Happy Halloween/Site Announcements.

Dun Dun Dun. So here it is: Where I'll be staying for the next two years:

So, yes. I got my site announcement today! November 26 (I think) I am headed off to the Mbeya region of southwestern Tanzania! I will be about an hour from the Malawi boarder and an hour from Lake Malawi. Apparently the region is relatively cool (YAY) and has some nice mountains surrounding it with tons of fruit, especially bananas! I am going to be teaching at an all girls, boarding school. My house will be located on school property. From what I've been told, it'll be pretty small. One bedroom, a tiny sitting room, a tiny tiny kitchen, and a bathroom. But there is running water and electricity :) This is all hear-say. I'll be relatively close to some of the other PCTs that I am with, so I'm pretty excited about that. One of the is also a physics teacher, so I am hoping to be able to use him as a resource so that I can more successfully teach physics.

Also, there's a little airport in Mbeya, so when everyone comes to visits because, everyone's coming to visit (:, right?), they won't have far to travel from the airport to my modest accomodations.

Everything else is going great. This week will be my last week of teaching until I move to site. It's crazy the change that I've seen in my classes in just 2 weeks of teaching. Many of them have come out of their shells a bit already. I'm excited to have classes for 2 years. It'll be freat to see the kids change in that amount of time.

Then next week we have site visits. Unfortunately we won't be going to our sites, just some random sites. Otherwise, it would be a full day of travel. I'm looking forward to that. After site visits, we head to Dar for a while. Head back to our homestays, take some tests, go back to Dar and then get sworn-in (granted we pass all our tests!) Then off to sites. We're really only half-way done with training, but pretty much all the training is done.

I gave everyone in my family some tootsie rolls today for Halloween and explained how we give away candy on Halloween. They went bezerk over them. They were so excited. It was awesome. Before I left for training this morning, my little sister ran out after me to give me a big hug. It was so cute. I'll miss her when I head out to my site.

I miss you all a ton and hope that everyone is happy and healthy. Give me a call sometime!

And this is to Zach's mom: Thanks for reading the blog! Everyone loves Zach.

Ninafundisha sasa

So today is Wednesday. I started teaching last Tuesday. I teach 9 periods a week, for the next two week. Tuesdays, I teach 3 40 minute classes of Form 1 physics and then on Wednesdays I get to teach the same three classes for 80 minutes each. Its crazy. My classes are going amazingly well so far. I learn the subject the weekend before I teach it and then just have at it. It works really well.

Yesterday was our 1/2 way through training mark. It was celebrated by a safari at Mikumi National park. We got to see twiga (giraffes), tembo(elephants), simba (think Lion King), and a whole bunch of awesome animals. We stayed at a nice little motel and went to a swiss place for dinner and paid way too much for the food. I ordered a cheeseburger. In cheeseburger standards, it was pretty bad. Little and not enough cheese and not very good, but in Tanzania standards, it was pretty much the best food i've ever eaten. The only bad thing about the trip is that I'm an idiot and left my headlamp at the hotel. So now I am headlampless, and that was pretty much my most prized possession here. It's a bummer not to have it. I am dreading the next time that the electricity goes out at home.

So in 5 days, it is Halloween. What that means for me: SITE ANNOUNCEMENTS. In 5 days, they'll tell us where we are going to live! Where we'll be teaching. What other local language we may have to learn and all of that jazz. I am so excited. I'll keep you posted on that. Next week or the week after (depends on who you ask), we will be going on site visits to. We'll go spend 5 days with a PCV somewhere in Tanzania...unfortunately, not at the sites we'll be going to, for logic reasons that I don't really understand. It'll be fun to go shadow a teacher at their school and see how they live.

So PS to any friends who are reading this: my parents apparently have an awesome calling plan and you should go over to their house and call me from their phone. That is if you want to talk to me. So that's about it. My time is running short. Give me a call - I would LOVE to hear from you...my numbers posted a few blog entries down, go find it!

Still in TZ

So iI don't have too much to update, but I'm at a computer, so i though i'd write something. I'm still loving Tanzania and my host family. Training is getting a little bit tedious but we're almost halfway done. Next weekend is actuall our halfway mark, and we are taking an overnight trip to Mikumi national Park and going on a safari! I'm pretty amped about that.

So next week I begin teaching for real. FOR REAL. Oh my God... It's actually a lot less scary than I thought it would be. As tedious and sometimes frustrating as training can be, the Peace Corps really does prep you for your assignment. We've done microteaching, observations, had classes on teaching. Besides getting over the nerves of standing up and talking in front of a class, I'm pretty much as prepared as possible. Kudos Peace Corps Tanzania Training Staff.

Other things that are going well:
-bucket baths
-kiswahili
-laundry - If there are any crazy nervous invitees reading this...every...here's a bit of advice: make sure to wash all your clothes a few times before you come over here. Soap is harsh and makes your clothes bleed. Which is fine, except you waste a ton of water.
-host family
-riding daladalas
-a bunch of other things.

Ps- I have a bunch of letters written to a bunch of people but am having a lot of trouble getting to a posta when it's open. Sorry.

So that's about it. Life is going well. Call me. Write me. Email me. I'd love to hear some news from the states.

Love you!

Kate

Yes, I go by Kate now. In Swahili Keti (which is the pronunciation of Katie) means chair. Awesome name. Just call me Kate.

Greetings from Morogoro

Greetings from Morogoro, Tanzania. Sorry for the lack of updates but the internet cafe in my village has been down. So, obviously, I have arrived safely in Tanzania. My training group consists of 40 people, ranging in age from 22 to about 60ish. They are all super nice and we get along great.

We spent the first week in Dar es Salaam at a Christian hostel. Since Dar is a dangerous city (especially to 40 wazungu that don't speak a lick of English), we were confined to stay within the hostel. We got a whole bunch of immunizations, had tons of safety and security classes, and were jet-lagged like crazy. It was a bit of a trying week.

However, last Wednesday we packed up and drove four hours inland to the region of Morogoro, where we were dropped off with our host families. My host family is amazing. I have 2 kaka (brothers), a dada (sister), a mama, and a baba (father) who is only around on weekends. Most of the time we have electricity and we have running water every afternoon. I'm roughing it hard core. My kaka both speak pretty good English, so they help me with kiswahili. Mama doesn't speak a lot of English so she forces me to learn it quickly. It's a pretty good situation. Adding to the awesomeness of Morogoro is that its right at the base of Mt.Uluguru, so we have a fantastic view. We are allowed to walk around freely (as long as we're home before dark) and can start interacting with Tanzanians. It's fantastic. I love it.

Classes are going great! So far, it has been a lot of kiswahili, but we started technical classes today. We talked about lesson planning and recieved the syllabus. Good news: I will be able to teach the Physics syllabus, despite my lack of physics education. I'll be fine! It was encouraging to see the syllabus.

I've had a few "cross-cultural encounters" so far. One, I asked whether I should bathe in the evening or in the morning. But, really, that was a silly question. Who in the world doesn't bathe two times a day! That's just ridiculous. So yea, I'm much cleaner now than I ever was in America. Two, maji ya kunywa and maji ya kunya are different. The first is water to drink and the second means water to poo. Three guesses about which one I asked for...Whoops. Everyone laughed. It's ok. My family is super patient with me!

So that's about it. I did get a phone, in case you'd like to call me. My number is country code (255) then 0684599642. Keep in mind the 7 hour time difference!

I love you all like crazy and miss you tons! I hope everything is going well back in the states!

Baadaye!