Catherine and I about to swear-in
ba, Me, and Mwanne
Katie and Catherine in their powersuits, looking fabulous, I might add!
My CBT (Community Based Training) Girls: Cristina, Me, Lindsey, and Krissy.
My CBT:Cristina, Me, Dave, Petti (My Teacher) Lindsey, Wendy and Krissy.
Another CBT: Ashleigh, Kate, Tristen, Mirinda and Linnea
Me and Ash
Brianna and Edna (Her brand new puppy!)
Kim, Me and Kate
Jess and I
Kate, Ashleigh and I
Catherine and I, doing senior buddy pictures
August 20, 2008
Well, it's official. I am no longer a PC trainee, but a PCV. We moved into the dorms at MATI (where swearing in would occur.) And there I spent that last few days possible soaking up Amercian time! My PC group is full of such amazing, talented people, I really love each of them so so much. When you are thrown together with strangers in the most stressful situations you really grow together and get to know each other quickly. Some of the people here will undoubtably be some of my closest friends for the rest of my life.
Our host families made us matching African outfits for the ceremony which look beautiful on the African women- but somewhat heinous on the rest of us!!! We were only allowed to have two family members attend- so my Baba and Mama were going to come. But when I got to the hall, my baba and Mwanne were there instead. My Baba told me that both Bahati and Iddy were sick and so my Mama had to stay home. I tried not to cry over not being able to say good bye to my mama and tell her what she has meant to me. She is that Tanzanian who has been most influential on my life so far and I will never forgot her love and kindness. I was also so fearful for my two favorite TZ children.
The rest of the ceremony was fun- it was attended by all sorts of U.S. Embassy, Tanzanian Government and Peace Corps people. We also performed an interpretive dance and song to "My Heart will Go On." Which my friend, Meesh, changed the words to Kiswahili thanking our host families. Basically if you are not listening to traditional music or bongo flavor than you are probably listening to Celine Dion, the Tanzanians love her. Then we took the PC oath, which of course consisted ofa bunch of beauocracy- protecting the interests of the U.S. Gov, under god, blah blah- but then also talked of helping the Tanzanian people, which was the part I was interested in. After we had a big picnic of TZ food and then said good bye to our host families and the real party began.
This is where I should say something about the PC TZ staff- they are some funny, fun, charming people. They are some sort of hybrid Tanzanian, so you can discuss any cultural issue with them from punishment in schools to how Ugali is not good food (you should never tell a Tanzanian this!) They are not easy to offend and can understand an American perspective even if they don't agree with it. They are always offering support. They found us a DJ and had beer delievered and we had a great dance party.
Well, it's official. I am no longer a PC trainee, but a PCV. We moved into the dorms at MATI (where swearing in would occur.) And there I spent that last few days possible soaking up Amercian time! My PC group is full of such amazing, talented people, I really love each of them so so much. When you are thrown together with strangers in the most stressful situations you really grow together and get to know each other quickly. Some of the people here will undoubtably be some of my closest friends for the rest of my life.
Our host families made us matching African outfits for the ceremony which look beautiful on the African women- but somewhat heinous on the rest of us!!! We were only allowed to have two family members attend- so my Baba and Mama were going to come. But when I got to the hall, my baba and Mwanne were there instead. My Baba told me that both Bahati and Iddy were sick and so my Mama had to stay home. I tried not to cry over not being able to say good bye to my mama and tell her what she has meant to me. She is that Tanzanian who has been most influential on my life so far and I will never forgot her love and kindness. I was also so fearful for my two favorite TZ children.
The rest of the ceremony was fun- it was attended by all sorts of U.S. Embassy, Tanzanian Government and Peace Corps people. We also performed an interpretive dance and song to "My Heart will Go On." Which my friend, Meesh, changed the words to Kiswahili thanking our host families. Basically if you are not listening to traditional music or bongo flavor than you are probably listening to Celine Dion, the Tanzanians love her. Then we took the PC oath, which of course consisted ofa bunch of beauocracy- protecting the interests of the U.S. Gov, under god, blah blah- but then also talked of helping the Tanzanian people, which was the part I was interested in. After we had a big picnic of TZ food and then said good bye to our host families and the real party began.
This is where I should say something about the PC TZ staff- they are some funny, fun, charming people. They are some sort of hybrid Tanzanian, so you can discuss any cultural issue with them from punishment in schools to how Ugali is not good food (you should never tell a Tanzanian this!) They are not easy to offend and can understand an American perspective even if they don't agree with it. They are always offering support. They found us a DJ and had beer delievered and we had a great dance party.
1 comment:
Hi baby, you look beautiful. I miss you very much, but I am so proud of you. I love you.
Always,
Reed
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