This Saturday the whole group of us trainees went to a town called Lashoto about 2 hours from Korogwe. The Peace Corps staff knows that we will go crazy stuck in Korogwe for two months so they let us get out a little when they can. The town is in the mountains North of Korogwe which makes it a much cooler environment. Korogwe is not super hot, but the cool mountain air reminded me of home, which was a great (but rare) feeling in Africa.
We had cheese for the first time since we got here, and we got to see some monkeys on a short hike. It was just a day trip, but it was a much needed break from the fast pace of training.
We now are entering week 5 of the ten week Pre-service Training (PST). Today I taught my second math class and had my site interview. In this interview they ask questions about how training is going, and try to get some information to help match us with a compatible site. This is also a time to voice preferences regarding what we are looking for in a site. At this point all of the sites we will be going to have been found and confirmed but we have yet to be matched with our sites. I told them that I would probably be best in a site that was not extremely hot. I also mentioned that electricity and running water would be nice, but both of those are luxuries here.
The date we are all waiting for is Wednesday, August 21: site announcements. After they tell us our sites, we wrap up our teaching internship, take a final written Swahili exam, and then leave Korogwe to go on a weeklong site visit.
So we're halfway through training. One month down, 26 to go.
