Ever Been In Two Places At Once?

Hello everyone! Hope all is well wherever you are!

Ok....so I made the commitment to wake up at 2:30am this morning and go on a hike at 3am with some friends. We were headed to the mountains to check out the Swazi/Moz/South Africa border. Did I mention we left at 3am?!?! I went with 4 other people. It was dark and dreary. On our way out of town we picked up a dog that followed us the whole way. We decided he was going to be our protector and keep the snakes away...and the bandidos (bandits) away...Oh yeah, we left at 3AM!!!!!! It was super dark and scary, actually but exciting too. I had one of those surreal moments once I got to my stopping point. I sat my butt on a rock and just took it all in. I was sitting on a mountain in Mozambique, Africa. I also made a point to stick my hand through the fence into Swaziland to say I was in two places at once. Beat that Mandy Moore (movie reference to A Walk to Remember)! We actually made it up without falling, which was a feat because it was crazy terrain and dark. On the way down I went to walk through a rocky area with water and wiped out and had to walk home with a wet butt. The group I was with was super funny. We laugh a lot together and can be inappropriately comfortable together. Once we got back on the main road we were amazed at what we were seeing around us because, like I said, on the way up it was dark. We saw this cool grove of trees off the road so we went to check those out. They were great climbing trees! It was a really great experience and glad I woke up early to do it.

This weekend we also worked on a mural. It is at our training office and is sooooooooooo cool! Check out the pics! We only have a little over a week left of training. I can't wait. Next Saturday, I will be giving a speech in Portuguese in front of everyone (Peace Corps staff, family, colleagues, etc.). I am super nervous! I was also elected to be the north representative for the volunteer advisory committee (VAC). I will be working with the country director in making sure the sites in the north are running well. We shall see how that goes. I am looking forward to the opportunity.

Check out the pics!

Under Arrest...House Arrest That Is...

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing well. Shout out to my home state Illinois! I hope those affected by the tornadoes are doing well and have began the healing and recovery process.

Today we are under house arrest and on standby until Sunday for possibility of evacuation. Today the Mozambican municipal elections are being held so there is some tension amongst the country. We are pretty safe in Namaacha but you never know. The world is a crazy place. I am not a fan of wikipedia but here is some info on the political parties (you can do further research if interested :)). I finally received my package my parents sent me about 5-6 weeks ago. It had oreos, which ended up being perfect timing since I am stuck at home today. I took more capulanas to the modista yesterday! I am getting a tunic and dress done. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

We are being sworn in as volunteers in 13 days!!!!! Time is flying. We all are packing our things up to be shipped out this weekend. It is going to be bittersweet. I love my family here and am going to miss them a lot. I am also having some anxiety about being apart from everyone but also about starting my actual service. We are having a big celebration next weekend with our families!

We started teaching this week. I taught my first chemistry on Monday. I was super nervous but ended up having fun. I introduced the kids to acids and we ended up juggling acidic fruit and doing an acid crossword puzzle I had made. I teach again on Friday and then again next Tuesday.

Check out my other pages and also this neat page!

Liupo, Nampula here I come!

I had a big week last week! First off, I had a great experience visiting an orphanage! It was heartbreaking and uplifting all at once. A majority of the kids have no parents or family members and others were just abandoned. They all have a great spirit though and were so much fun. We played games, sang and danced. It really was a good time despite the circumstances. On Thursday we found out where we will all be living at for the next two years...it was the longest day of my life. I will be living in Liupo, Nampula with one other volunteer. It is northern Mozambique about 45-60 minutes from the beach. We are actually opening up a site which is pretty cool. The community leader is a woman which is also really cool because gender roles here are much different than in the states. Members of the community actually built the house we will be living in. I have a feeling it is going to be a really special experience. My Portuguese is coming along. I will be teaching 3 chemistry lessons in the coming two weeks which I am super nervous about. I am working through an ear ache at the moment. Only 2 more weeks of training...I uploaded new pics! Check them out!

Site Visits and More!!!

Ola as pessoas festas! Not sure if that translates right but what I want to say is, "Hello party people!" I am finishing up my 6th week of training...4 more to go! Time is flying by now. I haven't been up to too much. Still working on my Portuguese and lesson planning. Last Saturday I had a cooking day with my mae. It was great! She makes some really good dishes! Cooking takes all day...literally. We started to make lunch around 10am and finished it at about 12:30pm. Then we did dishes and chatted for a bit then started on dinner around 3pm. We finally sat down to eat around 7:30pm. It was exhausting. The women here are super hard workers. They go nonstop all day long. It is exhausting to watch. During our relaxing time after lunch we sat out on the veranda with my mae's brother, Castro. He is my English buddy and I really enjoy hanging out with him. We were watching kids play and called some of them over. They were pulling each other on a water jug. I wanted to give it a whirl, thinking there was no way they were going to be strong enough to drag me. Boy was I wrong! We got pics and videos so I will upload them when I can. I did laundry last weekend too. One of my least favorite activities. It is a workout!

Sunday we all left for site visits. I went to Inharrime, Inhambane with a colleague. We had met the volunteer there 2 weeks ago when she came to help out with training. I had a blast getting to see what a site is like. We interacted with the locals, helped proctor exams at the secondary school, played pool with some locals, ate some delicious food, cooked breakfast for dinner, ate mangoes right from the tree, almost got eaten by a spider, etc. etc. etc. It was a great time and it got me excited. The trip also made me realize how much I have to learn in Portuguese, but my hopes are high for being pretty fluent by the end of my two years.

Other than that, not much is going on. Check out my other pages for updates. I usually update them a little more frequently than my actual posts. Thanks for all your support!