Chapter Two

this is the end of chapter one. Graduation was yesterday, I said goodbye to all my kids (although there wasn't enough time, and the energy from our coordinator was anxious to get back to Arusha, so it was very rushed). It was good to have the experience, and I will always have a lasting memory of true teenage hormones in Tanzania. However, many volunteers are doing another 1-2 weeks of community training, which is essentially the same material we just taught all over again to different groups, some kids and some adults. I can honestly say I'm happy I don't have to do it all over again. I'm ready for change. I'm ready to learn more and create new memories. Well, wish granted. I move out of Arusha on Tuesday afternoon, which gives me approximately 3 more days with my mama at my homestay. She was devastated by this announcement, and rightfully so, because I've only lived with her for about 3 weeks. I'm going to miss her cooking and her quick-fire run through of Swahili greetings everyday when I come home from school.

me: shikamoo mama.
mama: marahaba. habari za shule?
me: nzuri, habari za leo?
mama: nzuri. salama ____
me : (not knowing what she says after this but knowing what the correct response is) salama. asante.

I will be moving to Machame which is supposed to be 40 minutes outside of Moshi (we'll see...) and living in a homestay with a volunteer from my program here. Her name is Tamara. I already know she has a different personality than me, very social, loves to stay up late and talk and play with her family. I'm quiet the opposite here. I enjoy talking and socializing with my family within "my hours of socialization" which is in the morning durring breakfast and until I leave, and from when I get home at night until 8. At 8 I retire to my bedroom to be alone. This is sometimes the best part of my day when I can just be. I don't have to think to communicate, I don't have to teach, or be a role model, I don't have to create conversation. I just read and journal and sometimes throw on my iPod and dance around a little in my room.

I think that living with Tamara will either be a blessing: I'll be able to have an American around and kind of toss her to the family when I'm done socializing and let her entertain. Or it might be rough: I'll be expected by the family as well to be up all night and being active. My poor body literally dragged through the college days of intense studying/socializing and very little sleep has greatly appreciated the 10 hours of sleep per night, and the leisure to read and journal. Seldom has my life permitted such luxuries.

I'm excited to start in Moshi. I'm getting burnt out on Arusha. Its a pretty big town here. There are lots of people which means lots of theft and lots of hassling. Moshi is considerably smaller, and Machame is even smaller. I'll be working in a hospital training the staff on an IT system that will connect Tanzania to a larger network including the US and Europe. But I'll also report to the Patron who will give me "marching orders" (no idea why this name stuck). They say that if there's time there is also a training clinic next door who have plenty of work, and organizations in Machame are always begging for interns to come help out. I met some Finnish girls who are doing a medical tour of Tanzania for their schooling and they mentioned that they got to stand in the OR while a patient had part of his thyroid removed. How cool would this be?!!? I'm not sure if this will be my case, but I can only dream at this point.

Next weekend some of the volunteers and I have planned a safari to the Serengeti and Nogorongoro. Its going to be about $500 but it includes everything, and its supposed to be amazing. GSC took us on safari to Lake Manyara last weekend. This is the lake in postcards that is pure pink because of the amounts of flamingos (3 million) that migrate during this time of the year. Besides that, we also saw giraffe about 20 feet from us, elephants (teeny tiny babies included) pass right all around us, and almost stampede our vehicle. We saw female lions (they climb trees here to get away from the heat and the biting flies) in trees and on ground and we also so a male lion with his mane all puffed up. We saw pumba, I mean warthogs, zebra, herons, storks, eagles, tons of baboons (even two that were mating in front of our car so we couldn't go any farther), velvet monkys, impala (or deer as we call them), water buffalo, hippos and so much more. But apparently this was nothing compared to the Nogorongoro crater and Serengeti. ha.

We are also in the works of planning a trip to Zanzibar and also (what I'm most excited about) to a Masai village where they welcome groups and slaughter a goat for us and perform ritual dancing and music. I'm super excited for that, but that will be my very last weekend in Tanzania.

I have no idea what the internet situation will be like in Moshi/Machame but I'm sure I'll find something somewhere. Wish me luck on my move!