June 8, 2012

June 8, Insomnia

Mambo?  (What’s up?)

I’m writing this post knowing that I probably won’t be able to put it online until Monday (It’s 5:00 a.m. Saturday). One of the side effects of the malaria medication and jet lag is insomnia, so I’ve been up most of the night. I’m sitting on my bed under my mosquito net. It’s too muggy for a blanket, so I’m glad they gave us a light sheet and cover to sleep with. There are hardly any mosquitos in my room, although I have gotten bitten on my feet while standing outside. They gave us roll-on bug dope with deet in it, but I’ve still gotten at least 3 bites while hanging around the compound at night. The number of tiny ants in my room is astonishing. I’m pretty sure they were carrying out water droplets because they formed a line going back and forth from my window to my sink. There have also been lots of tiny lizards chilling out on the walls. They don’t like flash photography.

We are a big group of volunteers. All 47 of us are teachers, although only 14 of us will be teaching English. The rest of my new -found friends will be teaching science and math. It’s exciting to be part of this group. Despite the jetlag and array of vaccinations we’re getting, everyone seems to be in very high spirits. The staff is also very nice…maybe even too nice! At chai (tea break in the morning), lunch, and dinner I keep being served extra side dishes due to my allergies. It’s pretty unnecessary since there is plenty of food that I can eat (rice, chicken, vegetables, and fruit), but I have gotten various kinds of fish and potatoes on my own special plate. It’s very cute and I appreciate how the generous, caring spirit of the kitchen staff. I’m curious to see how much dairy, peanuts, and wheat are used in cooking around the country. I was warned that I might be getting quite “skinny” due to my diet restrictions, but so far there is definitely no shortage of food that I can chow down on.

Today we had a security specialist from the U.S. embassy come to talk to us about maintaining our safety in Tanzania. It’s interesting because petty theft is common here, but shouting “mwizi” or “thief” has pretty intense repercussions. Apparently thieves will often be chased down and beaten and/or killed in the street if you call them out for their crime. Fortunately, the staff has given us lots of tips on how to minimize what we lose. Basically, the most important thing is to never have too much on you, and to never store everything in one spot. Well, that and have personal property insurance.

We also talked about some cultural differences today and started our language lessons. Men can be very forward here, and we should apparently expect some future marriage proposals. Friendships between a man and a woman are not really understood here. This holds true even if fellow volunteers visit us. Once you close your front door, people assume things are going down in your bedroom, so we were encouraged to leave doors open whenever interacting with someone of the opposite sex. I also found out that I will be learning to iron without the use of electricity (looking nice is very important here), and that you must always use your right hand for things like taking food, shaking hands etc. There are a number of squat toilets here (basically a hole in the ground), but not always toilet paper. Traditionally people would wipe with their left hand, making it culturally frowned upon to do things like eat with the same hand. We have normal toilets in our rooms, but I’m not sure what the bathroom situation will be in Morogoro or at our sites.

Speaking of sites, I will be finding out my placement on July 27^th. We are going to be the first group ever to visit our sites before we move to them—exciting! I was also relieved to find out that the headmasters of our schools will be accompanying us to our sites when we have to move all of our stuff. The Peace Corps gives us stuff, so it’s going to be quite the feat to move everything.

The roosters and crowing and I can hear a Muslim prayer outside. (Tanzania has a mix of Muslims, Christians, and Animists.) Soon it will be time for breakfast and another day of training.

Kwa heri!  (Goodbye!)

In Dar Es Salaam

Jambo!

I am now in Dar Es Salaam, the biggest city in Tanzania! We are on a compound and not permitted to wander outside its walls for the next 5 days (for our own safety due to a lack of language/cultural knowledge). Today I received my first rabbies vaccination. We have also started taking our malaria prophylaxis.

The training is going well. Right now we're mostly going over logistics (money, health etc.) and learning who our PC staff is. I took my first cold shower this morning (but hey, it was a shower!). We use mosquito nets at night and were given one for when we move to our sites in 3 months. My fan, unfortunately, is the only thing that doesn't really work. Sounds like the chattering of dying rats, so I've decided to enjoy the humidity instead.

The food hasn't been very allergy-friendly so far, so I spoke up before lunch. I'm glad I did! Finally have a full belly. They've also been giving us plenty of bottled water which is nice.

My internet time is running out. I will post later. Kwaherini!

What I Packed (Too much stuff!)

Luggage:

--Daypack (Osprey 22) –CARRY-ON

--Backpacking Pack (Gregory Jade 38) –TO BE BROUGHT TO PST SITE

--Rolling duffel bag (High Sierra 26”) –TO BE STORED IN DAR ES SALAAM

Clothing:

--Jeans (2 Pairs)

--PJs (2 Pairs & One Pair Shorts)

--Two warm jackets/fleeces

--Sun Hat 

--Sunglasses (2 Pairs)

--Swimsuit 

--2 light-weight zip-ups

--Windbreaker

--Heavy rain jacket (Northface) 

--5 Skirts (Below the Knee)

--4 Dresses (Below the Knee) 

--3 Blouses 

--1 Formal dress 

--Socks

--Slips (2 Full, 2 Skirt) 

--Two-Year Supply Underwear 

--6 T-Shirts

--Yoga Pants—Capri Style (4 Pairs) 

--Ankle-Pants (1 Pair) 

Shoes:

--2 Pairs nice/comfy shoes: Jambo’s & Teva Ballerina Flats

--Durable Walking shoes/sneaker: Columbia Sneakers 

--Durable sandal: Zirra Tevas & Chacos 

--Dressy Sandals: Black Leather Sandals & Brown Leather Sandals 

Kitchen/Household Items:

--Ziplock bags 

--2 Good kitchen knives

--Knife sharpener

--Measuring cups & spoons 

--Electrical Tape 

--Mini Sewing Kit

--Safety Pins

--S Clips 

--Zip Ties 

--Vegetable peeler

--Storage/food containers 

--Camping set of pans 

--2 Nalgene Bottles (One closed mouth, one open)

Electronics:

--Digital Camera 

--Kindle 

--Power Adapter

--Power Converter 

--Head lamp 

--External Hard-drive 

--15 GB Pin-Drive

--Laptop

--Extra headphones (2 Pairs)

--Ipod

--Ipod Nano

--Portable Speaker

--Rechargeable Batteries (AA and AAA)  

Tools:

--Flashlight (2 Solar Powered) 

--Solar battery charger 

--Multipurpose knife (Leatherman) 

--Padlocks 

--Travel alarm clock

--Moneybelt

--Stuff Sack

--Packable Duffel

--Duct tape  

--Umbrella

--Tape Measure 

--Gorilla Glue 

Hygienic Supplies & Essentials:

--Glasses 

--Contacts & solution

--Mouth guard

--Face wash 

--Moisturizer

--Deodorant 

--Body Wash

--Shampoo & Conditioner  (Big bottle-combo) 

--Shaving cream & razors

--Toothbrushes

--Tooth paste

--Floss

--Tampons

--Make-up

--Tweezers

--Mirror  

--Make-up

--Hairbrush

--Q-Tips

--Hair Ties 

--Chapstick 

Medical Supplies: 

--Arnica 

--Advil

--Sunscreen

--Aloe Vera  

--Bandaids

--Costisone Cream

--Benadryl 

--Neosporin 

School Supplies: 

--Pens (nice and cheap)   

--Mechanical pencils  

--Highlighters  

--Notebook

--Planner

--Colored chalk 

--Calculator for grading

--Stickers 

--An English dictionary

Hobbies/Misc: 

--Gifts (Book of Maine, Calendar, Tiny Glass Animals from Italy)

--Taco Seasoning

--Photo album

--Flyswatter

Temporary Mailing Address

If you would like to send letters while I'm away, use the following address from June-August 2012. There will be further mailing instructions later on....in fact, some tips are already listed under my "Contact Me" section.

Please only send letters for now. Packages will be welcomed with big arms later on. (Basically, once I'm out of training I will be able to accept packages. I will be living with a host family in Morogoro for the first three months of my service. During this time I'll be going through my "Pre-Service Training". I will then move to a different village, destination unknown, and teach English in a secondary school. At that point I will be able to accept packages....and I will also be living on my own.)

Jade Bowden
US Peace Corps
P.O. Box 9123
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania


P.S. My Skype name is Ladyjadee18 
P.P.S. My e-mail address is jbowden18@gmail.com

6 Days Before Departure!

It's crazy to think that I have less than a week left! I've been feeling a lot of mixed emotions-- excitement, anxiety, fear, sadness, happiness, anticipation....

It's hard to know what things will be like. It's still a bit surreal for me to think about. Part of me wonders if I'm really capable of doing this. Another part wonders if I will be more homesick than I was in Italy. And I can't help but wonder about how I'll adjust to a world without so many modern conveniences around. I don't want to be overly internet dependent, but I want to keep in touch with everyone back home. I'm not sure how easy it will be to access Facebook and Skype, but I don't want to be too dependent on social media. What if it's too hard to post, though? Will my kindle/iphone serve me well in my quest for internet? Questions I don't really have answers to yet.

I'm hoping that I will be able to embrace culture differences rather than compare them, and that I will surmount the challenges that come my way rather then just tripping over all of them.

I am quite nervous about living with a host family. Living with a family that isn't yours as an adult is particularly challenging. But I'm hoping they will be nice and that I will naturally open up to them. For now, I remain nervous about the idea.

As for what I'm doing this week? I need to deal with all my lose ends. There aren't too many left...mostly appointments and packing. I'm not sure what is going to become of my insurance settlement. It might just be left suspended for 27 months at this point. I also hope to spend time with friends and family. And hopefully acquire some more music! I also hope to watch stupid amounts of TV. I'm not a very big TV person, but I figure I should enjoy my big screen while it lasts.

Packing Trial-Run

So, today I attempted to pack as much as possible into my back-packing pack. I crammed smaller things into items that were already taking up space (like inside the set of compact pots and pans I got). The backpack ended up weighing about 30 lbs. I'm very psyched! I now need to go out and buy a rolling duffel bag so I can pack everything else, but overall I'm feeling good about how much I'm taking. I'm not sure if I'm bringing everything I'll need, but hopefully that's the case! They let you have up to 100 lbs, but I think I'll end up having around 60 lbs in checked luggage at most.

I need to take a headshot of myself on a blue background tonight and send out the home-stay questionnaire they sent me. There are an amazing amount of steps involved in this process!

Tomorrow maybe I'll finish shopping. Or maybe that will be a weekend project...who knows.

Pre-Departure To-Do List

To-Do's:

• Yellow Fever Vaccine: X
• Get Vaccination Chart: X
• Coverdell World Wise Schools Correspondence Match (BHCS with Mr.Cole): X
• Staging Forms: X
• Security Course for Staging: X
• Print-Off Photos of Family/Friends for Album: X
• Compile Photo Album: X
• Get Personal Property Insurance: X
• Cancel AT&T Contract: X
• Unlock iPhone: X
• Buy Missing Packing List Items: X
• Finish/Fix Making Dresses/Skirts: X
• Insurance Settlement: X
• Final E-Mails/Letters About Leaving: X
• Complete Forms for PST (Due 5/18): X
• Dentist Appointment 5/30 : X
• Hair Appointment 5/31: X
• Send in Voting Form: X
• Call Bank: X
• Go to the DMV to Renew License: N/A
• Back-Up Music: X
• Make Play-Lists: X
• Going-Away Party Prep (Due 5/26): X
• Print Handbook: X
• Doctor Apt 5/29: X
• Pack: X
• Thank You Notes: X