Moving Into the Dorms

Our first night in Iringa we stayed at a nice hotel called The Lutheran Center. Little did I know that this would be my last real shower! On Sunday, Paulo took us around town and showed us where the main market was and also our favorite place called Neema’s Crafts where they have really good food! Neema’s is run by Tanzanian’s with disabilities to give them a job. The majority of the workers at the restaurant are deaf. They also have a craft store downstairs where people with disabilities make all the items. They have such neat things there that I just want to buy it all! At around 2 that day, we grabbed all of our things and headed to the University. We had not heard about what our living situations would be, so we were very anxious. When we got to the university, we learned that we would all be separated and sharing a room with 3 other Tanzanian roommates. Although that is the best way to really learn the culture and get the full experience, I was definitely nervous. When I went to my room, my roommates were very quiet and just didn’t really say anything to me. However, Renee’s roommates were very nice and talkative to her. I was really wishing that I had got her roommates. It was raining when we moved in, but once it stopped we got a campus tour. When we went to see the CIEE office, Jenny began talking to us about living with Tanzanians. She said that our first night would probably be the most awkward night of our life. I was so nervous that I was being thrown into this room with people of a different culture. She told us that her first night in the Peace Corps, she went to her room after dinner and began crying because it was so awkward. I knew everything would be fine, but it was very overwhelming at first. That night sure enough was very awkward. I couldn’t really understand my roommates that much. I didn’t have my mosquito net up, so one of my roommates offered that I sleep with her. She was on the top bunk, which is very tiny and that just made me really uncomfortable. After persistent denying and saying that I move a lot in my sleep, she finally gave up and let me sleep on my roommate, Pendo’s, bed instead.