I've been at site for a few weeks now and things have been going incredibly well. I'm honestly not sure I could have been placed in a nicer, well suited area for me in all of Tanzania. The site is in a very lush and well developed part of the southern region of Mtwara with plenty of water you can drink right out of the tap. In fact, my school cultivates and maintains an impressively large group of orchards around the school, growing almost everything that can be grown in the region from cashews to oranges, bananas and trees for lumber.
I've been doing my best to stay busy in an unusual time for my school. The students have been busy taking mock examinations to practice for the national exam and preparing for their graduation which will have a very high profile guest, so they have not had regular classes. Even without classes to teach I have been opening the lab everyday, trying my best to make myself accessible to all of the students and teachers. They have both been coming in with a lot of questions, some that I can answer and others that I can't. Luckily the volunteer I am replacing has a lot of the regular problems figured out and has been great about showing me how to fix some of the more common issues.
Last week all of the PCVs in the southern part of the country gathered in Mtwara town for a super regional meeting. It worked out really well for us new volunteers as it gave us an opportunity to meet and spend time with all of the volunteers from each sector in the region. I had a blast with the group and I'm really looking forward to spending more time with everyone, especially at the beach house we rented for our last night, right on the Indian Ocean. The highlight of the weekend though, besides getting to see Mtwara town (my favorite TZ city to date) and meeting all of the other volunteers had to be our trip to the private coral reef where one of the environment volunteers has been doing a large majority of his work. The beach was literally untouched that day until we arrived and it was only a short swim out to see the reef, which turned out to be far more impressive than I was expecting. I hope I get an opportunity to go back soon, I'm not sure I could ever get enough of a private beach/reef in Mtwara.
A view of the Indian Ocean from the private beach near Mtwara.
A few of the orchards surrounding my site.
The administrative building at our school.
Half of one of these duplexes will soon be my home.
I'm currently living in our school's guest house. (Below)
Our school's guest house/headmaster's residence. I live on the left.
A cashew tree in the orchards a short hike from my house.
