The beginning of my Tanzanian adventure

Wow. So far this journey has been exciting, interesting, unexpected, fun, irritating. let me begin by saying...it is HOT. freaking hot. i spend all day of every day, and night, absolutely COVERED in sweat and the 3 short, sweat-free minutes following a cold shower (from my bucket) are pure heaven. its all so interesting.

the ride from the airport to my temporary housing was a bit...scary...and that might be a bit of an understatement. what you think of as roads...forget about it. what you think of as bad drivers and crazy traffic...forget about it. and im used to GREEK traffic and this is still driving hell on earth. hahaha. but, so fun at the same time. local buses, ooooh local buses. surprisingly, i LOVE them. they are actually vans. and they are forever crowded to the brim with people. my first dala-dala (thats the name of the bus system) experience was on a van for 13...mhm, we were up to 22 people in that van. many, many of which were standing. a couple were poking their bodies out the windows to create more space which in itself is quite scary since there have been times when the van literally rubs up against another van when making turns or pulling out of a "stop." omg, my mom is going to DIE if she reads this! haha.

the attention i get here for being white is ridiculous. im like some kind of god. its so weird. i walk down the street, and its like "oooooh, helloooo; you're so beautiful, etc etc." and the best..."munzugu, munzugu," meaning "white person, white person." but, i dont feel in any type of danger at all. people say alot, but they are sooo nice and kind and everyone always has a huge smile plastered on their face and they are just beautiful, SO beautiful.

my first few days were SO frustrating. the guy working for IFRE in tanzania is a joke. apparently, im one of the only people who has ever been picked up from the airport. i had to pay for SO much my first few days that i was NOT supposed to pay for and we wont even get into that because its ridiculous and theres SO much i could say. i have not even met this joke of a man yet even though he was supposed to spend my whole first week here giving me language and culture lessons. and what have i learned?? diddly squat. another joke. myself, and another girl im here with know of many, many situations in which this man has utterly failed to do his job and we are complaining ALOT to our organization.

anyway, i just got to my official placement yesterday. the family im living with is AWESOME. i dont think an elderly couple could be any more kind and generous and giving than this couple...and they are hilarious on top of it. omg, i am constantly laughing. and they are REALLY loved and respected people in town so there are always a ton of different people hanging out at our house, and it is great. there are up to 12 or 13 of us there at any given. not to mention all the adorable children EVERYWHERE. love them. i also went to check out the school i'll be teaching at. i'll be teaching 14 and 20 year olds and i got to meet a lot of them. i was met with a mix of excitement, incredible shyness, and "you're beautiful" followed by absolute fear to look at me any longer. haha, but they are precious. from what im learning, though, it is going to be incredibly challenging. like...beyond what i could even begin to describe. i have my work cut out for me without a doubt. but its great, and i love it! :)