guess who's on vacation?

Hey there, Hi there, Ho there –

Last time I left off, it was the weekend between site identification/development visits, round three. I am very happy to say that they finished up well, and Zambezia Province will be receiving volunteers in many different sites, that are prepared and expectant!

I’m really excited to see how the change of the program goes for the new trainees. I really do like the idea of getting to see your permanent site while in training, to get a general idea about where you are going to live, the feel of the town, the work environment etc . . .and am loving the new policy of hosting them with a local family for this time, to give them another resource and friend for when they return to live the two years. However . . . this is a very big change. One that I feel we are sort of pulling together last minute. Fortunately things are falling into place, but there have been many road bumps along the way, forcing us to find alternative routes  - - I’m laughing at this, because the literal roads I was on to get to and from these sites were incredibly horrible and bumpy and often times we did have to four-wheel it through fields, finding our alternative route. Haha how ironic.

This past Sunday, I climbed aboard a bus (greyhound in style), and proceeded to travel for 25-26 hours down the country on the national road, to get to Maputo. We left Quelimane around 2am, and got into Maputo between 2-3am on Monday morning. . . yes, it was a very long day. And that is a fuckload of time to be sitting on a bus. Legs cramped, feet became swollen, water consumption was kept to a minimum to avoid the full bladder issues, and food was limited to crackers and peanut butter, with fruit to go with. Not the fanciest or nicest way to travel, but in all honesty, it wasn’t horrible, and I have had MUCH worse in this country. Perhaps I’ve just become accustomed to many hours on the road, who knows.

Monday was spent with some friends here in the city, I treated myself to some capulanas, we had lunch at a nice outdoor spot for cheap, and I spent the evening hanging out and catching up with them. Naturally, I fell asleep pretty early, and awoke yesterday to come to the Peace Corps office where I’ve been happily downloading new software for my computer, updating things for graduate school, trying to find internships/part time jobs for the fall as well, and getting my life sort of ‘organized’. 

working hard at the office 

some of my new capulana purchases

The reason for my travels? Bushfire music festival!!!  The lineup can be found here - http://www.bush-fire.com/article/view/2015_line_up  and I will be traveling there early Friday morning with some friends. I brought my tent and sleeping bag, and am really looking forward to a new stamp on the passport, some great music, time with friends, and a much needed vacation from my daily life in Moz.

Xo to you all

Your friend in the big city

on the road again

Sunday Funday!

Taking the day to catch up on some emails, do laundry, clean the house, and just take it easy.

I was out on the road all of last week, doing the last round of site identification/development visits, which will continue next week as well. Osvaldo and I got a lot of great work done – identifying homestay families for the volunteers while they do their three-week at site integration during training, locating permanent houses for the volunteers for their two-year contract, and defining the job description/role that the volunteer will serve at each site.

It is a lot of work, and most days its absolutely exhausting, especially when driving on bumpy dirt roads - - and essentially having the same conversation over and over again at the different sites . . . BUT, it gets me the heck out of Quelimane, I have been privy to some beautiful sights, and have been fortunate enough to meet some really lovely people. One of the coolest things is that with this work for Peace Corps, I have been working alongside a counterpart as well who is Mozambican and it keeps the 'being in mozambique' thing going for me.

The pre-service training of this new group is changing from what it was for me (10 weeks in Namaacha with the homestay family) to a 6 week start in Namaacha, then 3 weeks at their site (living with a homestay family as well) then back to Namaacha for the last 4 weeks of more technical training. The newbie’s are already in country, having arrived May 1^st. They go to their sites on June 10-12 so we are all in crunch mode to get things prepared and settled.

I’m actually staying with the homestay families when possible during these visits, and have a fantastic story to share with you all from the family in Alto Malocue;

We pull up alongside a typical Mozambique house, with an outdoor seating area, similar to that of a gazebo, and are greeted by the family. Having visited once before, we all sank into a more comfortable conversation that the basic introductions. The family is comprised of a loving mother, two twin daughters (age 18) and a son (age 21). The afternoon is spent preparing dinner, a quick walk around town, and the mom showing me off to all of her neighbors and neighborhood leader - - I had forgotten what it was like to be an adopted daughter of a homestay family.

Evening rolls around, and we are all settled inside the house, eating (unfortunately what was a disgusting dinner), and watching “how to train your dragon” in Portuguese on my computer. All in all, a very relaxing and non-awkward evening. . . Or so I thought it was to be. Sleep time came, and everyone went to their respective rooms. The mom turned to me and said “Daughter, you may have my bed”  . . not wanting to rob this woman of her own bed, I insisted that I sleep on the floor, like I had in other homes during our trip – she instantly declined that option. So to come to an agreement (because I was very tired at this point) I said “why don't we just share your bed”, and so it was.

I can now chalk that up as a life experience in Mozambique. Sharing a bed, or rather, a mat on the floor, with a random Mozambican mother. We essentially had to spoon because the sleeping pad was so small, and as we laid together under the mosquito net, with her small flashlight on her phone lit to give us a bit of light – we had some lovely chats, and I began to feel more at ease. It was one of the most awkward and adorable experiences I may have had in a long time here. . . unfortunately I did not sleep all that well, because of a snoring issue from the other side of the mat hahaha, however, it was incredibly generous of her to accept my request of sharing.

That experience, reminded me of just how open and generous some people in this country are to complete and total strangers.

This upcoming week will find me doing the same work, back on the road until Friday. Returning to Quelimane only for a day- because Sunday the 24^th starts my trip to the SOUTH! That's right kiddies, I bought my bus ticket already, and have my mini-countdown going for these next 7 days until I’m back in Maputo.

My plan is to hang out in the capital city for a few days with my friends there, using the free internet at the Peace Corps office, etc. . .then Swaziland for the Bushfire Music Festival, and then a week in Quissico on my way back north. . maybe going to Tofo beach one last time as well. Its about time I had some sun and sand in my life. Anxiously awaiting the day when I can see my friends!

With that, I’ll leave you with some beautiful photos from the road this past week.

xo

one of those, life changing, sunsets

the mountains and tea fields of gurue

oh, the places i'll go