Tanzania!

So I made it to Tanzania! Yesterday we left camp around 8am, and drove from our Kenya camp site all the way here. We crossed the boarder around 11am, after waiting for paperwork to be filled out for a little while. After crossing we didn't stop again until 4pm, but when we did stop it was a great, great place to be. We saw our first grocery store in a month and a half, and a couple of really nice sandwhich and chocolate shops. Being in Africa, this was a very big deal. We all had a blast walking through the grocery store buying snacks. It was very exciting. I also had an amazing sandwich and cold juice box. Delicious. I really can't wait for real food once I'm home again! But yesterday was a very nice break from the usual food here, and everyone really enjoyed it.

After our eating stop we continued on for about another two hours to get to camp. By the time we got here it was almost 8, so it was pretty dark. Our camp is up on a hill, so we were all looking forward to getting up this morning to see the view. The entire drive was pretty long, but it didn't feel long at all. We slept a lot, and when we were awake the scenery was amazing. Tanzania is SO different from Kenya. I wasn't expecting it to be such a change. The towns we drove through were much more developed, and we saw a bunch of real builidings, resorts, and big houses. We are in tourist country here which is why everything is so nice. In Kenya, all the stores were made of metal and wood scraps, but here they are actually pretty nice. The landscape is much different too. While we were driving through towns it looked very tropical. There are a lot of palm trees and giant flowers everywhere. Its soo so cool. I love it. Our camp feels like a tropical resort. Our chumba here is completely open with only a roof made out of hay. We don't have cabins anymore though. Instead we have tents. Olivia and I are together in a tent. When we got here we just stood in front of the tent with our jaws dropped because it is SO small, and we never thought we would fit everything in, but after 'unpacking' we figured out how to make it work out. 'Unpacking' really only consisted of finding a good place for our suitcases and putting the important things on top, because we have no drawers or shelves or anything! We thought it was going to be terrible, but its actually fine. We have a small hay roof over our tent as well so we don't have to worry about rain. Our tent is just big enough for both of our beds with our suitcases at the end of our beds, and about three feet of space in between us. It's cozy. Three of the four sides are almost completely screened, so its like sleeping outside. The breeze is so nice and waking up this morning was amazingggg. I love it.

Today we just had a site tour and talked about basic orientation stuff. We went into town after lunch to exchange money for Tanzanian currency. One US Dollar is equal to about 1300 Tanzania Shillings. Today at a store in town I got two juice boxes and two candy bars for 3000 shillings, so that tells you how inexpensive everything really is. On the way back to camp we stopped at an observation point on the hill about five minutes from camp. We could see out very far, and there is a huge lake. Its so pretty. I took a bunch of pictures, and I will put one of the view up when I load them on here.

I loved Kenya, but I think I like Tanzania a little more already. We have no view of Kili from here unfortunately because we are in so many hills, but everything here is really beautiful. I love the palm trees and flowers, and there are less thorns on the ground and less dirt everywhere. Its really nice.

Before we left Kenya yesterday we did have a Tanzania vs. Kenya olympics on Thursday. It was a lot of fun, but it got a litttttle over competetive at times. I played volleyball, soccer, and ultimate frisbee, and did a relay race while carrying a cup of tea. It was like field day or something back in middle school....but it was fun. In the end we never even figured out who the winners were, although I think it might have been them. But it was definitely close. The last night in Kenya was sad, but after sharing camp with strangers for two nights we were ready to go and get to Tanz. And now that we are here, we love it! Also, after meeting the other group of kids I love my group even more. Everyone in my group gets along and are friends. We really don't have any cliques or weird relationships at all. The other group was very high schoolish and you could see the segregated groups. There is not one person here that I wouldn't feel comfortable hanging out with, and I think that is a lot of why this trip has been so great!

So I have't done much here in Tanz yet, so I don't have much to say, but I really love it! The pictures should be up soon! I'll let everyone know how its going again soon. Hope all's well at home! TTYS!