I can totally reference the Lion King in my daily activities here in Tanzania...

Started 9. June

Karibu!  Well, it’s been a few days since we arrived in Tanzania and started staying at the Smbazi center.  Our travels/flights were long (from the time of departure to the time that we got here, it was something like 30 hours – we’re just getting a head start to that patience thing that we need so much of) but when we arrived in our final destination of Dar es Salaam, it was an astonishingly short amount of time until we got our bag and arrived at Smbazi.  All the volunteers arrived safely and no bags or passports were lost, so I’d definitely say that’s a win.

We stayed in Dar for a few days, but were not allowed to leave the center.  Every morning we had breakfast from 7 – 7:45 then began our trainings for the day.  We would break for chai (I FREAKIN LOVE BEING IN A TEA CULTURE) midmorning, lunch midday, and then end around 5pm.  Otherwise we would have training session after session, meeting loads of Peace Corps (PC) staff members.

The staff here is fantastic.  There are only tree Americans on staff, while the rest are Tanzanians running the various programs in the country.  Many of them have been working with PC for years, and have seen many different PC classes come through.  They obviously love their country and want the best for it.  In the case of my training class, they are training us to help provide teachers for the next generation.  It’s kind of nice to see that Peace Corps doesn’t run everything but has people from the host country take control of

Written 20. June 

Trainings

So I’m still in the training process, but here’s a general idea of what kinds of trainings we have:

-       health (includes far too many things, including common illnesses, dental info, STDs and HIV awareness, how to have clean drinking water, how to use the Choos [squat toilets], gender specific issues, and numerous shots).  The health sessions are pretty good, but I always am very paranoid afterward that I’m going to be sick all the freakin time

-       safety (how to not be an easy target, how to not get into a bad situation, how to diffuse tension when in a bad situation, cultural aspects)

-       language (most obvious training that we all need) is at least a few days a week, depending on when other trainings are scheduled.  We have been split into groups of 4 – 6

-       time with the homestay family (I’ll explain more about this later)

subject specific trainings as well as general “how to teach/discipline/manage classes” trainings (all 47 of us are going to be teaching, but we have physics, chemistry, math, biology and English)

Training fits a ton of information into a very small time frame.  We have about 10 weeks in which we do all those trainings and only have 1 day off a week.  That one day off isn’t very relaxing either, because it is spent with the homestay family.  This is a good thing, because my homestay family rocks, but it means that your brain is constantly having to think in Kiswahili, which can be pretty exhausting.  This past Sunday I was so exhausted (we went to church, I studied for about 3 hours, and then I fumbled through communicating with my family, all of which was completely in Kiswahili) that I forgot the number 8 in Kiswahili.  I went to bed early that night!

I’m thoroughly enjoying things here, but will have an occasional day where I wonder who in their right mind goes through living immersed in a different culture.  Then I think, who would choose to do this twice?  Oh yeah….me….

Staging

So, an explanation of what staging is.  This is where the Peace Corps (PC) gathers all the Peace Corps Trainees together in order to do paperwork, review what PC does, the three goals of PC, and what we can expect once we get to Tanzania.  Staging begins midday on Monday, 4. June.  We can ask any last minute questions that are annoying us, get to know the other volunteers, and anxiously await our actual departure.

So here’s our schedule for leaving the U.S.: We take a bus at 2am on Tuesday morning (maybe they’re trying to help us adjust to the time change….) from Philadelphia to JFK Airport in New York (I have no clue why they decided to do this.  I’m just going to sleep, so whatever).  Our flight leaves from JFK at 11am, and we have a 15 HOUR flight to Johannesburg, South Africa.  We then have another 3 hour flight up to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  I’m going to assume us volunteers use this annoyingly long flight as an opportunity to get to know one another.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to be going abroad with such an established program.  I’ve loved the past programs I’ve gone to Germany with, but those were for student exchanges and not work/volunteer experience.  Peace Corps has got its stuff together.  Yes, it’s been around long enough to know what it’s doing (it was established in 1961 thanks for an executive order from President Kennedy—that senior history paper about the Peace Corps and its connection to the Cold War has made me freakishly well informed about PC’s early years.  Thanks Dr. C!).  But PC has worked out many kinks that other programs may still be struggling with.  They also have a reputation that is respected in many developing countries.

So now I'm off to hang out with other volunteers.  

Good-bye Colorado!

Well my last few days in Colorado were filled with the annoying chaos of packing and getting ready, the vast majority of which I brought upon myself.  I’m such a procrastinator, but somehow everything works out in the end, so I don’t learn my lesson.

Saturday evening was spent with my mom, dad, and sister Rory (Kaitlyn was gone because she is awesome and working at a summer camp for kids with ADHD), Rory’s boyfriend, and one of my best friends, Emily.  We grilled, drank Fat Tire, and played Risk.  Considering the fact that I still had some last minute sorting to do, it was an incredibly lovely way to spend my last night at home.

This morning we went to breakfast, where I overate good food and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my family (including Emily).

We then drove to the airport.  While I was checking in, I told the woman working for Southwest that I was going into the Peace Corps.  She seemed pretty excited for me, and said that her sister went to South America and loved working for the Peace Corps.  She then asked if Mom, Dad and Rory wanted to come to the gate with me.  THIS WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST THINGS I COULD HAVE ASKED FOR.  She printed out Non Passenger Escort cards for the three of them, stating “Customer Needing Escort/Assistance.”  I’m sure as hell not going to object to someone letting my family spend a little bit more time with me!  As we left, thanking her enthusiastically, she said “You just enjoy the last bit of time with your family before you leave.” 

And so my parents and youngest sister hung out with me until I boarded my flight to Philadelphia.  Every single person that we talked to before I left was incredibly friendly and reminded me why I love Colorado so much.  Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) from the notary woman, to another Southwest employee, to the bar tender (I wanted one last Colorado beer before leaving….surprise surprise) were all the wonderful people that make this place so fantastic.  I’m going to miss home, but can’t wait to see a different part of the world.  And so it’s off to Peace Corps Staging I go! 

Los geht’s!