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!