First Days in Arusha

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7th

The last two and a half days have managed to be fantastic, uncomfortable, disorienting, and productive all at the same time. For starters, my sleep schedule has been absurdly out of whack. Although I slept the equivalent of a normal night's sleep my first night of arrival (midnight - 8AM), the schedule I've been on since has been anything but. On Thursday (after waking at 8AM)I slept from 1PM-8:30PM, 9:30PM-4:00AM, and then 6:30AM - 8:30AM on Friday morning (and missed both lunch and dinner in the process). However, in the last two days I have steadily readjusted, and I think that tomorrow I should again be on a fairly normal schedule. On the rare occasions I haven't been sleeping, I have been in town with Faustine, who has been more help than I could have ever hoped for. So far I've made it to an Internet Cafe (to let the family and friends know I arrived safely), an ATM, a currency exchange, and got set up with a cell phone. My next step is to find more permanent housing and continue to explore for volunteer opportunities. It turns out that Cradle of Love, an orphanage near Arusha that was suggested by my friend Jacque (who came here last year), does not have room for me to stay on their grounds. However, Dovana, the director did make it sound as if there may be an opportunity for me to volunteer, and invited me to go visit on Monday. As for housing, I have a promising lead called the Ujamaa Hostel. It is fairly cheap and even advertises that it can connect volunteers with organizations in need. Hopefully it lives up to the hype.