Week at the beach

Was a fabulous break! We had our first In Service Training this week and it was wonderful. Not only did I get to spend time with all the other Moz 14 teachers in the Southern region, but we stayed on the beach and got at least a little sun time each day. And this training came at the perfect time. We were all able to swap stories and share experiences and ideas. I’m really excited to get back into the swing of school and get my students whipped into shape. I have a few great turmas and many great students, I just have to get them a bit more motivated and I think they’ll make my life a bit easier and more enjoyable. Anyways, the conference was great. I missed my fellow volunteers a lot. And I can’t believe I’ve already been at site alone for over three months! This weekend makes 6 months that I’m been gone from home. Crazy. Time is flying. I’m sure I’ve said this many times, but I can’t stress it enough- life is an emotional rollercoaster here. Each day I go from sad to excited, to lonely, to loved, to bored, to frustrated, to confused, to proud, and on and on… It makes the days longer than I care to acknowledge at the moment, but time really is going by pretty fast. And I’m getting my girls group up and running this week. They had their first meeting this past weekend, but because I wasn’t here I’m not really sure what happened, if they even had it. Either way, I’m looking forward to get the ball rolling, and get things ready for the conference that’s coming up in a few weeks.

I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I got back into the swing of life after spending a week on the beach. I think the only real problem I’ve run into so far is my withdrawals from air conditioning. It’s brutal going from a fabulously cool hotel room to a 35 degree room with no circulation. Eeepa! Well, the kids missed me while I was gone- I came home to a porch full of them again today. And Lucy is getting so big! She’s starting to actually look like a cat and just a baby. She loves cheese- it’s like cat nip for her. Ridiculous. She still refuses to eat unless it’s off of my plate, and when she got my cheese today she went nuts. I think she successfully knocked everything off of every surface possible, including leftovers, a few knives, some books, etc. She’s currently hanging from my fan, rotating, and biting at the wind. She’s yet to notice the praying mantis or the lizards on the wall. She was playing with an ant a few minutes ago, but her favorites are still cockroaches. She bats them around for a bit, flips them over, watches them squirm, usually walks away for a bit so I can accidentally step on it, then she’ll carry it around her mouth for a while, showing off, before she eats it. What a kitty.

Well, I’m off to bed. I’m officially starting my training for our adventure run, happening in June. Several volunteers, myself included obviously, are planning a 35km run between two volunteer sites. So far I think there are 6 people of so, probably more. I can only imagine how funny we’re going to look- a heard of mulungos running on the site of the highway- epic. I’ll make sure we have a photographer in the group.