It has been awhile since I have added anything to my blog, and that is because I have been staying pretty busy. I also have not responded to emails (Sorry) I will get to them soon. The begining of my adventure was a two week training with the PeaceCorps. It was called out In-Service Training. I was nervous to come back together with all the volunteers who I spent two months with then was separated. It was so nice to see everyone and hear about the good and the bad times people were having. It all closely resembled eachother. For the first week we talked alot about the issues we have been having in our villages, how to write grants, we all presented our analysis of the village, and had some updates on various teaching skills. For the second half of the training we were able to bring one of our villagers. I brought my neighbor how is 20 years old, and he got so much out of the training. He was able to recieve some training on health issues, also learned what made Americans act the way they do, and various skills to help him and me work better together. I am so glad he was able to come, I think he took alot from the experience and will use it for the rest of his life.
After training I had to go back to the capitol city to get a check up on my tooth. The guy took an x-ray and all is well. He said as long as I am not in pain, he doesn't see anything wrong. That made my day and allowed me to be alittle more relaxed going into Christmas vacation.
A group of us decided to spend our Christmas on Mafia island. If you look it up on the internet you will find a resort that costs lots of money. Don't be fooled, we did not stay there. We were trying to save money and still have a good time so we stayed on the no developed side. In order to get to the island we had to take a small van for 4 hours than hop on a ferry for another 4.5 hours before we arrived in "paradise". We were staying at a hotel that was old and kind of beat up, cracks in the walls you know the type. It was cheap. We soon found out that they shut the electricty off at 7am in the morning (that means no vacation naps under a fan) and for most of the days shut the water off to, so no showers until late at night. It was paradise because we were living in a village and were able to get cheap deals on almost everything. I loved that part! One of the days we decided to go swimming with the whale sharks. I think most of you have heard the story, but we decided to go with a man who claimed to have worked with the coral reef conservation or something. He gave us a good deal so once again I had a big smile on my face. We are getting on the boat then he tells us he is not coming out his workers will take good care of us. We all load into a small boat push off to go board the bigger boat. At this time the tide is starting to rise because they HAD to have tea and bread before they left. We get in the bigget boat maybe a 30ft boat for the 13 of us. The guys start setting up the awning, and other things on the boat while the tide is still rising. They finally start the boat then one gets out to push. The boat is stuck. Again the tide is still rising. They tell us to hop back in the small boat so they can puch easier. We decide that there is no way they are going to be able to do this by themselves so we all get out and help push, finally the boat is loose and we are off.
We get out to see and within 15 mins the guy spots one. We all get super excited and start putting on goggles, snorkels, flippers. Our hearts are racing a mile a minute. The guy gets up close and says jump in. I am one of the first to jump and half into the water I realize what I am doing. I am jumping into the middle of the ocean to swim with a 20ft wild shark. The water is murky so I cant get a good look. I am freaking out and keep trying to find it, but also am super afraid. I get back into the boat and let others try. Eventually after about 6 jumps in a I get a real good one. I am able to swim right over the shark for about 30 seconds. I was on the surface and it was about 3 feet down. It was one of the most surreal and pristine moments of my life. I was also able to swim next to it for about 15 seconds. Such an amazing experience. I would recommend it to anyone who has the oppurtunity.
The rest of the trip we relaxed on the INDIAN OCEAN, played cards, read, napped, ate lots of seafood for so cheap. I got a whole octopus for like 60 cents american. On Christmas we had a nice lunch with a couple from England who we have been sharing our time with. They had fruit cake sent in for Christmas and they shared it with us. I was apprehensive, but it was delicous.
Now I am on my way back to my village to get started on my projects.
First holiday season away was hard, but I am glad I stayed so busy. Made the time go by fast, and made it not really feel like I missed Christmas.
I love and miss you all
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Dance
The men run and jump in front of the crowd of women, then some of the women join
The skirts are made out of beads, and the shirts out of goat hide
Where's Waldo?
Tradtional Dancing
Monday, October 18, 2010
Mountain Climb!
10/17
It has been one week since I climbed the mountain. I posted pictures on of the climb on facebook, I hope you can check them out. I have been looking at this mountain for two months now knowing that the day willl come when I climb it. I got a ohone call from another volunteer saying a few people wanted to come in and climb. I got everything organized and then two days before we were supossed to climb I get a call from our guide. He tells me to look at the mountain. This is early in the morning so I don't expect anything of it. I walk outside and there are large cluds of smoke rising from the mountain. He tells me it caught fire this morning and we are not going to be able to climb. The fire is exactly where our path up the mountain is. I have a few people coming in from two days of travel just to climb the mountain, so my heart sinks. I talk with him for a bit and we decide to wait. He climbs the mountain the next day with a group of villagers to see if they could help stop the fire. When he comes back down he tells us the place where we climb the fire is already out. It has been burned so there is no way it can catch back on fire. We are back in! THis is about 12 hours before we would have to wake up to start the climb. The six of us that are planning on climbing are very excited. Not thinking too much of how hard the climb is going to be the next day we grab a few beers. When the alarm goes off at 4:45am I am shocked. We are running around the house grabbing our boiled eggs, PB&J sandwiches lots of water, and we are out the door by 5:15.
The climb begins: By this I mean we have a 8km walk just to the base of the mountain. Earlier this morning I realized my i-pod had no battery, so I would be climbing the mountain to the sound of my mind. (If you know me that can be a scary thing) So we begin the hike to the base of the mountain. The sun is rising over the hills and just looks beautiful. There is some excited chatter between us, but I think we were still all waking up. When we reached the base of the mountain and looked up it took my breath away. I guess from farther away it really does not look that big, but it is! It was awesome to walk from dry hills into an almost jungle. The hike felt like a hike in a jungle, except it was uphill. We were in heavy trees for about an hour which was beautiful all in itself.We finally reached the spot where the fire was earlier in the week, and it was complete devestation. It was sad to see everything burned down, but also quite a site to see only a day after a fir raged across the mountain. I think in some of the pictures you can see the smoke from the fire on a different part of the mountain. The hike continued, with me begining to be exhausted. Then we reached the actual climb. This part felt almost like rock climbing/hiking. There were parts where you had to pull yourself up over rocks, and vertical ground. It was tough especially after already hiking awhile. I have never really hiked before so I begin to fall back. After about two hours of complete hell, I think I have reached the top, but no one is around. I call the guide and he tells me I have reached the false peak.... This is the peak I see everyday from my house. The one that I said I would reach and be done. The peak that I knew I could reach. He says that there are two higher peaks one is an hour hike and the other is the highest is another two hours one way onto that. I decide with another girl that we will reach the second highest peak. After lots of rest, sweat, water, and hardboiled eggs we reach our goal. The other four had continued on to go to the main peak. I instead eat my PB&J sandwiches and take a nap on top of the mountain.
I feel accomplished for climbing what I did. It was alot more difficult than expected, but I think most people would not have a problem climbing it. Some advice for anyone lookng to do some mountain climbing in the future, dont drink the night before, ask around to figure out how hard the climb is going to be, bring lots of water and more food than you ever expect yourself to eat, charge your i-pod, and keep reminding yourself that this is fun, and you are almost there.
I hope you all enjoyed my mountain climbing story. It was such a beautiful experience and I plan on doing it again. Right now in my village, not much has changed. I am begining to write my analysis of the village. I have been meeting with various heads of the departments to ask questions and really figure out my village a little better.
I love and miss you all so much. Keep the emails and questions coming
Justin
It has been one week since I climbed the mountain. I posted pictures on of the climb on facebook, I hope you can check them out. I have been looking at this mountain for two months now knowing that the day willl come when I climb it. I got a ohone call from another volunteer saying a few people wanted to come in and climb. I got everything organized and then two days before we were supossed to climb I get a call from our guide. He tells me to look at the mountain. This is early in the morning so I don't expect anything of it. I walk outside and there are large cluds of smoke rising from the mountain. He tells me it caught fire this morning and we are not going to be able to climb. The fire is exactly where our path up the mountain is. I have a few people coming in from two days of travel just to climb the mountain, so my heart sinks. I talk with him for a bit and we decide to wait. He climbs the mountain the next day with a group of villagers to see if they could help stop the fire. When he comes back down he tells us the place where we climb the fire is already out. It has been burned so there is no way it can catch back on fire. We are back in! THis is about 12 hours before we would have to wake up to start the climb. The six of us that are planning on climbing are very excited. Not thinking too much of how hard the climb is going to be the next day we grab a few beers. When the alarm goes off at 4:45am I am shocked. We are running around the house grabbing our boiled eggs, PB&J sandwiches lots of water, and we are out the door by 5:15.
The climb begins: By this I mean we have a 8km walk just to the base of the mountain. Earlier this morning I realized my i-pod had no battery, so I would be climbing the mountain to the sound of my mind. (If you know me that can be a scary thing) So we begin the hike to the base of the mountain. The sun is rising over the hills and just looks beautiful. There is some excited chatter between us, but I think we were still all waking up. When we reached the base of the mountain and looked up it took my breath away. I guess from farther away it really does not look that big, but it is! It was awesome to walk from dry hills into an almost jungle. The hike felt like a hike in a jungle, except it was uphill. We were in heavy trees for about an hour which was beautiful all in itself.We finally reached the spot where the fire was earlier in the week, and it was complete devestation. It was sad to see everything burned down, but also quite a site to see only a day after a fir raged across the mountain. I think in some of the pictures you can see the smoke from the fire on a different part of the mountain. The hike continued, with me begining to be exhausted. Then we reached the actual climb. This part felt almost like rock climbing/hiking. There were parts where you had to pull yourself up over rocks, and vertical ground. It was tough especially after already hiking awhile. I have never really hiked before so I begin to fall back. After about two hours of complete hell, I think I have reached the top, but no one is around. I call the guide and he tells me I have reached the false peak.... This is the peak I see everyday from my house. The one that I said I would reach and be done. The peak that I knew I could reach. He says that there are two higher peaks one is an hour hike and the other is the highest is another two hours one way onto that. I decide with another girl that we will reach the second highest peak. After lots of rest, sweat, water, and hardboiled eggs we reach our goal. The other four had continued on to go to the main peak. I instead eat my PB&J sandwiches and take a nap on top of the mountain.
I feel accomplished for climbing what I did. It was alot more difficult than expected, but I think most people would not have a problem climbing it. Some advice for anyone lookng to do some mountain climbing in the future, dont drink the night before, ask around to figure out how hard the climb is going to be, bring lots of water and more food than you ever expect yourself to eat, charge your i-pod, and keep reminding yourself that this is fun, and you are almost there.
I hope you all enjoyed my mountain climbing story. It was such a beautiful experience and I plan on doing it again. Right now in my village, not much has changed. I am begining to write my analysis of the village. I have been meeting with various heads of the departments to ask questions and really figure out my village a little better.
I love and miss you all so much. Keep the emails and questions coming
Justin
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
October 5th
Happy Birthday Theresa! I love you!
I just got back from a trip to my banking town. As I talked about in my last blog nine volunteers were hosting a girls empowerment seminar. The seminar was five days long, but I made it in for the last one. It was cool to see 50 girls coming together from around the region to discuss the same issues. The learned everything about basic sanitary needs for girls to having open discussions. They also had presentations on goal setting and family planning. I only saw a few hours of the confrence, but from the smiles on the other volunteers and the girls faces I could tell it was a complete success. While I was there I discussed putting on a guys confrence in March. We want to reach boys who are at the age of going onto secondary school. This will reach the kids who might not have the oppurtunity for information like this in the future. I am really excited to see how that works out.
This up coming weekend we are climbing the mountain. If I have emailed any of you in the past week its all I can talk about. I am so excited to see how hard it actually is, and how beautiful the area looks from that high up. The mountain is a day climb/hike so we are able to return home that same day. There is going to be about 8 volunteers in total climbing, so we will be safe mom ;).
Some other issues I have been dealing with right now is writing my report on the town. I have been in contact with a few people in high positions to discuss statistics, but this is going to be harder than originally thought. I am trying to set up a meeting with a widows group to see how it is run, and ask them some questions. I also am trying to get in contact with the person who is running the AIDS/HIV education for the area to see what is set up, and what needs assistance. I am still trying to get my foot in the door at the secondary school, but right now is nation testing for the graduating class, so they are busy for the next few weeks. Our next training for all of the new peacecorps volunteers in my class is Dec 4th-17th. It is going to be in Morogoro town. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about that part of the country. At this training we will all be presenting our reports. We also will have some education on AIDS and writing grants and of course some language touch-ups. It is going to be so nice to see everyone, and hear all the wonderful stories.
As of now I don't have plans for Christmas or New Years. I know that the missionaries are trying to have a Thanksgiving dinner for all of the Peacecorps volunteers in the region, which will be so nice. Originally before everyone left for their sites we talked about traveling somewhere after IST to celebrate Christmas and New Years together. I know something will work out.
I have still be running. I am still trying to work off all the weight that I gained from homestay. I have been trying to run a different way everytime I go. This gives me the oppurtunity to see more of the area and it also gives me the oppurtunity to meet more people if I get tired and need to walk. In Feburary there is a 5k/(1/2)marathon/marathon at the base of Killimanjaro. That is the largest mountain in Africa. I have my eyes set on running the (1/2) marathon, but we will see how my feet hold up. It is a big get together for alot of peacecorps volunteers to run or watch.
I think that is about it right now... keep emailing me and keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. If there is anything that you want to know about my daily life or anything about the region dont be afraid to ask. I am jut kind of writing whatever comes to mind at that point, so if you ask questions these might be a little more focused.
Love you all,
Justin
P.S. Shout out to Kelsey Kloberdanz for the package thanks a million!
I just got back from a trip to my banking town. As I talked about in my last blog nine volunteers were hosting a girls empowerment seminar. The seminar was five days long, but I made it in for the last one. It was cool to see 50 girls coming together from around the region to discuss the same issues. The learned everything about basic sanitary needs for girls to having open discussions. They also had presentations on goal setting and family planning. I only saw a few hours of the confrence, but from the smiles on the other volunteers and the girls faces I could tell it was a complete success. While I was there I discussed putting on a guys confrence in March. We want to reach boys who are at the age of going onto secondary school. This will reach the kids who might not have the oppurtunity for information like this in the future. I am really excited to see how that works out.
This up coming weekend we are climbing the mountain. If I have emailed any of you in the past week its all I can talk about. I am so excited to see how hard it actually is, and how beautiful the area looks from that high up. The mountain is a day climb/hike so we are able to return home that same day. There is going to be about 8 volunteers in total climbing, so we will be safe mom ;).
Some other issues I have been dealing with right now is writing my report on the town. I have been in contact with a few people in high positions to discuss statistics, but this is going to be harder than originally thought. I am trying to set up a meeting with a widows group to see how it is run, and ask them some questions. I also am trying to get in contact with the person who is running the AIDS/HIV education for the area to see what is set up, and what needs assistance. I am still trying to get my foot in the door at the secondary school, but right now is nation testing for the graduating class, so they are busy for the next few weeks. Our next training for all of the new peacecorps volunteers in my class is Dec 4th-17th. It is going to be in Morogoro town. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about that part of the country. At this training we will all be presenting our reports. We also will have some education on AIDS and writing grants and of course some language touch-ups. It is going to be so nice to see everyone, and hear all the wonderful stories.
As of now I don't have plans for Christmas or New Years. I know that the missionaries are trying to have a Thanksgiving dinner for all of the Peacecorps volunteers in the region, which will be so nice. Originally before everyone left for their sites we talked about traveling somewhere after IST to celebrate Christmas and New Years together. I know something will work out.
I have still be running. I am still trying to work off all the weight that I gained from homestay. I have been trying to run a different way everytime I go. This gives me the oppurtunity to see more of the area and it also gives me the oppurtunity to meet more people if I get tired and need to walk. In Feburary there is a 5k/(1/2)marathon/marathon at the base of Killimanjaro. That is the largest mountain in Africa. I have my eyes set on running the (1/2) marathon, but we will see how my feet hold up. It is a big get together for alot of peacecorps volunteers to run or watch.
I think that is about it right now... keep emailing me and keeping me in your thoughts and prayers. If there is anything that you want to know about my daily life or anything about the region dont be afraid to ask. I am jut kind of writing whatever comes to mind at that point, so if you ask questions these might be a little more focused.
Love you all,
Justin
P.S. Shout out to Kelsey Kloberdanz for the package thanks a million!
Friday, September 24, 2010
September 24th!
So I want to start off this blog with my afternooon of adventure. I wake up this morning with a small list of things to get accomplished. I want to work on y garden, do the dishes, laundry, go visit one of the government officials to set up a meeting for next week, and some other odds and ends. I wake up feeling confident I am going to rock this day out. I decide that I should probably shower before I go and talk with the official, so I decide to work on my garden first. The garden I am trying to make is a technique we were taught durin our training. It is called double digging, and this man Peter Jensen is the one who taught it to us. It allows anyone to plant and produce a strong garden in any enviornment. The process controls any water that enters the system by a series of different concepts. First you have to dig out the entire area about a foot deep. I did this the other day and tore up my hands bad. They had open blizters because I was using a brand new jembe, without any work gloves. I gave myself a few days off before I started the next part. A few days later I dug out around the border of the garden. This allows the water to flow in and get trapped. It also creates big holes in the corners to contain more water. With the excess dirt you can plant a natural plant fence to keep away any stray animals. As I was digging this I found the hose that connects my water. My neighbor came over to me while I was digging and told me that I should be careful of the hose. It is a real pain in the butt to fix if its broken. Well I woke up this morning of double digging the area where I am going to plant my plants. You want to dig down about two feet to allow the roots to grow deep and for the water to saturate the land easier. As I was going I was feeling good, I was thinking about maybe going for a run later. Then I hit a root. I hit it again to get it out of the way. After about six swings I pull up all the dirt around it and realize its the hose! I was like why is there no water coming out? Maybe this is left over, then I found the other part which I cut right through. UGH I realize that we dont have water right now. This is a good thing, and I start thinking what am I going to do. My neighbor came over earlier to tell me he was leaving for the day so I couldnt get him to help. I stand in the middle of my garden for a few minutes covered head to toe in dirt and think. I soon realize this is going to be an easy fix. I just need to buy a connector piece at the hardware store. Since I live in town this is no big deal, except for the language barrier. After a odd and confusing conversation with the man at the hardware store I get what I need. I come home happy that I am going to fix this on my own. When I get home the water is still off which makes me smile alittle. I start putting the device together have to cut each side of the hose alittle and take a nice piece of my finger off with the hose. OUCH! Its ok I am going to do this. Then when I am about 2/3 the way done the water starts coming out. I hurry to get it put together I am rushing but finally after alot of work I get it together and test it with my spicket and it works! YAY I WON! So I begin to start to cook breakfast and decide to leave my garden for another day. My neighbor returns and ask what all the water is from I tell him, then he tells me I didnt fix it. There were bubbles and water coming out of the part that I fixed. I tell him that I will get it later since it is slow I will wait for the water to turn off. After he leaves and I eat my breakfast and do my laundry, I feel confident I can fix it. I address the problem and soon realize I lost one of the rubber pieces. I return to the hardware store and easy enough the man gives it to me for free. This makes me happy again. As I am returning into my backyard I realize there is alot more water now. This is the fastest and the hardest the water has ever come out. I attempt to put it back together, but the pressure is to strong. Now I am waiting for the water to shut off. In Africa there are not built in shut off vaulves, if I wanted my water to stop flowing they would have to shut off all the water around me off, like 50 households. So I wait....
I think I will be able to fix it pretty easy once the water stops flowing. The water here since it is the dry season is usually on for a day then off for a few hours then on then off, so I just have to wait around and see what happens.
I thought I would update you all on my life. I have been meeting eith various people trying to figure the best way of going at this anylasis. The missionaries invited me up to dinner this past Friday, and it felt like I was in America. They cooked me pizza with CHEESE. After we sat on their leather couches and watched AMERICAN TELEVISION for like three hours. It was nice to hear their take on the country and what thier plans were. It was also very nice to go to America for a few hours dont get me wrong. In a few weeks I am going to climb my mountain for the first time. I am super excited. A groupd of volunteers are coming in from all over the country to climb it. Also this next weekend I am traveling a few days to see a girls confrence being held in my banking town by about nine volunteers. This should be a huge learning experience for me, I am excited it is so close and I am able to go. Today was the trip to the national park with the eight graders here. I was going to go, but the more I heard about the trip, it would have been a long bus ride for only a few hours at the national park. I decided it was in my best interest to dave the money and just stay here.
Another pretty short an scary story. One night I woke up in the middle of the night having to go to the bathroom. In half of a daize I open my two doors and step out into my courtyard. ( My bathroom is outside of my house.) I am smart enough to turn on my light. As I am walking I am kind of looking at the ground and see a 3 foot rope on the ground and think nothing of it. As I am going to the bathroom I wake up alittle more and realize what that three foot rope was a SNAKE! Ummmmm does this mean there could be some in the toliet with me? Where is it going to go? What am I going to do? I being to freak out thinking about what would happen if I stepped on it? So I open the door slowly to find out that the snake s gone. I have no idea where it went so I sprinted back into the house close the doors and freaked out for another half hour, realized I was safe and went to sleep.
I hope these stories brighten your day alittle bit. Everything is going pretty well here. Having the internet at my hand really makes my life alittle bit better everyday. I hope everything is going great and you are all enjoying fast food. Miss and love you all.
Justin
I think I will be able to fix it pretty easy once the water stops flowing. The water here since it is the dry season is usually on for a day then off for a few hours then on then off, so I just have to wait around and see what happens.
I thought I would update you all on my life. I have been meeting eith various people trying to figure the best way of going at this anylasis. The missionaries invited me up to dinner this past Friday, and it felt like I was in America. They cooked me pizza with CHEESE. After we sat on their leather couches and watched AMERICAN TELEVISION for like three hours. It was nice to hear their take on the country and what thier plans were. It was also very nice to go to America for a few hours dont get me wrong. In a few weeks I am going to climb my mountain for the first time. I am super excited. A groupd of volunteers are coming in from all over the country to climb it. Also this next weekend I am traveling a few days to see a girls confrence being held in my banking town by about nine volunteers. This should be a huge learning experience for me, I am excited it is so close and I am able to go. Today was the trip to the national park with the eight graders here. I was going to go, but the more I heard about the trip, it would have been a long bus ride for only a few hours at the national park. I decided it was in my best interest to dave the money and just stay here.
Another pretty short an scary story. One night I woke up in the middle of the night having to go to the bathroom. In half of a daize I open my two doors and step out into my courtyard. ( My bathroom is outside of my house.) I am smart enough to turn on my light. As I am walking I am kind of looking at the ground and see a 3 foot rope on the ground and think nothing of it. As I am going to the bathroom I wake up alittle more and realize what that three foot rope was a SNAKE! Ummmmm does this mean there could be some in the toliet with me? Where is it going to go? What am I going to do? I being to freak out thinking about what would happen if I stepped on it? So I open the door slowly to find out that the snake s gone. I have no idea where it went so I sprinted back into the house close the doors and freaked out for another half hour, realized I was safe and went to sleep.
I hope these stories brighten your day alittle bit. Everything is going pretty well here. Having the internet at my hand really makes my life alittle bit better everyday. I hope everything is going great and you are all enjoying fast food. Miss and love you all.
Justin
Sunday, September 12, 2010
September 12th
I just got back from church and decided I need to write a blog. I havent written one in awhile, so heres a nice update. I now have my wireless card which I love. Its slow, but it allows me to check email and news more frequently and cheaply. I am unable to skype, but I can use google talk to instant message. If anyone wants to figure that out, my mom did so I am sure she can help. Right now I have been in my village for a little over three weeks. It is wild to think this is the next two years of my life, but also very exciting. I have been talking with various people around the village on needs, but I want to get involved with larger groups. I want to be able to dicuss issues with larger groups of people at once. I know that I want to start some after school clubs at the secondary and maybe even the primary schools. I need to start finding teachers who will support it enought to continue after I am gone. I also think that I am going to do some empowerment seminars to raise awareness of the changes that will happen once the road is finished. I have had dinner at a few houses now, its nice to know that I have people in my area that are looking out for me and won't let me starve. In a few weeks the some of the older volunteers in the surronding area are putting on a girls confrence. They are bringing five girls from nine different schools for a few days in one of the larger city. I am going to try and make it out for that to see how it works. In my village there is a large market day twice a month. It is huge and people come from all over to check out all the goods. It is nice because they have a ton of clothes that you can sort through and other odds and ends. You really can find anything you need at this place. Its like a giant flea market without the booths. Its is more or less on tarps on the ground. I just bought a couch which I am very excited about. It should be finished tomorrow, its made out of wood I have to get the cushions made separatly, but its fun bargaining for days. The price started at 80000 TSH and I got it down to 35000 TSH. I was pretty pleased with myself. I have been cooking about once or twice a day. When the volunteers get together from the surronding area we love to try and cook American food. Last time is was one of the girls birthdays and we made chocolate cake! It turned out so good. I don't know if I am used to Tanzanian cooking or what, but it was AMAZING. In the second week of October there is a group of volunteers that are trying to come and climb the mountain. I am so excited. I can not wait to look at the base, then climb it and look out over the land from the top. I guess people are able to climb it in one day if you start out in the morning. I can't wait to let you all know how that goes. As for everything else, its all about the same. No big changes. Just trying to get the house more situated and trying to get to know more and more people everyday. I love and miss you all so much. Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers.
I just got back from church and decided I need to write a blog. I havent written one in awhile, so heres a nice update. I now have my wireless card which I love. Its slow, but it allows me to check email and news more frequently and cheaply. I am unable to skype, but I can use google talk to instant message. If anyone wants to figure that out, my mom did so I am sure she can help. Right now I have been in my village for a little over three weeks. It is wild to think this is the next two years of my life, but also very exciting. I have been talking with various people around the village on needs, but I want to get involved with larger groups. I want to be able to dicuss issues with larger groups of people at once. I know that I want to start some after school clubs at the secondary and maybe even the primary schools. I need to start finding teachers who will support it enought to continue after I am gone. I also think that I am going to do some empowerment seminars to raise awareness of the changes that will happen once the road is finished. I have had dinner at a few houses now, its nice to know that I have people in my area that are looking out for me and won't let me starve. In a few weeks the some of the older volunteers in the surronding area are putting on a girls confrence. They are bringing five girls from nine different schools for a few days in one of the larger city. I am going to try and make it out for that to see how it works. In my village there is a large market day twice a month. It is huge and people come from all over to check out all the goods. It is nice because they have a ton of clothes that you can sort through and other odds and ends. You really can find anything you need at this place. Its like a giant flea market without the booths. Its is more or less on tarps on the ground. I just bought a couch which I am very excited about. It should be finished tomorrow, its made out of wood I have to get the cushions made separatly, but its fun bargaining for days. The price started at 80000 TSH and I got it down to 35000 TSH. I was pretty pleased with myself. I have been cooking about once or twice a day. When the volunteers get together from the surronding area we love to try and cook American food. Last time is was one of the girls birthdays and we made chocolate cake! It turned out so good. I don't know if I am used to Tanzanian cooking or what, but it was AMAZING. In the second week of October there is a group of volunteers that are trying to come and climb the mountain. I am so excited. I can not wait to look at the base, then climb it and look out over the land from the top. I guess people are able to climb it in one day if you start out in the morning. I can't wait to let you all know how that goes. As for everything else, its all about the same. No big changes. Just trying to get the house more situated and trying to get to know more and more people everyday. I love and miss you all so much. Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
August 28
A week at site:
Wow , it is totally different than I ever could have imagined. Life takes a huge change when you are all on your own. I like how I get to cook for myself, but I do not like to do my dishes. I have made some tanzanian dishes along with some american dishes. I have made some spaghetti and peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches. I have made some chipati and peanut sauce which was so good. I have also gone and eaten some kitti moto (pig) and some rice and beans when people have come into visit. The food here has been pretty good wherever I have bought it. I also have access to a large fruit and vegetable market on a daily basis. That is really nice because it will keep me healthy. :) I have also found out where I can get some meat ground up so I can start to put it in may different meals. Tomorrow I am going to a huge market that happens twice a month. I am meeting up with some of the other volunteers and I guess they sell everything at this market. It will be such a cool experience, I am kind of picturing a tanzanian flea market, but we shall find out. I guess they have animals hanging from trees like in the other market which you can ask to cook, but they also have pots, pans, foods, locks, everything you need. I have been running a few times now. The sceanary here is so amazing it is hilly with a huge mountain in the background. Just the other day I went running up one of the hills and got to the top and looked down. The city is so pretty sitting on top of a giant hill. Hopefully soon I will get a group together to climb the mountain. While I took a break and was sitting up there I realized I really was in Africa. I saw a few of those droopy trees from the lion king and just vast openess. It really hit me I was hear and I loved it. It doesn't make missing everyone any easier, but it is so so so beautiful. I want to go around and take pictures to share, but it might be awhile before I pull out my camera. I have a neighbor who is 20 years old. He is so nice and has been showing me around town. The other day we went and meet with some missionaries in the town. They are from Ohio and are so nice. They were talking to me about coming up to watch sports games and to eat american food. It is nice to know I have someone so close that I can feel alittle more at home around. I guess they have opened a school and a church here, and hope to open some hostel for out of school youth where they are able to learn some type of trade work. They really have such huge hearts and are an amazing group of people. I can't wait to spend some more time with them. Along with with the missionaries I have also been visiting schools and clinic. I said before I am very close to two of the primary schools and a secondary school. The secondary school has been talking about maybe having me teach a class a week and I want to set up club there. The clinic is very big. I went there to talk about what I was able to help with. They sent me to the hospital which was alittle over a 2km walk one way. When I got there the guy who I am suppossed to talk with is on safari so I have to return on Monday. I am excited to see what I will be able to do and how much I can actually help. I bought a wireless card. It should be here sometime in the next few weeks which is super exciting. I will be able to read about the news and send emails more easily. I tried one out the other day and it was really slow so I dont think I will be able to skype with it, but we shall see. I think I will have to wait to skype when I go to the larger cities. So since it is after the harvest and there is lots of leftover harvest on the ground there are many rats around. I had a couple volunteers spend the night last night and they slept in my main room. They said they heard the rats scampering around. So today I set up some rat poison with some jelly. I hope it works I will keep you posted. Like always I love and miss you all more than you will ever know. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers because I truely can feel all the good thoughts. I will hopefully update you all soon.
Wow , it is totally different than I ever could have imagined. Life takes a huge change when you are all on your own. I like how I get to cook for myself, but I do not like to do my dishes. I have made some tanzanian dishes along with some american dishes. I have made some spaghetti and peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches. I have made some chipati and peanut sauce which was so good. I have also gone and eaten some kitti moto (pig) and some rice and beans when people have come into visit. The food here has been pretty good wherever I have bought it. I also have access to a large fruit and vegetable market on a daily basis. That is really nice because it will keep me healthy. :) I have also found out where I can get some meat ground up so I can start to put it in may different meals. Tomorrow I am going to a huge market that happens twice a month. I am meeting up with some of the other volunteers and I guess they sell everything at this market. It will be such a cool experience, I am kind of picturing a tanzanian flea market, but we shall find out. I guess they have animals hanging from trees like in the other market which you can ask to cook, but they also have pots, pans, foods, locks, everything you need. I have been running a few times now. The sceanary here is so amazing it is hilly with a huge mountain in the background. Just the other day I went running up one of the hills and got to the top and looked down. The city is so pretty sitting on top of a giant hill. Hopefully soon I will get a group together to climb the mountain. While I took a break and was sitting up there I realized I really was in Africa. I saw a few of those droopy trees from the lion king and just vast openess. It really hit me I was hear and I loved it. It doesn't make missing everyone any easier, but it is so so so beautiful. I want to go around and take pictures to share, but it might be awhile before I pull out my camera. I have a neighbor who is 20 years old. He is so nice and has been showing me around town. The other day we went and meet with some missionaries in the town. They are from Ohio and are so nice. They were talking to me about coming up to watch sports games and to eat american food. It is nice to know I have someone so close that I can feel alittle more at home around. I guess they have opened a school and a church here, and hope to open some hostel for out of school youth where they are able to learn some type of trade work. They really have such huge hearts and are an amazing group of people. I can't wait to spend some more time with them. Along with with the missionaries I have also been visiting schools and clinic. I said before I am very close to two of the primary schools and a secondary school. The secondary school has been talking about maybe having me teach a class a week and I want to set up club there. The clinic is very big. I went there to talk about what I was able to help with. They sent me to the hospital which was alittle over a 2km walk one way. When I got there the guy who I am suppossed to talk with is on safari so I have to return on Monday. I am excited to see what I will be able to do and how much I can actually help. I bought a wireless card. It should be here sometime in the next few weeks which is super exciting. I will be able to read about the news and send emails more easily. I tried one out the other day and it was really slow so I dont think I will be able to skype with it, but we shall see. I think I will have to wait to skype when I go to the larger cities. So since it is after the harvest and there is lots of leftover harvest on the ground there are many rats around. I had a couple volunteers spend the night last night and they slept in my main room. They said they heard the rats scampering around. So today I set up some rat poison with some jelly. I hope it works I will keep you posted. Like always I love and miss you all more than you will ever know. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers because I truely can feel all the good thoughts. I will hopefully update you all soon.
August 28
A week at site:
Wow , it is totally different than I ever could have imagined. Life takes a huge change when you are all on your own. I like how I get to cook for myself, but I do not like to do my dishes. I have made some tanzanian dishes along with some american dishes. I have made some spaghetti and peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches. I have made some chipati and peanut sauce which was so good. I have also gone and eaten some kitti moto (pig) and some rice and beans when people have come into visit. The food here has been pretty good wherever I have bought it. I also have access to a large fruit and vegetable market on a daily basis. That is really nice because it will keep me healthy. :) I have also found out where I can get some meat ground up so I can start to put it in may different meals. Tomorrow I am going to a huge market that happens twice a month. I am meeting up with some of the other volunteers and I guess they sell everything at this market. It will be such a cool experience, I am kind of picturing a tanzanian flea market, but we shall find out. I guess they have animals hanging from trees like in the other market which you can ask to cook, but they also have pots, pans, foods, locks, everything you need. I have been running a few times now. The sceanary here is so amazing it is hilly with a huge mountain in the background. Just the other day I went running up one of the hills and got to the top and looked down. The city is so pretty sitting on top of a giant hill. Hopefully soon I will get a group together to climb the mountain. While I took a break and was sitting up there I realized I really was in Africa. I saw a few of those droopy trees from the lion king and just vast openess. It really hit me I was hear and I loved it. It doesn't make missing everyone any easier, but it is so so so beautiful. I want to go around and take pictures to share, but it might be awhile before I pull out my camera. I have a neighbor who is 20 years old. He is so nice and has been showing me around town. The other day we went and meet with some missionaries in the town. They are from Ohio and are so nice. They were talking to me about coming up to watch sports games and to eat american food. It is nice to know I have someone so close that I can feel alittle more at home around. I guess they have opened a school and a church here, and hope to open some hostel for out of school youth where they are able to learn some type of trade work. They really have such huge hearts and are an amazing group of people. I can't wait to spend some more time with them. Along with with the missionaries I have also been visiting schools and clinic. I said before I am very close to two of the primary schools and a secondary school. The secondary school has been talking about maybe having me teach a class a week and I want to set up club there. The clinic is very big. I went there to talk about what I was able to help with. They sent me to the hospital which was alittle over a 2km walk one way. When I got there the guy who I am suppossed to talk with is on safari so I have to return on Monday. I am excited to see what I will be able to do and how much I can actually help. I bought a wireless card. It should be here sometime in the next few weeks which is super exciting. I will be able to read about the news and send emails more easily. I tried one out the other day and it was really slow so I dont think I will be able to skype with it, but we shall see. I think I will have to wait to skype when I go to the larger cities. So since it is after the harvest and there is lots of leftover harvest on the ground there are many rats around. I had a couple volunteers spend the night last night and they slept in my main room. They said they heard the rats scampering around. So today I set up some rat poison with some jelly. I hope it works I will keep you posted. Like always I love and miss you all more than you will ever know. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers because I truely can feel all the good thoughts. I will hopefully update you all soon.
Wow , it is totally different than I ever could have imagined. Life takes a huge change when you are all on your own. I like how I get to cook for myself, but I do not like to do my dishes. I have made some tanzanian dishes along with some american dishes. I have made some spaghetti and peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches. I have made some chipati and peanut sauce which was so good. I have also gone and eaten some kitti moto (pig) and some rice and beans when people have come into visit. The food here has been pretty good wherever I have bought it. I also have access to a large fruit and vegetable market on a daily basis. That is really nice because it will keep me healthy. :) I have also found out where I can get some meat ground up so I can start to put it in may different meals. Tomorrow I am going to a huge market that happens twice a month. I am meeting up with some of the other volunteers and I guess they sell everything at this market. It will be such a cool experience, I am kind of picturing a tanzanian flea market, but we shall find out. I guess they have animals hanging from trees like in the other market which you can ask to cook, but they also have pots, pans, foods, locks, everything you need. I have been running a few times now. The sceanary here is so amazing it is hilly with a huge mountain in the background. Just the other day I went running up one of the hills and got to the top and looked down. The city is so pretty sitting on top of a giant hill. Hopefully soon I will get a group together to climb the mountain. While I took a break and was sitting up there I realized I really was in Africa. I saw a few of those droopy trees from the lion king and just vast openess. It really hit me I was hear and I loved it. It doesn't make missing everyone any easier, but it is so so so beautiful. I want to go around and take pictures to share, but it might be awhile before I pull out my camera. I have a neighbor who is 20 years old. He is so nice and has been showing me around town. The other day we went and meet with some missionaries in the town. They are from Ohio and are so nice. They were talking to me about coming up to watch sports games and to eat american food. It is nice to know I have someone so close that I can feel alittle more at home around. I guess they have opened a school and a church here, and hope to open some hostel for out of school youth where they are able to learn some type of trade work. They really have such huge hearts and are an amazing group of people. I can't wait to spend some more time with them. Along with with the missionaries I have also been visiting schools and clinic. I said before I am very close to two of the primary schools and a secondary school. The secondary school has been talking about maybe having me teach a class a week and I want to set up club there. The clinic is very big. I went there to talk about what I was able to help with. They sent me to the hospital which was alittle over a 2km walk one way. When I got there the guy who I am suppossed to talk with is on safari so I have to return on Monday. I am excited to see what I will be able to do and how much I can actually help. I bought a wireless card. It should be here sometime in the next few weeks which is super exciting. I will be able to read about the news and send emails more easily. I tried one out the other day and it was really slow so I dont think I will be able to skype with it, but we shall see. I think I will have to wait to skype when I go to the larger cities. So since it is after the harvest and there is lots of leftover harvest on the ground there are many rats around. I had a couple volunteers spend the night last night and they slept in my main room. They said they heard the rats scampering around. So today I set up some rat poison with some jelly. I hope it works I will keep you posted. Like always I love and miss you all more than you will ever know. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers because I truely can feel all the good thoughts. I will hopefully update you all soon.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
CONTACT INFORMATION
Cell Phone Number: 255782554851
Mailing Address: Justin Zerber
P.O. Box 144
Katesh Hanang District
Tanzania, East Africa
Mailing Address: Justin Zerber
P.O. Box 144
Katesh Hanang District
Tanzania, East Africa
August 21st
My first full day at site:
Wow so here I am. It is real. I got dropped off yesterday by peacecorps at my house. I met with a representative from the village government, ate some lunch did a little shopping in town then peacecorp left with the other three volunteers I traveled with. I was able to have out with two of the peacecorps volunteers who have been here for a year or so now last night and a little today. I am begining to start to meet my neighbors. I have a doctor who lives across the street with his family and a 20 year old male who lives next to me with an older lady. He is trying to go back to school and speaks wonderful english. Today I cleaned my house a bit and just roamed around the village. I live in a larger town which is nice because I will have access to alot of resources, but has the downfall of not being that small community. I have taken pictures of my house, and hopefully will be able to post them sometime soon. I have a three room house. It is a kitchen/living room, my bedroom, then a spare room. I have a large cemented in court yard in the back which I love. There are already some plants growing there, and hopefully soon I will be able to add more to that. I have electricity, and a water spicket in my backyard. Things are so different now that I am not at home stay. It is weird having to boil my own drinking water, warm my water for my bath and cook my own food. I think it will be nice once I get situated, but right now I just miss the simple things. My house has a beuatiful view of Mount Hanang(the 4th largest mountain in TZ)along with all the wild plants that come with it. It is very green here, and right now is the dead season. I heard when it is the raining season the plants look surreal with the bright colors. I am so exicted to climb the mountain with the other volunteers. It can be done in onew day, but it is recommened to stay the night up there. Right now the temperature is around 70 degrees which is nice. At night it gets done to around 45 which can be quite chilly, but I have plenty of blankets. My house is right by a main road which is getting paved. It is a huge proect and they are paving over 150km. It should take the next five years. With construction comes lots of dust. There is lots of dust all the time everywhere including my house. It hasnt been an issue yet, but we shall see. I have a dog left by the previous volunteer. His name is Batman and is a black lab mix. Because of the weather he is able to sleep and stay outside, he follows me everywhere. I dont really take care of him, because he is able to find his own food and water, he just stay at my house. My house is very close to a primary school. This means I see kids all the time coming and going. I think it will be good for me to be that close. Also there is a soccer feild close by. I heard that there is not a soccer team set up, so that might be on my list of things to do. Since the road is so bad it will be very difficult to have commetitions, but I want to figure something out. My fellow volunteers are an hour to 4 hours drive in my region. There are seven total. The four that just got installed yesterday, two education volunteers and a health volunteer. I was able to meet the health and an education volunteer yesterday and they seem very excited to have us. Back to the road issue, since it is under construction travel any where in the country will be very time consumming. I think it will take me atleast a day to get anywhere. To travel all the way south where friends of mine from class have been place it may take four days. Tomorrow I plan to explore the village with my neighbor. I am going to look into buying a couch for my house along with buy some charcoal to cook with and some other odds and ends. I want to get a grasp on the city and figure out where things are located. My mailing address is now listed above. I have heard that mail is pretty quick and easy here which is nice. I have been told if packages are sent, send them in envelopes instead of boxes, because they have a higher success rate. For the next three months I am suppossed to get intragrated within the community. I think it will be hard because of the size, but I am willing to give it a go. I am also suppossed to set up contacts with futer job opportunities and find someone who will come to trainings with me. I am excited to go out and find what the village needs and wants from me. I am in site that has had around five previous volunteers. The village is used to having a peacecorps volunteer around which is nice, but I want to leave my own mark. I have internet access in town which is like a ten minute walk. It is kind of expensive so I am going to look into getting a wireless card. All is well right now. It is a bit overwhelming thinking about all the things I have ahead of me, but I am going to take it one step at a time. Well I will talk to you all very soon I hope. Now that I am at site I will be able to figure out a more concrete schedule for internet and such things. I hope all is well. I love and miss you all so much.
Wow so here I am. It is real. I got dropped off yesterday by peacecorps at my house. I met with a representative from the village government, ate some lunch did a little shopping in town then peacecorp left with the other three volunteers I traveled with. I was able to have out with two of the peacecorps volunteers who have been here for a year or so now last night and a little today. I am begining to start to meet my neighbors. I have a doctor who lives across the street with his family and a 20 year old male who lives next to me with an older lady. He is trying to go back to school and speaks wonderful english. Today I cleaned my house a bit and just roamed around the village. I live in a larger town which is nice because I will have access to alot of resources, but has the downfall of not being that small community. I have taken pictures of my house, and hopefully will be able to post them sometime soon. I have a three room house. It is a kitchen/living room, my bedroom, then a spare room. I have a large cemented in court yard in the back which I love. There are already some plants growing there, and hopefully soon I will be able to add more to that. I have electricity, and a water spicket in my backyard. Things are so different now that I am not at home stay. It is weird having to boil my own drinking water, warm my water for my bath and cook my own food. I think it will be nice once I get situated, but right now I just miss the simple things. My house has a beuatiful view of Mount Hanang(the 4th largest mountain in TZ)along with all the wild plants that come with it. It is very green here, and right now is the dead season. I heard when it is the raining season the plants look surreal with the bright colors. I am so exicted to climb the mountain with the other volunteers. It can be done in onew day, but it is recommened to stay the night up there. Right now the temperature is around 70 degrees which is nice. At night it gets done to around 45 which can be quite chilly, but I have plenty of blankets. My house is right by a main road which is getting paved. It is a huge proect and they are paving over 150km. It should take the next five years. With construction comes lots of dust. There is lots of dust all the time everywhere including my house. It hasnt been an issue yet, but we shall see. I have a dog left by the previous volunteer. His name is Batman and is a black lab mix. Because of the weather he is able to sleep and stay outside, he follows me everywhere. I dont really take care of him, because he is able to find his own food and water, he just stay at my house. My house is very close to a primary school. This means I see kids all the time coming and going. I think it will be good for me to be that close. Also there is a soccer feild close by. I heard that there is not a soccer team set up, so that might be on my list of things to do. Since the road is so bad it will be very difficult to have commetitions, but I want to figure something out. My fellow volunteers are an hour to 4 hours drive in my region. There are seven total. The four that just got installed yesterday, two education volunteers and a health volunteer. I was able to meet the health and an education volunteer yesterday and they seem very excited to have us. Back to the road issue, since it is under construction travel any where in the country will be very time consumming. I think it will take me atleast a day to get anywhere. To travel all the way south where friends of mine from class have been place it may take four days. Tomorrow I plan to explore the village with my neighbor. I am going to look into buying a couch for my house along with buy some charcoal to cook with and some other odds and ends. I want to get a grasp on the city and figure out where things are located. My mailing address is now listed above. I have heard that mail is pretty quick and easy here which is nice. I have been told if packages are sent, send them in envelopes instead of boxes, because they have a higher success rate. For the next three months I am suppossed to get intragrated within the community. I think it will be hard because of the size, but I am willing to give it a go. I am also suppossed to set up contacts with futer job opportunities and find someone who will come to trainings with me. I am excited to go out and find what the village needs and wants from me. I am in site that has had around five previous volunteers. The village is used to having a peacecorps volunteer around which is nice, but I want to leave my own mark. I have internet access in town which is like a ten minute walk. It is kind of expensive so I am going to look into getting a wireless card. All is well right now. It is a bit overwhelming thinking about all the things I have ahead of me, but I am going to take it one step at a time. Well I will talk to you all very soon I hope. Now that I am at site I will be able to figure out a more concrete schedule for internet and such things. I hope all is well. I love and miss you all so much.
Swearing in!
Ok so I need to go some pretty important updates. I passed all of my tests. I didn't do as well as I thought I did, but I did enough to pass. On Wednesday August 18th I was sworn in as an official peacecorps volunteer. It was at the US embassoradors house. It was a really nice ceremony with some speakers in english and Kiswahili. The volunteers put on a little thank you show, we sang both national anthems, gave a speech in both kiswhaili and english, and I cut the cake. After we had some odoevours, cake and some pop. It was nice to have good food. After we went to the peacecorps headquarters to finish up some last minute details along with getting paid and such. After we went to the house of the Country Director for Peacecorps. She has a beautiful house in Dar es Salaam. We had another amazing meal then we went back to the hostel to pack up so we could leave early the next morning. My trip was with three other volunteers. We drove about 10 hours to Moishi town. That is the cleaniest town in Tanzania. It is mostly a touristy town because it is the closest major town to Mount Killimanjaro. It was so nice to have a hot shower and good food again. We left again early the next morning for another 7 hour drive. We finally arrived in Katesh. Once you hit the road alittle passed Arusha, it is not paved. They are working on the road right now to try to pave it all the way through, so it takes along time to travel on.
August 14th
So I had time to write another blog this week. Things are becoming so real. I just packed up mot of my belongings so peace corps can take them to Dar es Salaam on Monday. I will bring the remaining stuff with me when I travel there on Tuesday. I have aquired another large bag of stuff.... It has new books (peace corps and novels), mosquito net, blanket, sheets, pillow, all the stuff peacecorps gave me when I arrived at my host family site. Right now it is Sunday and in a few hours I will be traveling to Tanga. We are doing a little goodbye party for my small group of volunteers I was in class with. We are going to a place that has pizza! I know it won't be as good as Hungry Howies, but I am still very excited. It is about an hour daladala(bus) ride. Rhamadan started a few days ago. My family has been fasting during the day, and only eating when the sun sets. It has been nice for me because they eat their first dinner earlier in the night. Now I have been eating around 7pm instead of 9 or 930. I think I did really well on my oral examination. I find out my results on Monday. All is good though, I hope to download your emails and then be able to answer them soon. I hope all is well. You are able to post questions on here too if you have any. Love and miss you all!
August 11th
Good morning all,
I am pre-writing a blog again, because it is so easy when I get onto internet to just post this up. Right now it is 6:30 am and I just got back from a run with the other volunteers in my village. I have to wirte this quick because I have to go to school at 7:30am. I still have to shower eat and get ready but I wanted to write a blog first. Today is Thursday and I have a security test. Yesterday I had my health examination which was pretty easy. On Friday I have my last oral examination. That will be hard, but I did pretty well on the pre test so I am not to worried. In a few days I travel to the capital city again to swear in and have dinner at the US embacy. The swearing in ceremony is on Wednesday, then I travel to site all alone on Thursday. It is so weird that I have been here almost two months now. This has been going so fast and I am having so much fun. I am excited to be on my own but sad to leave my family. It is going to be very different when I come home and no one is there to great me or cook my dinner. At the same time I am so pumped to cook my own meals again and just be on my own. It is so sad that I have gotten so close to all my other volunteers and now we are getting placed all around the country. I have been placed close to three other volunteers from my class. There are also I believe six other volunteers from other classes close to me also. I am not sure how close they are, but shouldnt be closer than a hour bus ride. I am excited because I am in the city and have electricity and easy access to water. Life will be good. Ok time to go take a bucket bath.
I am pre-writing a blog again, because it is so easy when I get onto internet to just post this up. Right now it is 6:30 am and I just got back from a run with the other volunteers in my village. I have to wirte this quick because I have to go to school at 7:30am. I still have to shower eat and get ready but I wanted to write a blog first. Today is Thursday and I have a security test. Yesterday I had my health examination which was pretty easy. On Friday I have my last oral examination. That will be hard, but I did pretty well on the pre test so I am not to worried. In a few days I travel to the capital city again to swear in and have dinner at the US embacy. The swearing in ceremony is on Wednesday, then I travel to site all alone on Thursday. It is so weird that I have been here almost two months now. This has been going so fast and I am having so much fun. I am excited to be on my own but sad to leave my family. It is going to be very different when I come home and no one is there to great me or cook my dinner. At the same time I am so pumped to cook my own meals again and just be on my own. It is so sad that I have gotten so close to all my other volunteers and now we are getting placed all around the country. I have been placed close to three other volunteers from my class. There are also I believe six other volunteers from other classes close to me also. I am not sure how close they are, but shouldnt be closer than a hour bus ride. I am excited because I am in the city and have electricity and easy access to water. Life will be good. Ok time to go take a bucket bath.
Monday, August 2, 2010
08/02/10
Hey everyone!
It is July 31st! I have been in country for a month and a half now. It seems just like yesterday I got off the plane and got on my first daladala. I am currently on a four day shadow experience. I am staying with a current peace corps volunteer who is a teacher. Myself and three other trainees are able to follow him around for a few days to see what life is really going to be like. He is stationed in Mpwapwa which is 3 hours outside of Dodoma. He is in a larger town where he has access to almost everything. He works in a school where he teaches people how to use omputers and helps to fix them when they are broken. Last night we went to a place that cooks goat on every Saturday. It reminds me of a farmers market with goat. You walk around and goats are slaughtered and cleaned hanging from trees waiting to be purchased. While you walk around you see evey part of the body being cooked in some fashion. From the blood to the stomach to the legs and ribs. When you find the uncooked whole goat you want, you bargain the price and then they will buthcer it for you right then and there. If you dont want the whole goat cooked they can separate those pieces and place in a bag for you. The parts you do want cooked they will start cooking right then and there. I was with a groupd of eight so we ate the four legs off of the goat. The rest was brought back to friends and family. You sit at your table and wait for the meat to be cooked. They bring out the goat in pieces depending on what part of the body is ready to be eaten. I have not had alot of meat since I have been here, so this was AMAZING. The meat wasn't seasoned, but cooked to perfection. It was a new experience having someone butcher a whole cooked goat leg in front of your face, but it was so good. Today we might go to a place that cooks pork. It is said to have the best pork in the village. My host family is muslim, and the community I am staying is mostly muslim, so I have had not pork since being in country. I am excited to have some cooked pork. Also, they don't know what bacon is, so we were trying to explain it to some Tanzanians over dinner, but it didnt translate very well. Ok so it took me two days to write this blog so i ate the pig. It was so yummy. We split 1.5 kilograms of pure pig between four of us along with some fried potatoes. It is so nice to eat alot of meat again. The crazy thing is I only had to pay 3000 shillings for the goat and 2000 shillings for the pig. That translates to about 2.00 and 1.50 USD. Things here are so cheap, but the income is so low it makes sense. On Wednesday I will travel back to Dar es Salaam (the capitol city). There I will open my bank account, fill out some more paper work, and have a few quick sessions before returning to my home stay family on Friday. This weekend coming up after I return to my home stay family I am having a party. It is with all the host families in the village kind of saying congratulations and we get to eat lots of good food. On the Friday before we left for shadow I found out where I will be spending the next two years....! I will be staying in a town called Katesh. The more I hear about it the more excited I get. I am actually in the town so I will have electricity and a water spicket in my courtyard. Both I did not expect to have so it is a wonderful surprise. My town is at the base of the 4th largest mountain in Tanzania which is super cool for hiking and such activities. I also heard that it is "cold" in my area. I am curious to find out how cold it will actually be, but excited to not sleep in constant sweet. I am about 4-6 hours from Arusha (one of the biggest tourist spots/prettiest places). That should be nice if I am able to visit. My banking town is the town I will be living in, so I dont have to travel to any other cities to get money or necesitites. I am going to be living up north with three other volunteers from my class all of which are enviornment. There are also five volunteers in the region right now from health enviornment and education. I am so pumped to see the mountain, I heard it is covered in green all year round. It is going to be such a cool scene to wake up to every morning. I love and miss you all! Feel free to email me @ socrswim06@gmail.com
It is July 31st! I have been in country for a month and a half now. It seems just like yesterday I got off the plane and got on my first daladala. I am currently on a four day shadow experience. I am staying with a current peace corps volunteer who is a teacher. Myself and three other trainees are able to follow him around for a few days to see what life is really going to be like. He is stationed in Mpwapwa which is 3 hours outside of Dodoma. He is in a larger town where he has access to almost everything. He works in a school where he teaches people how to use omputers and helps to fix them when they are broken. Last night we went to a place that cooks goat on every Saturday. It reminds me of a farmers market with goat. You walk around and goats are slaughtered and cleaned hanging from trees waiting to be purchased. While you walk around you see evey part of the body being cooked in some fashion. From the blood to the stomach to the legs and ribs. When you find the uncooked whole goat you want, you bargain the price and then they will buthcer it for you right then and there. If you dont want the whole goat cooked they can separate those pieces and place in a bag for you. The parts you do want cooked they will start cooking right then and there. I was with a groupd of eight so we ate the four legs off of the goat. The rest was brought back to friends and family. You sit at your table and wait for the meat to be cooked. They bring out the goat in pieces depending on what part of the body is ready to be eaten. I have not had alot of meat since I have been here, so this was AMAZING. The meat wasn't seasoned, but cooked to perfection. It was a new experience having someone butcher a whole cooked goat leg in front of your face, but it was so good. Today we might go to a place that cooks pork. It is said to have the best pork in the village. My host family is muslim, and the community I am staying is mostly muslim, so I have had not pork since being in country. I am excited to have some cooked pork. Also, they don't know what bacon is, so we were trying to explain it to some Tanzanians over dinner, but it didnt translate very well. Ok so it took me two days to write this blog so i ate the pig. It was so yummy. We split 1.5 kilograms of pure pig between four of us along with some fried potatoes. It is so nice to eat alot of meat again. The crazy thing is I only had to pay 3000 shillings for the goat and 2000 shillings for the pig. That translates to about 2.00 and 1.50 USD. Things here are so cheap, but the income is so low it makes sense. On Wednesday I will travel back to Dar es Salaam (the capitol city). There I will open my bank account, fill out some more paper work, and have a few quick sessions before returning to my home stay family on Friday. This weekend coming up after I return to my home stay family I am having a party. It is with all the host families in the village kind of saying congratulations and we get to eat lots of good food. On the Friday before we left for shadow I found out where I will be spending the next two years....! I will be staying in a town called Katesh. The more I hear about it the more excited I get. I am actually in the town so I will have electricity and a water spicket in my courtyard. Both I did not expect to have so it is a wonderful surprise. My town is at the base of the 4th largest mountain in Tanzania which is super cool for hiking and such activities. I also heard that it is "cold" in my area. I am curious to find out how cold it will actually be, but excited to not sleep in constant sweet. I am about 4-6 hours from Arusha (one of the biggest tourist spots/prettiest places). That should be nice if I am able to visit. My banking town is the town I will be living in, so I dont have to travel to any other cities to get money or necesitites. I am going to be living up north with three other volunteers from my class all of which are enviornment. There are also five volunteers in the region right now from health enviornment and education. I am so pumped to see the mountain, I heard it is covered in green all year round. It is going to be such a cool scene to wake up to every morning. I love and miss you all! Feel free to email me @ socrswim06@gmail.com
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
July 11th
I have just put up a blog about my daily schedule, so I hope it gives you some insight to what happens on a daily basis. For the most part Monday- Friday my schedule is the same down to when I fall asleep. On Saturday I get together with the larger group to do health and environmental training. This Saturday we started our own little gardens as a practice. We usually spend most of the day in a lecture setting followed by some short relaxing group activity. Sundays are wide open. I generally have no plans so I take a day to relax and work on homework I have missed over the week. Today I am catching up on emails and blogs and hopefully will be able to walk around the village and take some nice pictures. A few kids came to me two days ago asking if I could help them learn chemistry, biology, physics and math. They are younger kids and they speak English pretty well. I told them I could help them for a couple hours each day if they tutored me on my Kiswahili. It should be a pretty fair trade, but I just don’t know how much time I will be able to commit to them. They also do not have many resources when it comes to studying, so I hope that I will be able to find things that will help them to study. Next weekend the large group is taking a vacation! We have a Kiswahili test on this Friday. It is our first test, it is both written and verbal. After the test our group is going on a vacation. We are heading to a beach on the ocean for the weekend! I am so excited to take a few days away from the studying and just relax. I am going to go to bed now. I hope all is well and I will update soon.
Daily Schedule
Justin’s daily schedule:
6:45 am- Wake up to the sound of multiple roosters outside my window ( they start at 4am!)
7:00 am- Go take a bucket bath with water heated by the stove ( I love a bucket of warm water in the morning)
7:30 am- Sit down for breakfast usually a hard-boiled egg, some form of bread either a roll or few slices of fresh bread and a cup of warm milk or tea
7:45 am- Walk to my classroom which is in the house of someone who lives in the village we are using their front room to hold class. I have to walk by hundreds of kids asking how my day is in English, and me responding in Kiswahili.
8:00am- Arrive at the classroom to practice Kiswahili with 3 other peace corps volunteer and a teacher.
10:00am- Break for Tea. Who would have ever thought I enjoyed taking a break for tea, but when they feed you fried foods with tea I will take a break any day.
10:30am- Go back to learning Kiswahili and studying the culture
12:30pm- Break for lunch. Lunch usually consists of a vegetable either spinach, cabbage, or some other that is found in Africa, most of the time we have beans and rice. Usually we have some form of a fried food like chipate (a fried soft flat bread) or samboosas (a fried triangle kind of like a egg roll, either stuffed with potatoes, vegetables, or some ground beef)
1:00pm- Play with all the kids that sit outside our classroom all day listening to us butcher their language
1:30pm- Go back to practicing Kiswahili
3:00pm- 4:00pm We finish up for the day depending on how much our head hurts from learning new words and concepts
4:00pm Sit and relax with my three other classmates and drink a cold pop in our village. Laugh about how bad we are at the language and how much we want some American fast food, or some CHEESE
5:00pm I walk back to my house to play with my three little brothers and whatever neighbor kids want to play soccer with me that day.
6:30pm The sun sets and I move to the backyard to see if I can help make dinner. Most of the time I just watch as they cook, but sometimes I get to help. I really want to learn more techniques they use to cook. It is over a wood fire, or charcoal usually. They use cast iron pots and pans.
7:30pm I take another bucket bath
8:00pm I come inside and relax maybe read a little before my dinner is served. This is all done by candle light or a flashlight because there is no electricity
8:30pm I eat dinner. This varies a lot from rice and beans, to greens and ugali, to beef and rice. I am always way over fed and need to be rolled to my room to fall asleep.
9:00pm I am in bed and ready to fall asleep, I usually read for a bit, but realize I am not comprehending (because I am so tired) so I give up and go to sleep.
6:45 am- Wake up to the sound of multiple roosters outside my window ( they start at 4am!)
7:00 am- Go take a bucket bath with water heated by the stove ( I love a bucket of warm water in the morning)
7:30 am- Sit down for breakfast usually a hard-boiled egg, some form of bread either a roll or few slices of fresh bread and a cup of warm milk or tea
7:45 am- Walk to my classroom which is in the house of someone who lives in the village we are using their front room to hold class. I have to walk by hundreds of kids asking how my day is in English, and me responding in Kiswahili.
8:00am- Arrive at the classroom to practice Kiswahili with 3 other peace corps volunteer and a teacher.
10:00am- Break for Tea. Who would have ever thought I enjoyed taking a break for tea, but when they feed you fried foods with tea I will take a break any day.
10:30am- Go back to learning Kiswahili and studying the culture
12:30pm- Break for lunch. Lunch usually consists of a vegetable either spinach, cabbage, or some other that is found in Africa, most of the time we have beans and rice. Usually we have some form of a fried food like chipate (a fried soft flat bread) or samboosas (a fried triangle kind of like a egg roll, either stuffed with potatoes, vegetables, or some ground beef)
1:00pm- Play with all the kids that sit outside our classroom all day listening to us butcher their language
1:30pm- Go back to practicing Kiswahili
3:00pm- 4:00pm We finish up for the day depending on how much our head hurts from learning new words and concepts
4:00pm Sit and relax with my three other classmates and drink a cold pop in our village. Laugh about how bad we are at the language and how much we want some American fast food, or some CHEESE
5:00pm I walk back to my house to play with my three little brothers and whatever neighbor kids want to play soccer with me that day.
6:30pm The sun sets and I move to the backyard to see if I can help make dinner. Most of the time I just watch as they cook, but sometimes I get to help. I really want to learn more techniques they use to cook. It is over a wood fire, or charcoal usually. They use cast iron pots and pans.
7:30pm I take another bucket bath
8:00pm I come inside and relax maybe read a little before my dinner is served. This is all done by candle light or a flashlight because there is no electricity
8:30pm I eat dinner. This varies a lot from rice and beans, to greens and ugali, to beef and rice. I am always way over fed and need to be rolled to my room to fall asleep.
9:00pm I am in bed and ready to fall asleep, I usually read for a bit, but realize I am not comprehending (because I am so tired) so I give up and go to sleep.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The third week!
Ahh this is crazy! I am half way around the world. It is still a surprise every morning when I wake up, look at my mosquito net, and hear roosters outside my window. I never thought I would see 6am consecutively some many days in a row ( including my day off!) Then to walk outside with no street lights, and chickens running around and the smell of carcoal knowing my breakfast and water for a shower is being cooked. I love all the people in my town. They are so inviting and willing to share thier time and stories with me. I still can't believe this is my life! I had projected I would have more access to the internet during training, but was misunderstood. I am going to try and write a long blog at my house, then transfer it on here in a few days. I want you all to visualize my days. Kiswahili is getting eaiser, and the food is still great! I love that everyone is reading my blog, and commenting, even though I havent been able to update. I have three brothers and ahouse maid that live iwith me right now. I am living the hig life. My dad is a social worker, and travels most of the time, so I am "stuck at home playing soccer with my brothers" Life is good. I have a little over two months left of training, and then I am on my own! I find out where I will be placed in three weeks!!!! AHh this is happening so fast. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers I truely can feel them! Please keep sending me emails and posts I will eventually get caught up with them
I love you all,
Justin
I love you all,
Justin
Monday, June 21, 2010
The first week!
So I tried to type up my blog before I got to the internet cafe, but I guess windows will not let me copy and paste into my blog, so I have to re-type it all. Oh well :) This is my fifth day as a peace corps trainee. This is the first time with access to the internet becasue I am staying at a hostel in the capitol city of Dar es Salaam. The plane ride was pretty long consisting of two eight hour flights but I was able to sleep through most of both. This totally threw off my sleep schedule, but all is well now. The first night was around 80 degrees with 100 % humidity. I thought I ould be unable to sleep, but once my head hit the pillow I fell right to sleep. The next day started at 7am! We recieved some fried wrap stuffed with beef (samboosa) a pink sausage and a crepe like bread. All of it was wonderful. Most of the food here has been fried or seasoned really well. I have grown to love it and will continue I am sure throughout my entire stay. The trainings have lasted between 8-9 hours a day with various topics ranging from language to safety. Lunch and dinner usually consist of rice, beans, a protein and cabbage, again I am LOVING the food. The Kiswahili classes are challenging but are lots of fun. In Tanzania everyone is so friendly and love to teach their language so they dont mind when you attempt to talk to them in their local language. Yesterday we were able to travel off of the hostel property and see some of the city. I was unsure what to expect, but it reminded me of a large flea market downton. It was full of vendors and people buying. We went on Sunday, and I have heard during the week it is packed and people are crammed together prohibiting much movement. We were able to take a Dala dala for the first time. It is a large bus/taxi that goes around the city full of people. On Wednesday the group and I leave for Muheza where we will meet our host family. We will spend the next nine weeks learning the language and the culture. I am so excited to have this opportunity. Thank you all for the supprt and prayers, I can really feel them. I love and miss you all and hope to update soon.
Much love,
Justin
P.S. I am sorry for the spelling and grammar mistakes, I am super rushed.
Much love,
Justin
P.S. I am sorry for the spelling and grammar mistakes, I am super rushed.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The first post
Hey everyone,
I am trying this out for the first time. I don't really know how this works yet, so this post will be real short. I am leaveing june 14th at 7:05am out of Detroit Metro airport to arrive in Philidelphia PA for staging. My new email is going to be socrswim06@gmail.com. I Love and will miss you all :)
I am trying this out for the first time. I don't really know how this works yet, so this post will be real short. I am leaveing june 14th at 7:05am out of Detroit Metro airport to arrive in Philidelphia PA for staging. My new email is going to be socrswim06@gmail.com. I Love and will miss you all :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)