Orientation Day 1
Trip Start
Feb 08, 2008
1
11
26
Trip End
Mar 29, 2008
Moshi,
Tanzania
Monday, March 17, 2008
I'm back! It is evening here, and I am going to tell you about my day. (Sunday) I already mentioned my excellent breakfast. After that, we stated orientation. Our Program Manager, Ibram, went over any of our questions/concerns. Such as, can we take pictures of people, what if we get sick, how to get a taxi, etc. When these things were all answered to our satisfaction, then we took a trip into Moshi town. It is 7 kilometers away. (I don't know what that is in miles.) It is a relatively small town, but way different than anything I have experienced before. Everyone is very neat & tidy. The man were western dress; button-down shirts, polo shirts, nice T-shirts. The women wear native dress; wrap-around skirts and blouses or dresses, all below the knee. No shorts or pants. They all look very clean, even the children. Because the kids were a lot of donated clothes from the West, they have a lot of t-shirts with American logos or sayings. We went to an ATM for people to get money, then to a Money Exchange for us to change our money into shillings. One dollar is approximately 1000 shillings. We went to their open-air food market, which is open every Sunday. I took one picture, but then they wanted me to pay them for it, so I didn't take anymore there. Then we drove back home.
When we returned, we had lunch. Again, delectable! We had some kind of salad with fresh avocado, veggie meatballs (fantastic!) and their version of spaghetti. Fresh pineapple and watermelon for dessert. After lunch we played some get acquainted games and talked about our reasons for coming, our expectations and goals. Then we went over our schedule for our stay here. We also had to sign some papers agreeing to obey their rules and give them money and paperwork for residency papers. Then we had free time until 6:30, so I unpacked and got my things together for my nursery placement. This all might sound easy, but remember it is VERY hot and humid, so everything is a real chore. I wrote on my Blog a little bit, and then took a shower before dinner. Dinner was at 6:30, and we had pork ribs, spinach (I think), potatoes and onions, avocado salad, cauliflower in sauce and banana fritters for dessert. No complaints from me! Now we are chilling and I am writing my Blog. The others are busy planning a Safari trip this weekend, and Zanzibar the following weekend. I will be remaining at the house, but I will find something to do.
Well, gotta go! I'll write more tomorrow.
P.S. I am writing this everyday on my laptop, but I will only be going into town a few days a week to upload it at the Internet Café. So when I put up the Blog, there will may days worth of entries. Thanks so much to everyone for helping me to have this experience!
