There's No Place Like Home

After a loooong couple of months packed full of traveling and trainings and teachings, I’m finally back in Mbeya. All of the things that I was doing while I was gone were all good and valuable things to be doing, but its nice to be home. Being away for so long then coming back here just makes me realize all over again how much better the Southern Highlands are than the rest of Tanzania. No offense, but its true. The weather is so beautifully chilly and clear here after the sweltering mugginess of Tanga. The laid back atmosphere is a stark contrast to the busy intenseness of Dar es Salaam. The familiarity is nice after being in Morogoro where you’re just another mzungu among the many. So I’m going to try to enjoy it for the few weeks that I’m here before I have to go back to Dar for our Mid-Service Conference at the end of August.
Last time I wrote, I believe I was in Dar after a crazy three weeks of family vacay time. After that I made my way back up to Tanga region for my turn as PCV of the Week, which was really fun. It was nice having people ask me for my advice, it made me feel like I’ve actually made some progress here. I remember Pre-Service Training quite clearly and all I could think was that I was so happy to not be in their place. I know they are anxious to be done and get to their sites. Then, lucky for me, the week that I was there was their one free weekend away from their host families (when we went on the safari to Mikumi last year). Since PST was moved to Muheza in Tanga instead of Kilosa in Morogoro this year, they were too far away from Mikumi to make that their weekend trip so they ended up going to a beautiful beach resort in Pangani Beach and I got to accompany them. This place was really nice. Like the first thought I had walking up to it was I-feel-like-I-should-be-getting-married-here nice. Its run by a former Peace Corps Volunteer and she gave us a huge discount as a special favor to the trainees. So we spent a really nice relaxing weekend on what felt like a private beach or a deserted island in the lap of luxury eating delicious food. There was one little bout of excitement when I few of us decided to walk along the beach to the town to use the ATM while the tide was coming in and had a slightly terrifying moment of having to cling to a wall of coral as the waves got bigger and stronger crashing into us and we kept having to climb higher and higher to find footholds, but we made it out ok, and decided it would be best to take the main road back to the resort.
Last week I was in Morogoro doing a Community Theater workshop where we, along with a counterpart from each of our villages, learned how to use plays to teach about HIV. It turned out to be pretty fun and I actually learned some new presentation techniques and games to use in my village. And if there was an award for most improved actress, it would definitely have gone to my counterpart. She’s generally a pretty shy person, but by the end of the workshop she had really turned it on and gave a great turn as the star of the final play that we preformed at a local high school about stigmitazation.
I got back into Mbeya late Saturday night then Sunday I had another interesting day. I went with my boyfriend out to where he works cutting blocks of stone out of the mountains about 45 minutes away from Mbeya Town. His boss is here from Italy right now and wanted to do something nice for his Tanzanian employees and their families so he paid for an entire cow to be butchered and brought about 100 sodas for the village to have a little meat and soda party. They hooked up a radio to a car battery and had a good time dancing and singing and eating. And despite not particularly eating meat and having to ride down the worst road I have ever been on to get there, I was glad that I got to go. But seriously, that road was terrible. The first quarter of it was like driving through a pile of flour it was so dusty. On the side of the car against the wind, clouds of dust were being hurled up against the window like sheets of rain in a hurricane. I’ve never seen anything like it. But after we passed the dusty part, it seemed that we were driving on a dry river bed. I definitely would not have taken my car down there. It definitely required 4 wheel drive. There were huge rocks everywhere. I’m surprised I didn’t get a concussion banging my head up against the side of the car as we tumbled over them.
So now I’m just looking forward to getting back to work and trying to accomplish some things I wrote down on my to-do list while I was away. But first I guess I should just walk around my village convincing people that I didn’t go back to America, which is what I’m sure they’re all thinking at this point.

Vacay and Visits

I realize its been a while since I've last updated this thing, but I haven't had much time to sit down and record what's been going on. I've been home 3 days in the last month and have yet a while to go before I can go home again. But while I have a minute here in the Peace Corps Volunteer Lounge in Dar, I'll try to bring you up to speed.

It all started back in the second week of June when I traveled to Tanga, in the Northeastern part of Tanzania, for a Training of Trainers to be PCV of the Week. Which feels kinda wierd. I can't believe I'm already in the position to be dishing out advice to the new class of health and education trainees. I'm no longer a newbie. I'm officially a second year volunteer. Well, I guess not until August technically, but now that a new group is here, I feel like my class can call ourselves the upperclassmen. I spent a week at the this year's new training site, helping Peace Corps staff develop new training implements and making up lesson plans for my own session that I will present on gender and development next week. It was nice to be able to have an imput into how to improve the training process for this year's volunteers, and I'm happy to say that it seemed like the staff really listened to our suggestions and made adjustments accordingly. The schedule for this year's trainees looks really effective.

After the week in Tanga, I went to Dar es Salaam to await the arrival of my parents and sister, who were coming to visit for 3 weeks. The day before they got here, the new class of PCT (Peace Corps Trainees) came in and I was able to go with the staff and a few other PCVs to the airport to meet them. It was kind of a surreal experience being at the airport again for the first time since we arrived seeing the newbies come in and realizing that this is exactly what we looked like at this time last year. As was expected, they we tired and overwhelmed and a little out of it, so we didn't do much talking until the next day. My family wasn't coming in until late so I got to hang out with them the whole day and get a feel for them and I liked the vibe that I got so far. It will be interesting to get back to them next week and see how far they've come and what questions they've been harboring for the last few weeks since I've seen them last.

That night, my family flew in to Dar and I went to meet them at the airport. Also a little surreal. I had never lived away from home minus a 7 week summer study abroad in Austria 2 years ago so to have not seen them for an entire year then suddenly have them show up in Africa, especially since none of them have ever done any traveling and haven't even left the country before coming here, was wierd. I actually didn't even recognize my dad the first second that I saw him. But to my surprise, I was spared a weepy, huggy, scene, and they relatively calmly greeted me and we proceeded to our hotel without incident. Well, sorta. They had A LOT of luggage and we didn't exactly fit so great into the taxi, but hey, I'm not complaining. Two of their six bags was loaded down with goodies for me! And I hadn't seen my big sister for a whole year so I didn't mind snuggling in the front seat with her and two backpacks.

Back at the Econo Lodge Hotel, which would be our home base each time we passed through Dar during our whirlwind Tanzanian tour, we stayed up til about 3 AM going through all my loot and adjusting the packing scheme for our trip to Arusha the next morning. Oh did I say the next morning? What I meant was about 2 hours later. Our bus to Arusha left at 6AM so we had a taxi coming to pick us up to take us to the bus station at 5AM and therefore woke up at 4:15. Hey, sleep when your dead, right? I told my family that I was just going to through them right in, to give them the authentic (aka budget) experience, but I didn't mean to toss them straight to the sharks. The main bus stand in Dar is an insane place. Shagalabagala, as we say in Swahili. Chaos. Maddening, ridiculous chaos all around. Even at 5AM. Especially at 5AM. And it was made 10 times worse by the good intentions of our taxi driver trying to take us straight to the bus instead of dropping us at the ticket office. Which would have probably worked out if anything in this country made sense like it might in America, but alas, tis not the case. A lot of times here, a company will sell you a ticket that may have a certain bus company's name on it which is in fact not the name of the company that you will end up traveling on. So we had a minor freak out when our taxi driver kept asking for where the bus line that was printed on our ticket was leaving from and people kept saying that there was no bus from that line leaving at that time. But no worries. After a frantic scrambling from the back of the bus station, squeezing between about 100 buses and horn-honking taxis with ALL of our riduculously bulky and uncooperative luggage up to find the guy I bought the tickets from so he could take us to the bus he intended us to get on, all was well. Pay no attention to that shell shocked look on my mother's face.

The first bus ride is always an eye-opening experience to newcomers to the lack of driving skills of Tanzanians. The buses like to pretend that they are trains. High speed lines. They just barrel through, speed bumps, pot holes, and pedestrians be damned. They just lay on the horn and expect everything to move. Nevertheless, we made it to Arusha Town alive and were met there by my Tanzanian's friend uncle whom we had arranged to be our driver and guide on our safari the next day in the Ngorongoro Crater. He delievered us to our bed and breakfast and we pretty much ate a quick plate of rice and beans and went to bed. The next morning we went on our safari and I think my family really enjoyed it. We were able to see all the African mainstays, even a couple of the more diffucult to spot predators like lions and a cheetah. Unfortunately they were all feeling pretty lazy that day and there wasn't much action to witness as they all lounged in the tall grasses, but it was cool anyway. And the crater itself is really beautiful as it is. That night was probably when the culture shock really started setting in for my family when we arrived at our guest house for the evening. I didn't see what the big deal was, as the place was reccomended to me by Peace Corps Volunteers that live in that region and stay at this place often and it wasn't so bad by Tanzania standards. But when I tried on a little sensitivity and looked at it from an outsiders point of view, the place was a bit ghetto. But as we sat down and ate some spaghetti and my parents saw more and more tourists and backpackers coming in to stay there that seemed completely at ease with their surroundings, they relaxed a bit.

After passing back through Dar for a night to break up the long journey home a little, we made it back into Mbeya Town and slept there for the night. It was cool for my family to meet my friends and boyfriend here and see where I spend my time when I go into town on the weekends. The next morning, we decided to splurge on a taxi all the way to my village from town since we had so much luggage to lug with us. One might presume that a taxi may be safer than a bus or a daladala...and one would be wrong. At least when it comes to the pedistrians well-being. Especially the particular pedestrian that we happened to hit on the way. Its ok, he ended up being fine. Our driver was really upset though. Not so much that he just nearly killed a person. Oh no. He was pissed because we he hit the guy he broke a side view mirror. So after having a hissy fit, he got back in the car and drove us the rest of the way like a bat out of hell almost running into countless other cars, people and stationary objects. Then finally...

HOME! It was great to have my family see my house and my village and meet my neighbors and see how I live. They got a kick of how much fun a group a full grown women who were taking a break from building a house next door to mine got out of a soccer ball that they brought me. They saw my dad pumping it up and shyly asked if they could play with it, and when I tossed it to them, the whole lot of them jumped up like excited little kids and ran around tossing it back and forth in soccer field in front of my house. Amazing how much laughter a $4 rubber ball can bring.

After three days impressing them with my village cooking skills, we ventured into another mode of transport and took a coaster (minibus) to Matema Beach on Lake Malawi. Despite being sandwiched between two rough and DIRTY coaster rides (I seriously don't think I've ever been as dirty as I was from all the dust when we finally arrived at Matema) , it made for a relaxing couple of days on the beach. After that we hung out in Mbeya Town again for a couple of days, before passing through the Masai Market in Iringa for souveiniers and continuing on to Dar then finally Zanzibar. And despite the annoyance of CONSTANTLY having someone in your face trying to sell you something or take you somewhere there, we were still able to enjoy the beautiful Indian Ocean and the delicious food. We ate a nice place near the ferry in Stone Town called Mercury's 3 times! (Named after Freddie Mercury of Queen who was born in Zanzibar, just a fun fact for you there.) I even got a pina colada! And how could our trip be complete without one last hellish trip on yet another mode of transport, the ferry. It was like the place was possessed. People were barfing EVERYWHERE! Some in the little blue plastic baggies they passed out, some off the side of the ferry outside, some on the floor, in the aisles, in the bathrooms, on themselves. It was crazy! It really was a rough 2 hours though. We were being tossed about quite a bit. I didn't feel so great myself.

But once again, we made it to the otherside alive, if not well, for one last night at good ole Econo Lodge. Their flight didn't leave until late the next night so we spent the next day going to see Trasformers 2 at the completely out of place very nice movie theater in Dar, walking around the grocery store in the 'mall', and eating some questionable Chinese food. To cap off this unusual day, we watched the Michael Jackson memorial on the t.v. in the hotel lobby before I saw my family off in a taxi that was to send them back to the airport.

And even though it got a little crazy at times and a little stressful in spots, it was cool to have the opportunity to hang out with my family for three weeks here in my new home. I was glad that they were able to get a little piece of mind knowing that I'm safe and adjusted here. That my neighbors know me and like me and look out for me. That I've become good friends with the other Peace Corps Volunteers in my area and that my Brazilian boyfriend is a nice guy. I would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to host visitors to do it. It definately made me feel much more competent having to take care of people that had no idea what was going on here. To be constantly complimented on my Swahili skills, and knowing where I was going and what I was doing.

So I think that brings you up to date. Now I'm in Dar for a 3 day training for PSDN (peer support and diversity network), which is essentially a group of volunteers that make themselves available for the venting needs of other volunteers. Then when this is over, I'll be heading back up to Tanga to hang out with the PCTs for a week, then to a Community Theater Workshop in Morogoro region before FINALLY getting to go back home. I'll probably have to totally readjust to the whole living alone concept after spending so much time around my family and other volunteers these two months. But I look forward to getting back and getting to work on my library project. Speaking of that, big thanks to my grandparents and the High Springs Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, and Ms. Weaver and High Springs Community School for the great support that they've offered so far in donations! Can't wait to get those books on the new and empty waiting shelves at the primary school. I know that teachers and students will all be very excited. If you're interested in reading more about the project or donating, you can visit peacecorps.gov and click on the donate button and search by my last name, Gillman, or my project number 621-188 or just follow this link
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfmshell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=621-188 THANKS so much for any help you can give.