Mambo!

Mambo friends and family! I have safely arrived in Arusha!  After my 20+ hours in airports and on planes, I was picked up at the Kili airport by a wonderfully kind young man named Malik.  (I will post my story from the plane ride from Amsterdam to Kili later, absolutely hilarious!)

Malik drove Chris, Alex, and I to his sister's house where  we are staying for the duration of our time here.  The three of us met and were comforted by the fact that each of us had travelled on our own to a foreign country not knowing much about our placement!  Mama Florence welcomed us  with open arms and mosquito netted beds late Sunday night (afternoon for you!) and gave us some delicious rice and beef.  I have a feeling I'll be eating a lot of rice over the next few weeks.  And yes, I have eaten everything since I've been here!!

Florence is the mother of Benson (11) and Beverly (5, 6 on Sunday).  They are the cutest two little children!  Benson is working on his English with us  as we practice our Swahili (I'm getting pretty good!).  Beverly is still a little shy, but last night she danced with us, so I think she's warming up.  Chris, a budding musician from LA, brought his guitar, and as cliche as it sounds we sat around the living room Sunday night singing Kumbiyah!  What a welcome!  

Surprisingly, I slept the entire first night (I slept maybe an hour on the planes), under my mosquito net (none got in!).  Two firsts for me happened at our home stay.  One, using the bathroom in a hole in the ground.  Two, taking a shower using buckets of water.  The family is so kind, when we need water, we just  ask and they boil and fill up buckets for us.  And they refuse any help we offer them.  Last night Florence thanked us (asante sana) for staying with her.  We are the ones who are thankful!  Although I was a little apprehensive about the homestay, it is totally worth it.

Yesterday was orientation.  We had a Swahili lesson, walked through Arusha, went to the Maasai market,  and experienced our first dala dala ride.  Now, the dala dala (I'll try to post pictures soon) is a small bus that is legally allowed to hold 14 people.  The first ride we got 19 in and this morning there were 21 of us in one dala dala.  Last night the poor man in the far back corner was ready to get off, but no one else was.  He assessed his situation, realized he wasn't going to make it over everyone, then climbed out the window.  Alex was in the back corner then and when it was our turn I asked him if he would do as the locals do, and out the window he went!  I tell you, these dala dala are like an amusement park ride.  If I was a nervous passenger before, I think this has cured me!

The people I have met are incredible.  I cannot begin to tell you how kind the host family is and how helpful our volunteer coordinators are.  The volunteers are dominated by Americans, British, and Australians.  Most are students, some just graduated.  There is another teacher from Iowa, which is nice.  It's nice to share stories, although his are slightly different teaching high schoolers!  When Ommy took us through town, he stopped and asked if we'd like to taste the local beer.  I said, "yes please!"  Eric laughed and said, "Ah, the teacher coming out of you."  Guess I can't hide it.

We also booked our safari for Thursday through Saturday of next week.  At the end of our safari we will get to see the remains from the oldest man, so cool (poah)!  A group of us are also travelling to see Kilimanjaro on Saturday.  Unfortunately, the expense and timing of llimbing to the summit of the mountain might prevent me from doing so.  I am going to keep my options open, but I didn't raise a ton of extra money and what I did raise, I'd like to use to donate materials and supplies to my school.  So sorry to disappoint, but I will get to see it and climb the bottom to witness what are supposed to be glorious waterfalls.

I actually don't start my placement until tomorrow.  The school is off on holiday today.  It is a large school of about 250 students (large for Arusha) and there is one other volunteer at the school, whom I haven't met.  I can't wait to tell you all about it!

One of the first things Eric told us when we arrived was that if we had a personal space bubble, get rid of it.  And, man, was he right.  After riding the dala dala a few times, it is impossible for one to have that bubble!  And, they said once you arrive at the school, the children are all over you.  I can't wait!

I will do my best to post once a week and more if I can.  I miss everyone terribly, but am already so thankful I am here.  It is still a bit unreal, really.  Much love to all!

One more thing, the children love "white people."  They call us mozugo (very inaccurate guess of what they are saying) and when we walk around town, they shout "hello!" and "how are you?" to us.  Last night, on our walk from the dala dala to our home, a little girl yelled, "good morning!"  We all chuckled and had to respond back with a "good morning."  She was thrilled we'd responded, she burst into laughter!