Kwa heri, Mwanza. Karibu Lushoto

Well the big news is that due to my continuing security problems Peace Corps has decided to move me to a new site. In the very near future I will be leaving Mwanza and going to a school near Lushoto, though I'm not sure which school yet. I have very mixed feelings about this, but I'll go ahead and give the pros and cons, only in the opposite order.

Cons:
I like Mwanza, in fact I've grown to like it a lot. It's a nice place to live, very beautiful and I like the people there. I feel like I have only recently started to really get a handle on things. I like the teachers at my school and have made a lot of good friends--Tanzanians, Americans, and Koreans alike. I regret that I have to leave them. Most of all I regret leaving my students so abruptly without a teacher. They are the ones who are really suffering from this decision and I hate that it has to happen to them. I will also have to again go through the adjustment of living in a new place.

Pros
Obviously it's not good to be in a place where I am such a consistent target of crime. I was extremely stressed for a long time but thought that the problems were over. Now as long as I'm here I'll jump at noises in the night when I'm alone in the house. That's not a healthy situation. Also, I'm moving to a good place. Lushoto is in the mountains close to the coast just south of the Kenyan border. The climate is nice, it's beautiful, and there are already several PCVs there, some of whom I'm already good friends with. If I stayed here I'd be the only PCV in Mwanza next year, which would be hard. Lushoto will also solve my travel problems because it's a lot easier to travel to Dar and other parts of the country.

I think overall the pros outweigh the cons, which is good since it wasn't my decision to make anyway. I'm looking forward to getting out there with the Lushoto crowd and I'm sure that I'll get used to things there and be able to do some good work and have a good time. I'm not sure exactly when I'll move, but it should be within a couple of weeks, so please hold off on sending mail until I have a new address. Thanks for all the comments on the blog. It's been a hard time but I'm getting through alright.

In other news, Kenny, dad, and I have been having a pretty relaxed week, which is good. I'm glad they're here while all this stuff is going on. They'll be leaving on Saturday, so then it'll just be me waiting to be moved. It's definately an odd time in my PC service and I haven't quite sorted out how I feel about it all. It's just amazing how fast everything can change.

Ups and Downs

I know I've mentioned before about how Peace Corps is such a series of ups and downs emotionally. This week is a case in point. My dad and brother arrived on Tuesday, real exciting, but they were a day late. The reason was that dad had to go to the hospital in Nairobi for a partially collapsed lung. Fortunately he's fine now and made it ok and was well enough to go on the safari.

The safari was just amazing. We went through the Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It was amazing. We were at some point within ten yards of elephants, lions, cheetahs, a leopard, zebras, wildebeasts, and many other amazing animals. We also saw hippos, rhinos, and crocs and farther distances. It was simply amazing. We took hundreds of pictures and I'll post some shortly I'm sure. Then last night we returned to my house.

When we got back, the back door was open. Someone had broken through the lock and also the locks on two of the bedroom doors and a locked cabinet. Basically everything I had of value in the house was taken. Some of my dad's money and mine was taken, about $1000 worth in all, also my bicycle, my laptop (just brought to me from home), luggage, food, and even my photo album full of all the pictures I brought from home. Needless to say I'm pretty upset. Peace Corps has told me that since this isn't my first security incident I may have to change sites. This is pretty shocking. I love Mwanza despite my problems and frankly don't want to leave. Starting over at a new site is also pretty terrifying and I'm not sure I have the strength to go through it all again. Basically right now so much is up in the air and I don't know exactly what I think about it. Who knows, in a month I could still be here, anywhere else in Tanzania, or maybe even back in America. It's so frustrating because I thought my security problems were behind me. And to be honest, there's a good bit of anger that my house is the only one on the school ever broken into because someone sees me and assumes I'm wealthy. I almost feel a little betrayed because I'm here trying to help out and someone still feels justified in stealing from me.

Having said all that, the people at the school and my neighbors, and I should add PC staff, has been really helpful and supportive. And if I have to go through this, I'm glad it's when family's here. The way the people around have been behind me makes me feel particularly bad about the possibility of leaving. By next post maybe I'll know where I'll end up and how I feel about it. Hopefully I can now have a nice relaxing time with my family for a little while.

A Day in Wazunguland

My good buddy and fellow lake volunteer Rob posted some great Mulletfest pictures here. Also check out his blog for an exciting account of our ridiculous bus ride.

I came to Arusha today, heart of tourism in Tanzania, hoping to get a bus back to Mwanza but I couldn't get a ticket until today. I'm leaving around 2 pm and will again be travelling overnight through Kenya. I am not exactly what you'd call excited. Arusha has been an interesting experience. It's a little smaller than Mwanza, but much more chaotic. There are also tons of people trying to hawk overpriced souveniers to every white person (or "mzungu," the plural is "wazungu") they see. They are actually pretty shocked when I come back to them in Swahili. They're pretty much used to tourists who don't know a word of it. In Mwanza most of the foreigners you see are people who live there so it isn't surprising to the Tanzanians if you speak a little. Now being a big tourist center has its advantages. There are nice coffee houses and an actual Western-style supermarket. The supermarket completely blew my mind. I just wandered the aisles in a daze for awhile. It's amazing how quickly ordinary things become strange once you leave them. I guess in my mind certain things belong in America and certain things in Tanzania. Here the supermarket blows my mind, but I guess the site of a Maasai warrior walking down the street in traditional dress would shock me at home even though I see it about every day here.

Alright, I'm off to grab lunch before the bus ride. Maybe by this time tomorrow I'll be off the bus.

Pan African Mulletfest 2006

Right now I'm up in Moshi for a few days to visit the Kilimanjaro area, an area with a high density PCV population, and break up the ridiculous 31 hour bus ride from Dar to Mwanza. In Service Training with the group I spent to months with in Morogoro was great. The highlight was beyond a doubt Mulletfest 2006. That's right, about ten of the guys and one very brave lady in my group grew our hair out in order to have a mullet cut this past week. We even had shirts made. My new look is pictured above. Unfortunately it's hard to see the hair in the photo, but I think the mustache is the best part anyway. I also figure you can't go wrong with a Tanzanian flag headband. Somehow I think I have stumbled on my natural state. Oh, and by the way, with the mullet I am no longer known as Andrew, mild-mannered Peace Corps Volunteer, but as the obnoxious redneck "Jugs." My fellow PCV Justin (down in the deep south, very, very far away from me) posted more photos here.

The whole week was a really great time. We were a really close training group and most of them I hadn't seen in a little over six months, so it was great. It's also amazing to compare notes with other volunteers and hear about the differences in the different parts of the country. Unfortunately it'll be another six months before we're together again, but right now I'm taking advantage of vacation time and visiting some other volunteers. And in just over a week, my dad and brother will be arriving so it should be a great school break. So I'll check in again soon. Have a great summer everyone. So far mine's been great.