Ramblings about Swearing In

Today was our swearing-in ceremony, which means I am now officially a Peace Corps volunteer. Eek! This morning we had a ceremony at the ambassador’s home with all of the PC Tanzania training staff all of our heads of school, and some representatives from the Tanzanian education department, among others. Our heads of school (or principals, essentially) arrived in Dar a few days ago and have had training session with Peace Corps to prepare them for working with foreigners who are sure to do odd things, and to escort us back to our respective schools (which is nice, since I’ve got tons of luggage).


I met my headmaster yesterday. I think our conversation, more than anything else, really made it sink in that this is real. He seems like a good guy, kinda has a fatherly feel about him. Of course I had about a million questions for him about the school and the community, and he sat there and patiently answered them all without any hint of complaint. And every other comment out of his mouth must have been about how excited he is to have me, and how excited the students are, and the village in general. The school has about 400 students across four grades. I’ll be the sixth teacher, and the only English teacher. So it’s definitely a school that’s got a real need for a volunteer, and I’ve been telling myself that it’s just all that much more of an opportunity to make a difference. The region I’m going to is called Singida, and it’s kinda I the middle / northern middle-ish part of the country. It’s been described to me as being like ‘the wild west’ of Tanzania….I’ll let you know what that means once I find out myself. We’ll leave tomorrow at a ridiculously early hour and still have to spend the night in town before continuing on to my village the next day.


Ok, so here's a couple of pictures - of people this time since I haven't done any of those yet. The first one is of me and my Swahili teacher. I chopped my hair, remember? She's an amazing teacher and I owe her about a million thanks for getting me to the point I'm at now. The second one is of my homestay family, who I said good-bye to a few days ago.






Ok, well this will have to suffice – I’ve got a celebration to run off to :)


“The times, they are a'changing"