Tanzania!!!

Habari za leo!? (How is your day?) This is about the extent of Swahili I have learned in my first lesson, today. Hopefully much more will come... but for now I am very limited. I arrived in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday evening, Tanzanian time. I was exhausted and slept like a rock that night! I am starting to feel a little better, but I am still a little jet lagged, I think. It has been lots of fun so far! Our day has been filled with lots of important information about living and surviving in country, including what food and water is safe to eat and drink. A typical day has consisted of:

06:15 - Wake up/exercise a bit in my room
07:00 - Breakfast
08:00 - First session
10:00 - Chai Tea (really good stuff)
10:30 - Another session
12:30 - Chakula (food/eat/lunch it means something like that)
13:30 - More sessions until 5
17:00 - Free to roam about the mission

Our first few days we are staying at a catholic mission. It is nice. They feed us plenty, and very good fresh veggies and fruits, of course. They also have a protein, usually chicken or beans. Of course, the chicken is normal and small, unlike the monsters you get in America. Mom, you know what I mean.. I commented on this last christmas! The rooms are nice, have electricity, running water, and a fan. I take cold showers, but it is very nice, since it is basically like Huntsville here in terms of weather. Not quite as hot though. So far, our lessons have involved safety in TZ (we had a guy come from the US embassy and talk to us about issues around and how to stay safe, etc.), Food and water prep and safety, what to do WHEN you get diarrhea, and basic Swahili. For now, we will be here until Tuesday, when we will travel 200Km west to Morogoro for PST (Pre Service Training, the Peace Corps (PC) is FULL of acronymns). There, I will be introduced to my homestay family, whom I will live with until mid August. Before that, however, I will have an opportunity to travel to my future site for a week and get to know the locals, while also shadowing another PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer). It should be very useful in my preparation.

I like it here. It is very nice, the locals are very friendly, and I firmly believe (MOM) that it will be very safe in my village. Of course, moving around in a large city, like Dar, could be dangerous if you look like a tourist. Stupid Tourists... :)

This is why it is important to integrate well into the community, as they will treat you as an asset to the community, and more importantly, a family member. I am excited about the possibilities! I have also found out that everyone is definitely very poor here. At least the normal person. We are required to like off of about 8-9,000 Tanzanian Shillings per day, which is equivalent to about 5 US dollars or so. But of course, you have to realize that things are cheaper here. I would say that I am having to budget in the same way, relatively speaking, as I did back home. Most people in the village live off of less than 1,600 Tsh per day... So, I am still a rich Mzungu to them (I believe that means white person)! We also have some current PCV's here now giving us the deets (details to those who dont know) on PC life at your site. All in all, everyone is extermemly helpful, they are feeding us AWESOME naturally produced, ethically raised food, and it tastes great! The cooks cook all day long, from one meal to the next. I will be sad when that is no longer the case when I move on to my own site. I will make it though. I have no doubt. It is going to be a blast! (most of the time).

Lastly, before I run out of internet time, I have to say that I have gone for 2 runs around the mission, here so far. I have gotten plenty of looks and laughs. I'd say they love my short shorts, but of course I wear a T shirt. It is just as entertaining for me as it is to everyone watching! There is a 1/3 mile dirt loop that I have to stay on, since I can't leave to walls of the mission, but that is fine. Im not running high mileage now anyways. Just enjoying the atmosphere!

I better log off now so I don't incur extra fees, but in summary, all is well and I am doing fine! Hope everyone is good back home, and Keep in touch!!!!! :)

Travis