America feels really far away right now. Sometimes I really miss it, but when I do I remind myself how lucky I am to be here. I am getting more out of this experience than I ever planned to. And I am learning more from my villagers than they are learning from me. I cannot exactly remember when I decided I wanted to come to Africa or when I wanted to do Peace Corps. Was it my parents' devotion to community service? Or volunteering as a young child? Was it the political science classes I took in college? Or inspiring Professors at Hobart who were returned Peace Corps Volunteers? I am not really sure. I have to think it was a culmination of things. And now, I am here. I have been here. I can say that I comfortably live in a village in Africa. Sometimes it is hard to look at the bigger picture when you are so consumed with work and day to day tasks. Like, where is my next bucket of water going to come from? Or, I really need some more charcoal for my stove. But I really need to remember that this is a crazy and wonderful experience that I will have only for a short time longer. Before I came to country everyone said that the first year of Peace Corps is slow and that the second year zooms by. So far that has been true. With more involvement with Peace Corps office, planning trainings, and helping to compile information to improve some programs, the work has increased, and with that time has slipped through my fingers. There is so much I want to do! My grants have not even been approved, my bigger projects yet to be started and I still have not successfully created a garden! With only two months left before my trip home to America and then after I return home, less than five months before the Close of Service Conference (a conference where we all polish our resumes, get letters of recommendation, and figure out what we are doing with our lives, which afterwards we will return to our villages to wrap everything up) I am stressed! For those of you who know me, I am sure you are not surprised at me using this word to describe how I feel, but really, there is not much time. To conclude, I love this beautiful place I live in and the beautiful people I live with, who invite me in to their homes, constantly feed me, teach me the local language, sometimes see me cry and overall enjoy my presence. While I am frustrated with work right now, I feel so lucky to be here and I am so glad that I am fulfilling a dream that started, well, sometime, long ago.

Hey guys! So I am in touch with a few of you, but some of you I am WAY out of touch with! I just wanted to put out an update about the trip with everyone here. So Tiff, Amy, and Marcelle arrived in Tanzania on the 13th of July, excited, a little sleep deprived, but looking forward to the adventure ahead. That night we went out to some delicious Indian food. Full, a little exhausted, but high on seeing each other we went back to the hotel room and promptly started giving out haircuts and chatting on the balcony at our hotel. The next day we woke up early and jumped on the ferry to Zanzibar, but not before I got SUPER sick, which put a little cramp in our trip. We still are not sure where it came from, but I woke up feeling nauseous and threw up before we even left the room, then in the ferry bathroom before we even left the dock, then all throughout the ferry ride. When we got to Zanzibar we jumped in to a cab and made it through the notoriously windy, one way, swamped streets of Stonetown to our hotel, Jambo Inn. As soon as we checked in I was not feeling well again. So I sent Amy, Skillz and Tiff out on there own. They successfully found some yummy street food and did some shopping! When they returned I still was not feeling well so we decided it would be best if they went out with my friend Eric and his girlfriend who was visiting as well. Then later we all went out for some yummy seafood!

The next day we woke up early to go on the Spice Tour, since Zanzibar is famous for its spices. And in previous centuries it was the 2nd biggest export of Zanzibar, after the slave trade. The spice tour was great, we learned a lot about where spices come from and then in the afternoon we went swimming in the Indian Ocean. Then we wound up our day sitting at a bar on the beach drinking delicious mojitos! Yum! It was really fun! For dinner we went to this open fish market where people cook somewhat fresh fish over open grills. It was a fun experience, however either due to the salty ocean or the way they preserve the fish it was REALLY SALTY. And we all felt like bouillon cubes by the end of the night. The next day we shopped around Zanzibar, which was really fun. We bought earrings, bracelets, ornaments, paintings, and other fun things!

Then we jumped on our ferry.....or what we thought was our ferry. It turned out to be an earlier ferry that was not as nice, we assumed it was ours since when we showed our tickets no one said anything or corrected us. We realized that we were on the wrong one just as the ferry was pulling out from the docks. Feeling jolly, we all thought it was no big deal and we pulled out books and computers to pass the time.....a few minutes later....one of the guys working on the ferry starts passing out throw up bags. We took a few thinking they would just be good plastic bags to use later for toiletries or other such things....a few minutes later.....we are starting to go over some pretty intense waves, and everything is getting pretty rocky. Marcelle and I decide to move outside and just get some fresh air. As we stood up it became apparent that we really needed to get outside since we were both feeling like we were going to throw up.....a few minutes later....Marcelle is throwing up over the back of the boat, Amy and I are heaving in to plastic bags and Tiff is stumbling out of the indoor compartment, needing air immediately. What we thought would be a pleasant ride, a time to get some reading done, and reflect on Zanzibar, quickly turned in to a war zone, between all the passengers and the sea. In just a few minutes chaos ensued. Babies were screaming, women were collapsing on the deck, people stopped trying to be discreet about throwing up, it was happening everywhere and everyone was doing it. Inside and outside, no one was left untouched by the forces of the Indian ocean. I stood on one corner of the stern that was getting completely slammed with waves and I was soaked to the bone, but I did not care, the force of the waves on my face was distracting from my sickness. At one point I looked around and there was not one unoccupied part of the stern deck. The crew was running around throwing out plastic bags of throw up and passing out new ones, rolling people to the sides of the walkways instead of in the middle so other people could stumble by. We witnessed a white man get thrown up on by a young, embarrassed Tanzanian girl, mothers nursing children while throwing up in to bags, and people sharing throw up bags, for the shear reason of not being able to hold it in to get another bag. I apologize for the details of this story but I am just telling it as it was. Finally we started to see land and we urged the ferry on, desperately dreaming of our first steps on solid ground. We made it, we survived, we bonded with our fellow passengers, feeling as though we had been through a battle together. Relieved, but worn out, we made our way to Econo Lodge for some serious resting time.The next day we woke up early to jump on a bus to Mikumi National Park. We were happy to start the next leg of our journey and make our way south. We arrived in Mikumi in the late morning, excited for the safari ahead of us. As we were getting off the bus, which we had to do rather quickly since the buses do not like to slow down, we all shuffled off grabbing our bags and making sure we had everything, while giving the proper greetings to the conductors on the bus. Tiff was the last to disembark and fell face down on her bag. We all broke out in to laughter, as the bus started to drive away the conductor yelled "ohhh, pole (sorry)" out of the window as the other passengers just looked on. It was pretty funny and luckily Tiff landed straight on to her bag, which was full of clothes and other soft things to lessen the fall. We made it to our lodge, grabbed some rice and beans, and jumped in to our safari car to start our safari! Immediately we started seeing elephants, giraffes and zebras. Only an hour in to the safari we saw lions! Two females, resting from a feed on a zebra the previous day, the zebra carcass was just sitting in the river, even though they were full they were still preventing other animals from getting close to the body. It was really cool! We went on to see wildebeests, water buffalo, a warthog, 2 crocodiles out of the water, lots of hippo heads popping out of the water for air, and lots of birds. We were only there for 5 hours but we saw so much! It was really great.The next day we had a lazy morning and enjoyed the all you can eat breakfast and the free espresso machine at the lodge. We then jumped on another bus to make our way to Mbeya. We arrived in Mbeya somewhat late and stayed at my friend Devon's house in town. The next day we ran errands, had some pizza at our only-for-special-occasions pizza place, and made it back to Devons for a late afternoon party with some other Peace Corps Volunteers. The next day we got in to the back of one of the lorries that goes to Ilembo from town. Luckily, my driver John, was able to safe a seat up front for Amy (she tore her ACL a few weeks before so she had to take it easy on the travel). Tiffany, Marcelle and I sat in the back, which was pretty packed. So we just sat on our bags and held on to each other so we would not fall. There, all of them were given kimalila (my tribal language) names, Marcelle was given Mbozyo, which everyone got a kick out of, the technical translation is medicine. Amy was given Mwaji, which means queen. And Tiff was given Mwinga, which either is just a name, or means good woman, we could not really get a straight answer. But everyone just loved that they got kimalila names! It was a hit in the vill!When we arrived in the village children greeted us at the lorry and carried our bags to my house. Then we rested for a little while. Later, Amy was not feeling well so we left her behind, while Tiff, Marcelle and I went to Nahasibu's village, Iyunga, for a msiba (funeral). Nahasibu's grandfather passed away, he was a very old man, and had not been able to walk for a while, and was also in a lot of pain. There were tons of people over at Nahasibu's house and at his grandmother's house. Mostly elders, and many of them had been drinking all day. I guess a funeral here is reason to drink the local brew here all day long. The local brew is an alcohol made out of wheat, I believe, and it smells like yeast. It bubbles at the top and people drink it with long wooden straws out of buckets. It is a popular daytime activity here in Ilembo, particularly for older people. Then we went to visit the grave and we prayed together with some other family members. There was a lot of greeting, a lot of translating (most older people do not speak Swahili so they would speak in the tribal language, someone would translate in to Swahili and then I would translate in to English for Tiff and Marcelle). All, in all, it was an interesting experience. And a good cross-cultural one as well. Then we came back to finish up dinner and relax. The next day we woke up early and headed towards the clinic for Baby Weighing Day (a day once a month when the mamas bring their babies to get weighed). Before we started the weighing we taught a lesson about diarrhea and sang a song about diarrhea, which another PCV wrote. We explained why diarrhea is a problem, where it comes from, what people can do to prevent it, and what people should do if they have it, then we taught everyone how to make the oral re-hydration drink, when someone is really dehydrated. All in all it was a good lesson, with a large audience!The next day was market day, which is always a little chaotic here, since there are just so many people, trying to sell a lot of things. However, Mwaji, Mwinga, and Mbozyo tirelessly shake everyones hand and kept smiles one their faces the whole time! We did some shopping, did some greeting, stopped by the Mary Ryan Foundation offices, stopped by the schools and the health center! It was a full day. On Saturday we headed back over to Iyunga for a party with my orphans group. We all met at Richard's house and watched while a few men killed a rooster, it was really more of an anatomy lesson than anything, then we tried to help cook in the kitchen, however it was so smoky none of us could really stand in there for a long period of time. We talked, we ate, we drank a lot of soda, and we had a great time! It was slightly overwhelming since there were so many people! But it was really fun.On Sunday we went over to Elisha's and helped his wife and one of my good friends in the village, Mama Deborah, to cook. There were only a few of us and the kitchen was much less smoky so we were able to help and everyone learned how to cook ugali! Which was really fun! We told stories, talked about the differences between Cameroon and Tanzania (currently Mbozyo is a PCV in Cameroon), which everyone really loved. There are a lot of similarities in the cultures and I think we were all excited to hear that they eat a type of ugali there too! (Tanzanians still do not understand how Americans feel full without eating ugali, they are shocked every time I tell them we do not eat ugali in America). I always tell them, not to worry I will teach people how to make ugali when I get home, and this relieves them of a little distress.Monday we had a party with my Widows Group where everyone bought aprons and we ate even more ugali! Afterwards we walked around the village a little and said our goodbyes to some people. The next day we woke up bright and early, around 3:30AM to jump on my bus. Besides the early rise it was a relatively smooth ride! Once we arrived in Mbalizi (my junction town, about 30 minutes outside of Mbeya) we went to Utengule, a coffee plantation here in the Mbeya area. There we drank way too much delicious coffee and then a yummy breakfast. Afterwards we all felt a little sick from being sleep deprived, over caffinated, and over greased from the eggs and sausage. Needless to say, it was a relatively nauseous ride from Utengule in to town. Soon some of us felt better, others did not. We ran a few errands in town and then met up with some of the Mbeya PCVs for some more Indian food and a great last night with Mwinga and Mbozyo, who hopped on a bus to Dar the next morning and eventually safely made it back to their various stomping grounds. Mwaji stayed behind for a few days. That morning the head of the District Office was going to Ilembo so we hitched a ride in a nice District car back to my village and made it back in no time! Mwaji and I had a wonderful couple of days in the village, with more cooking, hanging out with villagers, and a nice hike through some of the hills of Umalila (my mountain). On Saturday we headed back in to town because she was getting on the bus the next morning to Dar. The ride in to town was starkly different from our ride in the nice district office car. We were squeezed in to the back of a pick-up truck and because there were so many bags of potatoes, rice, and dry beans on the bed of the truck, we were forced to sit on the bars on the top. It ended up being a beautiful ride and relatively safe since we were all so squeezed in together! Amy had her first try at eating sugar cane, with a relatively large, jolly audience, enjoying witnessing her trying to peel of the sides with her teeth (eating sugar cane is a loud, sticky, somewhat painful process that I try and steer clear of). And then, Amy successfully made it back to Dar on her own, which was very impressive!It was such an amazing trip and so nice to see more people from home! I feel so lucky that I have such wonderful friends to come here and visit. We really had a fantastic time. Now I am headed back to the village to continue working on some of my projects and get some teaching in before our Mid-Service Conference in Dar es Salaam! Talk to you all soon!

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Hey, I am not sure if this link will work, but these are pictures from the Girls Conference.

Hello again! So from June 13-18th all of the Mbeya Peace Corps Volunteers planned a Girls Conference called "Wasichana Wanaweza" or "Girls Can/Are Able." Or for a less technical translation, a Girls Empowerment Conference. This is the third year for Mbeya to hold a Girls Conference (it was started by the class we replaced). So it was not as hard to plan as it would have been starting from scratch. One PCV in Mbeya works as a computer teacher at the Mbeya Institute of Science and Technology. So we held the conference there, as previous years. Each volunteers bought 6 girls, and there are 16 volunteers in the region so it was a lot of girls! And a lot of volunteers! We all stayed in the dorms, which felt like college again. My girls, Nahasibu and I travelled together with Adrienne (since we take the same bus). But trying to navigate 15 people was challenging! I am so glad Adrienne and I were able to do it together! Once we got to the college the girls were shocked! A few of the girls had never even been to town before, let alone an actually college campus. We reached the dorms and it was the first time many of them had climbed stairs or slept on a mattress (most just sleep on straw mats on the floor). Or even used electricity! So I think that was one of the best parts for them! Once everyone was settled and everyone had arrived we all moved to the lunch area for some good rice and beans, some volunteers got a little sick of this food, but I do not think I will ever get sick of rice and beans, it is just so good! Then in the afternoon we played some games and did some icebreakers! Which was fun for them. Throughout the week the schedule went something like this:

6:45-7:30 Workout with the girls (They loved this!)

8:00-8:30 Everyone trickles in to the classroom

8:30-12:30 Various lessons including AIDS, diarrhea, puberty, waiting to have sex, birth control, and to use a condom, why and when; nutrition, etc. etc.

12:30-1:00 Lunch!

1:30-5:30 During this time we either had more classroom time or speakers (one day we had a group of youth living with HIV/AIDS come in and talk about what it is like to live with the virus). Another day we had women with powerful jobs come in a speak. And another day, Kihumbe Group came (this is the group that came to my village to teach for World AIDS Day and taught all about AIDS, performed, sang, tested, and passed out condoms). The girls really loved it!

6:30-7:30 Dinner.

7:30-10:30 Either computer classes or a movie. My girls decided to do the computer classes and they were so excited to use a mouse and try and type on the keyboard and draw using Paint. It was a little challenging to try and teach how to use a computer in kiswahili, but I think we managed okay.

10:30PM-1:00 This was hang out time for the girls and the volunteers. We had 6 people in one room, so needless to say there was not much sleeping going on. Luckily, Adrienne is as much of a coffee nut as I am so we were able to heat up water with a hot water heater and drink instant coffee. We put it in thermoses and just drank it all day....I do not think I would have gotten through the week without it!

On the last night we planned a disco in the cafeteria. But, in typical Tanzanian city fashion, the electricity went out. So we lit candles and played music from a computer. One of the PCVs literally just held the computer on his shoulders and danced around with the music. We taught various dances, including the Macerana (I didn't even know I still knew that one) and the Electric Slide. And we took a lot of pictures, which the girls loved. It was also really fun to see that the girls had become friends with girls from other schools and other parts of Mbeya. Then the next day was the closing ceremony. Everyone received certificates, they got their pre-tests and post-tests back. All of my girls improved! And a picture of the entire group! The next task was to get all the girls onto a daladala and negotiate a price, which was no easy feat. But with a little luck, all the girls got home safely. We stayed back to clean up and put finishing touches on everything. All in all, it was so fun and all the girls had a blast! Before we did this conference there was some talk of planning a Boys Conference. But now that I know how much work/how stressful one conference is, I am not sure that is going to happen. And if it did, I am not sure we would all be friends anymore, since the conference is so tyring on everyone! Thus, we are all pleased with how it went, and I already feel like one year away is too soon to plan another! (I am joking here).

Overall, my girls got so much out of it! And they were so happy to be there, to make new friends, and to just see a different environment. I think it has really expanded their ideas of what they can do with their lives. When you are in the village it is hard to see past the farm, yes people go to school. But after school most return to the farm and few move on. Leaving Ilembo in a rut. So just being able to experience being at a college with Tanzanian students, run by a female Tanzanian, very close to their home, hopefully changes their perspective! I am so happy with the girls I chose to go. They were all so smart and answered so many questions. They are great girls and the plan for us is to plan a shorter Girls Conference in Ilembo, so hopefully they will be there to help me!

Okay so I think I am caught up on my blog here. This is a busy time to be a PCV in Tanzania. School is out right now so it is a popular time for us to travel and I have 3 wonderful friends coming to visit in 2 weeks! Yay! I seriously cannot wait! Then after they leave we have our Mid-Service Conference (which is late this year and actually past mid-service since by August 2012 most of us will already be on planes). After that, I have to get serious about work. I am just playing the waiting game with some projects right now, but hopefully progress will be made soon!

Hey all! So I have not written for a while, as per usual and I have a lot to report on. I guess I will start with my parents trip, which was amazing! We had a blast. We started with a rest day in Dar and then moved on to Zanzibar. Zanzibar is a sight to be seen. We took the ferry over and on the way my dad was curious about what the Bridge of the ferry looked like and just to get some interaction with some "Boat People" in Tanzania. So we asked to enter and of course we were invited in with opened arms and smiles. Papa was able to sit next to the captain and they all spoke fluent English, which was great. As we were discussing where we were staying in Zanzibar and how to get to our hotel one man, named Jeff, which is also the name of my father, just offered to drive us from the ferry port to the hotel, instead of getting a cab. So his son picks us all up in a very nice car and we begin our venture into Zanzibar's notoriously bad traffic (since the streets are all one way and windy). As we are waiting in traffic Jeff is giving us a tour of Zanzibar and points to an old beautiful door and declares that it is one of the oldest on Zanzibar and behind that door is an extremely nice hotel that is less expensive than the one we are going to. So they pull over, I run up the stairs and it turns out to be a great deal and gorgeous inside. Also, we had a water view from our room, which was amazing! Anyway we were all very imressed with the hospitatlity of Jeff and it was just the beginning of many more generous hearted people we met along the way! We have a great first night on Zanzibar with delicious food! Then the next day we go on a Spice Tour, where we met all sorts of interesting people. While walking through the spice forest and trying out different spices we had a posse of boys making us things along the way. My dad got a tie and my mom and I got glasses and necklaces and rings all made out of banana leaves! Then we had a traditional Zanzibar meal, a yummy curry, potatoes, chapati (which is like a thicker tortilla), and steamed green veggies, while eating on mats on the floor. Our afternoon consisted of visiting a cave where slaves hid during the slave trade, which was rather morbid. Then we went to this beautiful cove and put our feet in the Indian Ocean! It was a really nice day. Afterwards we went to Livingstones for happy hour and just to reflect on the day. It is the bar right on the beach where you sit under canopies and put your feet in the sand. While my dad and I were leaving we passed by a monkey on a leash. We wanted to take a picture, so we stood next to it, but the next thing you know the monkey jumps out a bites me! Literally bites my hand. Luckily he did not break any skin and if he had I am not sure this story would be as funny. But I just had his teeth marks on my hand after that. The next night we were able to meet with the Cronins! Our great family friends, Andrew, one of their boys, was studying on Zanzibar so it just happened to work out that we would cross paths many times throughout the trip in various places in Tanzania. We all went out to a delicious Indian meal (we could not get enough Indian food throughout this whole trip! And we were in a good place for it since Tanzania has a very large population of Indians living here, so the food is very authentic). After Zanzibar we made our way back to the mainland, on a not-so-smooth ferry ride. the nest day, after another delicious Indian meal under our belts, we jumped on a bus and we were on our way to Iringa! The bus ride was a little tough on the parents, but they were troopers. After 9 hours of winding through Tanzania countryside, seeing too many overturned buses, and struggling with strange smells, small spaces, lack air, and lack of protection from the hot African sun beaming down through the windows, we finally arrived in Iringa! The parents really enjoyed seeing the scenery of Tanzania, but we were all excited to get off of that bus! We move in to our home for the night and we go out to dinner with one of my good friends here, Katie. Even though we were all pretty dead from the travel, we still enjoyed a nice dinner and good bottle of wine, from Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania. So, to celebrate my parents being in Tanzania for one week we had a relaxing morning in Iringa, which involved shopping and spending time at Neemas, which is a cafe run by disabled Tanzanians and they have delicious coffee and food. Then we headed down to the bus stand to jump on a bus to Mbeya. This ended up being one of the MOST hectic ventures of the trip. It involved us trying to navigate a crazy bus stand with way too much luggage and way too many people. We thought we were supposed to get on one bus but then when it pulled through the bus stand, at an alarming speed, a man yelled us that it was too full and there was no room. After being hustled around, yelled at, ignored, and papa almost getting run over by a bus, we were finally thrown on to one bus with all of our luggage in to the aisle and surprised Tanzanians all around us (I mean, imagine 3 stressed out white people with 8 bags being pushed on to one of the cheapest buses literally yelling to each other the entire time in English). Eventually we all got seats. My dad and I were next to a window that was painted black so that we could barely look outside. The bus blasts music, as it usually does, and drives over 100mph the entire way. It was nuts! There is no other way to describe it! Finally we arrive in Mbeya. And it feels so good to be back on my home turf. We got dinner and drinks with some of my friends! It was so great to mix the two worlds, Peace Corps Tanzania world (my Peace Corps friends), and America world (my parents). And they mixed well! The next day my dad and I hiked Mt. Loleza, which is one of the local mountains here in Mbeya and has beautiful views at the top! Then had dinner with more friends at one of our favorite restaurants in Mbeya town! The next day we stopped by Utengule (the coffee farm in Mbeya, that has beautiful views and delicious coffee) then we were on to Ilembo, my village. We decided to brave public transportation one more time and take my bus which may have been a little too much. So we all squeezed in on Mbadikilwe (the name of my bus), which I believe I have described before, it is like the bus in Harry Potter that drives around in the middle of the night and is only driven by a head. It takes turns like a race car on a track and it plays music louder than you thought music could go. Parts fall from it as it treks its way up the mountain. Eventually we made it to Ilembo and we were greeted by a whole crowd of people who arrived to help us carry our things. We did not lift a finger! Which was really nice. Then we were met at my house by more people who cooked us a delicious dinner of rice and beans. My dad fell asleep during while the were making the final touches on dinner and since my house is just like one room (because I do not have ceilings, just a tin roof) we all giggled when he started to snore. In a country tat is so different from my home, it feels good to know that some things are cross-cultural and snoring is funny to everyone! We slept well that night. The next day we walked all around my village, my dad played a guitar made out cow skin, we did self introductions at the Village office, and passed by both schools. Everyone was really excited to see my parents and loved the fact that they came all the way from America to Ilembo! The next day we went to eat with my Orphans Group and my Widows Group. I think it was one of the best days of the trip because my parents got to see how Tanzanians live, cook, go to the bathroom, etc. etc. So that was great! Everyone was so excited to see them and just shake their hand! The rest of the days in the village went something like this. The thrid leg of the trip was amazing. Since we were a little public-transportationed-out we decided to have a private car come pick us up in the village and drive us all the way from Ilembo to Iringa. After a nice evening in Iringa we headed were met the next morning by our driver, Leo, which means "today" in kiswahili, in our safari car (see facebook for pictures). And we started on our adventure! Once we got into Ruaha National Park we immediately started seeing animals. And there was nothing Leo did NOT know. He knew every bird, every flower, every bone, every footprint in 3 languages: Latin, Kiswahili, and English! He was so knowledgeable. And I think my parents enjoyed seeing the birds even more than they did the hippos and elephants! But luckily we saw all the animals we wanted to see, from tons of new birds, to alligators, to SO MANY elephants and giraffes, and lions! Our one full day in Ruaha was jam packed with animals, animals and more animals. We took a packed lunch and ate on the road so we could maximize our time with the animals! It was really fantastic. And at night we fell asleep listening to the sounds of the Great Ruaha River and hippos. The lodge was beautiful and incredibly peaceful with delicious food, which we also ate right on the river. It was so nice! After Ruaha we made our way up to Dar again and spent a few days on South Beach, just swimming and relaxing on the beach! It was the perfect end to a perfect trip! And all in all so nice to see my parents and show them Tanzania, my house, my work, my friends! I miss them more now than before they came. But Christmas is not too far away and if money/projects/Peace Corps permits, I will hopefully be home!

So again I am carrying a giant bag full of avocados and lemons on my head, rushing home after a 3.5 hour hike, one way, and maybe 5 hours back, due to the fruit on my head. It was a long day. Mama Zabron, the chairman of my Widows Group, and I walked all the way to her mothers house in a village that is incredibly far away from mine. Far away also has a totally different meaning here because it is so HILLY! As I have expressed multiple times! So an hour walk is wayyy harder in Umalila than it is in a flatter area. Anyway, the trip was great! When we got there we helped her mother and other family members plant beans with some small hand hoes. As we were walking back to her mothers house to rest and start up a fire we witnessed a goat being born! Which was really cool! And we watched her first few steps. Then we started up a fire and boiled water to cook ugali! I love to help with this process but sometimes the smoke really bothers my eyes. And everyone laughs and laughs as I go to stand outside when my eyes are so watered up I can barely see. They are so used to the smoke! So as we were visiting Izumbwe I do not think anyone spoke swahili to me, it was all kimalila! Which was so crazy, but that is the way of life when you are in villages off the beaten path. As we were leaving, after a long day of eating lots of ugali and sitting around fires, with Mama Zabron translating kimalila to swahili for me, we eventually said our goodbyes. But of course as we were leaving got gifted so much heavy fruit!! Mama Zabron got hard beans as well! So we were totally overloaded on our walk home and this village does not have many cars coming through. So our only choice was to walk or to sleep the night on mud floors. We made it home after dark (all cell phones in TZ have flashlights on them, which I think is the greatest invention ever) and I melted on to my bed and promptly fell asleep. Anyway, hope things are going well for everyone! Everything has been very busy here. I have been going to a lot of meetings with various groups, teaching a lot and helping out with the Mary Ryan Foundation. Also attempting to catch up on some letters with friends and a few books I have been meaning to read. My classes are going well here. Because I only teach two grades at the primary school I feel like I am really getting to know these students and I am really enjoying teaching there. The secondary school is a different story. I still enjoy it but because I am teaching every grade and I only go once a week. So I only see each class once a month and I feel as though I am not really familiar with these kids as much as my primary school students. And sometimes they ask incredibly advanced questions that I really do not have the swahili to answer properly. And technically they should all know English because the teachers teach in English here. But that is just not the case. Sometimes communication can be a problem and I just have to throw my hands up and laugh! Other times Nahasibu comes to help me teach but these days he essentially has a full time job with MRF. So it is hard to peel him away from everything that is going on there. I have been volunteering at the health center more frequently, which has been really fun and I learn so much every time I go! I have been helping out at the clinic for pregnant mothers and actually helping to measure their bellies, feel for the baby's head and listen for the heartbeat with this cold metal tool that looks like one of those hearing aids old people would use in the 19th century. Since there's no electricity there is not another option for another tool. But it is really fun to find the heart beat and actually hear the little baby inside! I have been helping a little with counselling as well and just talk about nutrition for pregnant mothers, because they do not get much of that education here. A lot of moms have a serious vitamin and protein deficiency. everyone eats vegetables here but they boil them so much there is not much nutritional value by the time they eat them. So the clinic is a good space to talk about some of that. Protein is a hard one here since meat is so expensive and only people with an income can afford it, probably 98% of my villagers are farmers with little to no income. So meat is out of the question for most. But beans are everywhere!!! And most farmers grow them so they are free! So I encourage a lot of bean intake. Another thing I would like to start working on is family planning because we see so many moms at the clinic who are on their 9th, 10th or 11th pregnancy. And it is really unsafe, especially here in the village setting. Hope everyone is doing well! I am getting really excited for my parents to come in a few weeks and will be out of my village for a little while, as we are going to Zanzibar as soon as they get here! But it should be great. Back to the village today for 2 weeks, will update soon!

Hello Everyone! Habari zenu?

Hope all is well! Things are going better than ever in Ilembo. I have been pretty busy with teaching and starting a few small projects. In addition, things have really been jump started with the NGO in my village, because of the presence of the previous PCV in Ilembo a few weeks ago. She had started a school for Out-of-School Youth to learn how to sow and do carpentry projects. It's a really great idea because there are so many youth who have no source of income and little education and too much time on their hands. So the building was half-finished when she left and then some money was stolen from the account, so we have been dealing with trying to get that money back to complete the actual building. And right now it is looking good! The committee for the NGO is really motivated and they are working on creating the windows and doors (right now it is just brick walls and roof with weeds growing in the middle). The goal is to have the school up and running by April! It seems a little lofty to me, however, only time will tell!

My classes have been going well, they've been challenging, but in a good way. For some reason I have signed on to tutor a 13 year old boy who is in one of my classes and does not know how to read. I literally have zero experience in teaching someone how to read so I have no idea what I am doing. But he's a really smart kid and some how has coasted his way through school without knowing how to read.....not really sure how this has happened. But I did just pick up some books in town this weekend to help teach someone how to read. We are going to go the picture and sound route until we figure out which one works better. But he, Goodwin, or Goodie, is such a sweet kid and really motivated. In one of our sessions the other day I was telling him that I was going to be headed in to town for the weekend, and he revealed to me that he had never even been to town before. And then I got to talking to some other kids and it seems like 99% of them have never even been to town before. Which is really crazy to think about the fact that they've never been off of the mountain to see electricity, or paved roads, or offices. I foresee a potential project in the future....So on top of teaching I have been volunteering at the Health Center, specifically on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because that is the day the CTC is open, which is the treatment center for People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Last week I did a nutrition session, I think maybe they understood a little. But sometimes it is hard because health words for are not well known around here; for example, the words for nutrients or nutrition are never used, so in Swahili you really have to simplify it. I use the word "wadudu" for about everything, which just translates to "bugs." But when I am trying to teach about the importance of washing veggies, plates, or even your hands, that is my main word. I substitute bugs for germs! However, I learned this the hard way after I taught an incredibly complicated lesson to PLWHA and I do not think anyone understood anything, including myself. So I have really learned that its so much better to keep things simple!! Adrienne, my site mate, came to Ilembo two weeks ago on a market day, which is typically crazy! There are so many people, hundreds, bustling around the streets of Ilembo. Nevertheless, we toted a table and a few buckets on our heads, from our house and set up a hand washing station! I cut up a few bars of soap to entice people to come and Adrienne and I basically taught people all day the importance of washing your hands with soap before meals, when you return home from work, and after the bathroom. It was really fun! And then we talked about how visiting the hospital is more expensive than buying a few bars of soap each month but if you do not use soap it is really easy to get sick, because that "wadudu" will enter your tummy. We think we taught about 200 people, but who knows how many people will actually change their behavior! This aspect of my job can sometimes be frustrating, but I figure I am going to do my best to put information out there and then people can make their own decisions! Then this past week four of my widows from my widows group, and myself, went to Iwigi, Adrienne's vill for a seminar. Adrienne had started a chicken project with her widows group (see Facebook for pictures) and they are going to start laying eggs next month. So Adrienne had invited my widows to come and teach a seminar about creating a budget and how to organize an income generating group. Since my widows have a pig project and sow aprons as a business they are well versed in budgets and really do a great job to sticking to them, personal and for the group! So we met in Ilembo Wednesday night and of course as we were waiting for the bus it started to pour! Sometimes if it is really raining hard the bus does not even arrive all the way in Iwigi because the mountain before Iwigi is pretty steep and the bus cannot get back up in the mud. And the Umalila road is not a popular one so it is not like there are multiple choices for transportation, especially to go even farther up the mountain. Luckily, travel in TZ always works out when you least expect it. There was a land rover passing through Ilembo with just enough room for all 5 of us to squeeze in the back! And we were delivered safely to Iwigi.

I had asked my widows to arrange for a place to stay in Iwigi, but of course since none of them had cell phones I knew this would be a hard task. I suggested staying at the little hotel that's in Iwigi, but they were appalled by the thought of it. So we just decided to hodi at a widow's door and she graciously allowed all 4 of them to stay (Adrienne and I were really hoping to have an English only, break from TZ night). So it all worked out and then my widows came over early for breakfast and to prepare the lesson. Then we headed over to the seminar! It could not have gone better! My widows taught everything from leaving money aside in case of emergencies, to how to enforce attendance from each widow if they want to profit from the eggs. It was really great! Luckily the rain held off too so we could hold the seminar outside. And they were all able to speak in Malila, our local language, so that all of the older women could understand. There were about 27 widows in all there! Which is a good size group! And when we were done of course they cooked us a delicious TZ meal of ugali, a meat dish (which is usually mostly bones with a little meat and fat in a sauce), and a green leafy veggie cooked so long there are not any vitamins left. Nevertheless, it was delicious! And we all had to eat without talking because it was raining so hard outside and when it pours there's no way to hear anything if you only have a metal roof! Anyway, it went great! Adrienne and I were really impressed with everyone at the seminar and we think everyone got a lot out of it! I feel like I learned so much too, not only about budgeting, but also from travelling with my widows and spending an extended period of time with them, as opposed to just a few hours, was a huge learning experience for me.

Things that I learned:

Funerals are really important, but they take so many days and so much time and can disrupt any important meeting you have planned. People stop doing anything for weeks except for mourning.If someone offers you food it is SERIOUSLY impolite to refuse it.It is completely okay for young children to be left unmonitored for long periods of time.Little girls are expected to work like adults, and boys are free to do what they wish for most of the day.When you are expecting guests it is polite to meet them as close as you can and shower them with presents, and to also say "Karibu" or "Welcome" as many times as you possibly can.It is a real honor to have guests, and apparently brings you good luck!So, this past weekend has been a pretty typical weekend in town, which I was really looking forward to. Watching movies, hanging out with friends, cooking delicious meals! It has been really fun and also relaxing, which is something I really needed!

All in all, things are great! I am really looking forward to my parents being here in 2 months! And I am starting to prepare more for that trip.

I put up a bunch of pictures in my Facebook album, "Imagine all the People, Sharing all the World." Including pictures of my village, my house, and the widows seminar! So go there to see them! More to come another day.....

I am headed back to the village tomorrow and am looking forward to the next few weeks in Ilembo! For now, on my cell! Oh, and thank you everyone who has sent me packages! As you know they make a huge difference in my life and make me so happy! It is so nice to get a little taste of home!

Will post another in March! Cheers!

Hey guys!

Hope you are all doing well! The most previous blog post I wrote a few weeks ago, but this one I am writing today! Things are going well here! I have started teaching at my Secondary School and my Primary School. The name of my class is "Life Skills" and I hope that it ends up being more of a discussion class than a lecture, but that is not the style in TZ. The class is going to be focused on behavior change, HIV/AIDS prevention, family planning, basic nutrition, hygiene skills, and then we are going to be taking about the importance of finishing school, how to keep a budget, and tons of other stuff! I am so excited about it! I am teaching every grade in the Secondary School. I will see each grade once a month and teach each class for an hour and a half. Then at the Primary School I will be teaching the equivalent of 7th and 8th graders. I will see them once every week. So it should be great! I was really nervous on the first day but now that I have taught a few classes I am feeling more confident. Also, when I describe my work as a Health Educator I actually feel okay about saying it because I actually am starting to teach. Also, I have set up a system for teaching on every baby day in my village and in a village nearby. So each month I will prepare a health lesson for Mamas and their babies and then teach it twice before we start actually weighing the babies. Then I will also be going to the health center and teaching lessons to HIV/AIDS patients who come once a week to pick up their ARVs. So I think so far so good! Also, when I teach I feel like I am really improving my Swahili, especially when it comes to health vocab. Bonus! Anyway, so I spent a solid 3 weeks in Ilembo, which was great. The first week was a little bit of a hard transition, but the 2nd and 3rd weeks were really good! I did have a few embarrassing incidents to report. One was just a serious fall on a slippery hill with one of my friends, but the worst part was my fall made one of my friends fall too! So that was a bummer, luckily we just ended up with a bruise and some dirty clothes. But I felt pretty bad. Another incident was receiving a "Hodi" from one of my friends, Sageni, but I was not really interested in answering it. I was sitting indian style in my shorts and eating a bowl of cabbage, which is kind of an awkward thing to be eating without something else in TZ. So I chose to ignore it and just tried to be really quiet. A few minutes later Sageni is still hodi-ing and just ends up opening the door, which I thought was locked. So then it was really weird because I was sitting in front of the door within perfect earshot and he walked in because there was nothing else for him to do and after we made eye contact I could not really correct it. It turns out he was just stopping by to bring me eggs but it just ended up being really weird because: a. I was wearing shorts and knee visibility is not acceptable here; b. it is not okay to ignore a hodi here, if you are home you must answer the door; c. the fact that I just pretended not to be home and then he was not stopping by to ask me for something, a favor or help, he was bringing me eggs! A sometimes rare and expensive item in these parts! Anyway, we got over it and a few days later we were back to normal. This may not sound too embarrassing, but when it comes to TZ culture it is not really okay. I just get SO many hodi-ers I can't always answer! So one of my really good friends came to my village last week, which was great to have another guest in Ilembo! Then the next day we went to our other friend's village down the mountain from me and we helped to teach an HIV/AIDS lesson to some Mamas, which was really fun! We also enjoyed my friend's cooking, which was amazing--burritos, lattes, curry, etc. It was a real treat! The next day we headed in to town on Saturday night maren, my friend with whom I stay with in town, invited an Israeli couple to stay for the night. They ended up cooking a delicious Israeli food, which was really fun and it was great to talk to them and hear their perspective on Africa because they had done a fair amount of travelling so far. They are also both animators and want to do some illustrations for our Girls Conference. Then this morning I ran in to an American couple from Colorodo and we ended up getting breakfast together and talking about Tanzania and their travels through Africa. They had just been to Malawi and were really impressed with Tanzania and were just excited about how friendly all the people are here, which of course I was happy to hear! And then tonight we had a French guy over for dinner who also just had happened to have been passing through! It was really fun because he has done a ton of travelling through Africa and was floating through by himself, for the most part just hitching rides where he can and crashing with whomever invites him. So it was definitely an interesting weekend of meeting new people and hearing new perspectives. Anyway, so work is going well. And I feel like finally I am actually doing things that are sustainable--I am a firm believer that this is the most sustainable activity I can do here. In other news, I finally purchased a kerosene stove which has extremely sped up my cooking, I cannot believe I have only been using charcoal this whole time! Also, big news my parents have bought their plane tickets for May 1-21st! It is only going to be the best Holland family adventure ever! We plan to hit up Ruaha Park to see some animals! Spend some time in Ilembo! And make an appearance on Zanazibar! It's going to be great and we are going to have a fantastic African adventure! I really cannot wait. So I have a few meetings tomorrow and then headed back to Ilembo! I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the Super Bowl! Go Steelers, I guess!

Cheers!

January 9, 2011 Hello everyone! So I am back in the game in Ilembo! After a whole month of travelling, speaking English, eating food that has already been prepared for me, and being around friends all the time (this is definitely the hardest thing to transition from). Coming back to Ilembo was a little challenging mostly because now that training has passed it is technically time for me to start doing work, yikes! Even though I have already started working in my village it is time for me to start thinking about projects and starting to teach, which just sounds scary. But the best part is I have 39 friends going through the same thing right now (yep, everyone in our whole group is still here which is really impressive!) I came home to an incredibly messy house, my curtains had fallen down, Moshi had knocked everything off my table, there was many a spiderweb, and Karots had already been replaced(I guess there is not much time to mourn in TZ) with a crying scraggly cat that peed on I think every possible surface of my house. If you are familiar with the smell of cat pee you know it is quite unpleasant and hard to remove. This cat was so skiddish and scared it ran away the next morning and we have not seen her since. This event combined with the events of the past month, has led me to just feel a little over pets. I think Moshi will be enough for me right now. So after spending two full days cleaning my house one of my really good friends from training came for a few days, which was a blast! I showed her Ilembo and we had a meeting with my orphans group. It is a really great group of people, not connected with the NGO, who are in charge of looking after orphans in my village. However, they are really interested in doing projects but I am not quite sure what direction we are going to take. I think some sort of income generation, maybe a livestock project. Not sure....right now I am in charge of coming up with a new name for the group. It was formerly called "Mama Kubwa" which translates as "Big Mama." But since there has been a switch up of some of the members we voted to change the name. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas. The holiday season here has surpassed all of my expectations. I was planning on going to Mafia Island for Christmas but then changed my plans at last minute and decided to go to my friend's village near Iringa. We had a fantastic time. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas cooking tons of food and hanging out outside in her huge courtyard. For Christmas we prepared delicious burritos and sang Christmas songs and told Christmas stories in front of the fire place, yes we had a fire place. Katie's counterpart came over and we sang her “Jingle Bells” and “I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.” It was so nice! Then Christmas morning we all opened our Secret Santa presents that Santa had left under our tree (a branch of a pine tree with battery powered Christmas lights that arrived in a Christmas package). Then we all drank coffee and hot chocolate in front of the fire and one of my friends made her famous cinnamon rolls with icing. Yum!

Then in the afternoon we put on a pot of chili for dinner and headed over to an orphanage that is in my friend's village. It was so fun to play with the kids and just hang out. The orphanage is run by Tanzanians but funded by an Italian NGO so the children have a really nice set up and they are all really well taken care of. We helped to feed ugi, or porridge, to the infants and we sang Christmas songs to some of the older ones. All in all it was a great time! And I am really excited to visit it again.

Then Christmas night we watched Love Actually on a computer. It was really great. All in all it was such a wonderful Christmas, even though it was my first Christmas away from home. Having such loving friends made it okay to be away from home.

In other news I do have some sad things to report. Raha, the dog of the previous PCV who lived in my village was hit by a car and died. And Karots, see previous post for picture, has also died. Both of these incidents happened while I was away so I cannot help but feeling extremely guilty about both of them. However, I did arrange for them to be in proper hands before I left. After a crying session I realized such is life in Africa. And I hope they both rest in peace. I am confident that they both lived full lives up until their deaths. As hard as it is to loose a pet I realize that once I get through my mourning period I must move on, as I believe both Raha and Karots would want Moshi, my remaining pet, and myself to do.

So do not consider me leaving my blog on a sad note because Moshi and I will hold our heads high and continue to live our happy lives in Ilembo.

I want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you are all listening to tons of holiday music, watching too many holiday movies, and baking delicious holiday food for me! I am looking forward to spending New Years in my village. I believe people go to church and celebrate the new year in village fashion here. 2011 is going to be a fantastic year! As usual one of my new year's resolutions is to smile and laugh more! I always think this is something I can improve on, because why not smile and laugh all day long! Especially at myself, which is pretty easy to do here since I do silly things all the time, or at least my villagers seem to think so! So I hope everyone is thinking of positive resolutions and ways to improve their lives and make the world a happier and more peaceful place!

Cheers and love,

Anna

Hello All!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Holiday season! I have had a wonderful month of December so far! It has really been great! It all started with stopping by Iringa on my way to Morogoro for training and visiting with some friends. Iriniga is really "safi" (technically means "clean" but is also used for cool, fun, nice, etc.). You can buy all sorts of fun fabrics, jewelry, shoes and bags! We had fun exploring!

Morogoro also surpassed my expectations. It is a really big city and there are huge mountains and lakes around the borders. We stayed at a religious center, which is actually where the Education Volunteers have their training. I stayed in a room with three friends. We had two double beds and a twin bed divided in two bedrooms. But it was so hot that we just pulled the ma tresses out of the bedrooms and slept in the living room where there was a fan and we could blast it on high. It was like a two week sleepover! The only problem was that we did have to sleep without mosquito nets, which actually was not too bad. And since we are all on malaria meds it is not a problem, just annoying. The weather in Morogoro is like the complete opposite of Mbeya. It's hot, muggy, there are a ton of bugs everywhere. There are monkeys swinging around and fruit trees everywhere. It was a nice transition, but I was SO HOT. Luckily in our time off from training we were able to make a few visits to a near by pool and go swimming. But do not let this fool you into thinking that training was a vacation because it was far from it. We were in class from at least 8-5 learning about everything from grant writing, to potential project ideas, to how to make a fast burning stove out of concrete. We also got a refresher on permagardening, which a shortened way of saying a "permanent garden." Basically, the idea behind permagardening stems from PEPFAR, which is an initiative set up by George Bush to improve HIV/AIDS education in Africa and the quality of life for people who live with HIV/AIDS. This amazing RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer), who travels all over Africa to teach, taught us how to create more efficient gardens. The idea behind it is that by using a few new techniques you can grow a significant amount more crops and also teach about good nutrition and show how easy it is to plant things like carrots, peppers, and other greens. Also, how to use lemongrass as fencing, which is also full of good nutrients and great to put in tea for HIV/AIDS patients because it has numbing capabilities and if they have open sores in their mouths it can help to decrease the pain so that they can eat. It's really cool stuff. And pretty easy to teach. The only really overwhelming part is whether people will actually make these changes in their own gardens. Implementation is definitely one of the hardest parts of PC. But all in all it was a really helpful training. Nahasibu, my counterpart, along with all the other counterparts, one per PCV, came during the second week to learn as well. There were some aspects of the training that he has already learned because he went to the same training with the volunteer I replaced. However, I still think it was very helpful. He was really enthusiastic about everything, as Nahasibu usually is.

Another really useful aspect of training was making a plan with my counterpart for the next few months. Here are some ideas we came up with that are a mix of my villagers requests, the results of a needs assessment created by my village, and bouncing ideas off of other PCVs:

1. Since 2008 Mbeya has had an annual Girls Conference, so we will implement this in June of 2011. The Girls Conference pretty much consists of talking to girls about everything a teenage girl could possibly need to know, as well as empowering them to make positive decisions for their future. In addition, we are talking about a Boys Conference as well.

2. To create a club for the youth in my village. Then to teach a few leaders how to do condom demonstrations and where to get condoms. Then these few youth leaders would be able to get condoms in large supply and disperse them to the rest of the village youth, as well as providing instruction for use. Since a lot of the reasons why the youth do not use condoms are because they are embarrassed to actually go to the health center and ask for them. So if their peers are passing them out they should be much more widespread...or that's the idea.

3. I would like to teach Life Skills at the Secondary School. However, I will need to discuss this with my headmaster when I return to my village. But this would cover everything from dating to business.

4. I would really like to work with my Widows Group and maybe create a more sustainable project with them. As popular as the aprons are, and as much as they enjoy making them. I think we may move in a different direction.

5. Hopefully, I will be able to work more at the Health Center. I would like to spend more time learning about HIV/AIDS issues in my village and Maternal Health Care. I think for both of these issues I have a lot more learning to do before I even propose doing education or projects with these groups of people.

6. Since SO MANY villagers want to learn English I think I will continue my English lessons. Even though it is not what I came here to do it is what my villagers want. And it also helps with the 2nd goal of Peace Corps, which is to teach Tanzanians about American culture. So I plan on having fun with this!

7. To continue helping to weigh babies and to pair this with nutrition lessons.

So those are 7 of my goals right now. Another goal that I made at training is to maybe step back on my work a little bit. I realized that I was spending a lot of time working with the NGO in my village, but not a lot of time figuring out what I want to do here. So I am officially stepping back from working with the NGO and focusing solely on Peace Corps work! I am really exited about this and am ready for a fresh start in my village! However, I am a little concerned about how much pressure this leaves on my counterpart, Nahasibu. I will keep you all posted!

In other news after Moro a lot of us decided to go to Dar es Salaam for a few days. It has been great! I feel like I have been in a mini-America, well kind of. There are some areas of Dar where there are more white people than Tanzanians, mostly ex-pats! We had a few nice meals here, fish, Lebanese food, and Chinese. Also, some delicious street food! Yum! All in all it has been a great visit to Dar. One of my favorite parts is that everyone is so impressed that we all know Swahili! It can definitely get you far here.

Tomorrow I am headed back down to Iringa to spend Christmas with some friends. I decided not to head to Mafia Island this year just because it would mean I would get back to my village a lot later than I would like. And I miss my cats!! But Mafia will be there....and like my mom has always reminded me it is okay to not go to EVERY party....sometimes I forget that. So Christmas will be spent in my friends village, I think there are going to be around 10 of us. And we are doing a Secret Santa as well! Which should be really fun! Also on Christmas day we are going to go to an Orphanage in a neighboring village to play some games with the kids and just to have some fun. It should be a great time! I will let you know how it goes.

So Merry Merry Christmas everyone! I hope Santa visits all your houses! Just so you know I will be thinking of you all on this special day! And I will be sure to have my phone on me if you can call!

Ho Ho Ho!

Hello all! So I have to apologize for not updating in a while. It has been really busy in Ilembo and I have not had much time to write up a post. I think I will just summarize the past month and a half with some bullet points: So we went to Matema Beach for a birthday celebration at the end of October. Matema Beach is right on Lake Malawi, or Ziwa Nayasa as they say here. It was absolutely amazing. The travel was a headache but once we got there it was worth it. Summary of Matema: We stayed in these little cottages right on the beach and had a view of the mountains from our window, sloping in to the lake. The sunrise and the moonrise from behind the mountains was breathtaking. Maren and I actually went on a canoe ride—see facebook for pictures—in a canoes made out of a tree trunk. We went on this deceivingly challenging hike to a waterfall and were actually able to make our way behind the waterfall, it was amazing. I think one of the coolest things I have ever done. We relaxed a read books on the beach, it was a much needed vacation from village life Then I celebrated Halloween alone in my village with delicious candy corn; However, as I was eating the candy corn in my hammock in my courtyard the hook that holds my hammock up pulled out of the wall and my hammock fell....maybe I should have eaten a little less candy corn. The month of November was pretty insane: Helped weigh babies multiple times and teach about good nutrition with Nahasibu Went to church a few times Hung out in town a little with some friends Planned a World AIDS Day Event Did some farming Got a lot of free food because I helped to farm Realized I really love my village Successfully made rice wine Held a lot of meetings to organize World AIDS Day Held my PACA tools meetings—required PC protocol Had a visit from PC to talk about Ilembo and make sure everything was going well Celebrated Thanksgiving, American Style! Mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, mango cobbler, wine, green been casserol with the fried onions on top, cranberry sauce, chili, etc, etc. It was amazing! I seriously surpassed my expectations! Then on November 30 I actually had my big World AIDS Day Party, because the NGO, KIHUMBE Group, that I had invited was obviously very busy on December 1 so we just did it a day early. It ended up being such a success and I was so happy about it, even though it was a ton of work. KIHUMBE Group, an NGO from Mbeya came to perform about AIDS, teach, do some crazy dance moves and test people. There were over 200 people there and 89 people got tested, 6 positive. The percentage is lower than the average 9% in Mbeya Region. Also, in Ilembo ARVs are available for all people living with AIDS. So we instructed everyone who found out they were positive to go straight to the Health Center and talk with the doctor to get their CD4 count tested and open up a file. Then the Ilembo Drumming Group performed, which was great! They are always a hoot and attract tons villagers Then we had students from the Secondary School sing We had the head of the entire Ward of Ilembo, not just the village, talk about AIDS My Community Theater Group performed about sexism and stigma We had a tug of war between villagers---I was on the loosing team Then we had meter races, men versus men and women versus women. This was an aspect of the day that I did not really think was important when we were planning the event, but it ended up being my favorite part! It was so much fun! Everyone was so excited to race and watch the races. Even some of my widows ran, which I thought was impressive! Then we had a soccer game between Ilembo and the next village over. So fun! We also successfully planned food for all of our guests, which ended up being pricey but Mama Finga who cooked all of it volunteered all of her services, which was so sweet! And a lot of work to do for free. I was actually really shocked with how many people volunteered their time and services to help with the event. It was great! As tired as I was I ended up going in to town the next day because I was heading to Iringa the day after and needed to buy my bus ticket. It also happened to be my Birthday! So I stayed at Maren's house in town, aka the “Hotel” and we made burritos with beans, guac, an lots and lots of veggies. It was delicious! Oh, a chipati instead of the tortillas. The next day Megean and I travelled to Iriniga to meet up with some friends there. We went to this very safi—nice--restaurant and I ordered chipsi mayai, which you can buy anywhere and is essentially just eggs and potatoes mixed together, when I could have ordered a burger or pizza. I think I am turning in to a Tanzanian.... Iringa was great and it was so nice to see some friends that I had not seen since training! The next day we all got on the nicest bus I think I have seen in Tanzania. My knees did not hit the seat in front of me, there was no one standing in the aisle, the person who was sitting next to me was not smushed up next to me—it was great! And along the way we saw elephants, giraffes, a zebra rolling around in the dirt, and lots of monkeys. Always a good time! Now we are all in Morogoro for IST (In-Service Training) if you have not noticed PC loves acronyms. So we are staying at a very nice center divided into houses on the same compound and so far it has been really fun. We had a half day yesterday so we all went to a pool at a hotel and swam away the afternoon. Then we had delicious Chinese food for dinner at the hotel. It was very nice! And so nice to go swimming since it is HOT here! Okay well that's all for now but I will update more this week since I will be having a lot more internet access!

Meet Moshi (3 months).

Meet Karots (2 months).

So they are from different litters and really did not like each other the first day, but they are getting along smashingly now and playing together all day! They're so cute!

Sunrise over Lake Malawi.

Well my phone officially works at site! It's no iphone and the

interndt service is pretty sporadic inside. Nonetheless, its daily

access to email! Get ready to hear from me all the time! So this past

weekend I was the first one to arrive at our hotel. I talked to the

people who run the place for a little and then i went out to do some

errands. When I returned the woman who does the cleaning started

knocking on my door and saying my friend was here. I was pretty confused because I thought my friends were not coming

until later. But I go outside and there was another white girl who

looked about my age. Her name was Bella and she was actually from

Brazil. She had been travelling all over Africa since June. She had

just arrived in Tanzania the day before from Malawi. She was travelling by herself and on her way to Uganda, sort of just

drifting along, meeting people as she went, staying at random houses

for as long as she wished. I was pretty shocked by this because I

personally would not want to cross international borders here by

myself. But it was funny because she was almost just as shocked as I

was about my situation. She could not believe I was living in a

village without electricity that was so far away. So it was kind of funny as we both sat with our jaws dropped listening

to each other's stories. Im envious of her travelling and her free

spirit. But I would not feel totally safe doing what she is doing,

especially without knowing the language and not even having a cell

phone! "Nimeshangaa!" a common phrase around here meaning "I am

shocked!"

Anyway life here is improving. It did take me 5 hours to get

home on Monday. All the passengers had to get off and walk twice

because the bus could not make it up the hill. And then the bus stops

at the top of the hill and everyone shuffles back on. Its quite an

experience. Some people just jump out of the windows because it takes

so long to wait to get out the door. At one point, after I had

disembarked a mama hands me her baby through the window and then jumps

out herself.There's really no order to the whole process. Anyway we all arrived

safely as we always do! More to come soon!

Hey guys! So I hope you all are doing well. I am in town this weekend, which is a nice break. Peace Corps allows volunteers to come in to town 4 days a month so I am making this a long weekend, since it is kind of a hike to even get in here. My bus came even earlier than normal on Friday morning. It is supposed to leave at 5:30 but it is always late so I was not planning on showing up in town until 5:45. Luckily I have been suffering from a cold—scratchy sore throat, stuffed up nose, and cough—so I was not sleeping well on Friday night and got up at about 4:30 to make some tea and put my head over a hot pot of water. Just as I am making the tea I hear a vehicle come down the hill behind my house. It was curious because it was the middle of the night and cars do not usually leave that early here. It sounded big and heavy like the bus, but an hour early? I hear it pull in to the downtown area(by this I mean a series of one story shops lining the road), not because the downtown area is particularly close but when there's no other noise to muffle the sound and because the bus is just a very loud contraption. So I hear it pull in and start to honk. At this point I was not ready in the least. So I throw my bag together, pour water over my hot coals, and rush out the door. I start running because it sounds like the driver is getting more and more impatient by honking more frequently and for longer periods of time. Running in the dark up a hill at 5:00AM, with a giant backpack on, wearing a skirt is not my idea of fun. As I am reaching the bus it is about to start leaving luckily they see my bobbing flashlight and stop. “Ah, Nsendo,” which is the name of a girl who lives in another village but a little farther away. I say, “Ninaitwa Anna. Nsendo anaishi Ewigi, ninaishi hapa hapa Ilembo.” Or “My name is Anna. Nsendo lives in Ewigi. I live here in Ilembo,” something which I have probably explained to the people who work on the bus more the 10 times now. But here in Mbeya we volunteers get confused as one another on a regular basis. At least they were actually using a name and not saying “Mzungu” which is white person. I do not really get offended by it when I am in town or traveling. I still usually clarify. But when it is in my village I do not appreciate it. I am supposed to be one of the villagers! So I usually correct people a lot. Hopefully this will get better with time. Anyway I get on the bus and we start booking it down the road. We are going so quickly that I actually miss the village where I had intended to disembark ( I was going to visit one of my friend's sites who is not too far from me and I would get off at “JoJo” and then walk for two hours to her village). Once I realize that I passed JoJo I call her, luckily with enough time she is able to catch a ride in to town. Remember as PCVs we are required to be flexible!--Our intentions for a relaxing day baking, changed to a stressful day of errands in town, but that's okay!

So since I have last posted I feel as though I have made great strides in my village. The more time I spend there the better my Swahili gets, even though my villagers would like to tell you otherwise—Tanzanians can be a little critical in a very joking manner. Last week I went with Nahasibu to a neighboring village to go help to weigh babies. Since I now have a bike we decided to bike there—it would have taken about 2 hours to walk. I swear it was uphill both ways! Once we got there I think a lot of the Mamas were pretty surprised to see me there. Some of them were happy I was there and then others were just very curious, a pretty typical reaction. I gave an introduction and then Nahasibu started to ask some very good questions to all the Mamas. Like why it is important that they come every month to weigh their babies and keep track of their health. Also what they would do if their baby lost weight and what types of food they should feed their babies in the first two years. It was a really great lesson and the Mamas asked some really good questions in Kimalili, the local language, which Nahasibu then translated for me into Swahili. Then two nurses showed up to give vaccinations, I think they were the two least sensitive people I have ever met when it came to giving the babies shots. It also seemed pretty disorganized. I am not really sure how the were accurately giving the right babies the right shots. But I just stood back and watched. All the vaccinations are free for the mothers, which is great. I explained how in America people have to pay for vaccinations and everyone was shocked! Anyway, Nahasibu and I pretty much took over the weighing of babies, we had a pretty good system going and we saw almost 200 babies in just a few hours. It was great! We are going back next month to help again. The woman who runs the clinic was very appreciative and seemed really excited that we were going to return next time. When we were done we shared a lunch of white rice, avocado, milk mgando (basically like plain yogurt) and then we said our goodbyes and left. On our way down one of the very dusty, rocky hills the right brake went out on my bike, which meant I could only use my left one. At one point I had to pass Nahasibu because I could not slow down! Yikes! Luckily, I made it home safely and the next day took my bike to town to get fixed, which was much less of a headache than I thought it was going to be, except that the person who works at the bike shop is SO hard to understand and always makes fun of me when I can't understand him. But anyway, the bike is now fixed, or “Salama,” which directly translates as “Peaceful” but I think it also just works for the word “Safe.”

In other news I have still not gotten a cat. My "roomates" are still causing a lot of commotion during the night. Sometimes I bang on my wall and they quiet down. I think they are starting to get used to that now though. So hopefully by the next time I update I will have cats and no mice/rats! I've been running almost everyday which has been really nice and I think people are starting to get used to it. I've set up the hammock in my courtyard, which is a really great spot to read and very relaxing! Nothing has come up in my garden yet, but hopefully soon! I am looking in to maybe splurging on a solar panel, but I am not sure how it would fair in the rainy season, which is Dec-April. I have been eating a lot of avocados. They are so cheap! Basically the equivalent of 10 cents. Last weekend I went to a village meeting to discuss the village budget. It was supposed to start at 11:30, but it did not actually start until 4:00--this entire time I was waiting around at the village office, good thing I brought my journal! And then it ended around 6:45, but only because everyone only had 15 minutes to make it home before dark! I've finished making my curtains and I think they look quite nice. Also, my two aunts and my mother have supplemented me with some amazing decorations, which just make my house more homey, which makes me happier! Thanks family! Last Sunday I went to a 4 hour long church service. It was really fun for the most part, a little long, beautiful singing! I met with my widows group on Monday and we discussed continuing the apron and gown project. The aprons are really well made and the children's gowns are really cute too. They create these two items and then I sell them and we get money for the orphans group to pay for school fees. Then we went to see one of the projects that the previous volunteer had worked on with the Widows group. She got a grant to get pigs and so now the group is raising 5 pigs. In about 2 years they will be full grown and they will sell them, but hopefully in the mean time they will reproduce!

I have had a great weekend in town. Eaten a lot of chipsi mayai, which is pretty much the cheapest meal you can get, its just eggs and potatoes mixed together. Also, I bought two used Longchamp bags at a used clothing market for under $5! I am very excited about this! I also made the splurge for an internet phone so everyone cross your fingers that it works in my village. If it does expect daily emails from me! Miss you guys. Everyday things are getting a little easier here.

Okay, back to my village now! Talk with you all soon. My friend here gave me an idea to do video journals so I think I may try and do a few of those this next week and then post them to my blog!

Thanks for all the mail and packages!

Hello family and friends! I just thought I would give a quick update even though I feel like I do not have too much to say. Last week was a relatively low key week in my village. I have started my VSA report which is an assessment of my village that I will need to do a presentation on during IST (In-Service Training) in December, we believe this is going to be in Morogoro. Basically I have started the house to house interviews which are just a series of questions that I ask a mama or a baba (dad) about their family. This way I can get my face out there to the village a little more and learn about some of the basic issues of the families here. So far people have been pretty friendly with me. Most of the families I have talked to are really curious and I do not think they quite understand why I am there, or why I have not started to do work yet. So I do the best I can in my swahili to explain to them that I cannot technically start to do any work yet for the first three months at site because right now I am just trying to learn more swahili and learn about Ilembo. Most people get this. I also get a lot of "hodi-ers." When you knock on someone's door in Tanzania you say the word "hodi" really fast and again and again until the person comes to the door. The typical "hodi-er" is pretty unrelentless and if you do not come to the door as quickly as possible they will start to knock loudly. If you do not respond to this many feel free to look through all of your windows or your courtyard wall to see if they can spot you. So if your inside and you don't want to answer the door your options are limited. I have to admit a few times people have "hodi-ed" and I just really have not been in the mood to answer--I get a lot of kids who just come and sit in my living room and say they come to talk but really just sit there and stare and it is hard to get them to leave--so I have just sat very still on my bed with a book. One person did not stop trying to hodi for over 30 minutes! I could not believe it! And then I'm pretty sure they sat outside of my house for even longer than that. Don't get me wrong I really love my villagers, but sometimes it is just too much. And to interact with people here takes a lot of effort because you are crossing cultural and language barriers, both of which are not second nature to me yet. So just your casual conversation tires me out! In other news I bought a bike so I am really looking forward to using it and not sitting on the back of Nasibu's to go everywhere. I am however concerned about the condition of the roads on the actual bike so I do expect to break down, which means I want to make sure I am always close to home before dark. I also put up pictures in my house, which makes it much more homey! Last week I started a garden as well in my courtyard. I planted carrots, green peppers, spinach, some herbs, onions, and beans. Nothing has sprouted yet so we'll see how it goes! I think some of the seeds were a little old, but apparently the soil in Ilembo is quite good so I think I have that going for me! It will be my first garden that I have ever done on my own so I hope to learn a lot from it and then maybe teach about gardening in the schools--Peace Corps really pushes us to teach how to garden and tie it in to a good nutrition lesson. Food here is okay. I really like some things and I really do not like others--like dried fish. And cooking for yourself here just takes forever! Sometimes it is just not even worth it--you have to set up the charcoal, and then get it to light, and then actually start cooking, make sure the coals stay hot, add more charcoal, etc. etc. It is a long process! Sometimes I enjoy it, and sometimes it is just too much work. The pressure cooker helps though! Sadly, my wine did not turn out well. I think I did not add enough sugar. But I certainly learned how not to make wine! So I'm going to try again! I think I will stick with the pinneapple as the flavoring!Okay I just want to say I miss everyone and I hope everyone is doing well. Thank you again for all of the letters and packages I have received. I feel so lucky to have such a great support system at home! I will talk to you all soon!

Back to my village now! See Facebook for photos. Again, thanks for the mail everyone!

So I was eating unidentifiable meat fat sitting in a wooden hut with a big fire in front of me, a hanging pig skin drying from the ceiling above me and a pigs head in the next room over. This was only a portion of one of the longest days of my life. But how did I get here? Well this day started like any other at about 6AM, which is when I have been getting up lately because I can get a good 30 minute run in before most people are out and about and without everyone stopping and staring at me. Then I return home and start up some water for coffee on my charcoal stove. Then I usually anxiously wait around for the coffee, maybe do a little yoga. So after I had my coffee I got dressed. It's freezing cold at my site so I always wait until the last minute to get out of my paints and put on my skirt. Then Nahasibu (the counterpart of the volunteer that I replaced and the person who will most likely be my counterpart, haven't asked yet!) came over. Our plans were to go visit a primary school and bring soap, pens, and books to orphans that are helped out by an NGO here. Nahasibu had mentioned that the school was a good distance away, but I was not put off by this, I figured maybe an hour walk, two at the most. And wanting to follow Peace Corps protocol I wore my nice flip flops and a nice skirt and shirt (PC really en-grained in us that we need to look nice at our sites, I'm trying to uphold this but sometimes it's so hard because it's so dusty and I wear flip flops everywhere so just by walking out my door I look like I had a front row seat at a Derby). So we started our journey. Nahasibu brought his bicycle and as soon as we got to the road instructed me to get on. I was a little confused at first. But on every bike here in TZ there's something like a shelf behind the driver's seat. Its about 1 foot by 4 inches and composed of a metal. It's not very comfortable. But I hopped on! You have to sit sideways on it, which kind of reminds me of how women used to have to ride horses sideways because it was inappropriate for them to sit properly on a horse. The first mile or so was REALLY SCARY. I was clinging on the metal grate underneath me and holding my legs up. I was bracing myself for a fall any second and just hoping that if we were to flip we would go towards the side my feet were on and not my back! But luckily Nahasibu was a very cautious driver. My village—I should actually say my ward because technically we were out of my village and visiting a school in another village, but I will be doing work within my entire ward, which is quite large—is really hilly and mountainous. Because Tanzanian bikes do not have gear shifters you have to walk up every hill. So every time there was an incline we had to disembark and walk. We passed through a few villages, stopped and talked to some villagers, greeted everyone we passed—of course! And passed some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen (at one point I could have sworn I was in Oregon or Washington because there was a forest of huge pine trees). It made me really wish I had my camera—this always a problem I have because I do not want to advertise that I have a camera, or any other nice technology, but at the same time I always want to take pictures! I think I will give it a little more time and then maybe pull it out because there are too many picture worthy moments to not attempt to capture them. Also, it is not like I am worried about things being stolen because I feel very safe in my village but I am trying to explain to so many people that I do not have a lot of money, which is the truth, and that I am here as a volunteer. And if I out all out my camera or an ipod no one will believe me!—Anyway, so we passed what would have been an amazing picture of cattle trotting in a line, the one in front with a bell and then a small shoeless, shirtless child who could not have been older than 10 herding them with a stick. The background to this shot was this huge mountainside composed a farms fields and plots of trees. It was breathtaking. So we finally arrived at the base of a mountain, which was fine, except that I was in the worst outfit ever to be hiking up a mountain! Trying to remember that PCVs have to be flexible I put a smile on my face and started climbing! So once we got to the top Nahasibu pointed out to our final destination, two mountains over! What?! I was surprised. But it ended up being okay! We stopped at this guy's house who works on a campaign to fight Malaria. Fittingly, everyone calls this man Malaria. So his wife served us chai, with so much sugar as usual, and some fried dough. Nutritious! Then we continued on our journey. Stopping at one school on the way to pass out some soap to 4 orphans there. They were all really excited! And of course very surprised to see a white person. Their village was pretty out there so I do not think they see too many white people. We left the school with promises to return later! Nahasibu does a really fabulous job of explaining to everyone that I am first of all not here to pass out money and that I am a volunteer who has come to teach about health, and also that right now I am just trying to improve my swahili and learn more about what work I want to do. He worked so closely with the previous volunteer that he knows all about PC and the schedule of everything. (Now I am supposed to be working on a report about the challenges and success of my village and then after a training in December I will start projects). It's really nice to have someone who already understands why I am there and can explain it to other people. So we continued our hike, having picked up Malaria and one of Malaria's friends. We went down a mountain, across a river, passed a dead snake, up another mountain, down, and then up again. Phew! I think these shoes may have to be retired now. We finally got to the school and the children greeted us with a a beautiful song! We meet with the three teachers who work there. Sat through an incredibly long meeting with the School committee, from now on when I say I go to a meeting you can just assume that it is over 3 hours, and then we passed out all the loot we brought with us. We ended up having some extra soap so we gave a few bars to a few widows who were on the school committee who actually host orphans at their houses. All in all it was a good time! So I figured we were ready to return home. I should have know better. The head teacher of the school asked us to come over for lunch. So our group headed on over to his house, chowed down on some ugali, eggs and soda. At this point I was feeling really dehydrated and was offered water but turned it down (I had no idea whether it was safe or not and I did not want to risk it, I knew whatever feelings of dehydration were better than the consequences I would pay later if I were to drink dirty water). Then of course the day continued! The head teacher insisted that we go check out the market in his village, which was even farther up a mountain and in the opposite direction of home. Yikes! When we got there it was the least impressive market I have seen, a few wooden shacks and then some women selling corn. I was a little confused about why we came. But then he insisted that we go visit this store cooking meat, which is how I ended up eating unidentifiable meat fat sitting in a wooden hut with a big fire in front of me, a hanging pig skin drying from the ceiling above me and a pigs head in the next room over. At this point I was full, really dehydrated, blisters on my feet, a layer of dust on my face, seriously seriously sunburned (even after all my best efforts I think I will look 34 and not 24 when I come home), really tired mentally and physically, especially because so many people had been talking to me all day and I was just to the point where I did not want to ask “I'm sorry could you say that again a little more slowly”” or saying “I'm sorry I do not understand, please wait while I look up a word.” So I was just saying yes to everything. I think Nahsibu sensed this a little because we said that we should probably return home. This was like music to my ears. I knew that the journey home would not be fun but I was ready to get it over with. And at this point, considering it took us a really long time to get there, I was concerned that we would not get home before dark (darkness falls in Africa really quickly and when you do not have electricity it gets REALLY dark). The head teacher tried to insist that we go to another place and drink more soda but we turned him down. And we started walking. He suggested we go a different way because it would be a “short cut” I'm not sure if it was any shorter because of course we got lost. During one part of our hike I could have sworn I was in the Amazon jungle. It was so random! And if I had seen a snake swinging from the trees I would not have been surprised. Finally we made it back to the road, at least we could do some biking at this point, but of course I felt awful for Nahasibu because he was still working hard, while I was just sitting on the back of the bike. I was to tired to be concerned with having an accident on the way home. In fact I'm not sure I even remember the last hour of the trip. But I do remember that as soon as I got home the headmaster brought me a package that had been mailed to me from the mom of my good friend. It contained chocolate bars, magazines, and a pesto packet. Needless to say I devoured one of the chocolate bars and made pesto pasta for dinner. It was the perfect ending to a long day! I was happy to be home. And as much as my feet hurt, as dehydrated as I was and as dirty as I was, I was so happy about everything we accomplished—I was really just along for the ride. I learned a lot, got to see some beautiful scenery, listen to meet more people in my ward, and play with kids. What could be better?! The next day I woke up early and helped way babies at one of the clinics in my village. This was a long process. But so much fun! All of the moms have a chart where they can keep track of the weight of their children. It's pretty easy to understand, which is great for those who do not read. They bring their children once a month and then you just mark their age and their weight on the graph to see if they are in a healthy range or underweight. Also, it helps to track if the children have lost weight or gained weight. It was really fun to interact with all the Mamas and their babies. For those of you who have seen the movie “Babies” you know that African babies are adorable. They all have huge eyes and beautiful facial features. Most Tanzanians have very pronounced check bones and jaw bones, but it is so cute to see the chubby faces of all the babies. Some of them were very new as well! A few just a month or two old, weighing between 5-6kilos. They were so small! The scale is kind of like what you see at a grocery store to weigh veggies, hanging from the ceiling, except instead of a basin connected to place the babies, there's just a hook. And then there's this piece of fabric with straps that the babies put their legs through and then you attach the straps to the hook and the babies just hang there. It's really funny to watch. Some of the babies are asleep, these are the easiest ones to way, some of them are just hanging there smiling, some of them are really upset and crying and shaking their legs around. This makes it really hard to see their weight so their mamas usually have to try and calm them down a little so the scale can stay still. The hardest ones to way are the ones that are too big to fit in the swing. They just have to hold on to the hook and hang there, these are kids who are over 15-16months. But they have trouble holding on, its a little uncomfortable but most of them were good sports about it. It was really a great time! I learned a lot! Okay, so I feel like I have a lot more to say but I have already written a lot so you probably don't want to read too much more. I'll try and briefly sum up what I have been up to since I last updated my blog. The ride back from town last time was interesting to say the least. I had so much stuff with me, including 4 cans of heavy paint. It was such a pain! I ended up having to pay someone to carry it back to my house just because it was so heavy! I was one of the last people to buy a ticket for the bus so I got the seat all the way in the back row, but in the middle, stupidly thinking that this would at least allow me to have some leg room because there were no seats in front of me. So I wedged in between some teenage boys, bought a bag of peanuts, which I immediately spilled on the floor because I opened the bag too aggressively and because of course I wanted more people to be staring at me. By the time we left town the bus was packed to the brim. I don't think we could have fit one more thing on there. The good part of everyone being so squeezed on to vehicles here is that it provides good security if you get in to an accident. I was so wedged in I think it was probably safer than wearing a seat belt! So about half way in to the trip all of the sudden I see a pair of feet hit the window in my row. What?! Why is there are person there! And then the boy opened the window and the guy stuck his feet in, then his legs, and then slid right on in to the bus. I was shocked. This was my first time seeing this happen (since this time I have seen this happen a few times and now know that one of the people who work on the bus actually ride on the roof most of the way with the luggage). Anyway, for the most part I have just been trying to get settled in to my village, meet people, visit schools, health centers and meet the villagers. I have successfully baked bread a few times on my charcoal stove by making a dutch oven. I even made banana bread! It was so good! And cookies too. On market day, Friday, you can buy a lot of food items in my village, but every other day tomatoes, onions, avocados, and randomly pineapples are available. Also, my village is famous for it's milk and it is well deserved because the milk is delicious! It's become a new love of mine and it is so nice to be able to have fresh milk on a daily basis, you have to boil it first of course, but if you leave it outside overnight it will be really cold in the morning and warm milk is a good after dinner treat! Especially when it is so cold! Also, I have been doing a lot of reading. Since college I have always been a big reader but with so many other technological distractions I could always find excuses to only read a few pages or not finish a book. Here reading is such a pleasure. It's such a great way to escape from everything and now I find myself craving that time of day when I can put on some pajamas and jump in to my sleeping bag and read a book. I will not tell you how many books I've read since I've been at site, but it is a lot! Last weekend I went to visit another volunteer who is even farther from town than I am! And on the same road. So I hoped on the bus when it swung through my village and rode it to the end of the line, her village. And spent two nights. It was really fun to see another village. We even made cookies and egg rolls! She also has three little kittens, one of which I may steal, who could hold my attention for days on end. I ended up hiking back to my village which took about 3 and half hours and was really beautiful. So now I am in town for the weekend to do some banking, relaxing, and shopping. It's a nice treat to be able to stay somewhere with electricity and running water! I think I will conclude here for now and I may try to update again before I head out of town tomorrow afternoon. I miss everyone so much! This place is slowly starting to feel more and more like home, now if I could only understand what everyone is saying to me....oh well, as long as I keep up my sense of humor I think I will be okay! Talk to you all soon! Also, thank you so much to everyone who has sent me mail. I really cant express how wonderful it is to receive mail here and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. I really could not do this without all of your support and please know that it is your encouragement that keeps me motivated! Miss you guys!

So I just wanted to say hello! I'm alive! Right now I am in Mbeya town which is my banking town. I have been in Mbeya region for over a week. This area is technically the Southern Highlands and it is really beautiful. It will be my new home for the next two years--at this moment that seems like an insane amount of time. My village is about a three hour bus ride from Mbeya town. I expect to come in to town about once every two weeks. I have my very own house! Its brick, with concrete walls on the inside. It has four room inside and a courtyard in the back with a choo and a room with a drain, to take a bucket bath. It's pretty nice digs. Because I am replacing someone I already have a bed, need a new mattress though, a couch, coffee table, two chairs, a table and a shelf in my "kitchen" and then another random room with a table that once I fix up I will call my "guest room," which means I need guests (hint, hint). I am going to try and buy some paint this weekend, hopefully some cheery colors!

Have I mentioned it is really cold in my village!? Right now it is winter so at night I have been sleeping in my sleeping bag, with a wool hat, wool socks, fleece jacket and then another blanket on top of that! During the day it is not so bad because the sun is really strong. But it is really windy! Which I enjoy, but can be a little hazardous when you are wearing a skirt! I live in between a teacher and a headmaster and our houses are perched on a hill, on one side of the hill is a narrow river, which is really beautiful. On the other side is a field where cows roam during the day. My water source is also at the bottom of the hill. Most of the time kids fetch water for me, but when I do I always feel like I got a good workout! The past few days in my village I have spent walking around introducing myself, visiting the health center, and a primary school.

It is a little hard because people definitely have high expectations of my swahili, but I am really just not to the point where I am comfortable walking around without my dictionary. Its always with me! Also I think I understand about 20% of what people are actually saying to me. There is also a local language called KiMalili. So between people speaking Kiswahili, poor English and KiMalili to me I really have a hard time communicating. But it will come! I keep telling people that it will come with time!

Peace Corps does not actually want you to any work for the first three months at site. So I am really just supposed to be getting acquainted with the village and learning more about how to take care of myself here. And how to actually live here! Have I mentioned that I have already been on a free safari?!

After swearing in it was really hard to leave everyone. But the next day we started our two day journey down to Mbeya. But on the way we drove through a game reserve and we saw Giraffes, Elephants, Warthogs, Zebras, Hippos, Gazelle, Water Buffalo and tons of birds. It was so incredible! I was too excited to even take pictures, I just had to soak it all in! And then we drove through a Baobob Tree forest, which was just amazing. I mean these trees are thousands of years old. They've seen so much. And they are huge! (This is what you have to look forward to when you come to visit me!). It was a really incredible trip. So more about my village...It is really big, I think about 10,000 people. There are a few health clinics, a lot of doctors, multiple primary schools, a secondary school (this is like a high school) and lots of stores, however the stores are not as well stocked as I was expecting. But that's okay because I can just buy things I need in Mbeya and then bring them back to my site! On friday there is a big market day and apparently you can buy many fresh foods so I am really excited about this!! I missed it this week since I came into Mbeya but I will definitely be there next week! Just wanted to give you a little bit of a glimpse of my life now. I promise I will be in much better communication from now on! I will have a lot more internet access and I will be able to update my blog and send out emails much more often. I really miss everyone and remember mail is very much appreciated here! Letters are fantastic and I am using all the cards I have gotten so far to decorate my house. Thank you to everyone who has sent me mail! Talk with you soon!

Okay so we just had the most amazing weekend in Africa! Literally right now I am sitting on a veranda looking out on the Indian Ocean, coconut trees, monkeys swinging from tree limbs, drinking a beer and listening to "You got it Bad" by Usher. Could life be better? Okay so before you really start to question why your tax payer dollars are going to me relaxing on a beautiful beach, let me reassure you that this came out of my own pocket. On Friday we had our Oral Proficiency Interview to test to see where we are in our in Kiswahili levels. Honestly, I do not think that the interview went that well. But I am really hoping that my Kiswahili will improve over the next few weeks. I am going to really try and practice with my family, but at the same time not let it stress me out. I know it will come in its own time. Right now, I can converse for the most part about my needs but I cannot go much farther than that. I can communicate with my family, so that is good.The past few weeks have been very focused on learning the language; however, the next half of training will mostly be focused on technical training, this is like training for our skills once we actually get to our site. Things I desperately need to learn! Like how to teach about AIDS prevention and family planning in school settings. Or how to create clubs or community groups.Anyway, on to describing this past weekend. We got to Mkoma Bay on Friday night, which is on the Indian Ocean. The trip here was similar to a lot of my experiences so far in Africa. We were in a bus that was really crowded and just when you think no more people can fit in the vehicle we stop to pick up a few more. We bumped up and down dirt roads, stopped to by gas in a plastic container, and fish in plastic bags. After about a 2 hour ride we arrived! And we were all really excited and ready for some serious relaxation time (or pumzika-ing in Swahilish). Mkoma Bay is a little resort owned by a former Peace Corps Volunteer who has been kicking around Africa for the past 20 years. It is SO beautiful! There are a series of separate little cottages with walls that are just all screen. I stayed in one with two other girls, a giant bed, and our own bathroom with…wait for it, wait for it….a shower and a TOILET! It was purely blissful. The shower even had hot water, I really felt so luxurious! Seriously, if any of you come to visit me we are coming here! Its so nice! The food has been amazing. We eat outside on this beautiful deck overlooking the ocean and at night the stars are of course so incredible. Also, there is a bar with cold drinks and wine! On Saturday we woke up, ate a delicious breakfast then lounged around in our bathing suits all day. We went swimming in the ocean, swimming in the pool, kayaking and had long walks on the beach. It was fantastic. It was definitely a well deserved break from homestay, which is very challenging, but rewarding as well.Okay so I miss and love all of you guys! Please send mail! And call me if you can afford to. There are really cheap calling cards online. Also, I promise that this is the least out of touch I will be. Once I get sworn in and move to my site I will be in way better touch with everyone. Also, I hope you are all starting to plan you trips because I cannot wait to see you! Okay talk to you all soon!

Hey everyone! So I just want to apologize for being so out of touch. It has been really hard for me to have access to the internet. But I do now have a cell phone! So everyone get on buying those cheap phone cards/ sending me texts from skype. It’s so cheap to do that and it is free for me to receive them! It is also much less expensive for you to call me than for me to call you. All forms of communication are greatly appreciated. Thank you so much to all of you who have sent me letters. Seriously they are amazing! I have read them over and over again. Packages are great too! I know they are a little pricey to send though. If feel ambitious enough to send a package any food products would be greatly appreciated—dried fruit, cookies, gum, movies (I do have my laptop), cute things to decorate my house—other things that you may think I would want.Okay so on to updates! Tanzania is amazing! I seriously love it here! The first week I spent in Dar at a hostel, it was pretty luxurious, my own room, my own bathroom! After the first week we drove about 5 hours North to a town called Muheza, which is where I have spent my last 3 ½ weeks. I live in a little village called Kibaoni Dilima. When I thought of Africa before I left home, Dilima is kind of what I pictured. That being said, this has still been a huge adjustment but I am not sure if there was much more I could have done to prepare myself at home, unless I had mastered Kiswahili in 6 weeks. That would have been helpful! Well these past weeks have pretty much been solely focused on learning Kiswahili and adjusting to Africa. My host family has been great. They are so patient with me and speak really pole pole (or slowly) which is great. Considering I am learning Kiswahili pole pole sana. I have 3 brothers and 3 sisters, one fo my sisters has the most adorable 7 month old baby you have ever seen and the rest of them are in school. Both my mama and baba (dad) are farmers. There farm is about an hour walk from our house. But the walk is the most beautiful walk I have ever been on. It takes you across a river where most of the village baths and gets water, then up a hillside through coconut, papaya, and orange trees. Their farm is on top of a hill with vies of this beautiful green plateau, green mountains, red roads, and scattered red huts. It is breathtaking. They grow corn, oranges, sweet potatoes, papaya, coconut, spinach, and a few other things. Most of the farming is subsistence farming, but I believe they do sell some of the food during the proper seasons. Our house is nice. It is brick with a concrete layer over top. It has a metal roof, with space between the walls and the roof (lots of bugs) and it is essentially like one room because none of the rooms have walls that go up to the roof, and I do not have my own ceiling. For those of you who do not know my room is right next to the room where the chickens sleep. Sweet. You know the first couple of weeks that I was here this really bothered me. But now not so much. The chickens are like the pets here, except not treated with tlc and occasionally they are dinner. They walk anywhere they want in the house and in result they poop anywhere they wish—talk about a new standard of free range. Besides that I have a myriad of crickets, spiders, and cockroaches who share my room. As you may guess I tuck my mosquito net in really tight every night.The bathroom is separate from the house. It is a little hut with a door and a hole in the ground. This is also where I take my twice daily bucket bath. My mama gives my two buckets half way full, one with hot water and one with cold water. I have actually grown to really enjoy bucket baths. I use so much less water than I would with a shower. I highly recommend it to all those water conscious people out there! That being said water is a serious issue here. We have a well pretty close to our house but it does not always have water. Sometimes my sisters have to walk to another village to get water. Or to the river. But the river water is really not suitable to drink. All of my water has to be boiled, which means it tastes like smoke because it is boiled over , we call it "Smoke2O" and if your water does not taste like smoke then it is probably not safe. But Karibu Tanzania!

Okay so we just had the most amazing weekend in Africa!

Literally right now I am sitting on a veranda looking out on the Indian Ocean, coconut trees, monkeys swinging from tree limbs and listening to “You got it Bad” by Usher. Could life be better? Okay so before you really start to question why your tax payer dollars are going to me relaxing on a beautiful beach, let me reassure you that this came out of my own pocket. On Friday we had our Oral Proficiency Interview to test to see where we are in our in Kiswahili levels. Honestly, I do not think that the interview went that well. But I am really hoping that my Kiswahili will improve over the next few weeks. I know it will come in its own time. Right now, I can converse for the most part about my needs but I cannot go much farther than that.

The past few weeks have been very focused on learning the language; however, the next half of training will mostly be focused on technical training, this is like training for our skills once we actually get to our site. Things I desperately need to learn! Like how to teach about AIDS prevention and family planning in school settings. Or how to create clubs or community groups.

Anyway, on to describing this past weekend. We got to Mkoma Bay on Friday night, which is on the Indian Ocean. The trip here was similar to a lot of my experiences so far in Africa. We were in a bus that was really crowded and just when you think no more people can fit in the vehicle we stop to pick up a few more. We bumped up and down dirt roads, stopped to by gas in a plastic container, and fish in plastic bags. After about a 2 hour ride we arrived! And we were all really excited and ready for some serious relaxation time (or pumzika-ing in Swahilish).

Mkama Bay is SO beautiful! There are a series of separate little cottages with walls that are just all screen. I stayed in one with two other girls, a giant bed, and our own bathroom with…wait for it, wait for it…a shower and a TOILET! It was purely blissful. The shower even had hot water, I really felt so luxurious! Seriously, if any of you come to visit me we are coming here! Its so nice! The food has been amazing. We eat outside on this beautiful deck overlooking the ocean and at night the stars are of course so incredible. Also, there is a bar with cold drinks and wine! On Saturday we woke up, ate a delicious breakfast then lounged around in our bathing suits all day. We went swimming in the ocean, swimming in the pool, kayaking and had long walks on the beach. It was fantastic. It was definitely a well deserved break from homestay, which is very challenging, but rewarding as well.

Please send mail! And call me if you can afford to. There are really cheap calling cards online. Also, I promise that this is the least out of touch I will be. Once I get sworn in and move to my site I will be in way better touch with everyone. Also, I hope you are all starting to plan you trips because I cannot wait to see you! Okay talk to you all soon!

Hey everyone! So I just want to apologize for being so out of touch. It has been really hard for me to have access to the internet. But I do now have a cell phone! So everyone get on buying those cheap phone cards/ sending me texts from skype. It’s so cheap to do that and it is free for me to receive them! It is also much less expensive for you to call me than for me to call you. All forms of communication are greatly appreciated. Thank you so much to all of you who have sent me letters. Seriously they are amazing! I have read them over and over again. Packages are great too! I know they are a little pricey to send though. If feel ambitious enough to send a package any food products would be greatly appreciated—dried fruit, cookies, gum, movies (I do have my laptop), cute things to decorate my house—other things that you may think I would want.

Okay so on to updates! Tanzania is amazing! I seriously love it here! The first week I spent in Dar at a hostel, it was pretty luxurious, my own room, my own bathroom! After the first week we drove about 5 hours North to a town called Muheza, which is where I have spent my last 3 ½ weeks. I live in a little village called Kibaoni Dilima. When I thought of Africa before I left home, Dillima is kind of what I pictured. That being said, this has still been a huge adjustment but I am not sure if there was much more I could have done to prepare myself at home, unless I had mastered Kiswahili in 6 weeks. That would have been helpful! Well these past weeks have pretty much been solely focused on learning Kiswahili and adjusting to Africa. My host family has been great. They are so patient with me and speak really pole pole (or slowly) which is great. Considering I am learning Kiswahili pole pole sana. I have 3 brothers and 3 sisters, one fo my sisters has the most adorable 7 month old baby you have ever seen and the rest of them are in school. Both my mama and baba (dad) are farmers. There farm is about an hour walk from our house. But the walk is the most beautiful walk I have ever been on. It takes you across a river where most of the village baths and gets water, then up a hillside through coconut, papaya, and orange trees. Their farm is on top of a hill with vies of this beautiful green plateau, green mountains, red roads, and scattered red huts. It is breathtaking. They grow corn, oranges, sweet potatoes, papaya, coconut, spinach, and a few other things. Most of the farming is subsistence farming, but I believe they do sell some of the food during the proper seasons. Our house is nice. It is brick with a concrete layer over top. It has a metal roof, with space between the walls and the roof (lots of bugs) and it is essentially like one room because none of the rooms have walls that go up to the roof, and I do not have my own ceiling. For those of you who do not know my room is right next to the room where the chickens sleep. Sweet. You know the first couple of weeks that I was here this really bothered me. But now not so much. The chickens are like the pets here, except not treated with tlc and occasionally they are dinner. They walk anywhere they want in the house and in result they poop anywhere they wish—talk about a new standard of free range. Besides that I have a myriad of crickets, spiders, and cockroaches who share my room. As you may guess I tuck my mosquito net in really tight every night.

The bathroom is separate from the house. It is a little hut with a door and a hole in the ground. This is also where I take my twice daily bucket bath. My mama gives my two buckets half way full, one with hot water and one with cold water. I have actually grown to really enjoy bucket baths. I use so much less water than I would with a shower. I highly recommend it to all those water conscious people out there! That being said water is a serious issue here. We have a well pretty close to our house but it does not always have water. Sometimes my sisters have to walk to another village to get water. Or to the river. But the river water is really not suitable to drink. All of my water has to be boiled, which means it tastes like smoke because it is boiled over , we call it “Smoke2O” and if your water does not taste like smoke then it is probably not safe. But Karibu Tanzania!

Ok that is all for now! Talk to you all soon. Sorry I am really rushed!

Peed standing up. Slept under a mosquito net. Traveled for almost 36 hours. Had a very amateur conversation in Kiswahili Drank a lot of Chai. Consumed a plate full of just starch—potatoes, rice and pasta for dinner. Eaten a fried banana. Squealed at the biggest cockroach I have ever seen. Had the longest minute of my life as I shared a stall with this cockroach. Encountered the roach later, except he was dead this time and being devoured by the BIGGEST ANTS I HAVE EVER SEEN. Saw a woman kick at a cat. Been invited to someones house after only talking to them for 1 minute. Consumed Tanzanian beer, it is delicious.

I'm here! Everything is great! We have not seen much of Dar yet since we have not been allowed to leave the compound. Lots of classes and meals. We get fed so much food here! The food will definitely take a little getting used to. Since it is winter there is not much access to vegetables and fruits (at least at the hostel's restaurant) so it has been a lot of starches, beans, and vegetables cooked in oil. Also, so much Chai tea! The tea is great, and not as strong as I thought it was going to be. The weather has been more hot and muggy than I expected but we have also had some rain. Tanzanians are so friendly! More to come soon!Kwaheri!

So please bare with me as I am very new to this whole blogging thing. I am really hoping that this blog will be a great way for me to tell my stories and to connect with people. Here's a summary of the past month and a half. On April 28, 2010 I received a call from my Peace Corps placement officer and we had an extremely long conversation about my experience, my skills, and his thought process for where he would offer me placement. For the past 8 months I had been expecting to leave in August 2010, which would have been over a year since my interview. But, he actually gave me a choice! From what I understand that is pretty rare. The choice was between a program going to Eastern Europe and a program going to Africa—both Health Education. He gave me 24 hours to make my decision, which ultimately was not that hard. I knew the answer in my gut pretty soon after I heard it—Africa. But I still gave Eastern Europe a chance—more developed, electricity, functional infrastructure, which could enable me to get more things done. But what really sealed the deal was seeing Greg Mortenson, yes I mean the author of Three Cups of Tea and Stone to Schools, which I still need to read. Anyway, my friend had an extra ticket to see him speak and I was on my way to meet him for dinner before the speech when I had gotten the call from my placement officer. Well, it just so happens that Greg was born in Tanzania and spent the first 6 years of his life there, where his parents were missionaries. And with a little internet research I deducted that the program I was being offered in Africa was in Tanzania. Ergo, it was a sign! I really do not believe in signs, but this was just the icing on the cake and proved that Africa was meant to be! Ultimately, the decision was not too hard. I think the most shocking aspect was that I was leaving in a little over 6 weeks! I was still working full time and my job was under the impression that I was leaving in August. Luckily, I told them the next day and everyone was extremely supportive and understanding. When I received my official invitation I did a little happy dance in the living room with my dog! Wooo! All my anxious tendencies and feelings of wanting to pull my hair out quickly melted away as I opened that envelope—which is extremely thick by the way. Of course I started doing tons of research about Tanzania, which only made me even more excited. From the beautiful beaches, to the smiling people, to the Serengeti and Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania looks like such an amazing country! I could not be happier that I am going there. I know I made the right decision. So, I am off to Philadelphia for staging on June 14, 2010 and then leaving the country June 15, 2010! I am going to be a Health Educator, which is great! But not only do I need to learn Swahili, I also need to learn more about Health! And how to stay healthy without the resources we are so used to here! I downloaded a Swahili language app on my iphone (this is going to be piece of technology I miss the most) but so far I have not made much progress. So with just about 6 days left in the country I am doing all the last minute visiting of friends and shopping. So far I am not too nervous because it does not really seem real. And I am not sure it will really seem like reality until I actually step on the ground of Tanzania.

As a lot of you know I have been very emotional lately. Yesterday was

my last day of work and I have exactly a month until I am flying out

of the country. Hence, a lot of breakdowns. As a sanity measure I am going to compartmentalize my emotions into three major waves/states of being:

1. Being overwhelmed 2. Being excited 3. Being sad.

1. This is the most common emotional wave: being overwhelmed. What

makes me so overwhelmed you may ask. Well the first overwhelming

aspect of me going into the Peace Corps is the packing. How do you

pack your life into two bags--80 pounds--for two years?! I don't even

know if I will be living in a cold or hot region, or whether I will

have electricity, or if I will have time to do camping. On top of that

I keep attempting to mentally pack my bags and all my things but it is

really hard when you don't even have those things yet! Or even the bag

that you plan on using--I still need to buy a large backpack. So what

I typically do is imagine these objects in my head and then make up

their size and envision this amazing backpack packed in the most

organized fashion with the most up to date technology and gear (Please

note, I do not have the funds or the organizational skills to make

this dream become reality). But it is fun to dream!

Furthermore, the second overwhelming aspect is the question of whether

I will make a difference. A lot of people have posed this to me as I

spread the word about the Peace Corps. Some even say, So you think you

are going to end the AIDS epidemic? I usually smile and say no, but if

I can help just one person then my efforts will not be for nothing. I

am going to do my best, think positively (I am pretty good at that

already) and work very very hard.....but,on a more optimistic note....

2. The Second wave of emotion is excited! I am going to live in

Tanzania for two years! It is going to be the most incredible,

educational, beautiful and challenging experience. I am going to live

in Africa and learn to speak Swahili and pick Mangoes off trees and eat

them right then and there (and let the juice run down my hands and

arms and then dry, then I will probably be annoyed with myself because

there will be no running water and may hands and arms will be sticky

for wayyyy too long). I will hopefully be teaching skills that

Tanzanians will use for the rest of their lives! And I will get the

chance to help people make decisions so that they can have a longer,

healthier, a more satisfying life. I am going to go over with 44 other

people who I am sure will be just as enthusiastic as me. I know we

will all become fast friends. I am living my dream! (For those of you

who do not know me, going in to the Peace Corps has always been on the

agenda and I want to thank everyone who has helped me get here,

especially my parents. Without their support this would not be

possible and the fact that they have had my back from day one with the

Peace Corps is more than I could ask for!)

3. The Third wave of emotion is sadness and this feeling I get in the

pit of my stomach when I think about leaving my family and friends for

two years. When I think about what that amount of time means it makes

me even more sad. TWO YEARS! THAT'S SO LONG! I am going to be 24 when

come home. 24! (Almost Famous reference) What will happen when I am

gone? Will other people get married (besides Tiff and Tucker--so upset

I am missing that by the way)? Actually let me re-phrase: NO ONE IS

ALLOWED TO GET MARRIED, HAVE BABIES, OR DIE. Where will people be?

What will they be doing? What will change? How much will I change?

Will I be a different person when I come home? How will my parents be

okay without me? (Being the only child that I am this is a big

question) I know that between skype, the Internet, my cell phone, and

mail I will be able to keep in touch. But will it be enough for them?

I think I can answer that one already--No. But everyone will have to

adjust and be flexible in this process! As the Peace Corps requires! I

know I will do my best to stay in touch, and heck, I may even come

home for a short visit! Some ask me how I am going to live without

electricity? This is a concern that is pretty far down on then list

for me, the real question is: how am I going to be able to live

without my friends, family and pets around all the time? How am I

going to make one of the biggest steps in my life and not be able to

pick up my cell and talk for hours to my parents or friends and tell

them every detail of my life and analyze every little thing? Or even

just call them to tell them something funny!

So those are my three major mood swings. I know that the Peace Corps

is going to be the most amazing experience ever...The hardest and the

best years of my life.....the slowest and the fastest... all at the

same time...and I know that I will be able to make some sort of impact

in Tanzania and even when I come home. I know that I will keep in

touch with my family and friends. I know that I will buy all the gear

I need and that I will probably do a really bad job of packing. I know

that I will cry (a lot) and I know that at some point I will want to

jump on a flight and come home. But I am not a quitter, I am driven,

and I am strong. So I also know that I WILL be able to handle it. The

Peace Corps is not for everyone, but I think, right now, sitting on my

front porch with my dog on my feet (which is probably why this blog is

so long because I can't actually get up), the Peace Corps is for me.