Site Visit

Site Visit (written mid July)

Last week was Site Visit week for all of us PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees).  During our site visit, we went to our future site, hung out with PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) who live and work in the area close to our sites, and had a brief view of what our experiences will be like once we finally get settled in.

            In my case, I went to the Tanzanian state of Tanga, which is in the north, boarders Kenya, and had a wide variety of landscapes.  My banking town (as the name implies, the town I have to go to in order to get any money / a larger town where some more obscure things are available) is Lushoto.  Back in the day during the German colonial times, Lushoto was a vacation town for many of the Germans who lived in Tanzania.  I can definitely understand why Germans would like the town, as it is in the mountains and fairly cool in comparison with much of the country.  Though Lushoto is nestled in a mountain wonderland in the western part of the state of Tanga, the eastern part is fairly warm, humid, and far too hot for me.  I’ll totally go to visit, but I’m really happy I didn’t get placed there!

            During my visit up north, I went with a few other PCTs who are placed close to me.  Jade, Sam, Hannah and I are the new folks in the region.  After a short-by-Tanzanian-standard trip, we met up with three of the PCVs and stayed the night in Lushoto.  It was great having Brittany, Glenn and Ezra showing us around, telling us the places that have really good food, and showing us different places that we will need to know about (like the place we can leave luggage as long as we bring the guys an avocado in thanks).

            I stayed with Brittany at her place about a half hour from Lushoto.  She is a fantastic cook and taught me how to bake without an oven.  Once I actually get the supplies, I will definitely be experimenting with that!  After watching movies and eating good food, I went back to Lushoto to meet with my headmaster and go to my village.

            So my village is called Kilole.  It is very small, pretty poor, and even locals in Lushoto don’t know where it is.  That’s reassuring, isn’t it?  Good luck finding it on a map, I have been unable to find it thus far.  Granted, I haven’t really had access to internet or a plethora of maps, so let me know if you come across my itty bitty village!

            My visit to my village was kind of overwhelming, as I met a ton of people, was surrounded by Kiswahili and the local language of Kisambaa, and was suddenly away from people I’d spent the past several weeks around.  I was introduced to the entire primary school, the local government council, the entire secondary school I will be teaching at, and was walked around to 20 different homes to greet and meet villagers.  It was great to see where I would live, but I was definitely flustered.  Thank goodness that’s gone away.  More to come on my village soon!