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Welcome

Today is the second morning in my new home in Kibeta, a village just outside of Bukoba. This morning I woke up to ROARING rain. Apparently, it is the end of the rainy season in Tanzania. Justina, a principal and teacher, and my ‘mentor’ here in Bukoba, warned me about how it rains so hard during this time of year, and I finally got a taste of that today. It was hundreds of times louder than a train barreling down the tracks. Part of that may be the tin roofs.

The home I am staying in sits on a hill, and the view is beautiful even in the rain. I wake up to many different things at night. My favorite so far is shooting up in bed thinking a big bug is scurrying up my leg. Thankfully, that has been all in my head so far. The roosters crow at about 4:30am, and I can hear young babies/kids crying every once in a while throughout the night, just down the hill.

Smart, Henry, Mpesha, and Monica welcomed me at the airport when I arrived on Wednesday night. They gave me flowers and an over-the-top, warm welcome. Henry lives in Uganda, and does quite a bit of driving for Smart and COSAD. Mpesha works for COSAD in Tanzania, and is a member of the Imuka singers. Monica just started working at COSAD a few weeks before I arrived, and she knows a bit of English. She was the only person at the airport whom I had not met yet. It was so nice to see familiar faces!

Smart has the responsibility of giving me a crash course in Bukoba life in a limited amount of time. Because of this, we have been busy at many different places in town & the surrounding villages. Yesterday was Tanzania’s independence day celebration, and downtown was quite busy. We went to the market to buy food and supplies, and to the shops to connect my phone and buy internet for my computer. We also took the jeep into the shop. The jeep was acting VERY badly: shutting down, not accelerating, ect. during our drive home from the airport. I really thought the thing was going to break down and leave us stranded (and this is a newer vehicle, so I thought it was strange the way it was acting up!). Our friend who owns the mechanic shop checked it out, and it turns out it was caused by bad gasoline! We filled it up in town with new gas, and it runs like a champ- no problems.

The food has been great. It is different of course, but nothing crazy. Their sauces are fantastic, everything is fresh. We eat a lot of rice and bananas, and lately meat with every meal. I enjoy the spiced African tea; it's just like my chai tea lattes from the coffee shops at home, except better. I did eat a fried grasshopper again. It tastes like an oily potato chip, but I just can’t quite get myself to eat them like as everyone else does... They love them! (Maybe I will too someday?)