Hey guys! So I hope you all are doing well. I am in town this weekend, which is a nice break. Peace Corps allows volunteers to come in to town 4 days a month so I am making this a long weekend, since it is kind of a hike to even get in here. My bus came even earlier than normal on Friday morning. It is supposed to leave at 5:30 but it is always late so I was not planning on showing up in town until 5:45. Luckily I have been suffering from a cold—scratchy sore throat, stuffed up nose, and cough—so I was not sleeping well on Friday night and got up at about 4:30 to make some tea and put my head over a hot pot of water. Just as I am making the tea I hear a vehicle come down the hill behind my house. It was curious because it was the middle of the night and cars do not usually leave that early here. It sounded big and heavy like the bus, but an hour early? I hear it pull in to the downtown area(by this I mean a series of one story shops lining the road), not because the downtown area is particularly close but when there's no other noise to muffle the sound and because the bus is just a very loud contraption. So I hear it pull in and start to honk. At this point I was not ready in the least. So I throw my bag together, pour water over my hot coals, and rush out the door. I start running because it sounds like the driver is getting more and more impatient by honking more frequently and for longer periods of time. Running in the dark up a hill at 5:00AM, with a giant backpack on, wearing a skirt is not my idea of fun. As I am reaching the bus it is about to start leaving luckily they see my bobbing flashlight and stop. “Ah, Nsendo,” which is the name of a girl who lives in another village but a little farther away. I say, “Ninaitwa Anna. Nsendo anaishi Ewigi, ninaishi hapa hapa Ilembo.” Or “My name is Anna. Nsendo lives in Ewigi. I live here in Ilembo,” something which I have probably explained to the people who work on the bus more the 10 times now. But here in Mbeya we volunteers get confused as one another on a regular basis. At least they were actually using a name and not saying “Mzungu” which is white person. I do not really get offended by it when I am in town or traveling. I still usually clarify. But when it is in my village I do not appreciate it. I am supposed to be one of the villagers! So I usually correct people a lot. Hopefully this will get better with time. Anyway I get on the bus and we start booking it down the road. We are going so quickly that I actually miss the village where I had intended to disembark ( I was going to visit one of my friend's sites who is not too far from me and I would get off at “JoJo” and then walk for two hours to her village). Once I realize that I passed JoJo I call her, luckily with enough time she is able to catch a ride in to town. Remember as PCVs we are required to be flexible!--Our intentions for a relaxing day baking, changed to a stressful day of errands in town, but that's okay!

So since I have last posted I feel as though I have made great strides in my village. The more time I spend there the better my Swahili gets, even though my villagers would like to tell you otherwise—Tanzanians can be a little critical in a very joking manner. Last week I went with Nahasibu to a neighboring village to go help to weigh babies. Since I now have a bike we decided to bike there—it would have taken about 2 hours to walk. I swear it was uphill both ways! Once we got there I think a lot of the Mamas were pretty surprised to see me there. Some of them were happy I was there and then others were just very curious, a pretty typical reaction. I gave an introduction and then Nahasibu started to ask some very good questions to all the Mamas. Like why it is important that they come every month to weigh their babies and keep track of their health. Also what they would do if their baby lost weight and what types of food they should feed their babies in the first two years. It was a really great lesson and the Mamas asked some really good questions in Kimalili, the local language, which Nahasibu then translated for me into Swahili. Then two nurses showed up to give vaccinations, I think they were the two least sensitive people I have ever met when it came to giving the babies shots. It also seemed pretty disorganized. I am not really sure how the were accurately giving the right babies the right shots. But I just stood back and watched. All the vaccinations are free for the mothers, which is great. I explained how in America people have to pay for vaccinations and everyone was shocked! Anyway, Nahasibu and I pretty much took over the weighing of babies, we had a pretty good system going and we saw almost 200 babies in just a few hours. It was great! We are going back next month to help again. The woman who runs the clinic was very appreciative and seemed really excited that we were going to return next time. When we were done we shared a lunch of white rice, avocado, milk mgando (basically like plain yogurt) and then we said our goodbyes and left. On our way down one of the very dusty, rocky hills the right brake went out on my bike, which meant I could only use my left one. At one point I had to pass Nahasibu because I could not slow down! Yikes! Luckily, I made it home safely and the next day took my bike to town to get fixed, which was much less of a headache than I thought it was going to be, except that the person who works at the bike shop is SO hard to understand and always makes fun of me when I can't understand him. But anyway, the bike is now fixed, or “Salama,” which directly translates as “Peaceful” but I think it also just works for the word “Safe.”

In other news I have still not gotten a cat. My "roomates" are still causing a lot of commotion during the night. Sometimes I bang on my wall and they quiet down. I think they are starting to get used to that now though. So hopefully by the next time I update I will have cats and no mice/rats! I've been running almost everyday which has been really nice and I think people are starting to get used to it. I've set up the hammock in my courtyard, which is a really great spot to read and very relaxing! Nothing has come up in my garden yet, but hopefully soon! I am looking in to maybe splurging on a solar panel, but I am not sure how it would fair in the rainy season, which is Dec-April. I have been eating a lot of avocados. They are so cheap! Basically the equivalent of 10 cents. Last weekend I went to a village meeting to discuss the village budget. It was supposed to start at 11:30, but it did not actually start until 4:00--this entire time I was waiting around at the village office, good thing I brought my journal! And then it ended around 6:45, but only because everyone only had 15 minutes to make it home before dark! I've finished making my curtains and I think they look quite nice. Also, my two aunts and my mother have supplemented me with some amazing decorations, which just make my house more homey, which makes me happier! Thanks family! Last Sunday I went to a 4 hour long church service. It was really fun for the most part, a little long, beautiful singing! I met with my widows group on Monday and we discussed continuing the apron and gown project. The aprons are really well made and the children's gowns are really cute too. They create these two items and then I sell them and we get money for the orphans group to pay for school fees. Then we went to see one of the projects that the previous volunteer had worked on with the Widows group. She got a grant to get pigs and so now the group is raising 5 pigs. In about 2 years they will be full grown and they will sell them, but hopefully in the mean time they will reproduce!

I have had a great weekend in town. Eaten a lot of chipsi mayai, which is pretty much the cheapest meal you can get, its just eggs and potatoes mixed together. Also, I bought two used Longchamp bags at a used clothing market for under $5! I am very excited about this! I also made the splurge for an internet phone so everyone cross your fingers that it works in my village. If it does expect daily emails from me! Miss you guys. Everyday things are getting a little easier here.

Okay, back to my village now! Talk with you all soon. My friend here gave me an idea to do video journals so I think I may try and do a few of those this next week and then post them to my blog!

Thanks for all the mail and packages!