Passing the 6 months mark!

Wow, talking about getting caught up in time. Every update I write starts with an apology, but I must say that being disconnected from the internet and not running all over the place in order to get to it is actually pretty nice!
Well, time does fly by, as you can probably tell by the title, I have been here for 7+ months already!
The good news is that I finally started working!
December 1st is World AIDS Day, and this year, along with a local NGO, we managed to commemorate that day like never before!
We invited local organizations that do HIV/AIDS education/prevention to come join us and perform. We had 2 booths, one for condom demonstrations and one for free testing for HIV. 110 people learned how to use condoms correctly and got a free gift – condoms, and 44 people tested for HIV. I know it sound weird for an outsider to learn how to use a condom, but believe it or not, some people really don’t know!
At about 2pm we had a march from the edge of town to the venue, which was outside. We had enough time for about 2 performances before it started to rain! Well, all we could do is turn the music on high, and start dancing in the rain! It was great, and to our huge surprise, people stuck around. We managed to fit in a couple of speeches from our guests of honor when the rain got lighter and sealed the event with a candle lighting ceremony to remember those who passed away from AIDS. Without a doubt, this has been the best day I have had in Tanzania so far!
So now to my gardening project...I must say this one is not going as well. To begin with, I discovered that although the soil in my region is really good, the soil in my area is not! It’s actually a mixture of sand and soil! So due to those difficulties, I had a delay in my gardening project…but I hope to get back on track soon!
So the next project is scheduled to start at the end of Feb. It will be a training of 40 secondary and primary school teachers, along with community members from various NGOs and secondary school students. It will be a 9 day long workshops about HIV/AIDS, Life Skills, STIs, and so on. After this project, we have an even larger plan to do a district wide AIDS Campaign – more details to come…
So what else? I must say life is good! I like being here and although some days are better than others, the overall feeling is positive.
Two days ago there was a storm…I thought the wind is going to blow off my roof, and to make sure the sound effects of the things moving in my ceiling board were in full effect, the electricity got cut off! Luckily nothing happened, and I must say my house is very sturdy! The best thing about this whole weather craze is that all the dust I spent getting out of my house that day was blown right back in!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention my visitor! A couple of days ago I was about to go to sleep and went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, when I noticed a little frog climbing up my drain…I though it might be a prince, but it ran back in before I got a chance to kiss it…
My house renovation is still ongoing…although I have realized that my house does not have to be perfect…so now I am just waiting for a dining table and some chairs and I’ll be all done!
Ok, as always...i promise i will try to update here more often...



-May.

All by myself

Long time no update…sorry. It’s been a busy couple of month s around here. Not solely work related unfortunately, but that as well.
To start off, I officially live by myself now (hence the title…). The volunteer I am replacing has COSed (Close of Service) about 3 weeks ago. It was really nice having her around, especially since we got along pretty well and she helped me a lot with my integration into the community. However, it is still nice to be on my own now. I feel comfortable in my environment and hope to actually start doing some work soon.
So what has been going on? Well, I am continuing my renovations of the house…I finally gave in and had a professional painter come and paint the house!
Prior to that I was away from home for about a week and a half of workshops. The first was about permaculture, which is a way of gardening which is sustainable and close to home, producing nutritious food. That system is truly revolutionary! Even me, a person who NEVER garden before was inspired to embark on a gardening experiment. When I got home I was all excited about all the things that I am going to plant, especially since the soil in my region is known to be very good. Come to find out that the soil is actually not soil, but sand, and half of the things that I want to grow wouldn’t survive in the upcoming heat. But no no, I am not giving up yet…I am just taking it slow and going with what the locals are planting…so maybe I wont have an herb garden like I dreamed of, but I’ll have plenty of mchicha (local spinach) - that’s for sure!
I already managed to hurt both my hands while using a hoe (never thought the skin my hands can get so many sores…) and the neighborhood cows came and ruined the little that I started already. At least the neighbor’s chickens are enjoying the open shady space under the tree I cleaned off from all the dried weeds that pilled there.
Another activity I had taken upon is painting (in the sense of painting pictures that is). I took out all the old paint canes from around the house and started playing with the colors…something came out, not sure what though.
Oh, did I mention I’m almost here for 5 months now? It’s crazy how time goes by sometimes. Those 5 months have been packed with activities and new things, but its all good so far. Until next time,



-May.

The Nature of Things

These past couple of weeks have been interesting…I kept on going back and forth in my mind about whether “I have a lot of work to do at my site” to “I have no work to do at my site.” The truth is that every site is unique in its own way. Some sites get very specific direction and the supervisor has a program for the volunteer to work on, others doesn’t have a specific program but the people of their site are eager to have them there and pull them in all sort of different directions. Being a second volunteer in my site, I decided to concentrate about my actual job description and not give in to other demands such as teaching English. Many volunteers use secondary projects in order to get integrated into their community when they first arrive; however, I feel as though my integration process is easier since I am being introduced to the community by an existing volunteer.
One of my major dilemmas was that it didn’t seem like people were seeking me out for the purpose I am here for. Everywhere I go I see opportunities and a million things I could do, but no one with an interest. I have come across a few projects that were funded by foreigners; some seem great on the surface like creating libraries at school. But in reality, those libraries are now used as teachers’ room; the books are collecting dust on the shelves and are a mere decoration. I concluded that no project will be sustainable and particularly beneficial if the initial motivation would not come from the community.
I had to step back from those discouraging thought and figure out how I can reach the community.
I figured out that although I would like to make my projects sustainable, the less “in-between” people I have, the more information is actually going to reach my target group. I though that working my way from the bottom to the top might be more proper for my site, rather than training the top and hope it will get to the bottom somehow. I’m hoping to start small and spread.
So that is the work related update, otherwise my house remodeling is still going well but slow. I have received my first piece of furniture last week; it looks good and makes the house homey (it’s in the living room). I’m hoping to get the other piece by the end of this week (which will go in the bathroom). I am also looking for fabrics to recover my sofa and make curtains.
Ok, thanks for reading! Until next time,



-May.

3 months in country!

Tomorrow makes my 3 months in country…from there on it’s a countdown for the 2 years…
I already have a ton of ideas for projects I can start, but I am waiting patiently to make sure I am getting integrated into the community before starting anything.
Tanzania is a lot about building relationships, which takes time, but those relationships can definitely take you far. I figured I will officially start my “work” here around November. Until then I have a lot of traveling to do for workshops and different activities.
I’m still remodeling my house, one bit at a time. This week I worked on the bathroom and the toilet. I painted both and made a curtain for the shower window. The carpenter came back with estimates, and a problem. Apparently there is no wood to be found anywhere! The only wood that is available to not very good quality and can only be used to make 2 of the 4 items I wanted. At least those are the 2 most important ones…
I’m having a wall unit built for the living room, and another unit for the bathroom with cabinets, shelves and a drawer. I think its going to look nice.
This weekend I’m going to travel to the nearest main city from me, which is about 5 hours away where I can meet some of my fellow volunteers and but items that are not available here.
I also have been doing a lot of cooking, which anyone who knows me knows I like to do! Last night I made pizza - no cheeses, but it was still really good. The truth is that you can make almost anything in here, and the cookbook Peace Corps provide volunteers here is awesome! It’s a true inspiration. I have a feeling that as soon as the volunteer I’m replacing is going to leave, I won’t be cooking as much. It’s not as fun cooking for one. My resolution to that is to create a cooking club! I already mentioned it to my next door neighbor, who is a really nice mama and is respected by the community. Her response was positive and she said they can teach me how to cook Tanzanian food and I can teach them American food. Mamas here are always happy to learn about different ways of cooking, so I hope it will go well. I will have to add in some nutrition though, maybe find a place where they will make whole wheat flour for me...
Another idea I have is to build a brick oven. I know there is a volunteer couple who built one in country. I don’t think it should be hard, and it will definitely be nice!
Those are only a few ideas of many I have. Some I’m sure will never actually come into practice, because that is the nature of things in here, but it sure is something to be excited about.
Ok, that’s it for now, countdown starts tomorrow.

Settling-in to my new house

So I have been in site for almost 3 weeks now. I have to admit the first week was rough. I was a little sick, (which I cannot complain about since I haven't really gotten sick so far, Know on wood!) and all of a sudden I had so much time one my hands and nothing to do!
Training is such an intense phase, and the schedule is so tight, and then I got to site, I was alone, and I had nothing to do!
Unlike the first week though, things are great now! I really like my site, the people are nice and the area is beautiful!
The volunteer I'm replacing is back from vacation now, which is really nice because she shows me around, introduces me to people, and we can hang out together.
We do a lot of cooking, which I love! Ever since getting to site I have been eating pretty well I must say, even with the limited equipment. So far I made things like rosemary and olive bread (on a little gas stove inside a pot), chocolate balls, sesame peanut noodles, bruchetta, pasta, salsa, refried beans, etc.
Spices are hard to get here, but I am fortunate since the person I'm replacing has a nicely equipped kitchen and a lot of spices that she inherited from people who were here and left.
During training food was a little different because I had to eat what my host family made. I was lucky to be served good, tasty food at my host family, but the variety of food available locally was limited. The food was not bad, but it was a lot of rice and beans, cooked plantains, French fries, cabbage or spinach, and some sort of fruit such as bananas, papaya or orange.
For breakfast we usually had chai, which they made with milk, black tea, sugar, and ginger; mandazi (mini doughnuts), vitambu (a rice doughnut), or bread with blue band (margarine).
Unlike everyone who thinks I'm gonna come back with half of my weight off...I'm just hoping to come back the same!
On a good note though, I just got my bike today! It is a brand new bike, a really nice one too. It is actually still in a box, I have to ask someone to come help me put it together. I am very excited about it since I haven't ridden a bike in about 10 years! I hope to get in a habit of riding it and get some exercise done that way. There are great roads to bike around here with beautiful scenery.
I also started doing some remodeling this week. We painted the living room and I had a carpenter come over and see if he can make me some furniture. I hope to be done with renovations by sometimes next months. Ok, that is the update for this week..I actually had time to upload some pictures, but its hard to get them on the blog, so if you would like to see some you can email me and I will send you a link.

FInally, An Update!

First off, I must say my apologies for not updating for so long!
The truth is that 1st, I was VERY busy with training and 2nd, the internet at our training site was unbelievably slow! It took about ½ an hour to simply get into my email…
We had an intense 8 week training when we learned Swahili 8 hours a day 6 days a week and learned health/technical stuff as well. I finally finished training last week and got sworn-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer! Wohoo...
For my site I was place in the Morogoro Region. I am replacing a current volunteer who is finishing her 2 year service in 2 months. I arrived at site a week ago, and the next morning the volunteer left for vacation...so it took me a few days to realize what is where and how to get there, and one bumpy ride of the back of a pickup truck, squished between 10 other people and 2 bicycles! I wonder what the ride back would be like....
The nearest town is 5K from me, where I can find internet and other essential things like the market, bank and hospital. There is a large Roman Catholic population here.
So for the next 3 months I am not supposed to do much, just get adjusted into my community and get to know people...After that I hope I will start teaching HIV/AIDS education such as prevention and transmission in school and health clinics.
Ok, so that’s it for the update...I hope I will have more time with the internet here to update more often and with more detail…
SO thank you for reading, even though I haven’t updated for a while.

Im Still here :)

So I'm still here, in africa! Its getting a little more real now, but still everything is in need of a reality check.
I dont have a lot of time to write, so i figured the most interesting thing i can say is how my daily life is going at the moment.

We moved into our host family houses a week ago, and our large training group was devided into smaller CBT (community based training) groups. I have to say i am very privillaged, because my house is very modern, clean, has electricity and running water.
Ok, so this is my daily schodule:

Get up at 7am, go take a bucket shower, with water they heat up for me. I then have Chai with a light breakfast like a mini doughnut. I then go to school and have language classes. At 10 we break again for chai and then go back to language and technical classes. We then have luch at around 1pm, and go back to classes. I go home at 5pm and help my family cook dinner, i do homework and take a shower. We then eat dinner and i go to sleep.

In my next update i hope i will have more time to write about the kind of food we eat here, and what my family is like.
It has been really great so far!