Traveling vs Immersing

   I've already learned a lot from the little time I've been living in Tanzania, which has made me realize the differences between traveling and actually experiencing another country. If it wasn't for Peace Corps I wouldn't have had the opportunity to learn how to cook on a charcoal jiko with the mama's,  I wouldn't be sitting down with the wazee of my village and drinking street coffee while I talk about life here compared to life in America, and I wouldn't have built great relationships with community members or students. Granted I also wouldn't be listening to rats run above me every night, or have to deal with my neighbors chickens coming into my house every day, and I definitely wouldn't have crammed into a Daladala with 20 extra people just to get into town. However, the negatives are so miniscule in the scheme of what I am getting out of my life here. Yeah I'd rather not have seen that giant cockroach in my bathroom, but I'd see it every day if it meant I could continue teaching here.
     If I hadn't joined Peace Corps I still would have followed my dreams to Africa, but in a much different style than how I currently am. I would be spending 20 times my monthly pay if I had decided to simply travel. It would pretty sweet to be on a safari, or on the beaches of Zanzibar, or hiking Kilimanjaro. But, if I was doing that I would be in the tourist areas that don't really have as much to offer me (besides safi food). I would even still be referring to the separate islands of Zanzibar as Zanzibar. I wouldn't have had my host family to teach me how cards are shuffled here, and what card games are played. My Swahili would still be at the same level it was in the states, since you can get by with English in the bigger cities, and I would seal my financial fate at the market by using English. I had no desire to go to the region that I currently call home, but because I am here I've been able to watch the sunset over Mozambique from the top of the Newala Plateau. 

     My day to day life has drastically changed from what it once was. My hands are becoming calloused just from the work I put into a meal, or drinkable water. I haven't even been here for four months and I've already benefited so much. I'm excited to see who I am after two years. Some people may think that life like this is difficult, but it's incredibly rewarding compared to my life in America. I'm proud of myself for overcoming different obstacles that I've been presented with here. In the end I wouldn't have had to face the vast majority of these if I had just traveled. Life could have been incredibly different if I didn't join the Peace Corps, but then I wouldn't have actually known Tanzania would I? You can travel the world as much as you want, but that doesn't mean you will experience all the world can offer you in return

Rants and Discoveries

A lot of emotions have come and gone in the past couple weeks. My frustration with the Peace Corps is at an all time high, but so is my appreciation. Most of the anger revolves around structure and a lack of uniform rules for everyone. 

There is so much that could improve PST, but no one really seems to care about it except for those training to be volunteers. A couple simple changes would allow volunteers with previous skills to be trained to be better at their site. Unfortunately a lot of people in the position to make a change don't appreciate anything but positive feedback. They seem to have become blind to the possibility of Peace Corps not being 110% perfect, but less on the complaints and more on the positives. 

For those who don't know about PST (pre service training) it's roughly three months of training before you go to site. There's a lot of safety/security, language, and health lessons. After about a month everyone takes a written and oral exam to see where their language is. We got our results back and I scored the highest of all the volunteers, which means my Swahili courses paid off. This was really great news, however I was pretty much told I'm too cocky with language classes and that there's room to improve. I can rant about how classes have been a review of my last two years and a waste of my time because PC refuses to acknowledge those who studied before coming to country, but I'll try to avoid it. 

I also had my final day of internship teaching, which is bittersweet because I loved my class. We started our last class with a review of everything I've taught so far. I promised that afterwords there would be treats and games which is unheard of in Tanzanian classes. So the students were stoked and a lot of hands were raised that haven't been raised for a lot of classes. It's such a rewarding feeling as a teacher to see students who never participate get into the learning and start answering questions. After the snacks I introduced Frisbee to a lot of students that have never seen one. I was also taught a couple new games by some of them. When there was about five minutes left of class students started asking for my email to stay in touch, but this lead to a lot of requests for Facebook and such. I received notes about coming to America and giving students my phone to keep. I got quizzed on my Swahili. I joked back and forth with students that have a great sense of humor. I called out students who called my foreigner instead of Jared (which got a huge laugh out of the other students). Overall my last day of internship teaching was the best day of peace corps so far. 

Today was a huge day too because all of the volunteers found out where they will be spending the next two years of their lives teaching. We can all finally start planning our next two years instead of looking into the void of possibilities. Although I found out I won't be serving in any of the areas I wanted to be in I'm still stoked. My site is in the Mtwara region (aka the dirty south). I'll be the first volunteer to ever be at my site and I'll be teaching biology. I'm not sure what the food situation will be like, but apparently cassava and cashews are popular. I get to visit my site this upcoming week and check out the school, my house, and the surrounding area. I'm ready to establish Peace Corps in my community and meet my new students. Once training is over the real journey starts. 

Tanzania? Hamna Shida

It's been about three weeks in Tanzania now and it doesn't feel like I'm in Africa. I guess I just expected to constantly feel like I am on another continent, but it doesn't feel like I'm thousands of miles away from my friends and family. However, I am reminded when my Swahili isn't good enough to break the language barrier between my host family and me.

 It's also been three weeks of my personal identity being slowly taken away. Peace Corps restricts your clothing, personal style, and hair so much that it counteracts their goal of showing what Americans are like. I was forced to shave my head and I've been bitching about it for the past 24 hours, and will probably continue to bitch until it grows back. I'm having a really fun time giving up the ability to express who I am and how I live, but it'll get better at site when rules aren't so strict.

My host mama is great and makes the best cup of chai I've ever had, which is all I can really ask for. She's teaching me all of her chai secrets so I can mass produce this shit and make millions, but I don't have the muscle to hand grind that many spices. She's all about the personal hygiene so I shower every morning and every night, which is honestly the worst part of Tanzania so far.  Also, she likes Kanye and has a picture of him on her wall. So she's basically a boss ass bitch and I love her. My sister is also a bad ass that likes Nicki Minaj and Rihanna so it's safe to say we are friends. I'm going to introduce her to the wonders of Beyoncé as soon as she is ready for her life to change (for the better). I haven't had a lot of interactions with my dad, but I guess he had malaria. I'm not sure if he was being dramatic when he told me that or if I had my first malaria witnessing. Either way he sleept behind the living room couch for a couple of days. I guess that did the trick.

Training so far has been 85% pointless. Thank god there are some good people around to get me through it. I'm just stoked to get to my site, and to make some awesome American influenced Tanzanian dishes. Chapati burritos every day. Not so stoked to leave the people I've been getting close to though. 

Complaints: I need cheese, I want pizza, I have zero free time, and the bathroom situation absolutely sucks when you're pee shy.

Otherwise everything is perfect. I don't know where I'd rather be in my life right now. Im 22 with no one to hold me back. I'm finally living in Africa, which I've wanted for as long as I can remember. I'm going to be working to empower communities and the students in them. This is an opportunity so many more should experience, and I'm so grateful to be here. 

Departing thoughts

     In one week I'll be in Africa. I keep repeating that to myself, but it still hasn't really began to make sense. Wasn't I just a junior in Madison stressing out about the application and my last year of college? Now I'm a graduate. I have my degree. I'm off to Tanzania for 27 months. I am about to reach a goal that I've been dreaming of for years, and I am so excited for what is coming my way. Sure there will be an immense amount of difficulties, but everything that comes out of the next two years will be so worth it. 

     The only thing that makes this feel real is the onslaught of goodbyes that have been happening over the past month. I've said goodbye to college, my roommates, most of my closest friends, my father, and soon I'll have to say goodbye to the remainder of my support system. The goodbyes are hard, but they help remind me how important these people have become to me. Following the goodbyes are two years full of hellos. 27 months of opportunities. Not only for myself, but for everyone around me. 

     This last week is going to be a difficult one, but it's also the only thing standing between me and the start of a very important time in my life. A lot is going to happen in the upcoming years, but I'm ready to see where this takes me and how it shapes me.