10 things they don’t tell you about Pre Service Training

I am so close to being done with Pre Service Training. I have made it to week 9 of training and a long few weeks it has been. A real roller coaster of the last few months. I have traveled across Tanzania, met hundreds- I kid you not, hundreds- of people of so many walks of life and I am only just getting started. I have eaten new foods, climbed new mountains, seen new animals, and lived a whole new life. It has been hard at times, tiring, sometimes minutes dragged on for days and weeks passed by in the blink of an eye. 

But every second I have gotten to challenge myself, and I was constantly learning something new.

Now that I have made it to this point, I want to let you know 10 things they don’t tell you about PST.

1. It is 100% freshman year of college all over again. All of a sudden it is like I am back in my freshmen dorm, looking around at my 51 other cohort members wondering what on earth they are thinking of me. Plenty of ice breakers, and tons of “oh, where did you go to school? What did you study? What are you doing here in the Peace Corps?” Only this time you are doing it in Tanzania, and these people are going to be your lifeline to sanity for the first few months.
2. You will forget how time works. Has it been an hour? A month? A year? What do you mean we got here 9 weeks ago? I could have sworn that we were just in Dar just a few days ago
3. Don’t drink the juice. Ok, this one they do tell you, but lets just reiterate. I know that you want to drink the juice, but just trust some of my cohortmates, wait a week or two. New water, lower sanitaition means, and microbes that your gut bacteria don’t know how to get along with is not a fun “sotojo”. Sotojo is a three way juice mix from our favorite juice place- this is a totally good joke in this context. Totally topical.
4. Go out with your friends when they go out. There isn’t a lot of time outside of class here in PST-TZ. But when there is time off and your friends head to the bar near your training center, you should go. It may not really be your scene, but it is better than being alone. Trust me.
5. Don’t half ass integration. Ask questions, and talk with your host families. Cook with them and learn traditional dishes. Make jokes. Figure out why they always eat with their right hand. Understand why greetings are important in the culture. Then, participate in the culture.
6. If your host mama offers to heat up your bucket bath water, let her. Oh- did I mention that here in Tanzania we mostly bucket bathe? It is actually super nice, if you ever need a bath and only have a bucket, give it a try!
7. You will gain weight. Here in PCTZ boy oh boy did we gain weight. One group visited ther village executive officer of their training village at the end of their training and were told “you all have gotten fat” with a level of glee you might be surprised by. Lets just say chapati tastes good, but may not be that good for you. Lots of carbs, not a lot of protein, not a lot of veg.
8. Seriously. Take the time to make connections with you cohort. I didn’t. Sometimes I have a hard time making friends. Most times I have a hard time making friends. I generally assume that people don’t like me or don’t want to be my friend. The problem with this is you look at your cohort after 9 weeks together and you see people with deep, meaningful relationships and you feel a little alone.
9. When using a choo, it is ok to squat way down, and don’t forget to BYOTP (Bring your own toilet paper).
10. It is one of the coolest experiences of your life. It is a bit transitional period where you are learning a new language, meeting new people, and adjusting to a new and very different culture from your own that you need to now get used to, It can be hot and exhausting. It can be boring and detailed. But it is most of all a fantastic adventure