20th August

First day of my placement and I was really scared because these are adults and will probably be much more critical than children who just like you because you are blonde and white! I think my nervousness and lack of preparation showed but then they found out I was with them for eight weeks and suddenly they were totally delighted. They’ve only been learning English for four weeks and didn;t have any lessons last week so there’s probably a lot of recapping to do. I feel sure we’re going to have a lot of fun in the coming weeks. I’ve done my lesson plan tonight so we’ll see how that goes and then I’ll try to do a whole lot of preparation so I don’t have to keep doing it day by day. I think it’ll start to be a bit more natural in a few days when I get used to the whole concept of being a teacher.

There were a couple of awkward moments today when the whole “are you married?”, “do you have children?” questions came up – both with Tanzanians and my fellow volunteers (although they are mostly confused about the husband thing). Anyway, just told the truth (well the facts not the reasons) and smiled.

Attempted the internet today which wasn’t too bad although the speed is a bit erratic. I also can’t get on webmail which is irritating so I may have to rely on hotmail and hope I remember people’s addresses.

Had lunch with most of my newbie volunteers and most were calm about there projects although I think some of the younger ones were a bit phased. Then practised the walk from where I’m staying to town. Have to do the walk on my own tomorrow which might be a little more scary (not least because of the getting lost factor) but also because it’s a tad daunting being the only white in the village! Everyone’s friendly though, they don’t hassle you, mostly they just want to say “hello”.

It’s been raining today which is a bit unheard of in the dry season. The main problem from my point of view is the mud – most “roads” are made of thick red dust/mud. But obviously it’s extremely weird for the people who live here.

This evening went for dinner with my new volunteer friend and the two other girls who are staying in our accommodation. They are just the moaniest and most draining people on earth! I just don’t think they’ve got into Africa mindset, fortunately they’re not here much longer.

19th August

So my first morning in Tanzania and the sun is shining, the birds are singing and people are sweeping – why is it in hot, dusty countries where there is no hope of being clean, people sweep continuously?

I suspect the darkness of my room is going to get to me. Even with the curtains open it’s dark, still it keeps the room cool.

Electricity cut out a few times last night but only for a few minutes each time and by that point I’d found my torch – hurrah for preparation! Talking of preparation, I obviously lost all sense at Heathrow because I forgot to get floss – now I’m really not sure if they will sell that over here (Update: I did eventually find a shop that sold it but it was actually more expensive than at home!)

So orientation today and a chance to meet people which is good news as I’ve been very bad company to myself in the past 24 hours which has not been helped by not having anything to distract me. I’m sure when I start my project, I’m going to be wishing for head space!

Now dilemma of the moment – which to put on first: DEET or sunscreeen? (Update: put sunscreen on first as that needs to be in contact with your skin).