The Big Day!

Today we found out what sites we will be living in for the next two years while doing our service in Tanzania! It was a very excited buildup, with the people shouting "come on down so and so to this village!"...though towards the end the people who had not yet gotten their sites were a little more than stressed out, we were just plain giddy to know where we were going!

I found out that I will be going to the Deep South (the DEEEEEEP South) and that I have a very large, new house (with no electricity) right next to the school where I will be teaching Biology. I am one of the only volunteers (if not the only one) in the Health Group that got placed in an education site, mostly because I expressed that I would be able to teach, and this was what the community was really searching for. I will also be the first volunteer that this community has ever had, which will probably make for some pretty good pampering! I'm glad to be a teacher, because I will have a schedule and a lot of intergration into the community right away, and I'll get to know a lot of the teachers and community members!

I will not have an address for any of you until I am able to actually move in and see my banking town (which will probably be about 2 weeks), but promise that once I have it I will be posting it here for all to see - I would still love to get mail from everyone! :)

We have been spending the past several days before finding out our sites in Dar es Salaam - which is sort of like the capital of Tanzaia - EVRYTHING is here. My mission once we arrived (from our very small villages) was to see a movie and eat ice cream. There was something very surreal about sitting in an Air-conditioned theatre drinking a slushie (after eating Ice Cream) and watching Batman (which I highly recommend) in AFRICA! It was crazy, but I was very glad to get to go after such a long time in my small village!

We move from our villages in 2 weeks, and because of the distance from everyone in the Deep South, we will probably be the last to move. The Deep South appears to be the farthest from all of the other volunteers - but is VERY close to the beach, I can't wait to get rid of my already awful farmers tan!

If I haven't written you an e-mail - please realize that my time on computers for the past 10 weeks is very limited, I will be writing all of you very soon when I have a little more free time at my site - I really do miss everyone!

Peace