Dar

June 29th

Happy birthday John!!

She will probably be receiving that a little late, but it is the best I can do! I am currently in the mountains outside the town of Lushoto. So far, the experience has been pretty great. We just arrived in the mountains on Monday so let me start out by sharing what we did before that long drive.

On Thursday, as I mentioned in the previous post, we started the morning at the US Embassy. We stayed until around noon with presentations throughout the morning. We had a presentation from a Peace Corp volunteer who taught O-Level (what I will be teaching) science and humanities courses throughout the last two years. She spoke about the level of students and little idioms to expect. I found her presentation pretty helpful. We also had a presentation from a nurse who spoke about the symptoms of malaria and what to do if you think you have malaria among the other diseases and bugs you can pick up throughout the year. The worst would have to be the worms that she spoke about. I made a mental note that a stool sample will be the first thing I give when I return to the US next year. I don’t want to find a big worm crawling around in my skin later. After the nurse, we had a presentation by a gentleman in charge of security. He was pretty lax throughout his talk and said that we would be fine. He didn’t seem too concerned which is always a relief. The presentations were ended with questions or concerns. After leaving through the security gate we headed out for lunch. Our field director, Ashley, chose a restaurant on the Indian Ocean. There was no one there when we arrived so I thought we would be in and out. I was pretty hungry at this point and glad to have such a nice view while I ate. Two and a half hours later, we were served our lunch. My lunch was surprisingly very good. I had chicken curry with rice. The woman next to me ordered fish and chips which proved to be undercooked. Two others at my table ordered a veggie burger which didn’t consist entirely of veggies. I proved to be one of the lucky ones which pleased me.

After our very long lunch we returned back to our hostel via a daladala. A daladala is one form of public transportation in Tanzania. The bus consists of about five rows of seats. It seems normal enough until you get in and see how many people are inside. The bus should hold a maximum of 19 people, but there were numbers in the upper 40’s on the bus. One would think the bus was full when there is a person an inch from each side of you but that isn’t always true. It was comfy. When we returned back to the hostel we waited in the front for a gentleman who came to talk to us about aids. He was there for a little over two hours discussing personal stories. I was sitting in the back of everyone with a limited amount of sleep and didn’t stay awake long enough to hear a full story. I tried but sleep definitely took over me. I was able to play it off for the most part (I think) and just stared at him so he would think I was really listening. I took a nap once he left.

After my nap, I woke and got ready for dinner. We took a bus to a Vietnamese restaurant in town. The dinner was about three hours long. We sat waiting for food chatting to pass the time. After the long meal, Ashley brought us to an ex-pat type of club where we stayed for about two hours. I was in the first group to leave as I was pretty exhausted. The club was pretty fun but became super crowded. I was barely able to dance for ten seconds without someone running into me trying to get by. I also noticed a lot of young Tanzanian women with older white men. It was pretty sad to see the drunk men throwing them around. Ashley warned us about prostitution in Tanzania but nothing can really prepare you. That night I slept well excited for the next day.

Friday was a free day. I had a few errands I needed to run in town and was looking forward to exploring. After breakfast I packed for our trip to Lushoto while I waited for the group to get ready. The plan was to stay in Lushoto for two weeks for training before we headed off to our sites. Our transportation wasn’t large so we had to consolidate our luggage. I managed to fit most things in my largest bag to stay in Dar. Around 11 I left with a group of five to head into the heart of Dar. One group stayed back at the hostel and took things easily, another group decided to venture to a beach, and a third group went around fulfilling errands. I was in the third group since I was the only one that did not register for a phone and still needed some basics. Our first stop was the clinic. One girl in the group, Jessica, needed to go to the clinic to pick up some medicines she was unable to get in the US. We started off in a daladala and reached the end of the route and caught a bajaj the rest of the way. Abajaj is a three wheeled vehicle that is big enough for four people. It is a cute little car and can quickly get you anywhere you need. It is quite scary to ride especially when you take into account the road situation. The main roads are nice and paved but the side roads that we were traveling on are far from nice. The excessive amount of rain during the wet season carves a stream into the dirt that consists of a road. This makes the road quite holey and difficult to navigate. We did, however, manage to make it to the clinic without any accidents.

Jessica had an appointment at the clinic and the rest of us didn’t feel like sitting around waiting so we started walking and looking for a VodaCom store where I could register my phone. The lady in the pharmacy told us there was a shopping center called Slipway close by where I could register my phone. We decided it would be good to start walking and find Slipway on our own. We walked for about an hour and still no Slipway. We did stop and get directions a few times and it brought us in a circle. Finally we were directed in what seemed like the best option. About fifteen minutes from Slipway, the driver of the bajaj from earlier saw us and stopped to see if we were okay. We told him where we were going and he reassured us that we were indeed headed the right way. He started to drive off but then stopped about ten feet away. He felt bad and offered to give us a free ride the rest of the way. We offered money once we arrived but he refused. That was pretty neat to see from someone who makes a living from the money he makes by driving the bajaj.

While registering my phone Jessica met us and the group arranged a table at a café within the shopping center. The café took a good hour to serve us food and by the time we ate and paid it was time to go back to the hostel. After purchasing a Malaria self-test kit, we headed via taxi back to our hostel. I ate some beans and rice at the canteen in front of the hostel and then went right to bed. The plan was to depart at 9 AM the next morning and I wanted to be well rested.

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, we didn’t actually arrive in Lushoto until Monday so I will fill you in with those details in part two!

Love,

Gretchen