Safe and Sound in Africa!

Hello hello! :)  I'm here in Africa safe and sound, and it has been a crazy past 5 days. I'll fill you in on the major events, I don't think you need to hear all the details!

We flew out on Wednesday, the flight was terribly long, and we finally arrived in Kilimanjaro at 9:30pm, payed 100$ to get our Visa, and walked straight through customs. Tanzania supposedly doesn't have very tight security! We picked up our luggage, walked out the door and our driver Musa was there to meet us. He is one of the drivers for ISM, the school I'll be teaching at.

The House: We live in an area of Arusha called Ilboru. It's a nice area where many ex-patriots live. We live in a gated home, with a man on duty 24/7 to open/close the gate and make sure no one gets in. There are about 4 men who rotate this job, and they are all so great. The house inside is great, totally comfortable. We have a kitchen, running water and electricity. The outlets are different, and I may have had a slight problem with the electricity...because the outlet plug shocked me...really badly..I felt the shock waves for like a half hour. Haha...don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm ok...and I learned my lesson. Other than the outlets, and the cold showers that Laura and I took the first 3 days (because we didn't know there was a water heater) the house has been fantastic.The outside of the house is especially amazing, I feel like I'm on vacation because it is so lush and green. It's amazing...I started summer 3 months early!

 The first full day we were there Musa picked us up and we went into town to get cell phones, groceries, and exchange our money. Arusha is an international town, but we are still stared at because we're white . Little children wave and yell "Muzungu", the word for white person. So far, the people have been lovely and there haven't been any problems. We haven't ventured far by ourselves quite yet, or without a Swahili speaking man with us, but I'm sure we'll muster up the courage to go to the markets and walk around soon.

While taking a 4 hour nap after our excursion with Musa, Eanna, the head of the school called on my cell phone and invited us over for dinner We have been nothing but welcomed from everyone in the school, and it was wonderful to meet some of the people we'll be working with. After dinner, we we're exhausted. It's been tough for me to adjust to the time schedule.

We were able to meet the 2 other girls who are living with us yesterday. They just got back from a Safari and their pictures were incredible. The girls seem great, and I'm excited to get to know them better. It will be nice living with 3 others while we're here. The food has been fine, havn't had much of an appetite because of the time I think, my body isn't quite sure what to do! The two things that have been fantastic though are the mangoes and bananas....100x better than the states.

 Other than that, it about wraps it up for now! Oh, I forgot that we found this amazing place! It's called Safari Lodge, and it's a hotel for people traveling through. It's AMAZING. Only 5,000tsh (about 3 dollars) for a day pass to the pool and free internet. That's where I am now. We've been laying out for the past 5 hours, mostly in the shade just enjoying being outside, reading books and talking. It's so gorgeous here. I think this will definitley become a new favorite hang out. :)

Tomorrow is the first day of school, and hopefully I can get back to the computer early this week to talk about the school and my first few days. I'll also hopefully be able to charge my computer to put up some pictures. Until then! 

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