Morogoro

i'm in morogoro. i went to the market today and saw a hospital named st. harry's. is there a saint harry. i don't think saints have nicknames. i meet my host family tomorrow!!

Dar es Salaam

after 33 hours of travel, we made it here. it was long. my butt hurt a lot. but we made it. tanzania had no customs so that made it easier. all my bags made it. so for the most part it was really good. we started our training. they're trying to ease us into it. right now we're staying at a catholic center that functions as a kind of univeristy so it has dorms and we're staying there. its actually pretty sweet. i get my own room with a mosquito net and fan. we've been introduced to a lot of the staff and they're all testing our swahili. its not great. lets be real. it didn't go well. but all the tanzanians are REALLY welcoming. i think i like it here. all the current volunteers tell us that training is the worse part so just brace yourself and try to get through it. the real training, the hard kind, starts on monday. thats when we start language training and job training. i'm actually still waiting to see what my volunteer sector is. it was supposed to be environment but it may turn out to be health. i'm waiting to see. all the little kids are curious about the crazy group of 49 white people that don't speak any swahili and travel in herds. thats it for now. i've got like 15 other trainees waiting for computer time.

i'm actually going

tomorrow is the big day. i actually leave for tanzania. we're here in D.C. right now. we just finished staging. it was way less boring than i anticipated. it was one long meeting that lasted a day and half but it was fun. i met the other peace corps trainees that i'll be going through training with and the ones that (if we last) will be sworn in with me in august. but i'm trying to take this one step at a time. my group is cool. totally what i expected (granola) and totally suprising too (i so many things in common with everyone here) its nice also to have a bunch of people who are going through the same stuff as you. so tommorw morning we get some shots, take some malaria pills, and wait for the acid trip to start (evidentally these pills have several side effects, i'll let you know). after that its off to the airport to fly to germany then switzerland then tanzania. we should get there sometime wednesday. on friday or saturday i'll meet the host family that i'll be living with for the next ten weeks while i get trained. cross your fingers for me that they'll accept my psuedo-vegetarian lifestyle. thats it for now. i'll keep you updated when i can. computer access is iffy but once i have some cools pictures i'll put those up too. leave messages. they'll make me happy.

Flights Booked

I got the call 6:15 this morning.
Me: heeellllllo?
Travel Guy: Hi this the Peace Corps travel agency. We'd like to arrange your flight to Washington D.C. on June 8 to meet with your staging group before you leave for Tanzania.
Me: mmmhmmmm
TG: Where will you be departing from ?
Me: Burbank, California
TG: oh no! it must be what?...... like 6:15 over there?
Me: yes, definitely 6:15

really? is this guy new? the time change isn't.
so anyhow. its booked. the last thing to be done is done. so I'm really going and its starting to hit me a little bit. I'm nervous. 27 months is a long time. and Swahili is a very different language. and its hot there. i get hot easily. i tend to complain a lot too. did i put that in my application? i hope they have someone there to handle people like me. if they don't, this might be a much shorter trip than anticipated.

but i'm sure i'll be ok. as long as i have enough sudoku's, crime novels, and prozac i'm sure i'll make it out just fine. besides, this is what i wanted. something where i get to meet people from a totally different world than mine and something that is a little bit hard.