Let Talk about Sex

Tonight I was able to participate in Mike's REDES meeting. There were just over 20 girls, all motivated to talk and learn about HIV transmission risks (the session planned for the night). It was probably a good thing I was there, because even though Mike has a female counterpart that helps lead the sessions, this sessions led into oh so many questions about sex.  Talking about sex is SO taboo here- there's no sex ed in schools, parents don't talk about it with their kids, so even the basics get lost.  I believe Mozambique is still of the mentality "If we don't talk about it, it won't happen." Yeah, that's why the HIV rate is as high as 26% in some districts here... Anyways, back to the meeting.  I think having me in the room really let the girls feel comfortable to ask just about anything- not only am I a woman and someone who is informed about sex and HIV transmission, but I’m also a stranger that they could ask embarrassing questions and never have to see again.  So they let loose.  I was proud of them- it’s not easy.  I was even more proud that once boys showed up outside the door snickering at words I’d written on the board (penis, vagina, semen, anal sex- you know, the basics), the girls ignored them and kept on asking questions.  If only a few girls learned a few new things, I’d consider that it a successful day. 

JUNTOS

After spending an afternoon reading and catching up on documentation of my business trip, I traveled out to Mangunde, yet another site with no organized transport in the middle of nowhere.  Like Mandy, these guys live on the school grounds so there is always something going on.  I can see that getting tiresome, but it's AMAZING for secondary projects like JUNTOS and REDES.

I went to two JUNTOS meetings.  The first was a theatre group creating and practicing a piece for an exchange they're having this weekend.  There had to be at least 25 kids in the room, and they all helped with the creation of the story, even though only about 10 of them would get to perform.  After only an hour and a half they had a pretty solid piece- I was impressed.  The second group was working on creating songs for an upcoming meeting.   They were singing in Portuguese and Endow, the local language in this area, so that they can use these songs to take into the communities to teach lessons about health issues.  I'm not a singer, not even a bit, so I really admire the way they can sing as a group, letting one person start a tune, others fall in, harmonizing, and just going and going, adding verses. It's like when I first heard the 11th and 12th graders in Hokwe harmonizing during the national anthem.  Where do they learn that?  They sound fantastic! Of course, not ALL the time, but a large majority.  Then they added dancing on top of the singing- I loved it.

Just Another Sunday Night

Mac is a 6'4" blonde hair blue eyed giant.  Tonight, he put on some Richard Simmons shorts, a cropped mesh tank top, aviators, and a baseball hat, took his music to the girls dorm, and started an aerobics dance party.  It started a few weeks ago, the girls got super into it, so now every Saturday and Sunday night they have a dance party, which is also good for their health. And awesome to watch. (PS drumming I heard last night- they imrpovised their own music because Mac was out of town.)

 

I love their huge smiles!!



REDES Troca

I spent an afternoon and evening in Nova Mambone, which was beautiful. It's about 50km off the EN1 with little huts scattered along the road and open fields, and just has a completely calm and comfortable feeling. The school I visited was very new and quite beautiful (Kate has benches situated under mango trees just out her back door. I have no idea how she makes it to class instead of camping out there with a book all day.) I was able to watch her English theater practice which was hilarious! Her students got so into it, improvising and acting with their whole bodies (very rarely do I see that here), and their English was pretty fantastic.


This morning, we brought a group of 4 girls to Machungue for a REDES troca. We first caught a chapa into town, walked 20 minutes to the Rio Save, took a canoe made from a hallowed out tree across the river, trekked through the mud, walked 30 more minutes, and finally arrived at Micah's school, situated on a mission. (Let me now point out that it's about 1030am which is hot with the sun beating down, I'm covered in mud from mid-calf down, and I have by two bags weighing about 80lbs on me. I'm getting tougher.) Ok- enough about me- the REDES troca involved 4 of Kate's girls, 9 of Micah's girls, and 5 girls who live about 20 minutes down the road. We started by introducing the topic of the day: How do you know if a boy will make a good boyfriend? A good boyfriend make a good husband? How can a man show he loves you? All of these questions and more we discussed all afternoon as we cooked. It was interesting to hear their thoughts. Many of the girls talked about respect and communication being important in relationships. Good. Several girls talked about not being able to trust men because none of them are faithful. Hmm. “All men cheat?” I asked. “Yes.” That made me depressed, that it is so culturally acceptable that men have wives but other women on the side. I've heard this before but still, I really feel for these girls. Also, it's a complete double standard. There's no way it's ok for a woman to have a husband and men on the side. We also talked about future plans: If your future plans do not line up with his, do you still marry him or try to find someone with similar life goals? This question seemed to confuse all of them. “Future goals? Like if I want to be a doctor and he wants to be a mechanic, should we still get married? Sure, as long as we respect each others jobs.” Of course that's not at all what I was trying to get at, but the concept of future plans is not something that many people think of or maybe even understand. Again, something I've heard before, but there must be something about hearing it from girls I've never talked to before and from a completely different region of the country that hit me hard. We continued talking all throughout lunch, sharing stories and whatnot, and then two of the three groups put on skits about women's rights and the importance of taking care of your body, because it's YOURS and nobody else's. I love hearing girls take like that :)

So I'm currently sitting in Micah's house, listening to a drum circle happening just outside his house with kids dancing and singing. I think I'm going to go check this out...

Turns out it was a dance party going on at the girls dorm. Something they typically do each weekend, break out the drums and break it down for an hour or so before dinner. Seemed pretty great to me :)

Mabote

I stayed in Makwakwa (such a fun name, right?!) for most of the day, hanging out with the kids of the school, talking to Mandy, and getting a feel for how things are run there. I went out to the road to catch a ride back 14km to Julie's site, and we waited about an hour or so (surprisingly short amount of time). I may or may not have ridden a motorcycle, and if I had (which I'm not saying I did) it would've been my first in Mozambique. Once with Julie in Mabote we wandered about, went out to eat where we were able to charge our phones and computers (she has no electricity), and talk about PC.


In the morning I went for a run through the bush: it was awesome. It was a dirt path leading to nowhere, with thick forest on either side of me, super misty and cool, and I felt like I was in the middle of nowhere, all alone.

After my run, I met her counterpart Castilo, who she works with on FUEMO (Future business leaders of Mozambique) and her English class. He is about my age, a 12th grade grad, working to open a shop but coming up shorthanded. He speaks great English but wants to continue studying, and he's currently writing a business proposal to turn in to FUEMO to try and receive money to open his shop. I spoke to him alone for awhile and he raved about how much help Julie has been. Working with someone with a different point of view as well as a strong drive to make things happen has really opened doors for him, as well as opened up his way of thinking. It has been so great to meet people changed by PCVs!

My trip out of town was about as easy as my trip in- not easy at all. I waited for almost 3 hours with ZERO cars going by, but finally got in a truck. Which broke down 4 times. Thankfully people passed us on the road to help jump-start the car, and everything worked out perfectly fine, but that was not somewhere I wanted to be stranded.

Amazing Stories from Students

I met one of Mandy's students, and he told me about the amazing impact she's had on his life. She went to Chimoio to go hiking last year and when she came back with pictures he became so curious and motivated to travel. Earlier this year, she went back again, and this time took him along. He told me what an experience it was, to see a different part of the country and to take a journey he said he never thought he had the courage to take. He said she showed him to never underestimate himself, that he is much more independent and capable than he'd thought, and to keep trying to pushing himself because there is so much out there to see and do.


Another of Mandy's students from the sewing club, a boy, said Mandy had opened his eyes as well. He told me, “I asked Teacher Mandy to sew my uniform back together so I could wear it to school. She said 'absolutely not! You're going to learn how to do it yourself.'” I asked the boy if it was easy- “So easy! And it sort of made me realize that there are a lot of little easy things I can do that I had never really thought about. I'm going to keep trying new things- I like it.” Mandy, you're AMAZING!!!

The Journey Begins!!

My first stop was a town just a few hundred km from Vil, so I allowed myself more than 10 hours to get there, assuming that was more than enough. Well, I got to Mapenhane around 830am to wait for a ride into Mabote, which is 120km off the EN1 (and Mapenhane) down a dirt road. I waited until 1130 before a car even drove by. I asked to catch a ride, and they thankfully said yes, placing me on the back of a loaded up truck. I was with about 8 other Mozambicans. We stopped several times on the trip to unload things from the truck. And every time we stopped, practically the whole town would come to meet the truck. The people I was traveling with were coming from South Africa where they had bought things (table and chairs, bikes, buckets, clothes, food, etc) for people in the town. Not only did they bring things, they brought a Molungo!!! All the kids in the town would stare at me, talk about me, and try to touch me, like I might be a ghost. The old drunk men in town would also try to talk to me. Of course by now I'm used to people staring at me, and this journey I was so excited to see these little tiny towns that I didn't actually mind the staring and touching. It was so cool to see the faces of the traveler's families and the kids light up as they saw things being loaded off the truck.


Well, I finally got to Mabote at about 5pm. However this was not my last stop. Julie (the PCV in the town) and Angela (visiting PCV) came to meet me and walk me to the best place to catch a ride. Once we realized there was NO way I was catching a ride before nightfall, we started walking through town looking for someone I could pay to take me the 14km to Makwakwa, Mandy's site. We finally found a car that was (in a round about way) going to Makwakwa and so I jumped in. Driving out, it looked so stereotypical Africa to me, it was spectacular, with the red and orange sky setting over giant trees as we drove through the forest on a sandy path.

Mandy lives on the school grounds, so as we waiting for the power to come on (the school gets roughly three hours in the mornings and three hours at night), I met several of her students and asked about her projects. A bit later I went with her to her sewing club. I was so tickled when the first two students walked in, grabbed their things, and started sewing. They were both boys. More students came throughout the next hour, and I met about 20 kids and talked to them about sewing and their basketball team (separate groups that Mandy leads). One girl noticed the REDES shirt I was wearing, commented that she LOVES REDES and really wants to participate again (she did when she lived in Maxixe 3 years ago) and how can she get involved. I was SO happy to hear that she has such a good experience and wants to continue.

I finally crawled into bed at about 1030 and, I'm embarrassed to say, fell asleep mid sentence while talking to Mandy. Of course she forgave me, but what an exhausting first day of my trip!! I'm hoping this gets easier.

Site Visits

So, as part of my third year position in PC (Youth Project Coordinator), I'm conducting a three week site visit trip through central Mozambique.  I'll visit as many volunteers as possible, mostly those PCVs that live in the middle of nowhere (which is most of them), talk to them about their projects, challenges they're facing, and giving advice/information when I can.  I'm also going to talk to counterparts, colleagues, students, and as many projects participants (kids who do REDES, English Theater, JUNTOS, etc) as possible.  I only have 3 weeks to cover thousands of kilometers, but I'm ready.  I'm excited to see new parts of the country, the differences between sites, and talk to Mozambicans about the impacts of Peace Corps on their lives.

Kill the Mosquitos!!!

When I got home from a weekend in Inhambane at a REDES Training of Trainers workshop, Scooter was waiting with a blue paper-mâché moquito, full of coins and candy.  We rounded  up as many kids from the neighborhood as possible (surprisingly it was only like 15 kids) and Scooter set off to talk to them about malaria.  She talked about what it is, how it's transmitted, and how we can protect ourselves.  Most of the kids were pretty little and just stared at her and me, but a few of them got really into it and answered the questions.  Then came the destruction of the pinata.  They did surprisingly well!!! I was CONVINCED I was going to get beaten by the stick- kids missing the mosquito, getting a little too into it- but it went really well.  The older kids were helping the little babies swing the stick, they all took turns, and everyone got at least one good swing in.  I was quizzing the kids the entire time, and even if the little ones didn't understand what they were saying, they started repeating what we were saying.  It was really cute.  Once the mosquito busted it was a MAD rush for the candy! But again, the big kids helped the little ones, giving them candy.  As much trouble as those kids give us on a daily basis, this activity was pretty fantastic and it totally made my day. 

Every Child Deserves a Fifth Birthday

April is Blog About Malaria Month (BAMM 2012)!!!



So much focus is put on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention here in sub-Saharan Africa, which of course is beneficial, yet malaria awareness and prevention is grossly overlooked. 29% of deaths in Mozambique are from malaria, and 42% of deaths in children under the age of five are from malaria. 42%!!!! Although many Mozambicans can tell you “use a mosquito net” or “clear away standing water”, they do not really understand why we do these things. When I was teaching, I spent many lessons talking about malaria, how it’s transmitted, and how we can protect ourselves. Although my students could answer questions correctly (most of the time), they could never answer the why. Can you?

SLEEP UNDER A MOSQUITO NET! The virus is transmitted solely through mosquito bites from a particular type of mosquito, the anopheles mosquito. These mosquitoes are most active at night, between the hours of 6pm and 6am, although they DO bite during the day (it’s just not as common). This is why sleeping under a mosquito net is so important- if a hungry mosquito who hasn’t eaten all day comes across a warm, sleeping, unsuspecting body, she is most likely to not only bite once but as many times as she can until her belly is full. This increases the probability of contracting malaria, having multiple bites.

CLEAR ANY STANDING WATER! Anopheles mosquitoes lay their eggs on standing water, be it a lake, puddle, bucket of water, etc. These eggs turn into larvae, which then must live in water for between 7 to 14 days. Without this time to gestate, obviously the mosquito cannot grow and therefore cannot grow up to bite people, spreading malaria.

GET TREATED IMMEDIATELY! FYI, this is a very basic and not at all thorough description of the malaria lifecycle, but it gets my point across. When someone contracts malaria, the malaria parasite enters the bloodstream, travels to the liver and reproduces, infecting tens of thousands of cells in the liver. After 5-16 days, the parasite then reenters the bloodstream, continuing to multiply and infect cells. (This is when a person can become ill- a week to two weeks after being bit by a mosquito.) The host’s blood is now full of malaria infected cells. When this host is bit, the mosquito becomes infected with malaria, transforming the parasite yet again inside its body (which takes another 8-15 days). The infected mosquito will then bite and infect more people, completing the cycle. So- malaria medications kill the malaria parasites within the body, usually within two to three days. If you take medication at the FIRST sign of malarial symptoms, you can cut the life cycle of malaria and prevent mosquitoes from passing the virus from you to another person.

USE REPELLANT! Because anopheles are most active at night, if you plan to be outside of your mosquito net after 7pm, use repellant. Need I say more?

SPRAY INSECTICIDES! Insecticide sprayed bed nets and clothing is an excellent idea for daily use. However, spraying insecticides like DDT is an effort that must be undertaken on a very large scale. Anopheles mosquitoes can travel up to two miles to feed. This means that even if you spray the walls of your house, mosquitoes from the neighborhood over and still travel to your house and infect you. Yet, mosquitoes must rest on the wall after feeding to digest the blood and excrete all excess weight they put on through feeding so they can fly home. If walls are sprayed, mosquitoes cannot land and therefore die before making it home. (You may still get infected with malaria, but at least the mosquito can’t pass it on again.) That said, with widespread spraying campaigns, malaria can be eradicated if everyone in the surrounding area participates and maintains other prevention techniques as well.

If you are traveling to a malarial zone, TAKE MALARIA PROPHYLAXIS! People who grew up in a malarial zone (like Mozambique) have an immunity built up in their blood. This means although they can still contract malaria, it is more difficult. Immunity takes several years to develop, leaving children under the age of five still very vulnerable to malaria, as well as pregnant women (who lose their immunity during pregnancy), and people with HIV/AIDS. Since most countries in the world eradicated malaria years ago, we do not have immunity, meaning we need preventative medications.

World Malaria Day is coming up on April 25th. In order for cases of malaria to decrease and more children to live to see their fifth birthday, we need to teach all of this information, to make sure people are listening, and to understand not only what malaria is but why we take the prevention measures we do. Every child deserves a fifth birthday.

How Will You Stomp Out Malaria in 2012?

Sad Day

When we came home from our weekend away, Shezi was laying on his blanket but no longer alive. We're not sure how or when it happened. He may have only been in our lives a few weeks but he is already greatly missed.

Malaria Awareness Month

Random Run-in

Last weekend, after a dance party on a roof in downtown Maputo and then a dramatic downpour of rain, we (myself and several other PCVs) got a ride home from a friend of Ali’s. His passenger in the front turns around and looks at me, says “You’re Anna, from Namaacha right?” “Yes…..”
I respond, slightly taken aback. “I did your dreadlocks two years ago.” How random! It definitely took me by surprise. We talked about how long I had my dreads, why I no longer do, and the fact that we were on TV together last year. Strange end to an interesting and eventful evening.

Mini English Lesson

On my way home from work yesterday I ran into a young girl who approached me and asked if I could help her with her English homework. I explained to her that I would help her by explaining what she didn’t understand, not by writing her composition for her. She said she understood and still wanted to come by for help. It was so wonderful to sit and talk with her, someone who was motivated to learn and learn correct information. That sentiment seems to be lost on most people. Usually I don’t like to be singled out, but it was SO refreshing to be sought out by someone who genuinely wanted to learn, and someone I was able to help.

Frustration

I was so beyond upset yesterday after 2 things happened: 1) I came home and there were two children in our yard climbing a guava tree. I yelled at them to get down, but before I could unlock the gate and get to them, they jumped the fence and took off running. NONE of my neighbors helped me locate these kids and their parents, even thought EVERY single neighbor I have saw what was happening. 2) Two little boys were yelling and throwing rocks at Amenduim from my neighbor’s house and their mother was just sitting watching them, laughing, even after I told them to stop.

One thing I still can't come to grips with here is the apparent lack of parental guidance. Culturally, child rearing here is VERY different than I'm used to, and I recognize that, but still the fact that parents (let's be honest, mothers, because fathers are virtually non-existent here) don't seem to play much of a role in disciplining their children is difficult for me to get. After speaking to all of the women who live around our house, they all understand that we don’t appreciate their kids throwing rocks at our house and jumping into our yard when we’re not home. For the record, when it comes to school, many parents don’t see the importance of school so they do not monitor their child’s schooling- if s/he does their homework, passes each grade level, or even goes to school.) For me, it seems like a small thing to set boundaries, ie “go to school”, or “don’t throw rocks at the neighbor’s house/dog”. Instead the mothers act like they don’t see it. The 11pm screaming games they play just outside our house, the constant “Mulungo! Mulungo!” after I say “my name is not Mulungo, it’s Tia Ana”, turning off our water. They act like it’s not their job to control their kids, but isn’t it? At least to an extent? Then again, I don’t have kids…

Again, I understand that things are different here, and I’m sure the mothers care deeply for their kids, but I still can’t seem to get how often they turn the other way and act ignorant when I know they’re not. Is it because we’re the foreigners? Do they get away with all this with other people in the community?

Our water situation...

This is our bath bucket. This is the water that comes out of the hose in our yard, the water we’re using to bathe, cook, drink, clean, etc. A little ridiculous, is it not? Do I really feel cleaner AFTER taking a bath?

SHENZI!!!

Our new puppy, who was named after a hyena in The Lion King. We think he’s about 5 weeks? And absolutely adorable.


This is little Shenzi trying to eat the leftover pasta out of the pot. He got stuck on the wooden spoon a few times

St Patties!!!

A group of about 20 PCVs came to the beach in Xai Xai for a weekend of celebration. No, I’m not Irish but I can still enjoy St Patrick’s day! We wave surfed, threw the WaBoBa (WaterBouncyBall is our understanding. Scooter gave herself an enormous knot in her back from her 4hours of continuous play), soaked up some sun, ate green food, drank green beverages, and caught up with volunteers from all over the south. A great, festive weekend, and believe it or not, I even got some work done :)

Lemon and guava and mango OH MY!

I'm not used to having to many fruit trees in my yard! Guava, mango, papaya, lemon - It's wonderful- at any time of the day I can walk outside and grab a snack, or fresh juice to use in tea. I've been on a lemon kick lately- lemon juice goes in EVERYTHING!

Several of the neighbor kids come by just about every day to ask to pick from our "peara" tree (a guava tree from what I'm told). They know the drill- I come out, grab hold of Amenduim, open the gate, and the kids get one minute to gather as much fruit as possible. The second or third time they came to the house, I heard one little boy tell a girl "we only get one minute! move fast!" They fill their pockets, turn their shirts into bags, and hit up as many trees as posible. Yesterday there were three kids in a tree at once, grabbing at fruit, shaking branches. They're pretty amusing to watch.

Scooter and her Piri Piri

The other night, Scooter and I had a visitor, another PCV named Jonathon, so we decided to head to a bar and grab a beer and socialize a little. We all have a weakness for samussas (ESPECIALLY from this particular bar) so we were pretty excited when we saw they had them.

Scooter (to me in English): Oh look! They have samussas! we should get some.
Scooter (to the vendor in Portuguese): We'd like 3 beers. Do you have Piri Piri?
Two vendors look at each other but nobody says a word. You can see the wheels turning in the man's head- She wants hot sauce for her beers? Who is this crazy white lady? I'm not going to give it to her- that's just too weird.
He takes a few steps backwards, and continues to look at us, a look of disgust forming on his face, trying very hard not to answer our question.
At the same moment, Scooter and I realize she hadn't mentioned samussas to them, just to me, and we burst out laughing.
We clear up the confusion, asking for a plate full of samussas to accompany the piri piri, and both vendors let go of the breaths they'd been holding.
Female vendor: So you're not going to put piri piri in your beer? Ok, then yes, I think we have some.

We just keep seem to adding to the stereotype of "those crazy white people," trying to ruin our perfectly fine beers with hot sauce.

Fun times in 3 days

Favorite moments between Tues 7am until Thurs 6pm...
- visited 3 different PCVs, had two official meetings and visited 6 different towns.
- rode in 24 different vehicles
- saw a semi-truck with the windshield FULL of beanie babies
- a man's polo shirt with a dragon embroidered on the front
- was startled awake while sitting on the toilet, reaching for the TP, when a gecko who was sleeping inside the TP roll leapt onto my arm
- a MAN gave up his seat on a bus for a WOMAN with a baby. Unheard of
- 7th car (of 24)- whenever he hit the brakes, the music would stop
- 11th car (of 24)- as we talked about the horrible traffic I said, "It must be because it's lunch time, everyone is going somewhere." The driver, "oh no, lunch is at 12. It's only 11" While saying this, he points to the clock on the dash which reads 11:58.
- Made it to and from my bed in the time I had originally planned :)

Meetings

I was invited to a meeting with the Ministry of Science and Technology, along with representatives from all districts in Gaza and several professors. Important meeting. Very different from a meeting in the states.

1. We started an hour and a half late, because the boss-man was late;
2. People were STILL walking in late;
3. Boss-man (Minister of S and T) would answer his phone in mid sentence of talking to us;
4. The presenter was clueless to what he was presenting, like he hadn't practiced at all;
5. Boss-man in turn ripped the presenter apart, telling him "that's wrong" "change that" "research this". I'm sure he was right but the presenter never got more than 5 words in without being interrupted;
6. Invitees were asked to present (without being informed ahead of time). Turns out the invitee was yours truly- not sure it was the best presentation of my life, but I got through..
7. When wrapping up the meeting, each person (whether they want to or not) individually, must talk about the meeting- what they liked, learned, any feedback, questions, etc (note: this went on for an hour).

Several things-
-If the person before you, who has given feedback for +5 minutes, has mentioned everything you want to say, is it imperative that you repeat everything again? Almost word for word?
-Also, if you're going to make an annual calendar and plan events for January and February, it might be helpful to have the planning meeting BEFORE March. Just a thought.

Hokwe!!

Yesterday I went to visit my old site for the afternoon. It was amazing!!! I will admit, when I left back in November, I didn't have the best feelings about coming back to visit. Well, I was pleasantly surprised by what a great time I had. I got into town and went straight to the new house of my empregada, Cristina (the one with the two MOST ADORABLE kids on the planet). Eloite and Rafito were SOOOO excited to see me, they came running out of the bushes with their arms outstretched and lept onto me. For a few hours I talked with Cristina about how she's been doing, how Rafito has started school and LOVES doing homework, and trying to arrange a way for her to come visit me. And to eat with our tea, she bought me bread and bagias because she knows I love them so much :)

Next I went to visit my old house, where another teacher is now living, and all my old neighbor kids. They had about the same reaction- running towards me with outstretched arms. They followed me to the school where I was able to see so many of my old students, a few different teachers, and my director. So many of my students came up and gave me hugs- I'm assuming that means they have good memories of me rather than me yelling at them or giving them too much work ;)

I stopped by the store a used to visit on a daily basis to talk to Rafael- he was beside himself that I actually came back to say hi. Then I visited the parents of one of my REDES girls, to talk and eat and catch up on how they spent their holidays.

It was a wonderful trip- very rushed (I was only there about 4 hours) but for my first time back I think it was great. Next time I want to sit down with all my REDES girls and see how they're doing, help Cristina with her machamba, study with Rafito, and of course visit my adopted Moz family.

Also, a new record- in 4 hours I had tea 3 times, lunch twice, and got well over 100 hugs. Big morning!

Maputo

It's been a kinda crazy week- meetings in the city, traveling up to Gaza, finally getting some progress on work. Last night was a nice break from everything- we found a hole in the wall restaurant which was amazing! We had to walk through a courtyard and then through a random restuarant and ended up in what looked like a run down fair, with bumper cars and a ferris wheel. Where we ate was an authentic Korean place, where we cooked our our food at the table. It was amazing!! Me and Michelle, another PCV, were the only non-Asian diners at the place.
After dinner we went out and convinced the bumpercar attendent guy that it wasn't too late and he should let us drive around for awhile. It was a very awesome 3 minutes.

Now I'm headed back home, to finalize some work, spend some time with Amenduim, and try to keep our house from flooding. We've had 3 (or is it 4?) cyclones his Mozambique so far in the last few months- another is expected to hit tomorrow. I'm guessing for me that means no power, inability to leave my house due to the yard flooding, and bi-hourly water removel from my room and the kitchen. Should be a good time...

Rat-killing dog who's affraid of Frogs