Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Leaping in Moz



Scooter Eric and Anna

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Good day

Yesterday I received three phone calls from three different REDES girls!!! All three of them had been my students as well as members of my REDES group in Hokwe. It was so good to hear thier voices! They just wanted to call to say hi, to hear my voice, and let me know they were thinking of me. I miss them so much sometimes.

I traveled up to Gaza province to do some work and passes by Macia, somewhere I always used to either visit or pass through- I haven't been up here in months! A lot of feelings came rushing back. I thought about going back to Hokwe to visit my students, REDES girls, and my family, but turns out I didn't really have the time this trip. I'm hoping next week.

Another AWESOME highlight from today was running into one of my former students! Nando was one of the first people I met when I first got to Hokwe- he helped me carry in my bags, showed me the market and the school (even though both were pretty obvious), and would come sit and talk with me on my porch. Well, I was sitting outside at a restaurant in Xai Xai and he happened to be walking by. I hear "nao e! Nao e!!! Mana Ana I thought you left! What are you dong here? I haven't seen you in so long!" He ran up to me with a hug, and we caught up for a few minutes. He left my town after he graduated 12th grade and got a job working in Xai Xai, a decent sized city on the EN1. His son and wife, both of whom I loved spending time with, weren't around, but I'm hoping to see them next time I pass through.

A great day overall

Monday, February 27, 2012

Pets

Although our only original pet is Amenduim, our loveable yet so annoyingly-starved-for-attention dog, we've accuired a few other pets. Hector is our electronic butterfly who lives in a jar (thank you Will!) and Helen is his real life friend who visits. KD (short for Komodo Dragon) is our GIANT lizard. He hides behind different posters on the wall during the day and comes out in the evenings. The other day he pumped into our full length mirror propped against the wall- almost knocked it over. He's enormous. He has two friends that are also giant but they don't have names yet... And then there's Sheldon and Amy, our two frogs. They typically sleep/hang out in my room in the day and jump around the house at night. Best part- Amenduim is scared on them! Whenever he sees them he'll try to avoid looking right at them, pretending they're not there. Their favorite place to hang out- Amenduim's water dish.

Snake in the bathroom



Really, I think it's one of the last places I'd like to run into a snake. Thankfully it wasn't me who discovered him, but Scooter. We had a few fellow PCVs come stay with us in Namaacha this weekend- which was fantastic!- and yesterday evening, as we're all getting ready for bed, we heard Scooter screeching from outside "COBRA! COBRA! CORBA!" I grabbed the dog, who thankfully hadn't noticed the snake yet, and one of the boys grabbed the broom. The snake wasn't very big- a couple feet long and a nickle/quarter in width-ish- but it was bright yellow with black stripes which threw us off. Poisonous, maybe? Anyways, Scooter stayed as far from it as possible, and rather than kill it, the boys decided to play with it and piss it off, so it was hissing. When it started crawling up the wall toward it's freedom I grabbed the broom and whacked it a few times. Maybe a few too many- but I wasn't taking chances it would slither away.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Typical Morning

So nowadays, the typical morning for Ms. Tremaine goes something like this- wake up, go for a run, do a workout video, carte water, do dishes, make breakfast, watch an episode of community or how i met your mother, take a shower (aka bucket bath), play with Amenduim, walk 15 mins to work, sit here and wait for something to happen. Mind you, this all happens before 9am.

Not too much is happening on the work front as of yet- still settling into what I should be doing, trying to get a few projects working. Scooter has been gone in Senegal for the last two weeks and I really need her to get back here and motivate me. After my eventful morning, I get home around noon and sit around until I go to bed at 8pm. I've read a lot of books though- I guess that's a highlight :)