OK – here’s one more quick update before we lose internet access for awhile:

Since we arrived last Wednesday, we’ve essentially been on lockdown in an educational/religious compound (whose exact function we’re can’t quite figure out) in Dar es Salaam. We’re a bit too young and tender to be let out on our own, but today we broke loose and went to the market in Dar under the guidance of our LCFs (Language and Culture Facilitators) to buy a few essentials and stutter through basic Swahili greetings. My prize find was a pair of plastic Barack Obama flip flops, which I swear was the only pair of flip flops I could find that were anywhere close to my foot size. Because they’re so awesome, I’ll try to post a picture of these sometime in the future. Michelle picked up a khanga, which is a large, multifunctional piece of fabric that is frequently is worn as a skirt by women around here.

We have a couple more days here in Dar, but as of Wednesday we’ll spend the remaining eight weeks of training in a village called Kibaoni Dilima, as gracious guests of Mr. and Mrs. Ayoub Kassim Mgunya. Michelle and I will be staying together, but I’ll do my daily training in the next village over with a different group than Michelle’s. Roughly speaking, we have “class” from 8 – 5 each day, with topics ranging from language and cultural norms to local ecology and AIDS prevention. We’ll convene back home in the evenings, where we’ll learn from our Mama how to cook, wash clothes, purify water, and navigate domestic life without the help of running water, electricity, or the English language. The latter of these will likely produce many awkward and frustrating moments, but maybe also two reasonably competent Swahili speakers. We’ve talked with some current Peace Corps Volunteers who have been in Tanzania for one year, and they’re virtually fluent – that gives us hope!

Until later,

Justin

Arrival

Good news – we’ve arrived in Tanzania! After recovering from some serious jet lag, we’ve begun the first stage of our training in Dar es Salaam.

Along with the 39 other members of our Peace Corps cohort, we’re staying at the Masembazi center, an educational center for Tanzanians and foreigners that is run by a group of nuns. To our surprise, the center has electricity, running water, three bars (!), and TVs where we’ve been watching the World Cup games, which are sometimes only broadcast in Swahili. We’ll enjoy these amenities of civilization until Tuesday when we’re shipped off to Muheza in the Tanga Region (about 5 hours north of Dar) to live with host families for the remaining eight weeks of training. We were originally told that Michelle and I would be living with different families in different villages during training, but we found out today that we’ll be staying together after all.

So far our training has been fairly general, but we’ll begin intensive language, culture, and technical training once we get to our homestay site next week. The Peace Corps training staff – mostly native Tanzanians - seem very competent and enthusiastic. Although we don’t yet know the specific projects we’ll be involved in, it seems that the health volunteers (e.g., Michelle) work primarily on HIV/AIDS education and prevention. For the environment volunteers (e.g., me), there is a big emphasis on pemagardening and using other agroecological techniques to provide food security, reduce erosion and desertification, and relieve pressure on native forests. Because our two specialty areas are not mutually exclusive, Michelle and I will probably be working together quite a bit when we get to our village.

A word on keeping in touch: Internet access is significantly scarcer here than we originally thought, and it’s possible (though not certain) that we won’t be able to access email or update the blog until after the eight weeks of homestay/training. We’ll be getting cell phones sometime over the next two months as well, and we’ll be sure to pass that info along when we have it.

Hope all is well back home!

Until later,

Justin