pcV

Yes indeed folks, it is official. I am now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer (and not just a measly trainee)! A lot has happened since my last blog and like always I won't be able to write about it all due to limited computer time, but I will try my best. After I got back from my nice visit in Iringa with a fellow PCV, our group returned to Dar Es Salaam for some final administrative sessions and to receive our site announcemments (ie. the places in which we will be living for the next two years). After traveling from our shadow visits to Morogoro, we were all tired and anxious to see what was going to happen next and what our respective region of Tanzania would be like. We had a nice site announcement ceremony and I found out that I am going to what is called the "deep south." I will be living in what is officially known as the Lindi region () and living in town of Mtama. I am very excited because I am about 60 km away from Lindi town, which is right on the coast so I will be able to travel to the beach now and again. Also, in my little description I received from Peace Corps, it mentioned something about living in a "small paradise"-- whatever that means it sounds nice! I will be teaching biology and chemistry at Mtama Secondary School, but I still don't know what forms (or grades) I will be teaching. The school is co-ed day, but apparently a small number of the girls board there. I will begin teaching in January, so I will have one month to get my house ready, start a garden, plan my lessons, learn more Kiswahili, get to know the people in my community, and learn how to live on my own in Tanzania! This upcoming month is going to be amazing, but probably the most difficult yet. It is going to be a big change to go from being around our training class of 38 to being by myself in my village. But, I just have to keep in mind that I didn't come to Tanzania or the Peace Corps to socialize with Americans and also I will see my other PCV friends again, just not as often. Anyway, back to my village...my house is apparently fairly big, and housed a previous PCV volunteer (although he was a health volunteer, not an educational volunteer like myself). It has electricity but not running water so I will have to carry water from a well, which will be good exercise! Also, as I alluded to, I am hoping to start my own garden in the next few weeks! I have some lemongrass that I am going to transplant from Morogoro and I also brought various seeds from home. I am definitely hoping to acquire banana, papaya, and mango trees so I can have fruit all the time, but I will have to see if that is possible. I just cannot wait to get there and see what it is like!
After Dar Es Salaam and site announcement, we returned to Morogoro for one week to have some more sessions and pretty much wrap up training. My family had a "graduation" party for me and a friend of mine, Aron, that lived down the street from me. When I got home from training, I discovered my mama and the mamas from my street were in my backyard preparing traditional TZ food for my party. I helped them prepare for the party for awhile and later the guests arrived. There weren't very many people, but one of my best friends here came and so the three of us danced and celebrated the occasion with our families. This was quite convenient too because it was the day before Aron's and my birthday so we were celebrating two occasions at once!
My birthday turned out to be glorious! I had a nice day at training with my friends and my friend, Martha, made me delicious no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies with chocolate peanut butter fudge/dipping sauce, which is not an easy task here in country. In the evening, our group celebrated the end of training at a hotel! We sat outside ate some barbecued meat, drank, and relaxed. It was a great end to training and to my birthday!
The next day was our swearing-in ceremony! I woke up early to pack most of my belongings and then we went to our training center in Morogoro to help with final preparations before the swearing in ceremony. My mama and I got matching dresses made and they turned out really cute (I promise to load pictures sometime). The ceremony was nice; we listened to speeches from the PC TZ country director, US ambassador, and the TZ minister of education, two of our trainees sang a beautiful song that they wrote, we took an oathe as PCVs, and ate a great meal (including cake)!
I spent my last night with my host family and said goodbye to them this morning before saying goodbye to many of the PCVs in my training class. Right now I am in Dar Es Salaam with the 7 other people that will be living in the Mtwara region and tomorrow, after a long car ride, I will be at my house in Mtama! This means a few things for you all:
1. I will have a new address that I will distribute once I set up a PO Box.
2. I may have less email access.
3. Since I will have more down time this next month, I will most likely greatly appreciate letters and will most likely have more time to send letters home.

Alright, well I think that is everything (or most of everything). I truly do not know when the next time is that I will be able to get to a computer, but when I do, I will be sure to post my new address and more information about my village! I hope everyone is doing well and is enjoying the beginning of the holiday season. I will be thinking of all of you! I love you and miss you. Take care!