I am happy to say that after over 36 hours of travel, I made it to Arusha!! I flew in right over Kilimanjaro which was amazing. The drive to my house was about an hour. It was the first time traffic has ever stopped for a herd of cows. Most roads are paved though some feel like a small roller coaster (especially the one leading up to my house).
Things are going really well here so far! I am staying in the Twiga volunteer house (which means giraffe in Swahili!) with about 20 other people. I have 4 roommates, I have met one who is staying the same length of time that I am. She just got in a few days ago. The other two are at Zanzibar, so I should meet them today (one of them also named Allison). Everyone in the house is very nice, including our mamas that cook for us and Felister who watches over us. People from all over the world here! A lot of Canadians (eh).
Many of the people in the house have been there for a few weeks, so it has been helpful to talk with them. The food has been good, my bed is comfy, and surprisingly we have indoor showers! We are very near a town center as well as a market.
Things are very different here. There is no real sense of time. Everyone is very laid back and sort of just does things as they come. A "short" drive to them is about 40 minutes. I think my placement will be about that far.
Today, I went and hiked a mountain to Napuro waterfall at its base. I went with five other girls, all who just arrived here recently. We were guided by our taxi driver and small kids from Arusha through the very muddy trail. My new friend Dixon was the best. Obviously from poorer means as he had no shoes and rips in his pants, but he never stopped smiling. It is pretty inspiring to see. He spent the whole hike teaching me how to count in Swahili. And my Swahili is pretty terrible at this point so that will certainly be something to practice tonight. I took lots of pictures at the waterfall but they are all on my camera so I can only share when I bring my cord to connect to the desktop in the internet cafe.
Things are very cheap here. It is about $1 to every 1500 Tish. Our waterfall adventure only cost 20000 Tish. Basically about $14. I have yet to get Tish because the ATM was out when I went.
Orientation is tomorrow where I will learn more about the culture and my placement here. I am excited to get started!
I will keep you updated as much as possible. Apparently you can get a SIM card for your phone as long as it is unlocked, but I think I will stick to internet cafes and my Tanzanian phone (which I get tomorrow) to call other volunteers and family.
I may turn these emails into a blog, it will be easier to keep everyone in the loop! If I do, ill post a link on facebook, though I will be staying off of that from then on.
Talk to you all soon!
Allison
No comments:
Post a Comment