First real update since I've been here, so I'll try and get as much info into this post as I can. First of all, a bit of an overview of the Peace Corps process in general, so y'all aren't hopelessly confused when it comes to all the acronyms and terms PC uses (being a gov't agency, it's unavoidable I guess). After accepting an assignment, your PC experience begins with staging, which is done in a US city. For our group, that meant 2 days in good ol' Philly before flying out of JFK airport. Staging gives you a general introduction to PC and to your fellow volunteers, the second being the most important part. You do all sorts of activities that are designed around getting you to communicate to others your hopes and fears about your 27 months of service. We also got general overviews of the 5 main areas of PC training (safety, health, technical, cultural, and language). Overall I thought it was really well-done - PC doesn't like to give you much information in advance, but when you do get it you get it in droves.
On Wednesday the 20th we flew out of JFK - took ~7.5 hours to get to Amsterdam, where we had a layover for a couple hours. Then had another ~8 hour flight to Tanzania, though it took more time than that because we had a stopover in Arusha (the main town near Mt. Kilimanjaro), though we didn't get off the plane. Arrived in Dar es Salaam - the capital of Tanzania - very late Thursday night, and were met by the country director. The journey to Tanzania was pretty grueling, but it felt really good to see that Peace Corps sign waiting for us. Didn't have to go through customs or anything, which was definitely appreciated after such a long time in transit.
Spent the night at the Msimbazi Center, which is some kind of Christian religious center in Dar. Met some more of the PC country staff, had a light snack, and then proceeded to get very little sleep. I think I was just so psyched to finally be in Tanzania that I couldn't keep my eyes closed (despite the fact that I had had very little sleep over the past 24 hours). Friday morning we went to PC headquarters, and got our lives as trainees underway. Had more safety and medical sessions (the regional head of safety was the chief of police in Orlando for 11 years, which I found interesting), got our yellow fever, polio, and MMR shots, ate American food provided by the embassy, got our first walk-around allowance for during PST (pre-service training), had our medical interviews, and even had a little time for internet use. Went back to the Msimbazi Center for the night, and had our first real chance to relax.
Saturday morning we left for Morogoro (after getting 2 more shots - tetanus and our first rabies injection), which is a large town about 3 hours west of Dar es Salaam, and is where our training is. We stayed the night at another Christian center (apparently many of the hostel-like places in the country are religious ones), which was absolutely gorgeous. Had loads more training classes, including our first Kiswahili lessons (Kiswahili is how the language is called in Swahili. Ki- is a prefix added onto a word to signify that it's a language). This time much of the training was spent talking about our homestays, and about cultural adaptation. All of our trainers are Tanzanians, which I really like. And the language training is awesome. I don't think Swahili is a very hard language to learn for English speakers (at least compared to, say, Chinese), but still, after only a few lessons I'm able to introduce myself to other people - which is very important, as Tanzanians regard greeting others to be of the utmost importance - and already know how to count and make basic sentences (including tenses). I think I'm picking it up pretty well, which was probably my biggest worry, since if you can't speak the language, you just can't function effectively as a volunteer.
After living the high life for a day, we moved in with our host families. I really like mine a lot, and it seems like everyone that I've talked to likes their families as well. I'm not sure if it was something to do with my homestay questionnaire that I sent it (saying I had lived in third-world conditions before), but I got what seems so far like the most "rustic" experience. Don't get me wrong, I love where I am. I just hear some volunteers saying they have refrigerators and actual toilets in their rooms, whereas I live in a small house, have a squat toilet, and take bucket baths. But I think I prefer it this way, because there's always the possibility that my living conditions at my site will be lower than what I have now, so I'd rather re-condition myself now. And really, things like having to take a bucket bath are much more benign in practice than they sound on paper.
So a bit about my family. My mama (and yes, that's how I address family members - we are all basically accepted as family members while we are with our host families, so we don't use actual names to address each other) is a nurse, my baba (father) is a cop. They have 2 daughters, neither of whom lives at home any more, as they are both married - one lives in Arusha, the other in Kilosa. However, I have 3 dadas (sisters) in the house who are extended family - one is 18, one is 13, and the last is 7. They're really, really nice, and somewhat religious (Christian) - there are images of Jesus and Mary all over the living room. In fact, the first question mama asked me was if I was Roman Catholic or Anglican (hah!). But I said I was Jewish, and it's fine. Apparently Tanzanians think everyone in the US is Christian, since a lot of people that come to this country are missionaries. Just goes to show you how others' perceptions of us can be as misguided as our own of them. Even though I don't consider myself a religious person at all, I think it's actually better to tell people I'm Jewish, because at least that signals to them that I believe in God - other volunteers have told us people will ask you questions like "but don't you want to go to heaven?" if you tell them you don't believe in God. So I figure I'll just avoid that whole issue entirely. And people here are very tolerant of religions - Muslims and Christians coexist much more peacefully here than they do in other African countries (like Sudan).
So anyway, they are very nice, and haven't brought up religion again since then, so no issues there (apparently another volunteer is living with a very religious Christian family that gets up at 5am every day to pray). I have my own room, with a locking door - part of the requirements PC places on host families - and I eat breakfast and dinner at home with my family. The food is surprisingly good, which I wasn't expecting. Lots of rice, all kinds of meats, vegetables, beans, fruits (bananas, oranges, and watermelon mostly), etc. I haven't gotten sick yet either, so all's good there.
Just noticed my computer time is about to run out, so I'll save the rest for later. Certainly lots more to write about. I hope you're all well - don't hesitate to drop me an e-mail some time to let me know how you're doing!
Kwa heri! (goodbye!)