Village life...and some giardia - GOOD TIMES

Life is soo good here in Manzese, a small village 5 hours west of dar es salaam. we are in the country, i tell you. welcome to village life. i wake up either by
rooster crowing or the muslim prayer chanting which starts at 5:30 (no worries - muslims and christians are completely peaceful here; peace is the way of life in tanzania, truly. dad, you have no need to fear), dress in my african kengas (colorful skirts), and walk to the outhouse for cold bucket shower/toilet (hole in the ground). I'm loving the simplicity of the daily routine...

Swahili class is going great. i love my teacher, Jumapili, who is quite energetic. i was placed here with 3 friends - all happen to be girls, all in different families. my family consists of a sweet mama who teaches at the local school, my dada (Sister)
naomi (22 yrs), kaka (brother) Boni (yes, Boni, short for Boniface!), and babu (grandfather)! I just met the baba (dad) who was traveling as cultural officer. look forward to learning about how he promotes tz culture....

We walked down the road yesterday after school - felt like a PEace Corps advertisement, surrounded by 50 kids, holding hands, everyone asking who the
muzungu (White girls) are...

Food's delicious - chipati (like tortilla bread), ugali (like grits), rice, and stews, with lots of chai, my favorite. Fresh fruits like papaya(3 trees in my yard), bananas, coconuts and limez/lemons everywhere...not digging the meat so much, even fish. Veggies are clearly the way to go for my tum tum...

Clear especially after my first bout with giardia after a very meaty dinner, shall we say over the weekend. Yepp, I'm that girl. I had ironically just presented this nasty form of dysentary to my training group 2 days before during our health lesson! Hmmm...yellow...gassy...burps a lot...yea, google those symptoms if you have time. It's pretty darn narsty. Mine was by the book.
I feel like if i can get through that, i can do anything! It was actually quite a good lesson - so humbling. I had to explain all my symptoms to my sweet mama and dada. And my family was soooooo amazingly kind to me throughout, although i have to say i wanted my good old mom! I felt so miserable, but i kept reminding myself that God was with me. My family too kept saying God will help you. I finally had my teacher summoned, and he biked into town to get me the meds, once we figured out what it was. thankfully, the medecine totally nipped it. i feel like myself again! hooray!

all is well. swahili is coming along, even though we all feel like children. it's okay -- it's all about your attitude. I am really happy overall, learning a ton. My head hurts every night my head hits the pillow - you know how it is when you're trying so hard to learn a new language/culture, soaking it all in....you have to keep on truckin! i think i can!

hope life at home is super...
love you all - salama,
t

Tait Davidson, PCT (June 05-Sept 07)
c/o Peace Corps
P.O. Box 9123
Dar es Salaam, TANZANIA

ps: apologies to friends/family about lack of correspondence during this training period. will truly be a challenge during these first few months. i'm currently working at the only cafe (30 minute walk from my village) which has no electricity, running off a generator. there are gillions of people in line. feel lucky.

my friend, jenn, is adding good stuff w/ pictures from our experience - check it out at: http://jenintanzania.blogspot.com. should be telling of our amazing village and life here....