Written August 19, 2012

Posted sometime soon I think.

Hi all!!

Wow so this week has been a whirlwind adventure – chock-full of all kinds of treats and surprises! Are you ready to hear about them? (responding chorus of “yes!”)

So Sunday and Monday you all know about from my last two blog posts. . . I’ll start this one on Tuesday. The day of insane amounts of walking.

So my day started off with a bit of confusion with where/when I was meeting my counterpart because there was no cell service (a fact of daily life here), but all was good, we found each other and proceeded to walk to all sorts of places.  I saw all 3 of the schools in town, the two secondary ones and the one primary one. Not only were these schools a far distance to walk to, once we got there, walking through the property and waiting for the directors to have time for us was another issue. Needless to say, the whole process took from 8am until about 2pm. . .lots of walking, lots of talking, lots of sunshine. I was sweating like no one’s business – this summer I’m literally going to melt into a puddle of sweat. Gross.

After the schools, we walked around the town a bit, I bought some other stuff like olive oil, an electric kettle, spices, eggs etc. just some basic essentials. Needless to say, I was exhausted after that day of walking in loose sand for many hours, so my evening was really laid back, I made dinner with Angela and Sota (he’s the JICA volunteer here) which is a really cool time. Sota does not speak much English so therefore whenever we are with him, we speak Portuguese, which is just continuing to help me with it. – I spoke more Portuguese this week, than I think I did in my entire 10 weeks in Namaacha haha.

Wed was the general assembly meeting of my one organization ACUMUZA, I think I met maybe 35 or so people in that timeframe. Again, that went from like 9am until noon or 1pm. Afterwards, I went to help Angela with a moringa (look it up) project that we are doing for the upcoming festival this weekend. Afterwards I went back to my little house, and made soup – it was really tasty. And the best part about my soups here, they are all veggies, so they don’t need refrigerated, and I can just reheat them and eat again the next day.

Thursday was the general assembly of my other community organization Despertai, before that, I went up to the Hospital for “Cha Positiva” it is supposed to be a support group for those who are HIV positive- a time to sit, drink cha (tea) and talk about their problems. . .however this isn’t exactly what I witnessed. Instead its now a packed room of people listening to a doctor lecture at them. Kinda the opposite of what it was originally meant to be. But hopefully with time we can get it back on track . . stay tuned.

Friday I didn’t have really any plans, which was nice, because after that whirlwind I was really and truly kinda exhausted of meeting new people and having to be “ON”. It doesn’t help much that my house, being a giant circle, with two windows on either side is, in essence, a giant fishbowl. Of course there are a lot of kids in the neighboring houses, and I have made good with most of my neighbors, but at some point in the day, I do like retiring to my house to just decompress, listen to music, do yoga, ya know? And I’m finding it really hard to do here in this temporary house. Needless to say I am really looking forward to moving into Angela’s house, with the nice fence for privacy, and puppy dog for some loving comfort.

So Friday, I was a bit down in the dumps about this whole living in Africa for 2 years thing – it’s a feeling that I know will come and go. So I went over to Angela’s house to just sit on a front porch, removed from the kids etc, and just read. It was really nice. Relaxing and exactly what I needed. That night, her Sota and I went out to dinner. When I say “went out” I mean there is a small place with tables behind this one bar, that has a small menu. Its really really tasty though, and relatively inexpensive.

Saturday was possibly the coolest day yet. So as I mentioned, this upcoming weekend we are having a big festival here – something that happens every year in Qussico, so in preparation for it, we are making posters, tables crafts etc. So on Saturday, Angela traveled to Xai Xai to pick up something for the festival, and I went over to Sota’s house to help make tables and other things. About 12 other JICA volunteers showed up too, and some locals of Mozambique as well. It was the coolest mixture of cultures, and language! Technically none of us use Portuguese as our first language, as those here in Moz prefer their local language, but somehow, the day went really really well with everyone communicating in Portuguese. I just kept thinking “how strange is this??” but in such a cool way. There was a lot of questions about culture from everyone, and a really good cross cultural experience, stories, information was shared and traded. The evening ended with some Moz food, some food with a Japanese influence, and I made some salsa for everyone to try. It was all delicious, the day was beyond awesome, and I’m sad to say that this paragraph does nothing to really describe it. It was that day that I felt my language was doing better, and that I would be ok with this life here, because of how smoothly it all went, and how much fun I did have.

Today was Sunday, the day of rest (and for many the day of church). So I did some yoga, walked into town to buy some bread for breakfast, and came back to just read for a long bit. No energy this morning, which isn’t an issue really, I sat outside in the sun and read. It was really nice. About mid-day, one of my other counterparts showed up and asked if I wanted to join him and his family for Sunday lunch. . .of course I did! So I got to eat some really tasty food, meet a whole new family, see a different part of town, and feel like I was part of some nice weekly family thing. At home in the states when I was growing up, almost every Sunday evening was our unofficial/official family dinner night – especially during the summer, dad would make steaks, brother and I would set the table, and we would all just have a really great dinner and talk. Its those things that I miss the most, hanging out with loved ones. You are thought of often, and missed more than that. I wouldn’t be on this adventure if it wasn’t for you all. Xoxo always.

Anyway, my day today ended with a dinner with an Islamic family here in Quissico. As many (or not so many) of you know, today was the end of Ramadan. One of the shopkeepers here is probably the nicest person in this town, and he and his wife have quickly become some of my good friends here. They invited Angela and I over for dinner/party this evening, so we went and had some REALLY GOOD food, and again, I got to meet a whole new set of people and experience some new cross culture stuff. I’m stumbling my way through the language, but people can understand me for the most part, which is all I really care about right now. Trying to get my point across, introducing myself, and making new friends.

I have a full week ahead of me again, and this weekend is the festival, so we should be expecting some other PC volunteers to show up Thurs/Fri for the festivities. I’m excited to meet some new Volunteers! And really really looking forward to this upcoming festival. After that, its already September! How the time is flying.

Keep the emails coming! I love hearing from you all!!

X’s and O’s always and forever

t