Pre-sevice Training

We are in the first week of pre-sevice training in Morogoro. Morogoro is near the Ugulu
Mountains, and we have a beautiful setting in which to train. Most of
the training is now centered in learning Swahili (It's really calledKiswahili, meaning Swahili language.) We have also received vacinations, and are taking our malaria pills, and we have had excellent training on how to stay healthy and safe.

Staging

Today we board a plane for Amsterdam, and tomorrow we will spend the day flying to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. After two days in Dar es Salaam, we will go to Morogoro in the mountains for 10 weeks of pre-service training.

We just finished our staging event in Philadelphia, which was a chance to get to know the other 38 teachers in our group and learn about the way the Peace Corps operates. The last two days have been excellent. There will be 40 math, science and technology teachers going to Tanzania together and training together. After training, we will be dispersed to secondary schools throughout the country. We are all very excited about the next two years.

Getting Ready to Leave Home

We have been very busy. We have had a garage sale, and are currently packing away all of our personal items. We have been very lucky in finding two renters to take care of our house and furniture while we are in Africa. We also have been very grateful to all of our friends and family who have helped us get ready for this grand adventure. Their eagerness to help has made it a lot easier for us to get ready, and to focus on Tanzania.