First Glimpse of Home Base (Evening of 16 February 2008)

Finally, home base! Jes, Sam and I arrived after a long 24 hour journey to find home base quite inviting. We got our room assignments, Sam is in Pandya Mlia (the Zebra Room) and I am in the Simba room (you know that one from the Lion King!!). (I can't remember what room Jes is in, but it's not the Swahili names that I know! I came home, unloaded a little and showered. I've never had a better shower -- and it was about 5 minutes long and ice cold...and glorious!!!
After my shower, I started meeting the other volunteers. My roommates, Chelsea (from nw Washington state), Megan (I don't remember where she is from) and Kelly (from Austin), are all really cool. Chelsea and Megan have been here for about a month already and I think Kelly is going to be here for two months. Turns out that I'm one of the few volunteers that is going to be here for such a short amount of time. It's so wild that people have such an opportunity!
My room and home base are poa (cool in Swahili). It's very camp-like and everyone is instant friends! The meals are served three times a day and there's no in between...bread is always out if we need a snack, but that's the extent. The long-term volunteers have said they have gained weight since they've been here. That seems obsene to me because I've been starving almost the entire 24 hours I've been here (even with the three meals I got)! The food is wonderful. We've got beef and lots of fruit and vegetables. There is this spinach-like salad that I'm not a huge fan of, but it's not bad. There's a lentil salad that looks and tastes like Indian spiced chickpeas to me. We've also had watermelon, fresh pineapple, mango/cucumber salad, avocado/tomato/cucumber salad, and some traditional rice-like dish (when I remember what the name of it is, I'll let you know).

Last night, we hung around talking and learning about each other and sharing our excitement about the upcoming weeks. The veterans went across the street to the bar. I was too tired to go, but I'll go sometime in the near future. They tell us that it is literally some woman's backyard and she serves alcohol only to accommodate the CCS volunteers. She's got chairs and tree stumps for tables. Apparently, she is putting in a convenient store to sell snacks to the CCS volunteers. What a great entrepreneur!!

Bedtime arrived around 9:30 pm. I was exhausted and fell right to sleep snuggled in my bed with my mosquito net tucked in. I had a crazy Lost-esque dream (for those of you that don't know Lost, sorry you don't get that reference) where I found a baby that could speak and I taught him Swahili...well, the phrases I know. I blame the air, the water (NO, I haven't really had any Tanzanian water, mine's only come from the cooler!), the heat, and the severe exhaustion, but it was WEIRD even for me!!

Written 17 February 8:45 am