Well, a lot has changed since our last post – we’re now living on our own in the village! After training was finished and we passed our language exams, we traveled to Dar for the ceremony at the ambassador’s residence that officially made us Peace Corps Volunteers. There, we basked in the luxuries of American food, fluent English speakers, and like-minded friends for a day there before heading out early the next morning to Mbeya. From Dar, we took two days to get there, stopping in Mafinga overnight to let off three new volunteers posted in that region. In Mbeya the next day, a current volunteer took us briefly to buy survival essentials for the first night in our empty home: peanut butter, a loaf of bread, and an overpriced bottle of wine.

In Mbeya, we met with the District and Village officials, who drove us down a rocky road for nearly an hour to our village. To welcome us, the village leaders held a ceremony with drums and dancing and promptly gave us new names. I’m now called James Mwemni, which, depending on pronunciation, means either “James, son of the Chief” or “James of the mango tree.” Michelle is simply called Simwembi, or “Daughter of the Chief,” or alternately she could be called Mama James, because since we don’t have children, I’m taking the place of her firstborn as far as naming rights go. We both agree it’s better than being called Mzungu, which means “white person,” so we’re trying to get used to it.

The villagers have been welcoming, although many people seem to be thoroughly confused as to why there are two wazungu living here now. Thus, we have a lot of explaining to do in our rudimentary Swahili. Our neighbor in particular has been great – he’s taken us around to show us important features of the village and took swift action when the local crazy guy made repeated half-hearted attempts to break into our house. He also has a brother who is a university student and is virtually fluent in English, but he’s busy with school most of the time so we’ve only had a chance to talk to him a little bit – still those few minutes of English were wonderful!

Our house is brand new, and quite big by Peace Corps (and village) standards. It’s near the Health Clinic and has a large living room and three bedrooms, one which we’ll use as a kitchen. Our favorite feature is the large enclosed courtyard out back, complete with a covered porch. And then yesterday an electrician randomly showed up at 6:30am to wire our house for electricity…for free. From the best we can figure out, the Health Clinic is slated to get electricity from the grid next month, and they’ll just string a wire from there to here once it’s connected. Not a bad deal, I’d say.

The landscape here is markedly different than the red clay and coconut palms of the Tanga region where we spent the last two months: the snappy mornings and the gnarly mountain junipers behind our house are more reminiscent of northern Michigan than the typical African scene. Taking two days to travel though the interior of the country to the southwest border was a great way to see the different geography and ecology of Tanzania – the humid coast, the giraffes, zebras, and elephants on the savannas of Mikumi, the rocky baobab valleys north of Iringa, and finally the often desolate highlands of Njombe and Mbeya. The southern highlands have a reputation for being fertile and green, but it’s the dry season now, and the cold and wind have stripped the leaves off many of the trees and turned the rest of the landscape into blowing dust. Not that it isn’t beautiful – it’s scenic indeed – but I’m looking forward to October when the rains begin to green things up again. Maybe I’ll regret that when the road to Mbeya washes out from the deluge, but for now it’s something to look forward to.

Finally, we are in the process of getting a new mailing address. We’ve been advised not to post it on the web, so if you’d like it, just send us an email.

Exciting news this week! Michelle and I found out that we'll be spending the next two years in a small village 30k outside of Mbeya. Mbeya, which is south near the border of Zambia, is alleged to have cheese, coffee, and some of the most spectacular views in all of Tanzania. Ours is a new Peace Corps site, meaning that since we're not replacing an old volunteer, we'll have to start everything from scratch. We're supposed to have a little house with a courtyard next to the Health Clinic, where Michelle will be working. I'll likely be working to develop a land management plan for the village and to educate folks on the sustainable use of the river that flows through the area. We've been given very few details about our site or our work, so unfortunately, Mom, I won't be able to answer all of your questions until we get settled in.

We're currently in Dar for a day, having spent the past week travelling throughout the country to stay with current volunteers to see what life in the field is like. Michelle was up in Moshi, and I was down near Njombe, only a couple hours from Mbeya. For me, highlights were learning to cook pizza on a charcoal stove and seeing elephants, zebras, warthogs, and copious girrafes from the bus when driving through Mikomi National Park southwest of Morogoro. Michelle ate well too, and caught a glimpse of Mount Kilimanjaro. I'm a little jealous, because since Mt. Kili is a three or four day trip from Mbeya, my plans to climb said mountain have become a bit more complicated.

Tomorrow, we'll travel back to Muheza for the final week and a half of homesay/training, before we return to Dar for the "swearing in" ceremony. Our final oral language proficiency exam is on Thursday, so your thoughts, prayers, and positive brain waves are very much appreciated!

Hope all's well back home.