Tanzania man!!

Where to begin..whatever I said now can not do justice to what Ive been thru in the past 3 weeks, but i'll try. First, the other PCV's are awesome. Ive met a lot of really cool people and we seem to have alot in common just based on that fact that we are all crazy enough to do this. The first few days we stayed in Dar es Salaam then we moved to the Morogor region for a few days. I got Alot of shots, trainings on safety & security and how to stay healthy. I built my own water filtration system out of 2 buckets. Sidenote: my name KORIE is everywhere here. I knew before i came that KORIE was a product of somesort but i didnt know what. With my luck I thought it would be a tampon brand or something, but its a type of Veggie oil.

I have spent the last 2 weeks in Magomeni village for my CBT (community based training). On the ride here, i was scared to death. I have done alot of crazy things in my life but I have NEVER been so scared before. Its insane. We were 5 white kids driving around a rural area in Tanz. and they drop us off one by one. All i could say was "hello/goodbye, my name is korie, thank you, & hakuna matata(they really say that too)." scared to death.The first week was pretty hard emotionally. my village is very poor and the cultural shock of being there was pretty heavy. Nothing is the same here. I live with my mama, who is just lovely, 1 brother and 2 sisters, and about 20 ducks. they are very hospitable and very welcoming. I train 6 days a week,8am-5pm. I have learned about a semesters worth of swahili in 2 weeks. As part of training went to the Kilosa town officails to ask questions abouth about the school systems and health issues. its like practice for when we are on our own at site we will know what to do. The average income for my village is about 275,000 shiling a year. thats about US 275$ a year. as a volunteer i will get about 200,000 a month.

Its a very hard lifestyle here. Nothing is easy. there arnt many cars but tons of bikes. its normal to see a granny, like 70yrs old, riding shotgun on the back of a bike heading into town. I walk to pump my water but i havnt mastered how to carry it on my head. Im working on it tho. I hand wash my cloths and every laughes at me. I usualy have a crowd. When my friends and i walk around the village all we hear is Wazungu, Wazungu!! ( white people) i hear it 100x a day. its pretty funny. the children here have nothing to play with. The only toy i have seen is a plastic bag, rolled into a ball with string around it. thats a soccer ball. the other day we should up to the field with a real soccer ball and no joke, 25 kids were there within Minutes ready to play. it made me real eager to learn the language cause it was hard trying to coordinate a game. it was awesome anyways. i stopped in the middle of playing just to remind myself how awesome this was. its what ive always wanted and its the sole reason that keeps pushing me on.

I need to give one Choo story just to keep everyone updated. the choo, toilet, is a small mud hut thing (about the size of a porty potty) with a hole in the ground. you will also find a bucket of water for cleaning. well my first real try (poop) at the choo....i missed the damn hole. thats it, it was pretty awesome.

The Masai.....there are alot of Masai in my village. according to my brother Musa, they live in the bush and come out during the day. well they love us wazungu! especialy me because im the fattest so they think im the richest. I get asked to marry someone everyday. Its crazy to see some modernized Masai...they are dressed in their traditional red/purple robes, jewerly, & machete, but they have a cell phone and playing pool. so funny. last week one funny Masai man wanted us to buy his friend(who was cross-eyed) and it would cost us only 4 cows. And the other night my Musa brought me to a "bar" to watch a soccer game with him. first, there are no women at the bar so when a white woman walks in, its a big deal. these 2 Masai men immidiately want to buy me a drink but i refused thinkin they must not have much money. I was wrong. during the game they pulled up a chair to talk with me and Musa translated for me. I asked what he did for work and he informed me that he was Very rich because he owned about 500 cows. the average cow costs about 500,000shiling. I explained that i had zero cows and he wanted to give me a cow. I wish he wasnt drunk because that would be pretty sweet if a Masai man gave me a cow. what would i do with a cow? then he drove off on a motorcycle...this place is awesome.

Hakuna Matata.......

All my bags are packed, Im ready to go...

So I leave for Tanzania is 3 short days and I’m Freaking Out…..So many things are going thru my mind right now it is hard to focus. I feel excited, overwhelmed, proud and anxious all at the same time. I am truly ecstatic and over stimulated. Its awesome. I first heard of the Peace Corps 8 years ago during the final episode of Boy Meets World. Mat Lawrence’s character, Jack, joins the Peace Corps. At age 15 I remember looking it up online and thinking of how cool it sounded. Of course, freshman year in college I saw the re-run again but this time the idea of becoming a volunteer was a possibility. Sooo, I applied, wrote some essays, got recommendations, had an interview, saw a bunch of doctors, crossed my fingers and waited 10 months. And here I am, packing my bags and saying goodbye.

I have wanted to go to Africa since I was a little girl. This is my dream. To be honest, I think that is why I am so scared. So many people go their whole lives without ever having the opportunity to make their dreams come true and here I am, at 23, about to live mine out. How lucky am I? I know it won’t be easy and it will test me in ways I have never been tested before but I look forward to the challenge and I hope I rise to it. Thank you to everyone who has given me support these past couple of months. You know who you are and I have certainly appreciate all of your kind words and well wishes. I hope you continue to read this blog, even in a year or so. I love you all and keep me in your thoughts. Peace Out!