The Beginning of Goodbye

I’m cheating. It’s really November 1 but I’m going to publish this post as if it’s the last day in October. I hate seeing a month pass by without a post, especially October, this October. It’s been an important one, one in which Scott and I have made a big decision. We’re leaving Wrangell and heading to Tanzania where we’ll both be volunteer teachers. Starting in January, Scott will be a science teacher at Orkeeswa Secondary School (perhaps their first ever) and I’ll be an English teacher. Orkeeswa is run by the Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania (IEFT), a non-profit out of Portland, Oregon.

We’ve been looking for volunteer opportunities abroad for some time now and it’s been a daunting process finding something for both of us, something we both want to do. We managed to find ourselves a few options, but none seemed to fit as well as Orkeeswa. After two rounds of interviews, Scott and I were offered the teaching volunteer positions. Last Monday we accepted, and now everything feels different. I walk into our house and know that it’s now temporary. Our rooms full of stuff will soon be bare. When we hang out with friends, I try to appreciate it more. Even the rain feels different. It’s not as depressing as it usually is this time of month when it tends to return in full force. It feels like each day I’m rediscovering how beautiful Wrangell is even in all the gray. And I’m trying my hardest to soak up every little nuance of Wrangell, and the life I’ve lived for the past four years.

In a little more than two months, Scott and I will find ourselves living in the Monduli District of northern Tanzania, about an hour outside of Arusha, and teaching in the rural village of Lashaine.