~starting over~

Year 3- Quelimane

Hello all! It has been a very long time since I’ve posted a blog, and for this I apologize – however my life has been a bit crazy as of late, and because of this communication on my end has been a bit faulty.

I am officially moved in to my apartment here in Quelimane, Zambezia Province. It is in a safe, and relatively quiet corner of the town, the building itself only 3 stories tall and overlooks a big square (where I hear that the Carnival celebration happens). I live on the 2^nd floor; the first is shops and a bar (convenient, right?) and there are 4 apartments that share my hallway. It is a veryyy spacious place, high ceilings, big doors, etc. My old home in Quissico could probably fit inside it three times over. I’m not sure how much I love it just yet, to be honest. It's a bit dark, and dingy, a bit shabbier than it is chique. Little by little I am adding homey touches to it, and am doing my best on the Peace Corps budget to make it home. There was just no instant love like I felt for my home in Quissico – that little grass hut will always have a special place in my heart.

Life in Quelimane is vastly different than life in Quissico as well. Because it is a big city, things like bonding with your neighbors, having a tomato lady in the market, being known around town –are much harder. There are benefits to living in the city; supermarkets where I can buy just about anything, a big central market that has all sorts of fresh produce all the time, lots of movement, and fun social activities to do, so that's a plus. I just haven’t really met enough people yet to go out and enjoy things, and some of the fun activities do cost a decent amount of money (live concerts and such). I also don't have the loving comfort of Lua, I knew that I depended on the furry creature to keep me sane, and for company, I just didn't realize how much- until I found myself sitting in my house alone yesterday, staring at a wall haha.

This past weekend I played host to quite a few PCV’s, and on Saturday I helped out with the provincial science fair, a secondary project started by Peace Corps. It was really a neat experience, seeing what high school kids do for science experiments here. I was happy to see that some of the classics were present; light bulbs powered by lemons, remote controlled planes, making glue from styrofoam and gasoline etc. It was a long day, and at points stressful for the PCV who was running it, but overall I think it was a great success, and I’m happy that I had the opportunity to participate.

Anyway.... on the work aspect, I think things are going well - I had a very productive conversation with my contact at the CDC last Friday about where we are with the GAAC toolkit, and we are working to hopefully have it all completed by the end of the month. I want to try and present it to the Ministry of Health when they come to Zambezia province next week.

My work at ICAP is a bit more complicated … I am trying to schedule a meeting with people some time this week to finalize my job descriptions. However it is a busy time (closing of the fiscal year etc) and I think that my arrival has been put on the back burner. Not a bad thing, but just how it is. So I’m just sitting in the office with the team here, writing this blog to you all.

I have yet to return to the DPS (provincial department of health) where I will be working with the community outreach/linkage programs. The timing hasn't been right, with hosting PCV’s, trying to get work done with ICAP, the GAAC Toolkit, and moving into my house… plus this past weekend was a holiday weekend… so hopefully sometime this week I will get back there. I don’t know if I should go alone and just try to meet with my contact there (she hasn’t been very responsive to my communication attempts) or if I should ask someone from ICAP to accompany me there again. I will try to get in touch with.

So, I suppose all in all - its starting off slow, and I'm a bit disappointed with some things, and very stressed out about others, but know that the trick to life here in Moz is patience. I am going through some pretty big life changes, and just trying to keep it all in order, and keep my head up looking forward.