Mambo all! Sorry it has been almost two weeks of being here and I haven't written! I have been so busy and soaking up this amazing place and all there is to see and do and experience! I guess I will just start from the beginning and try and remember my thoughts from when I first got here. First of all, flyin internationally sucks! The seats give you exactly the same space you would get on any other flight flying in the US and it is so hard to sleep. So once I arrived here I was exhausted but also awestruck that I was actually in Africa? I met some other girls in Amsterdam and we met up again at the Kilimanjaro airport. After being scared s***less I wasn't going to be able to get a VISA (thankfully I did after they asked me weird questions like what the name of my hotel was) we were met outside with an IVHQ sign like you see in the movies. We drove from Moshi to Arusha (about an hour and a half drive) and arrived at 11:30 at night to the volunteer house. This is where things got a little weird and I started freaking out about being in Africa. The other girls I was with were assigned to stay at a different volunteer house so I was dropped off alone, and barely shown around the house. My room only had one bunk bed in it, (I was expecting a room full of bunk beds and girls) and I thought people would be awake to greet me, but everyone was asleep. There was also a weird African guard outside, and they leave the doors wide open here, so being from the US and always locking your door I was officially freaked out. I decided to just pray hard and hope I was in the right place and everyone would come from other rooms in the morning.

Thankfully I was right and people were everywhere in the morning. The next day was orientation and a tour of the town with the house moms. We had 44 new volunteers that arrived on January 15th! That is the largest group the organization has ever had. Taking the tour was my first dala dala ride (a van used for the main means of transportation in Tanzania.) After being here for a while I have learned you ride on the dala dalas everyday, and I have to take multiple to get to my placement. On the tour we went to Mzungu square (mzungu means white person in Swhali) where there are shopping centers more geared toward tourists. This was my first look at Africa and wow! I am not sure if I was expecting what I saw or not but it definitely is shocking. There are so many people everywhere and it is a very poor place. People sell things all over the streets and it is very dusty. It is also very strange being here because you get a lot of attention. You are almost treated like a celebrity. People everywhere want to say hi to you (Mambo) and most children run up to you wanting to touch you or say hello. Some children are afraid of you because they have never seen a mzungu before. I actually ran into a little kid that started bawling and ran away when he saw me! I have only encountered a couple rude people, most the time it is a dala dala driver because they are trying to not give you're change back, but now that I have learned the money and the lingo I think people respect me more for knowing how things work.

Now about how things are going at my placement. I am placed at a primary school called Charity English Medium School. The school director's name is Moses and he is one of the sweetest guys I have ever met. There are 5 classrooms at the school and the rooms start out at age 3 and go up to grade 3 (they are working on making a fourth class room for grade 4.) I go to the school everyday with two other girls named Maria and Juanita. They are from Columbia and are volunteering for 5 months! To get to our school we have to take walk to the main road and then take two dala dalas and walk about 20 minutes through a village by Mt. Meru. The walk is beautiful and everyone is so happy to see us and says hello. Kids have figured out what time we come everyday and run out to the street to greet us and give us hugs. We have started to meet their parents and exchange what greetings we can in Swahili. At the school I have been helping in the baby 2 class (ages 4-6) and my oh my did my experience at primrose really help me out here! The kids are crazy and there are about 25 of them in a small classroom. They share a desk meant for two with four children and some of them have to share pencils. Being in that class has been really difficult because I do not speak Swahili and the kids know very little English. I have mainly been helping write out worksheets everyday and trying my best to help the kids complete them. On Wednesdays they have arts and craft day. This past Wednesday I brought material to make a paper chain to decorate the classroom. The kids really loved it!

Another project I have been doing is helping them update their website and get all the new children's information. This has been quite a task because there is a little bit of a language barrier, and in Tanzania, people move slowly compared to the quick rate we move in in the US! We were warned the first day that Tanzania time is not like America time at all, people arrive when they feel like it and get things done when they feel like it, and if you don't get something done one day, you will get it done whenever there is time. Another project Moses has asked us to do is help with getting a classroom ready for grade 4. So far we have bought materials to paint a blackboard and completed it last week! While I am talking of the school I must mention the poverty and lack of resources these kids have. There parents are very poor and do not have any money to send their children to school. We visited a teacher's house to meet her four-month-old baby (so adorable!) and we got to really see how these people live. Her house was just as big as a small bedroom, with one couch and a bed separated by a sheet. And this is someone who has a job and gets paid regularly. Most parents of these children work as street vendors, or find random jobs to make an income. The school is also renting their property, which is hard because they could be evacuated at any moment and they have to follow the rules of the landlord. Moses really wants to raise enough money to be able to buy property, which also means they can register their school as an actual school.

I have much more to write about but I do not have time at the moment. I will update more when I can! Hope this finds you well and keep checking back for more! Also, check out my pictures of the school and everything so you can see what I am talking of in this blog!