Habari Gani?!

Hello family and friends! Sorry for the delay and I'm going to make this post quick cuz people are waiting. But I have arrived at the Mzimbaze Center and have started Pre Service training. The training staff are all really nice and I am learning a ton! I am getting more and more excited about my homestay during training and my assignment. The people here are really nice. Everyone is intersted in us and they ask a lot of questions. In training they talk about how they have to prepare us for "celebrity status" within our village because once we get there we will always be followed around and everyone will be interested in us, especially the children. I definitely overpacked, but packed the wrong things. Apparently only the prostitutes wear jeans here....I brought two pairs. Fortunately, I learned this before wearing them. Women pretty much only wear dresses and skirts here, so I'll need to go shopping tomorrow. The "kanga" is the wrap that all the women wear, but they're so beautiful so I'm excited to start wearing them. On Wednesday I'll move in with my Homestay family, and I'm really excited. They will help me learn more Swahili and more about the Tanzanian culture. So far, my Swahili is ok, but I definitely have a long way to go. But I'm loving learning more about this country and the Tanzanian culture. I'm learning there are over 100 ethnic groups here and a number of different religions. There are literally mosques and churches next door to each other. Tanzania is known for its peacefulness and great tolerance, so although ther are so many different faiths. everyone gets along. I know we're here to help them with a lot of things, but the world could learn a lot from the Tanzanian people. They don't care what faith you are, just as long as you have faith. The people here have got to be some of the friendliest people around.

Although I've only been here a few days, I've learned so much and met so many people, that I feel like its been a while all ready. The food is kind of boring, but good. The room at the hostel isn't as scary as I would have thought. Going to the bathroom is interesting...I'll just leave it at that. My arms are so sore! Today I got shots of Hep A and Typhoid vaccines. Yesterday I got an influenza shot, and in Philadelphia we got a yellow fever shot. Oh ya, and I'm on intense meds daily so that I don't get malaria and die! I think I'm definitely over my fear of needles.

Well, I'll meet my family on Wednesday night and continue with my training for the next 8 weeks. I can't wait! I'm so excited to meet them! I will have a Tanzanian Mama and Baba. You can use the same address to reach me and hopefully I'll be able to get a phone soon. Gotta go, there are others waiting. Don't know how consistent I'll be able to post, but I will when I can.

Thanks to everyone again for the support. I miss you all!