I had one of the shorter trips to make to get to my new post. The day after swearing-in I moved to Mgeta, which is an area of small villages up in the mountains about 27 miles from Morogoro where I did my training. To get to Mgeta is a somewhat difficult journey as the daladalas (small public mini buses) are barely able to make it up the steep dirt mountain roads. Often, especially when it's raining, everyone has to get out of the bus at the steepest parts, and walk for a while before getting back on. There are also several spots where we always stop to get water from streams to refill the radiator. The trip from Morogoro to Mgeta takes about two hours, but it's worth it. The scenery there is absolutely beautiful. The teachers at my school live in small homes surrounding the classroom buildings and the whole "campus" is tucked in a little valley surrounded by green hills and, further away, bigger mountains. The air is cool and we have a rushing river that passes right in front of the school and my house.

My new home is a small, but very comfortable, brick and concrete house. I have corn and pumpkins growing in a garden in my yard and also papaya, mango and banana trees. The villagers here don't have electricity, but the school has a generator which provides power to the teachers' homes every night from 7:00 to 10:00 PM. Because of the limited output of the generator, we are only permitted to use lights and a battery charger to recharge batteries for radios, flashlights and cell phones. To use my cell phone I have to hike 30 minutes to a high hilltop, otherwise I have no reception. There's no indoor plumbing or bathroom in my house either, but there's a fairly decent outhouse in the backyard. All of my water for drinking, cooking and bathing comes from the river. I have a 100 gallon water tank on my front porch that we fill using large buckets. All of my cooking is done using either a charcoal stove or a kerosene stove. Drinking water is first boiled and then filtered using a filter system we learned how to make in training. I shower in a little room on my porch that has a drain in the floor. First I heat up about a gallon of water on the charcoal stove. I pour this very hot water into a big bucket and add about two gallons of cold (room temp) water to get three gallons of water that's just the right temperature. Then I use a small pitcher to pour the water over myself. It sounds like a lot of work for a shower, but I'm already used to it. By the way, to help with all of these chores, I hired a housegirl. She worked for the Peace Corps volunteer that I replaced and was highly recommended. For now she does most of the cooking, but I'm learning so that I can cook for myself on the weekends and she'll only need to work Monday through Friday. She also does my food shopping and laundry.

I also have two new pets at my new place. I offered to adopt a cat and dog from the volunteer who I am replacing. The dog, Tupo, is great and I take her for walks everyday in the hills. Ina, my cat, sits on my stomach when I read at night and she also keeps the rats away.

The Peace Corps planned our training to end just as the school year also ended so that we'd have time to get settled before we start teaching. So essentially I'm on vacation until January 6th when the new term begins. I'll use some of that time to start some lesson planning, but I also plan on doing some exploring. I've heard that on day hikes from my house I can see beautiful rainforests with huge waterfalls and lots of wildlife (including monkeys).

When I do start teaching, I'll be teaching at Mgeta Secondary School which is a government co-ed school with boarding facilities for the girls only. The girls "dorms" are just classrooms filled with cots. The classrooms are old and run down compared to the school where I did my internship teaching, but I'm sure they'll be OK to teach in. All I need is a blackboard and some chalk.

Since my access to internet will be limited to one or two trips into town each month, I welcome you to write via regular postal mail. Letters should take about 10 to 14 days to get here from the U.S. and I think the postage will cost you about 80 cents for a letter. My mailing address can be found on a separate link on my website homepage. You can also still send emails, but you might have to wait a few weeks to hear back from me.

I'm very happy with my new assignment and hope that some of you are able to visit me here. There's plenty of places to see within a reasonable drive from Mgeta. Mikumi National Park, a small gamepark but with lots of big animals to see, is less than two hours away and ferry boats to the beautiful beaches of Zanzibar Island are less than a five hour drive. I am planning a trip back to New Jersey in June and maybe a side trip to Chicago, so hopefully I'll see some of you then. For now, keep the letters and emails coming...they always make my day.