Getting to CCS

Arriving at CCS – Saturday, 26/7/08 (That’s right…Tanzanian format!!!)

After finally arriving to CCS, we were all greeted with a warm Karibu and a hot meal. The staff members here are incredibly welcoming. We were also greeted by some of the older volunteers who were staying longer than 3 weeks.
After dinner we were broken up into two groups. The groups were defined by what house we were staying in. In Bagamoyo there are three houses. The main house is compiled of two buildings: the main house and the Annex. One is right across the road from the other. The summer house (which will close in Mid-August) is a five minute walk from the main house. Those of us who were staying in the main house had been separated from those staying in the summer house when we boarded the different buses at the airport. Anyway, so we were split up into the Annex group and the Main House group.
I’m staying in the Annex, in a room with two bunk beds. (BTW, I haven’t slept in a bunk bed since I was a kid!) My roommates are Robbie from Connecticut, Brandon from North Carolina, and Abid (a left over volunteer) from somewhere in Canada. They’re all very cool guys, however, significantly younger than me.
After finally settling in, the volunteers and the staff did a little more “getting to know you” stuff. We were all asking questions about each other and so on. Funny thing is that, usually in the US, the questions asked are “What’s your name?”, “How old are you?”, and “What do you do?” However, the Tanzanians ask, “Habari za jioni?” (“How are you this evening?”), “Umeoa?” (”Are you married?”), and “Una watoto wangapi?” (“How many children do you have?”). If you’re local you may also be asked “Una wake wangapi?” (“How many wives do you have?”). It was definitely fun meeting everyone.