Kipilefti

Whenever I spend time with PCVs I don’t get enough sleep. Yesterday, exhausted, I didn’t leave the house but did take a four-hour nap. I had grand ambitions as to what I was going to do but accomplished few of them–did do some (but not most) of my laundry, re-boil the too-sticky peanut brittle into […]

Whenever I spend time with PCVs I don’t get enough sleep. Yesterday, exhausted, I didn’t leave the house but did take a four-hour nap. I had grand ambitions as to what I was going to do but accomplished few of them–did do some (but not most) of my laundry, re-boil the too-sticky peanut brittle into […]

So, things that have happened recently… I read, like, ten books and drank innumerable cups of tea while lying in bed until late in the morning every day The power at my school remained out I fainted in the choo after being ill for a day. I cannot think of a less pleasant place to […]

Doing better, needed some time to settle in. Using an NGO computer (I helped the guy to photograph-instead-of-scan a document yesterday after he randomly called me from a stationary store, so I figure it’s reasonable to use his Internet). Going to visit another PCV for Christmas, which I’m really looking forward to, almost as much as I’m […]

A more cheerful post about food. How I cook, and what I cook. I have two cooking options available to me here in Makete. The one I use most is the charcoal stove (or jiko in Swahili). It’s sort of hourglass-shaped and squat. I fill it with charcoal, dump some kerosene over the charcoal, light […]

So the problem I’ve been encountering is that my default behavior is to curl up in bed with a book and maybe a cup of tea. If there’s something else that has to be done, be it something no fun like washing handkerchiefs (it’s gross, trust me) or something I want to do like going […]

One big difference between Morogoro and Makete: in Moro, bathing was much easier! It’s “summer” here and still cold enough in my house that I’m leery of taking off warm clothes and even leerier of dumping soon-to-be-cold water on myself! But I smelled pretty funny this morning, so I took a shower, and now I’m […]

Being in Njombe with other PCVs is so relaxing and fun. I really don’t want to go back to my empty site! At least I have a ton of stuff I’ve bought to fill the house up a little bit (although, stupidly, I left most of my money at home. What was I thinking?!). It’s […]

Very quickly: house is huge and empty and was devoid of anything except furniture when I arrived. It’s a replacement site so I’d been expecting at least some kitchen stuff and sheets and a blanket but I guess it walked off with Tanzanians, which really sucks. The back doorhandle is broken and doesn’t lock so I […]

So an awful lot has happened since I last wrote: I swore to protect the Constitution of the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic, so I am now a Peace Corps Volunteer instead of a Peace Corps Trainee. I said goodbye to my homestay family. After swearing-in in Morogoro we were bused to […]