Life as a Peace Corps Trainee

Habari za leo?

Well, considering that training is almost over now, I figure I should tell you a little bit of what Peace Corps Training was like.

I live in a home with my Tanzanian family. I've got a Bibi (grandmother) and a host brother and-- sorta-sister, sorta-aunt? She's two years younger than me, but she's my Bibi's daughter. (She also has the same name as my American aunt: Joyce. Weird, huh?)

Anyway, my Bibi is pretty awesome. A couple of weeks ago she won an election, and now she's the Women's Rights council member for our ward. She's basically fluent in English, so we have to try pretty hard to only speak Swahili (Trainees aren't supposed to speak any English at all in home stay). She used to be a primary school teacher, but she's retired and now has a little duka (shop) in front of my house where she sells all sorts of useful little odds and ends.

As I think I've mentioned, our house has electricity (though it's out at least a few nights a week). We've only had running water once. My host family used the opportunity to stock up on water, but the only way it affected me was that the shower started dripping during my bucket bath. I tried to turn the knob (didn't care if I was turning it on or off, I just didn't want it dripping on me). But the knob came off in my hand and water started spraying at me horizontally from the spot where the knob used to be. So, overall, I was pretty content when I found out last week that the house where I'll be living for the next two years will have electricity, but won't have indoor plumbing. But more on that soon.

We had class all day, Monday-Thursday and Saturday, at our CBT (Community-Based Training). It's a secondary school, so for the last three weeks we also taught our subject there; but mostly, it was lots and lots of Swahili training. Then on Fridays, all the trainees meet up for training in Tanzanian culture, safety/security, teaching techniques, health issues, and so on. Then on Sunday we get a "day off," which generally involves doing chores.

My school was a 30-40 minute walk from my house, so most days I biked to school, exchanging greetings with locals as I passed.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, we recently found out where we're headed to for the next two years. I'm not allowed to say publicly where I'm going-- though there's a very interested, largely undocumented UNESCO site I'd like to, well, document photographically, so I don't know how that will work in regards to this secret-location thing. Eh, there'll be plenty of time to figure that out.

What I think I can tell you is that I'm in an actual town, so I'll be right by an internet cafe. Thus I'll be able to update a lot; probably more than I have been now, as training is hella busy and you have to go downtown to get to internet. I've been so exhausted from every day and my brain is rebelling from too much Swahili jammed in there. (I get internet on my phone so you can email me, but I'm not good at typing on a normal phone pad yet, so I rarely respond, lol.)

So now, we've all gone to stay with a current volunteer. This way we get a taste of how Volunteers live, what it's like, etc. Right now we're in a fairly big city; we're going to the village today, and staying there for a few days. I'll try to let you know how that goes in my next post!

Until next time!

Kwa Heri!