42 americans in quissico

Written March 5, 2013

Holy hell. . . what a weekend

Just a quick recap for all you kiddies at home my house is very small, two rooms in fact. I live comfortably because its just me and the puppy. . .neither of us needing very much space.

This past weekend, I had 42, yes that’s right 42 people in and around this house. Quissico was overrun with Americans. It was downright crazy.

Overall the party (which was thrown in the honor of two fellow Moz 18ers birthdays) was a huge success. People showed up Friday, tents were set up, beers were cracked, an the merriment commenced. To avoid having to cook for 40 some people I went to a local restaurant and asked if we could rent out the kitchen for both Friday and Saturday nights. It ended up being very affordable for everyone involved and it gave us a place to cook, eat, dance and be merry a bit a ways out of town. Which is good for me, as it sort of helped to “save face”. Later that night we went back to my house and set up a projector/white sheet on my wall, and watched superhero movies. It was a very chill atmosphere, not sure how many people watched the movie, most were just talking amongst themselves, but it was still a wonderful way to end Friday.

Saturday everyone woke up from the odd places they slept Friday night, and we all had a quick but filling breakfast of apple cinnamon oatmeal. Then we all mobilized and headed down to the lagoon. Sadly it is a bit of a complicated walk, and because we split into two groups, some got lost. It all worked out in the end though, and we were together and happy on the beach. Storm clouds started rolling in, so again, some of us decided to pack it in, and head back up the hill. We made it almost into town before the heavens opened up soaking us – which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because there was no water running all weekend in Quissico, therefore bathing was not an option for people. Sad smelly truth about Peace Corps life. . . sometimes you are just gonna have to be smelly. After our good ‘rinsing’ everyone came back to try and air things out (tents having gotten wet etc) and we changed into our “superhero/villain” costumes, and snacked on some guacamole.

Yours truly, was the “Ultimate YINZER” I made a skirt from my two terrible towels, had a steelers hat, and other little things that made me the ultimate fan. There was a girl who was a “Philly Fanatic” so we were archrivals haha it was perfect. Everyone had a costume so I feel it was a successful theme for the party. That night we went back to the restaurant had dinner there, and again, people got merry and danced the night away. I packed it in with a group of people somewhat early, and we headed for home. Around 2am everyone else rolled in, and I had to be the “bad guy” and shut the party down (people were a bit rowdy) but I think it all worked out because people had to leave early – the downside to pc life is traveling on Sunday when you are hungover. So we got almost everyone out by 11am. Then the big clean happened. Not too many things were broken, and after about 2 hours of intensive cleaning and organizing, my house is almost back to normal. It’ll take a week or so until I get everything aired out, clean, and back to how I usually have it. But it was all worth it.

Yesterday I went back to work, I had a meeting with Despertai (my one community based organization) where one of the doctors from the hospital came to talk about a project we are trying to start, working in tandem with community organizations, I was also able to present our information from our agricultural seminar (the week spent in Manjacaze) and we all made plans for the months future – health workshops to be given in local schools, our gardening project, finishing our office building etc. it was a very productive meeting.

The rest of the day I stayed in bed –feeling a bit under the weather (all of the stress finally caught up to me) – with movies, and my puppy dog.

Lua is continuing to thrive, no fleas, worms or any sort of bad stuff that I can tell. We have fallen into a good routine I think, and I am planning to take her to a vet in the near future, to get her vaccinated, and talk about when I can come back for the rabies vaccine.

Anywho . . . . I suppose that’s all for now.

I’ve loved getting emails and updates from home. X’s and O’s always

tay