Greetings from Moshi, Tanzania!

Earlier today, I flew into Tanzania in the tiniest plane I've ever been in. Mt. Meru towered beautifully to my right, while Mt. Kilimanjaro dwarfed everything else on my left, both rising out of a thick blanket of clouds. That's when it hit me. I'm in Africa.

Actually, that's a lie. It really hit me at 4 AM when I was already several hours into my overnight layover in Kenya... exhausted, stiff, and seriously red-eyed, with my bags hanging off of me like I was the saddest, blondest pack horse. People were falling asleep on benches and (more often than not) the floor all around me, and I was staring at my boarding pass from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro, wondering if 7 AM would ever arrive, when all of a sudden... I realized where I was. Africa.

It's nothing but beautiful so far, blog-followers. Beautiful food, beautiful people, beautiful scenery. This evening, after spending the day unpacking, meeting people, and adventuring around town a bit, some local friends from Moshi who run a safari/hike/tour guide business invited us over for a dinner and drinks, so that was fun. Watching the stars fly by above us as we drove home was truly unreal.

Tomorrow the other new volunteers and I begin a full day of orientation. I'm told the next three weeks are insanely full, with our work placements, guest speakers from the community, cultural excursions and language lessons. I'm incredibly excited to dive in... although I know this means I'll have limited internet time (Heads Up! I'm sorry if it takes me a while to get back to you this week!)

I'll be thinking of all of you during ever bit of it, you can count on that. There's not enough time in the day or room in my blog to describe every detail, but I desperately wish that I could. Every one of you deserves to experience it.

Til later, most sincerely,
Sarah