So I just wanted to say hello! I'm alive! Right now I am in Mbeya town which is my banking town. I have been in Mbeya region for over a week. This area is technically the Southern Highlands and it is really beautiful. It will be my new home for the next two years--at this moment that seems like an insane amount of time. My village is about a three hour bus ride from Mbeya town. I expect to come in to town about once every two weeks. I have my very own house! Its brick, with concrete walls on the inside. It has four room inside and a courtyard in the back with a choo and a room with a drain, to take a bucket bath. It's pretty nice digs. Because I am replacing someone I already have a bed, need a new mattress though, a couch, coffee table, two chairs, a table and a shelf in my "kitchen" and then another random room with a table that once I fix up I will call my "guest room," which means I need guests (hint, hint). I am going to try and buy some paint this weekend, hopefully some cheery colors!
Have I mentioned it is really cold in my village!? Right now it is winter so at night I have been sleeping in my sleeping bag, with a wool hat, wool socks, fleece jacket and then another blanket on top of that! During the day it is not so bad because the sun is really strong. But it is really windy! Which I enjoy, but can be a little hazardous when you are wearing a skirt! I live in between a teacher and a headmaster and our houses are perched on a hill, on one side of the hill is a narrow river, which is really beautiful. On the other side is a field where cows roam during the day. My water source is also at the bottom of the hill. Most of the time kids fetch water for me, but when I do I always feel like I got a good workout! The past few days in my village I have spent walking around introducing myself, visiting the health center, and a primary school.
It is a little hard because people definitely have high expectations of my swahili, but I am really just not to the point where I am comfortable walking around without my dictionary. Its always with me! Also I think I understand about 20% of what people are actually saying to me. There is also a local language called KiMalili. So between people speaking Kiswahili, poor English and KiMalili to me I really have a hard time communicating. But it will come! I keep telling people that it will come with time!
Peace Corps does not actually want you to any work for the first three months at site. So I am really just supposed to be getting acquainted with the village and learning more about how to take care of myself here. And how to actually live here! Have I mentioned that I have already been on a free safari?!
After swearing in it was really hard to leave everyone. But the next day we started our two day journey down to Mbeya. But on the way we drove through a game reserve and we saw Giraffes, Elephants, Warthogs, Zebras, Hippos, Gazelle, Water Buffalo and tons of birds. It was so incredible! I was too excited to even take pictures, I just had to soak it all in! And then we drove through a Baobob Tree forest, which was just amazing. I mean these trees are thousands of years old. They've seen so much. And they are huge! (This is what you have to look forward to when you come to visit me!). It was a really incredible trip. So more about my village...It is really big, I think about 10,000 people. There are a few health clinics, a lot of doctors, multiple primary schools, a secondary school (this is like a high school) and lots of stores, however the stores are not as well stocked as I was expecting. But that's okay because I can just buy things I need in Mbeya and then bring them back to my site! On friday there is a big market day and apparently you can buy many fresh foods so I am really excited about this!! I missed it this week since I came into Mbeya but I will definitely be there next week! Just wanted to give you a little bit of a glimpse of my life now. I promise I will be in much better communication from now on! I will have a lot more internet access and I will be able to update my blog and send out emails much more often. I really miss everyone and remember mail is very much appreciated here! Letters are fantastic and I am using all the cards I have gotten so far to decorate my house. Thank you to everyone who has sent me mail! Talk with you soon!