First Few Days in Dar es Salaam

Day 2 Pre-Service Training

Jul 11, 2019 Wednesday              We are referred to as trainees. Today, we were not at the hotel training, we were at the Tanzania Peace Corps headquarters. Lovely trees and flowering plants abound.

Breaks are called chia (mid morning), chakula (lunch), soda break (mid afternoon).

As usual, I am still recovering from my lack of sleep, and I struggle not to fall asleep during the sessions.

We got our medical kit, mosquito net and a travel kit of meds.

We either got our sim cards for Airtel carrier or loaner phones, and we get our banking done, per idem is 10,000 TSH/day, i.e., USD $5. This means we have to budget…Some of the pay right now is to pay for cell phone carrier service. It was confusing for me to configure and purchase air time (data). People are kind to me, the oldest in the group.

PC TZ trainees at Sea Scape Hotel 7/10/19

Medical kit, travel kit to carry at all times, mosquito net

Flying over to Addis Ababa and Dar es Salaam

Jul 8, 2019, Monday      5 am we boarded two buses to Dulles Airport, for Ethiopia. We arrived 13+ hours later, stiff, and tired. But I always watched my three movies, dozed off here and there while reading. It was time to catch some z’s after another two non-sleeping nights packing/cleaning.

There was a five plus hour-delay at Addis, but we finally boarded a plane, arrived in Dar, and were greeted warmly by Peace Corps Tanzania staff. Ethiopian Air fed the passengers a nice chicken curry meal in the lounge because the flight was delayed. Then after we finally boarded the plane, we were served dinner again. Then when we went to the hotel, we were fed again, at 9 pm.

Going through customs at Dar airport was a waiting process. I was the second in our group to be in line, but ended as the last one to complete the passport control because I didn’t fill out a form. So back I went to do it, and started over again.

When it came to luggage inspection, I was so disappointed. Starting in June, Tanzania banned plastic bags. The US State Department listed this on their web site, and we were warned about it. My two pieces of luggage were just put on a giant machine for scanning, nothing like opening and searching through the luggage—and I had carefully not brought anything in plastic bags, only zip lock bags. Of all the trouble I had gone through not to separate things in plastic bags, the inspector didn’t even look!

When one sees the local language, plus English, plus simplified Chinese on airport and store signs, one knows that the People's Republic of China had pervasively spread into Africa. At Dar airport, the Chinese red passports were treated by a different custom control line.

Departure and Orientation Day

Jul 7, 2019, Sunday       4 am the taxi came. I had no more time, all the incentives (rewards for the Tanzanian teenagers if they earn good grades) were not packed. And I agonized over whether I remembered to pack the power cord/adaptor to the laptop in my luggage.

At MSP airport, I lost an autographed book while I was readjusting balance to pull two near 50-pound suitcases, plus backpack, plus a heavy bag/purse stuffed full of things.

I arrived at Reagan Washington Airport, and waited 2.5 hours for the hotel shuttle to pick me up. When I saw another woman with two pieces of big luggage, I ventured to ask her if she was going to Peace Corps. Sure enough.

At the hotel, a large group of us had to take a pre-staging survey and then a post-staging survey, all expected to access via internet with our own devices. I hate the tiny typing keyboard on a phone.

After many tries, finally without any typos, I completed my tasks, the second last person to finish. The group of volunteers were mostly young people.

Staging orientation in Alexandria, VA, 7/719 

A few days before, I did not wake up on time to meet with the estate planning lawyer, because I had not been sleeping for two days, trying to pack up my possessions in the house like I was moving.