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.