Together, more or less in line

You’re sick of hangin’ around and you’d like to travel;
Get tired of travelin’ and you want to settle down.
I guess they can’t revoke your soul for trying,
Get out of the door and light out and look all around.

Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me
what a long, strange trip it’s been.



What a week! Following the Kiswahili language exam a week ago all us trainees were bused off all over the country for shadow visits. Craig and I were lucky enough to stay with current PCV Eric up in Moshi. The above picture of Kilimanjaro is from his front yard. Pretty unbeatable. The mountain is utterly awe inspiring. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to climb it at some point.

It was really nice getting out of the heat of Morogoro for a few days, and Eric was an excellent host. Seeing an actual volunteer living and working out in the field was really reassuring as well. I think it’ll be a great two years.

Following shadow visits Craig and I bused it down to Dar es Salaam. It was a 9 hour trip on a very hot and stuffy bus. Not. Fun. At least we got to see a large portion of the countryside though. From the protection of the bus I was able to take some pictures of typical places I visit but normally never dare to bring my camera. Here’s a shot of a small town shopping center, (called dukani in Kiswahili). Most small towns in Tanzania have sections that look pretty similar to this. Morogoro has a number of them. They always carry lots of good, basic items. They also happen to be useful for keeping a pulse on some of the more colorful local slang.



As enjoyable as Moshi was, Dar was where the real excitement of the week took place. The suspense of site announcements has been growing since pretty much week one of training. It’s not surprising that we all were really anxious to know where we’d be spending the next 2 years of our lives. The big day did not disappoint.



The Peace Corps Tanzania staff put an enormous map of the country outside displaying the pictures and locations of all the current volunteers in Tanzania. One by one, the country director called the names of our training group. She announced each person’s site, and we then each went up and pinned our picture up near our location. I gotta say, it was pretty damn exciting.

As I wrote in my last entry, I’ll be going to a remote post in the Zanzibar Islands. I’m told my house is right near the beach, and is it just a short walk away from my school. I should get some really nice Indian Ocean trade winds, which will hopefully save me from the extraordinary heat and humidity, (which are significantly worse than Morogoro apparently).

The Zanzibar Islands were originally the portal to Africa in the Indian Ocean spice trade. The early form of the Kiswahili language was created by the Zanzibar traders in an effort to standardize the Bantu dialects of the mainland so that Arab and African traders could communicate. Needless to say, the culture and history of the place is incredibly rich. The Zanzibar Islands are almost entirely Muslim, so it seems that I’ll be more or less living the Muslim lifestyle for 2 years. Talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I’ll be working at a college of education, teaching computers to the students and staff. Apparently the school just acquired a decent number of new computers along with network and satellite internet equipment. By teaching computers to the future teachers of Tanzania, I hope to make a pretty decent impact. I’ll also have the task of setting up a network and the internet. I’ll then have the next 2 years to train the teachers and staff to repair and maintain the system. It’ll be challenging, but really rewarding I hope.

There’s one other education volunteer assigned to my island, although we’re being placed on opposite tips. Here’s Mike and I trying, (keyword being trying), to look appropriately badass, (we are going to one of the most remote Peace Corps Tanzania locations after all).



The photo was taken at the U.S. Ambassador’s house during the big Thanksgiving bash. The Ambassador was more than generous in allowing all of the Peace Corps staff, volunteers, and trainees in Tanzania to crash his front yard for a feast of epic proportions. After subsisting on mostly rice and beans for the last 2 months, I almost got tears in my eyes when I sat down to spend some quality time with my turkey platter. It was so very good. You don’t even know.



Richard, Kit, Cynthia, and I were appropriately pleased after gorging ourselves. Richard’s site will be exactly where Craig and I visited for our shadow visit earlier in the week. The man’s got a straight shot of the mountain from his doorstep. This is his 3rd tour with the Peace Corps, so I guess he’s earned it. Kit and Cynthia will be in the north near Kilimanjaro as well. The three of them are not a terribly far journey from my site, but my being on an island will make travel a little difficult. They were all great friends during training, and I’ll miss them a lot. I do plan on visiting the mainland whenever possible, however, so I should see them from time to time. Meanwhile, Craig is going down to the Southern Highlands, so he’ll be a serious trek away.

As for now, we’re all back in Morogoro for the last week of training. Next Friday, everyone heads off to the toughest jobs we’ll ever love, (old Peace Corps slogan… sorry, I couldn’t help myself). I’ve got to say, I am thrilled about where I’m going. It will truly be the adventure of a lifetime.