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!

Finally Here :)

So we finally arrived in Tanzania! The flight was long, but we survived.
Our group is actually 40 people, 1/2 environment and 1/2 health. We spent the night at a hotel here in Dar es Salaam. We are spending tonight in here as well and then we are off to our training site which is about 5 hours away from Dar.
The staff has been incredibally nice and welcoming so far.
Our internet access is going to be limited during training and so are phones...

Its hard to explain emotions right now since there is so much going on, but I can definitely say that staging and talking to volunteers upon arrival has made everything a lot clearer.

In gonna end for now, but next update will have some more useful information for perspective volunteers.

Karibu Tanzania!

Staging!

Wow, I'm here, I still cannot believe it!
Well, I cant really write much, because my time is very limited - we're leaving tomorrow morning!!!

So I had my goodbye party on Sunday, it was great and my friends really made me realize how lucky I am to have them! They actually bought me an awesome digital camera for my goodbye gift!

I arrived in Philly on Monday at around noon, met 2 fellow volunteers at the airport and together we made our way to the hotel. Our sessions started at 3 with some very informative information and a great staff to answer all of our questions.
Today was very informative as well, more straight forward topics suck as actual travel and going to the clinic to get "shot" up.

It has been great so far, and I cannot even imagine how its going to proceed from here- so next update will probably be from Tanzania :) :) :)

Back In The US!

I just got back to the US yesterday, and I have a hell of a jetleg!
Anyways, I managed to get up at 8 this morning, in an attempt to start packing...but I have one major problem - I don't know where to start from!
I bought so many things and there are so many things I want to bring along, that there is no way it will all fit in 2 bags/suitcases and weigh less than 80 lbs.!!!
It is very ironic for me that I am happy to go into a non-materialistic society, but at the same time cannot imagine not bringing my materials along with me for an initial comfort...

I think this is the first time I am starting to freak out a little because I feel kind of helpless...
I know that I'll be fine with whatever I bring and that at the end I wont even use half of it...but there is a certain comfort in having things you want with you. I guess its a way of not thinking of the challenges ahead and filling your time with "things" rather than "emotions".

My room is a complete mess, my entire bed and its surrounding is filled with begs, and I have to go and sort through everything now :(
Wish me luck! I hope that my next update will be post-packing and happy :)

An Update From Israel

So I have been having limited internet connection in here, and therefore haven’t been updating my blog…

So far being in Israel has been giving me pretty good “training” for what’s to come!
I went to this mountain in the northern part of Israel and slept in a tent…when I the morning came, I counted my bug bites and there were at least 25 of them!!! I couldn't sleep all night from the sound of mosquitoes in my ears!
Another useful preparation is not having internet. I usually have very frequent internet access when I come to Israel, but this time I don't at all! This has been driving me crazy!
Unlike New York, it is very hot in here as well, and although I thought I’m a hot country kinda girl, I soon found out that heat is nice, but only when you have an AC, and not when its 32c outside!
I have about one more week in here and then I’m flying back to New York to a 4 day marathon of packing and saying goodbyes…
One thing I’m very happy for is that 2 people from my group managed to contact me, and that gives me a great relief, because so far I haven’t been able to contact anyone at all.
Ok, I’m going to finish my update in here in hopes my stupid internet connection is not going to vanish.