Day 1 in Tanzania

Upon arrival at Dar, we all met up at the slipway Hotel and began introductions. As far as I can tell, we have many similarities and differences among us as a collective group. We have Edward, the papabear , taking care of us very well; Mohammed , an excellent driver and animal spotter extraodinal; Steve, comedian Canadian keeps the mood light and the drive interesting; Jessica though she is injured, she is strong and vibrant, never giving up on the journey; and the there is me, and while it is hard to describe my own role in the group , I can say that I am open to everything that comes my way and eager for each adventure . There is however one thing that we all most definitely share and it is what has bright us together. I believe we are all dreamers, that brought as together which live the lives we have imagined. That also have brought us to cross paths at this point in time. Edward greated us like family and immediately put me at ease, we enjoyed a delicious Pizza dinner on Saturday night (Pizza being another commonality) along with great stories about how we came to be in Tanzania with Global volunteers.

Mohamed pointed at many things for us to photograph; people . landscapes, animals etc. ……… we saw Giraffes, Elephants, Baboons, impalas, zebra, wildebeests, and we were hoping for lion but none so far. However, we did discover a scorpion in our Hostel in Iringa.!! An adventure all its own. We were pulled over by the police, but got off with a warning by saying Jessica was Ill and we were speeding to the doctor. (not entirely untrue). The policeman was very nice told us that we should probability learn Swahili. At one of our“ check tire “ stops (aka: Bathroom breaks) we discovered trough like toilets, there is a first time for everything and that will not soon be forgotten. The landscape went from ocean view , to dry plains, to natural avenue park, to boulder covered maintains, and dense jungle terrain. The temperature changed to drastically cooler by the rime we reached Iringa along with the elevation and scenery , we arrived quite safely, thanks to our wonderful hosts and look forward to the next leg of our journey. I will say that the life I had imaged in Africa was nothing like I had dreamed, it was so much more and like Thoreau, who uses nature and his surroundings to transcend his body and mind, I feel as though I should be pinched because this whole experience has been so surreal , so out of this world, it seems as though I must still be dreaming. How llucky we are to have this once in a lifetime opportunity to share and grow with people so different, yet so much the same as we are , already after only a day this adventure in service has proven to be great and I can not wait to seen pommern and meet our new community.