The First Day

I'm writing this from the volunteer dormitory in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania!

I and 11 others who were dispatched together safely arrived in the city from Tokyo via Osaka and Dubai, UAE (where we had 5 hours of layover).

Here're some impressions of Dar/what I did so far;

1. It's hot and humid even at 9 o'clock in the evening, but not so much that it becomes irritating. The weather reminds me of that in Okinawa (the southern island of Japan) a lot.

2. I've learned that my Swahili could effectively put into use outside of the classes after talking to some guys at a cafe nearby. They were quite friendly.

3. Starting from tomorrow, we are going through orientations and continuing with Swahili lessons for about a month.

I arrived here at 3 o'clock in the afternoon then went straight to the dormitory located in the suburban Dar, so I haven't had chance to see much hence no photos, but I will surely be exploring more and see stuff. The life in Dar at the first glance seems like that of any other cities; busy and crowded.

I'm exhausted but excited for the days to come!

End of the Beginning

A Short Update:

As of September 11, 2008, I have been officially recognized as a member of JOCV!

I’m now back home from the training center in Fukushima and I have 15 days to pack up and get ready.

Almost Done

The two months of the pre-departure training will finally be over in a week.
I’ve done my last practice lesson today about radioactive decay and half life (random I know lol)and the only thing I need to put my work into is the Kiswahili final exam on this Saturday, hence I have a little bit of time to update the blog.

The end of this month, I’m finally going to Tanzania.
Mt flight is currently scheduled to leave Japan on the 29th of September.

Looking back at this training, it was filled with the positive experiences which I didn’t really expect. I was surrounded by people with very unique background. Our ages ranging from 21 to the 70s, our walks of life were so diverse and the countries we are going to are spread across the globe from Southeast Asia, to the Middle East and to the continent of Africa. Yet, we all hit it off so well and I guess that is because there’s something in common to the people who are willing to take part in this kind of program. It was just stimulating to be with the kind people I’ve met here at the training center. (I’ll upload some photos on facebook when I get them from everyone else because I don’t have a camera on me here)

As far as my Kiswahili is concerned, I’ve got a lot better since I started my training. Now I can write journal entries and carry out really basic conversations. I can’t wait to continue learning the language in a month of my in-country training when I get to Tanzania.

Anyways, that’s it for the short update!