here. overwhelming. precious.

Jambo!
I am sitting, sweating, in an internet cafe in Arusha town visiting with my friend Emma and the two other girls who are sharing my home stay and placement. The trip here was an adventure, complete with no sleeping even though I was taking sleeping pills! awesome! My flight from London to Nairobi was canceled, but I was able to get on another flight through Kenya Airways and arrived in time to still make my flight from Kenya down to Arusha. I met two girls in my program while in the airport in Nairobi, Sharon and Stacey. On our flight from kenya down we flew right past Kilimanjaro! It was amazing, we were above the clouds but could see where the top reached above the clouds. We got our visas and Sharon was took the prize as the first one to get sick... even before going through customs! We were picked up from the airport and delivered to a house, that we were told would be our home stay for the summer. I had planned to stay in Arusha town with Emma the first few nights before the program started. We had no idea what was going on and I had no way to get in touch with Emma. Finally, late last night I got a chance to call her. (M&D sorry you got no call....) But we made it after a day of stomach aches from not knowing what the hell was going on.

We spent the day yesterday with our host brother, Barnabus, and his friend whose name I still do not know. They walked us all around the village we will now call home. We didnt know if we were in Arusha or where we were, but learned today that we are in a village about 20 minutes in a private car outside of Arusha Town. The village is called Usa River, pronounced oosa, not USA. I spent all day yesterday seeing people in Usa River t-shirts, but assumed they were from a rafting company or something in the states, not the name of our village. Pretty funny. The children in the town called out greetings to us all through our walk, and the cutest little boy even followed us for 15 minutes singing songs to us. It was adorable. If I could bring him home I would! We were pretty unsure about water, but managed to buy a bottle for $1 for a tiny shop in the village. From there, we didnt really know where our next shared bottle would come from. We took a nap yesterday afternoon and being able to lie down was amazing after two overnight flights! We have a cute room with three beds and mosquito nets. We had dinner, a dish of rice and meat and cooked bananas- though they tasted like potatoes. Our host parents came home from work and we got to meet them. We got a more in detail intro to the house, including a lesson on water and where they boil it and put it for us. The house girl is amazing and will become our best friend I think. She was still up last night doing work and was up this morning in the middle of the washing when we woke up. Our host dad is the tour operator that our program has partnered with, so needless to say we have the best hook up for safaris! woo hoo!

Early to bed last night and I slept well til about 2.30am. I got up to pee, which is unusual for me, and then couldnt go back to sleep. I got stuck in the choo (bathroom) for a while unable to get the key to turn back to unlock the door. Anne, I thought about your Nica story... haha. Our house is very nice, pretty affluent family. We have electricity off and on and running water- I think I am relieved truthfully. Our toilet is a porcelain hole in the ground, but does actually flush. We still have yet to ask about the shower... yep, its been 4 days since I showered! This morning, Barnabus and his friend brought us into Arusha Town to meet Emma. We went to the bank and changed money and then waited for a dalla-dalla to take us into town. I have never seen so many people crammed into a 15 passenger van, even in Egypt! It was an adventure to say the least and we finally got to see the one stop light in the whole Arusha region! We are still in Arusha Town now, we had lunch and I have caught up with Emma and given her the tuna and reeces pieces I brought her. I am also the proud owner of a new mobile phone which awesomely enough is exactly like my mobile in Belfast! it makes me miss my 077 number a wee bit...

We start orientation tomorrow and will get a lot of the unknown stuff straightened out. I suppose we will start our orphanage work on Monday, though I don't know for sure. There is a huge conference here in Arusha Town starting tomorrow, so it will be a little crazy and I am glad we are out in a village. Over all, it is a little overwhelming, truthfully. It is greener than I anticipated. The weather is warm but not super hot, and ranges a lot from morning to day to night. We have not seen rain yet, and it is pretty cloudy off and on, though I have already acquired a nice sunburn on my chest. Only one bug bite so far, and a few blisters on the toes as I break the feet into chaco's again!

Alright, my time is almost up.
More soon. Know that I am well.
xoxo