Written June 18, 2012 . . hopefully posted sometime in the near future.

Greetings my fellow blog-goers!

I hope the weekend was enjoyable for all, I had a very busy one myself, seeing as my one “day off” consisted of being a domestic diva. Yes, its true. Contrary to popular belief, I can be quite the domestic individual when it comes time to be.

Sunday started off with coffee and bread for breakfast, eaten on the “front porch” as it was an absolutely stunning day. Then the work began, washing laundry by hand (using 3 different buckets and bar soap), I have a new found appreciation for washing machines, and will never again complain about doing laundry haha. I had a decent amount of clothes to wash, nothing compared to what I would have in the US though, so the whole process took about an hour and a half from washing/rinsing to hanging on the line to dry. Best part about Africa- my clothes were dry in less than 3 hours out on the line.

After clothes, it was time to clean the house, I broom-swept my entire room and then “polished” the floor with this wax stuff. Apparently its to make the floor a bit softer, seeing as my room is a cement cube with a window, and to protect it from dirt buildup? Who knows. I did as I was told, and my floor is lovely under bare feet. I can get the idea of protecting the floor, but the process was a pain – literally, I was on my hands and knees doing the Mr Miagi (spelling?) “wax on. . . wax off”. A thrilling way to spend another hour or so.

Then we proceeded to fill all of the water barrels for the week, there is a spigot in front of the house with a gauge on it that limits the water usage. I think the family pays per-month, as they do for electricity (we ran out of electricity for two days last week) but am not entirely sure.

After water was gathered, it was down to brass tacks- cookin’ up some nummies. I cooked the entire lunch meal, host mom simply oversaw to make sure I wouldn’t kill myself in the kitchen (did someone warn her ahead of time?). I made a coconut xima - splitting the coco, and scraping out the insides to use to strain water through, boiling that “coconut water” and adding the xima to cook. Num num num. Then I prepared a lovely salad of lettuce, tomato, onion and green pepper. Add in some oil, a bit of lemon juice and a touch of salt and boom – salad bonanza. (this was after soaking all of the veggies in water with a bit of bleach to clean them). All the while, I was grillin’ up some carne de vaca (beef) over the carvao (charcoal grill thing).  Host momma was impressed- as was I. And we sat down to feast together afterwards. A well deserved meal for all of the intensive labor we did in the AM.

I sat in the sun for a bit and read after lunch, but was soon interrupted by fellow volunteers asking if I wanted to play soccer- duhh. So we played for about 2 hours or so, some of the local kids getting involved. Basically it was my favorite part of the day. Playing soccer in Africa. Doesn’t get much better than that in my humble opinion.

Came home to dinner already in progress, so I took my bucket bath, and hung out with the kids around my house until dinner was ready. They help me practice vocabulary around the house, in the kitchen etc. Did I mention that no one in my house speaks a lick of English? Its truly quite funny sometimes when I attempt to explain my day, or where I’ve been, or where I’m going. The language is coming along.

I really have no choice with this language thing. Its essential to do any form of work here in Moz. So every night here I am with my note cards, dictionary and my “501 Portuguese verbs” book, trying to get it to stick in my brain. I’m slowly making progress. This week I’d say I’m at the level of a 5 year old or so. Haha!

Today was another long day- started off with language classes in the AM, went to the HUB for the visiting volunteers presentation, had lunch at the HUB (our families bring us lunch when we are there) then had a session about community mobilization, and then discussed some of the differences between Moz and America – beliefs, behaviors etc.

It was a very fulfilling day, very tiring – even though all we did was sit around and talk. You’d be surprised just how tiring that can get. But it was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. I have an almost ripe avocado for tomorrow’s snack, and a banana for breakfast with my coffee. I’m rather excited to tackle another day of activities.

Until then I bid you all a fond farewell.

Your anxious for sleep (even though its barely 9pm) pal in Namaacha-

td