Week One

Hey guys!
So I made it through my first week in Tanzania. It's definitely different but it's so fun!!! Everyone on the trip is awesome including the Tanzanian teaching partners aka our translators. They're so funny! They all listen to like Backstreet Boys and stuff except this guy James is super into hip hop ad loves Tupac and stuff like that. It's hilarious.

We're in Babati now which is where we're having orientation so we have classes from 8am to around 5pm everyday (except today is our first day off! yay!) We do like practice teachings and get swahili lessons and culture lessons and stuff. It's long and tiring but fun too. My Swahili is getting much better.

In between classes and dinner is when most of the fun happens. Nick you'll like this: the other day, a bunch of us took a soccerball to this field to play and a bunch of locals joined in. They're so freaking good and totally unphased by the fact that the field is all dirt and super uneven. It was awesome! We also play a lot of cards and just hang out and talk. We don't have that much free time.

The food's better than I thought but I"m sure I"ll get sick of it soon cuz it's pretty much some kind of rice, some kind of beans (which I don't eat) and some kind of spinach with each meal.

We find out our teaching groups on Monday and then move into the villages on Tuesday. I hope I get a good group but I'm pretty sure I could work with almost everyone here so that's good.

I'll try to make it to an internet cafe before I leave for the villages and then after that it'll just be when I come to town on the weekends.

Miss you all so much!!!

Asante sana squashed banana! :)
Ilana

I'm in Tanzania!!!

I know your were all really worried so just wanted to let you know that I arrived safe haha.

W're just in Arusha for now so still kind of a touristy area but we're moving to Babati on Friday so then I'll get to the camping with tents part. Can't wait to see what it's like.

Arusha actually reminds me a lot of South Africa. Even (and I know this sounds weird) the smell. Kind of a mix of dirt and smoke and something else that I can't place. I'll think about it and get back to you.

We're going on like a 8 hour bonding hike tomorrow so that should be interesting.

I'm about to run out of internet time but just wanted to let you all know that I'm here and loving it and I'll write more details when I have more time.

Love and miss you all!
Ilana

PS I'm trying to think of a good sign off line for every blog post. I'm thinking "Asante sana squashed banana" like from the Lion King cuz "asante sana" means thank you very much in Swahili haha. Thoughts?

WTF?!?!?!

Can somebody please tell me what went drastically wrong in the USC football game on Saturday?!?! Whyyyyyyy?????

PS Leaving for Tanzania tomorrow. Super excited though sad to leave Amsterdam...it's been SO fun! :)

Welcome to my blog for Tanzania

Hey everybody! This is going to be where I blog about my adventures teaching about HIV/AIDS while I'm in Tanzania. I'm going to miss you all so much, but hopefully this will help us stay in touch! I expect lots of comments back so I can stay updated with all of your lives. Hellions, that means tournament results!

I'm not going to blog while I'm in Amsterdam so expect updates to start shortly after my arrival in Tanzania on September 22nd. Yay!