space, which made me excited to make my house into a home! (I hope to paint, put up pictures from home and PST that I printed, and maybe get maps or posters or art stuff to hang on the walls.) Everything about her site was radically different – the house, climate, topography, school environment, etc. So it was really neat to have the chance to see both sites and talk to the current volunteers about their work. Some other volunteers also met up with us, so I got to talk with a number of PCVs and learned a lot. Then it was back to Dar, where the main event was site announcements! Before that though, I realized that I’ve already made a few really strong friendships – I didn’t particularly miss anyone while on shadow and I had a really great time, so it was a pleasant surprise when I got to Dar and got so excited to see my friends! I hadn’t realized how close I had gotten to some of the other trainees, and now that pressure of making lifelong friends here is fading... But about site announcements…

I can’t post specific information (feel free to contact me, though!), but for the next two years I’ll be living in the SW of Tanzania, in the southern highlands. It's an area with lots of PCVs, and I'm one of the less isolated ones. It’s kind of mountainous, one of the colder regions of Tanzania, one hour bus ride outside of a small city/town (where I can buy cheese, apparently), and there will be plenty of vegetables and a fair number of fruits available. Lots of great people will go into the big town about once a month to use the internet, go to the bank, etc., so I'll have a lot of chances to see people – plus there's a volunteer placed just a few km's outside the town so I'll be able to hang out with her very easily. And one friend I've gotten really close to will only be a few hours south of me so that will be nice! I've got so many plans to visit other PCVs, as well as specific places around Tanzania – it's very exciting! Another really good friend was placed way up north and it'll take 2 days to visit her, but I'd go even if the the region wasn't supposed to be gorgeous and have delicious fresh fruit. My school is coed, mostly boarding, and has an incredible teacher-student ratio for Tanzania; about 1:30. I doubt it actually is that good, but even if some teachers have left that’s still fairly incredible for Tanzania! The school is O- and A-level, but only has History, Civics, Geography, and Language A-Level combinations so I wont be teaching anything above about 11th grade. My main breaks will be December and June, although I will have a short break in March as well as a few other vacation times so let me know when is best for you to visit! They’d like a volunteer to help with Math, Physics, and Chemistry, but I doubt I’ll be comfortable teaching Physics and I’ll have to see about everything else! I’ll get my own PO box once I move in, so hold off on sending me anything until I post my new address. (Plus I may come up with holiday/birthday requests.) If you use the Dar address I will still get whatever you send, but it will take longer plus headquarters doesn’t want to be spending all their time sorting volunteer mail.

I’ve read a few books (including Everything is Illuminated, Hannah, which was awesome) but have picked up more than I’ve given away. I'm excited to do lots of reading, and to cook for myself. So, Tanzanian food: mostly ugali (picture boiling porridge until it gets almost solid and play-dough like), beans, rice, bananas (raw, fried, cooked like a stew), and leafy-greens (local spinach variety and sweet potato leaves). Onions, garlic, and tomatoes provide most of the flavoring and vegetables are very very rarely eaten raw except for a cucumber, tomato, and onion salad that's common. I hear the meat is very fatty and often unidentifiable, since they eat all the parts that we don't eat in the States—I've heard a few memorable stories about colon and liver. Carrots, peppers (sweet and hot), potatoes, and eggplant are readily available at big markets but not used all that much. Food is usually bought in big open air markets or small stands, although larger cities usually have at least one western style grocery store complete with Cadbury's, Twix, and Corn Flakes (super duper expensive!).

I've gotten wonderful packages and letters -- thank you so much! I love reading about what you guys are up to at home, although it's weird to think how you are all living your normal lives, starting/continuing jobs in the work force or still in school. Anyways, asante sana na karibu tanzania! (thanks very much and come to Tanzania!)