Site visit

Last week, the Peace Corps trainees were sent out into the field on "site visits".  Mark and I spent a few days shadowing a volunteer whose site is on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.  We stayed in her house and shadowed her as she interacted with the community and taught at her school.  Her site is 2+ hours from the city of Moshi, and up a winding road on the mountain.  She doesn't have electricity, but uses solar lamps, flashlights, and a kerosene cooker.  She lives surrounded by lush vegetation--banana and avocado trees, and coffee plantations.

After a few days, our hostess escorted us to the city of Arusha, where we met the headmistress of our own school.  (Yes, we've received our assignments!)    She greeted us warmly and took us to our school in a small town near Arusha.  The school is large, with many boarding students.  We will be living in a two bedroom house on the campus--a mixed blessing.  It's a safe and convenient location, but we will be surrounded by students ALL THE TIME.  Nevertheless, it has electricity (when the power is on) and water (which wasn't on when we were there) and an inside bathroom.  The kitchen is currently bare, but our headmistress told us she will have a sink and gas cooker installed, and provide us with a tank of propane.  A carpenter is making furniture for us, and we are thinking of buying a fridge.  So, we will be living in relative luxury!      

 Now, we go back to training for several days.  We will be "sworn in" as official Peace Corps Volunteers on August 15th, and then go to our sites for the next 2 years.  I'm glad we got a good one!