First Day HERE - Not so Dank

For now I'm just posting what I wrote in my email. I don't have too much time because I'm headed to the UN trials for the Ruwanda Genocide here in Arusha. Love everyone!

Hello Everyone! I can't tell you how excited and happy I am right now. Everything has gone really well. I'm not going to pretend being on the airplane and being in airports was fun, but it was all worth it. The flights were long, and the airplanes were all standard except for the Boeing 777 dreamliner. What a plane. Also Emirates air, great food. For all of you who know that I don't like fish, I've got a surprise. I ate fish twice on the plane. Smoked salmon and a tuna wrap. I've also eaten lamb, goat, sketchy chicken, and sketchy shrimp. Fun times abroad. No stomach complaints so far, I think that my tummy can handle it. I've purchased two bottles of water. The one in Dubai was a 1.5Liter Evian and it cost me about $10. The 1.5liter water I bought here was $1. Hmmmm exchange rates and airport markup are interesting. The land here is so beautiful, but it's very dark at night. Outside is not someplace I'd like to be on my own. The crazy drivers that everyone talks about exist, and we attrack crouds like no other. Arusha is an interesting town. I'm guessing a lot like many cities in foreign countries. It's pretty muggy today. It's been raining a lot. But I won't complain because it's contributing to some beautiful green plants everywhere. The hostel we are staying in is a lot nicer than I initially anticipated. Flushing toilets, HOT showers (when you turn the water down pretty low so we've all got low flow shower head hair, but it's fine with me). Even though I wouldn't drink it, I would (please don't hate me for this) place the water as more to my liking than Leipsic water. It smells much better - but again, is not drinkable. We also get breakfast everymorning. Three pieces of toast, butter, salt, a cup of tea, and one flat scrambled egg (which they call an omlete) we're going out today to find some hotsauce to spice up our mornings. I'll be staying here until Friday morning (it's Tuesday morning now) So far: Phoenix to New York - 5 hours, New York - 5 hour lay over, New York to Dubai - 13 hours, Dubai - 2 hour lay over, Dubai to Dar - 5 hours, Dar customs and lay over - 4 hours, Dar to Kili - 1 hour, Kili to Arusha (drive in an almost broken down SIC truck) - 1 hour. Lots of travel, now I'm relaxed. Got stopped by the security in Dubai. I think they just wanted to try to mess with me. The spoke to me in French at first which I understood, then they seemed to switch to Spanish and then to what I believe was Arabic. I think I handled it well though, I still have all my things, they just ran it through the Xray machine like ten times after I would take items out. Sorry this email is so jumbled, my mind is just a mess and this is all I can think of for now. We're off to get lunch and meet some of the other volunteers arriving today. So far there are 7 girls from UofA, 6 from Emory. We'll be meeting 3 boys from UA and more girls from Claremont and Emory this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow. Love, kisses and missessar P.S. I will be getting my personal cell phone tomorrow (wednesday). I will give you the phone number. The plan is that I will text anyone who wants me to chat on the phone (notify me by email with your number). Then you need to call me back. Incoming calls are free for me, but expensive for you. You have two options: go to an Africa or Middle East specialty shop to find a calling card that works for Tanzania or add money to skype. International calls on skype at 2cents a minute. I would recommend googling calling cards for tanzania and finding a store that sells them if you want to go that route. I'm sure there are also universal international cards, but our coordinator didn't tell us about that. LOVE!