Habari from Dar es Salaam...

Once again, I'm posting again sooner than expected. We're visiting the Peace Corps compound and the staff's given us access to the wifi in the Volunteer lounge, so I figured I'd take advantage of it to add the disclaimer (see right) that I should've put up from the outset. Once I swear in, I'll have to get this blog approved by the admin before I can continue posting. Anyway...

We arrived in Tanzania around 9:30pm local time (2:30pm EST) yesterday. The flight was 10+ hours, but I slept through the majority of it after not sleeping at all on the flight to Amsterdam. Touching down in Dar es Salaam (henceforth Dar) was an exciting moment; I had a huge adrenaline rush walking off the plane. We were greeted by John and Joel, Directors of Training and Security, respectively. Both are native Tanzanians and are tremendously friendly.

John and Joel guided us through customs, after which we grabbed our luggage and loaded into a couple vans. We were taken through a commercial district of Dar (there was something comforting to the familiar Coca-Cola, Samsung and Toyota logos) before arriving in a church compound. A wedding reception in the same building as the welcoming session (staff introductions, snacks and anti-malarial pills) accentuated the already positive environment. Following the session, we picked our bags back up and were taken to our rooms.

My room for Week 0...

The bathroom is a size of a closet, but hey, running (cold) water!

I will survive.
There you have it.

Not sure if I'll be back before we head out to the Tanga region, where I won't have internet access, but I have to run.

'Til next time.