Dear Family and Friends,
Thanks for your letters and letting me know what's going on back home!
Its great to hear the news. I have been extremely busy here in
Morogoro training, and am currently living with a family in the suburb
of Kihonda. My T-fam (tanzanian family) consists of a Mama, Baba
(Dad), Dada (sister), Kaka (brother) and mtoto (baby brother) who
cried at first sight of me, but now we are very close. The family is
rich by tanzanian standards and extremely welcoming. So I won't bore
you with the mundane details, but suffice it to say learning swahili
demands most of my time. I learn with four other volunteers who live
in the area and then we go out and have to speak as much as possible.
It hard....but good, and I can hold a simple convo by now. Too much
else to tell in a short email, and I know y'all are busy, so I will
just list the things I got used to immediately and the the things that
will take..um...a little more time:
things i love: the people (soooo nice), the food (so good, haven't
gotten sick and gained 5 pounds?), the students (eager to learn!), My
fellow Peace Corps trainees, the scenery, the animals (like a giant
petting zoo, all the locals laugh when I try to pick the chickens up),
and so much more
things that will take getting used to: african time (literally, the
count the hours from sunrise so 10 am = 4 in the morning, and i'm in
constant fear of being 6 hours late for stuff), not knowing how to say
anything, cold bucket-baths, not having you guys (tear), the animals
that sound like they are having a party all night long (including a
cow with GI problems???) and lastly, all the animals I live with. This
includes 2 lizards that share my room, a seemingly infinite number of
ants, cockroaches, and unknown rodents, spiders in the showers, and a
chicken that likes to roost in the hallway closet. All of them are
harmless of course, save the chicken who I almost tripped over on the
way to the bathroom one morning. Suffice it to say, I tuck in my
mosquito net like its the wall of china.
Ok, running out of internet time. Write me how you are doing!!! I will
try to post pics on my blog http://hils-peacecorpsblog.blogspot.com/
Love,
Hils
Thanks for your letters and letting me know what's going on back home!
Its great to hear the news. I have been extremely busy here in
Morogoro training, and am currently living with a family in the suburb
of Kihonda. My T-fam (tanzanian family) consists of a Mama, Baba
(Dad), Dada (sister), Kaka (brother) and mtoto (baby brother) who
cried at first sight of me, but now we are very close. The family is
rich by tanzanian standards and extremely welcoming. So I won't bore
you with the mundane details, but suffice it to say learning swahili
demands most of my time. I learn with four other volunteers who live
in the area and then we go out and have to speak as much as possible.
It hard....but good, and I can hold a simple convo by now. Too much
else to tell in a short email, and I know y'all are busy, so I will
just list the things I got used to immediately and the the things that
will take..um...a little more time:
things i love: the people (soooo nice), the food (so good, haven't
gotten sick and gained 5 pounds?), the students (eager to learn!), My
fellow Peace Corps trainees, the scenery, the animals (like a giant
petting zoo, all the locals laugh when I try to pick the chickens up),
and so much more
things that will take getting used to: african time (literally, the
count the hours from sunrise so 10 am = 4 in the morning, and i'm in
constant fear of being 6 hours late for stuff), not knowing how to say
anything, cold bucket-baths, not having you guys (tear), the animals
that sound like they are having a party all night long (including a
cow with GI problems???) and lastly, all the animals I live with. This
includes 2 lizards that share my room, a seemingly infinite number of
ants, cockroaches, and unknown rodents, spiders in the showers, and a
chicken that likes to roost in the hallway closet. All of them are
harmless of course, save the chicken who I almost tripped over on the
way to the bathroom one morning. Suffice it to say, I tuck in my
mosquito net like its the wall of china.
Ok, running out of internet time. Write me how you are doing!!! I will
try to post pics on my blog http://hils-peacecorpsblog
Love,
Hils
No comments:
Post a Comment