Host Family and Morogoro

So I'm writing this from the room in my host family's house in Morogoro. I spent a few days in Dar Es Salaam, 99% of the time being spent in the Mbazi Center, where we slept, ate, had info sessions, and got injected with every vaccination ever invented. I am now literally immortal. Which is good because I've learned from the medical sessions that almost every plant and animal in Africa can and probably will kill you. So far though I'm healthy minus a few strange bug bites here and there. We also had sessions on cultural adjustment (girls, don't be offended when people call you fat, its a compliment) and safety and security (U.S. Embassy official advice: don't ride local public transit called dala dalas. Peace Corps advice: yeahhh, we aren't paying you enough to ride taxis everywhere so get used to dala dalas). We did a quick walk around downtown Dar. It was about as expected - very crowded, dirty and busy. The streets are full of people selling all kinds of ware. Its easy to get a full meal along with some grocery and even clothes shopping, all while stuck in traffic (which, by the way, is virtually guaranteed to happen). It was cool to see all the hustle and bustle of a large city in the developing world. Our group stood out pretty obviously, and we got groups of street children running up to us shouting "wazungu!" (white people!) a couple times. We also visited the Peace Corps Tanzania headquarters, which is in Oyster Bay, a really nice part of the city. Lots of embassies and NGO headquarters are right around there, which were fun to see.

On Tuesday, we took a threeish hour bus ride to Morogoro, 200km east of Dar. It was really really great to get out of the city and into rural Tanzania. My host family's village (though urban in comparison to the site I'll be living at, probably) is a polar opposite of the city I left in Dar. My house is on a very long, very very very bumpy dirt road. The road becomes impassible by car about 20 meters past my house. The village I live in is what I think of when I think "Africa" - much more so than Dar was. Women dress quite conservatively and often wear a traditional colorful cloth, called a konga. People tend to walk slowly and have long, complex greetings with others they meet walking on the street. Tiny markets are available all over the place with people selling fresh food. Cars are seen only once in awhile - most people walk or get a ride on a "piki piki" or motorcycle taxi. I walk about half an hour to the Morogoro Secondary School, where I'm learning Swahili and eventually will be student teaching. Its a large school, with about 20 classrooms, each holding at least 50 students, often many more. Though the school is very dilapidated physically (broken windows, nasty pit toilets, etc.), the staff we met seemed very dedicated and the school has a good reputation. I will be spending most of my time at this school, either learning Swahili with a Tanzanian instructor and four other volunteers, or student teaching. We also meet up with the full class of Peace Corps Trainees about once a week. Training is pretty intense. We have full days of training (language or otherwise) 6 days a week, and then spend a lot of the 7th day on chores. Two weeks ago, a late night out was staying out til 4am. Last night I went to a bar and stayed out til it was dark. Didn't make it home until 9pm. It was a crazy night!

So that's basically what I've been up to. Here's some other stuff I thought of talking about...

Eating:
I've mostly been eating rice, beans, potatoes, and bananas. There are bananas growing all over the place, and its a strange day if I haven't had one with at least two meals. Rice (sometimes with curry), potatoes and beans are both super common. Ugali is also very common, though I've had it just once. Ugali basically looks like very very firm mashed potatoes, but its made from a corn meal type thing. Its filling, though has absolutely no flavor. Its often eaten with vegetables or meat. Speaking of meat, I've had chicken, beef, and goat. All meat, but chicken in particular, is quite a different experience here. I'm used to fat American chickens, often with all the bones removed. Here all chickens are way skinnier as they run around all day and are served with lotza bones. Its also common to get served a not so normal part of the chicken, for example, its face. Kinda gross. In general though I'm actually really enjoying the food. Its super carb heavy, which is how I eat in the states anyway, so its pretty awesome. A lot of stuff is totally cool to eat with your hand here, like ugali. Eating with your hand is pretty great, though it is taking me awhile to get used to, especially because I need to do it with my right hand (I'm left handed). Historically (and for many still today), toilet paper was nooot used, so the left hand was for dealing with that whole situation, and the right hand was for eating. Naturally, people give me a strange look if I start eating with my left hand.

Sleeping:
I sleep under a mosquito net, which is this big net that hangs over your bed and you tuck into the mattress to create a insect free zone. It also sorta feels like you are camping which is pretty great. Apparently all animals in Africa decide to wake up and make as much noise as possible from 1am-3am (and the roosters dont stop then), so sleeping through that is a bit challenging. My bed is super comfy though, and I'm generally exhausted and sleep very well every night. Staying up until 11pm tonight to finish this blog is a major major achievement for me. You are welcome.

Host family:
I'm living with the Musiba's. Stay at home mom Hilda, dad Julius has a windshield repair shop in town, and 14 year old daughter Mary is just starting secondary school. They speak English very well, but are also excited to help me learn Swahili, so it seems like its been a good fit. Tomorrow they are going to show me how to wash clothes by hand. Excellent. I haven't been able to do much outside the house with my family yet, so hopefully tomorrow we can walk around the area or something.

Being a foreigner:
Though you definitely get a lot of stares, people are overwhelmingly happy to see us. I get a lot of "Karibu sana Tanzania!" (very much welcome to Tanzania!). People get excited when I manage to spit out a few basic greetings in Swahili. Its definitely an interesting experience being a minority really for the first time.

So that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Post you're questions, I'd love to answer!

Another post coming soon with pictures. In case that doesn't actually happen, check the facebook album at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151031670774515.485414.510569514&type=1&l=ad2203db1b