soaking it all in

I've spent the morning orienting myself to Moshi. Kara showed me around town, I got a sim card for my phone, bought some peanut butter and bread, and had lunch at The Coffee Shop, one of the more popular cafes in Moshi. This morning they brought us a thermos of coffee in the office. It was delicious, and also pretty powerful to think about how close to the source of that coffee I am. I still have yet to see Mount Kilimanjaro itself, as there were clouds in the way this morning.

The house I am living in is quite luxurious, at least compared to where I lived in Awutu, and right on the edge of town. It has electricity and running water! There's an electric kettle to boil my drinking water! I can keep the cheese I bought in the Amsterdam airport in the fridge! I was kind of looking forward to having to take bucket showers, but I guess I'll stay cleaner this way. There's another girl who lives there, a volunteer for Visions In Action, the NGO that owns the house, but she's in Zanzibar for the week. Settling in would be a little easier if there was someone there, because I have to figure out for myself things like turning on the stove and where to put trash, but she'll be back soon and Kara's nearby so I'll be fine for the next few days. There's a guard at night and a "housegirl" who comes by during the day.

I've been reading over the KNCU cafe business plan to familiarize myself with what's going on here. I think we're going to visit a coffee plantation this week. I'll have more to say once I've experienced more, but in the meantime I'm just going to enjoy the verdant landscape and the fresh coffee and the humidity...