Pole Sana!

Dear Friends and Family,

I apologize for taking a long break from blogging and realize I have not updated this blog in over a month.  I promise to work hard to catch you up on the big events in my Peace Corps life that you may have missed, so keep checking below for backdated posts.  In Kiswahili, “pole” means “sorry” and “sana” means “very.”  All I can say to my dedicated readers is pole sana.    I have no excuse for not writing more.   My camera broke early during training, and I have had to rely on the generosity of my Peace Corps friends to get pictures to share. I was able to buy a new camera last week, but unfortunately technology has been fighting with me since I arrived in Tanzania. Recently, I have had some external hard-drive trouble but am hopeful things will get resolved and I can continue blogging about my life.  Sadly, my external hard-drive was the home of stolen pictures from other PCVs...

Many things have happened over the past month.  First of all, I am now an official PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER (PCV)!!! We had our swearing in ceremony in Dar es Salaam at the US Ambassadors house and I traded in my title of trainee for volunteer.   As you could probably guess, this means that our 10 week training in Morogoro is over and I am now living at my site in Mbeya.  I will be here for 2 years and am working hard to integrate in my community.  I live in a rural village at a small boarding school.  My house is very nice.  It’s small but has running water and electricity.  Well in theory I have running water and electricity.  Tanzania has a problem with water so even though I have a shower, I have not been able to use it yet (and I have been in my house for almost a week!).  But luckily, my host family taught me the joys of a bucket bath and I have been able to maintain my hygiene.   The electricity is inconsistent but I have no complaints.  It comes on at least once a day and I am able to keep my phone charged.  

Saying goodbye to my host family in Morogoro

I will work hard to catch you up on my life so bear with me.  Expect blog posts to come relatively soon.  During training, we went to a game park which was fun.  I also shadowed a Peace Corps volunteer living in Tanga for a week.  We took exams to test whether we learned a sufficient amount of Kiswahili during training and said goodbye to our host families.  We went to Dar es Salaam and stayed there for a few days to meet our heads of schools, prepare for our swearing in ceremony, and tour the Peace Corps office.  I was able to spend lots of time with my friend Danielle who has been living in Dar for the past 3 years. She showed me her house, places where local Tanzanians spend time, and some of the best restaurants in Dar that only foreigners can afford to eat at.   I am envious of Danielle’s fluency in Kiswahili and hope to be as good as her in the near future.   After our short time in Dar, all of the new PCVs from my training class said goodbye and went to our new sites all across the country.  I am now learning about my new home in Mbeya and will write when I can.   At the moment, I must go to my banking town to use the internet but am hoping to get a modem for internet at my house.