Drumroll Please....

So the big day finally arrived on Saturday, the 26th: SITE ANNOUNCEMENT! Or in layman's terms, the day the Peace Corps told us where we'll all be living around Tanzania for the next two years. In my "interview" in the weeks before  with my APCD (associate PC Director), I said I'd like to go wherever i'd be a good fit, and that the climate didn't really matter. He had mentioned a region, and I was sure I wasn't going to be placed there just because he had told me that. haha. Anyway, so the big day arrives, and we are all together, dancing to some crazy African beats on local drums and hyped up. Bet you can't imagine me excited/dancing around like a fool, right? :) The first person gets called up, and not long after, it was my name! I will be staying in TANGA region,(the region we are training in,) in even the same district we are training it! Muheza (if you can find it on a map!). I have a specific village I"ll be living in, but would rather not blast it all over the internet for the creep-o's to find and hunt me down. Just kidding. I was SO EXCITED. Fellow volunteers have likened my reaction to be being called down on the Price is Right. It a GORGEOUS, lush, hot, mountain-y, HUMID region, but I think it will be wonderful. The beach is only an hour or two away too, so that sweetened the deal even that much more. My friends Michelle, Brittany, and Glenn are also staying in Tanga so i'll have some great company for Christmas. Which is 10 days after I'm dropped off. Which I'm trying not to think about right now. :) Actually, the PC is like a big family, and I'm thinking it will be a wonderful new holiday experience.
But lets talk logistics now... I'm moving into a home with NO ELECTRICITY for the first time in my life, living ALONE for the first time in my life, and fighting the war on the panya (rats) solo. Time to put on those big girl panties! I'll be setting a PO Box in Muheza probably very soon after moving in, so all those magazines, candy, wet wipes, general goodies, you've all been dying to send (haha), can be sent there.
Perhaps one of the best things about being placed here in the same region was the reaction of my host family, who i've come to really adore. They are such special people! I told my baba that I was staying, and he said "You will visit every Sunday"! For those of your in my family, or know my family and traditions, you know how this made me smile and feel so warm. I told him probably not that often, but I will come down! :) It was definitely a "home is where the heart is" moment, and it was priceless.
The weeks are definetely flying by so quickly, and I will have one more week at training after shadow (which is when I'll be following around another PCV like a lost puppy, trying to learn to survive on my own), then we are off to Dar for a week, then its time to move to my new home. Until next time, my love from the land of Lion King!