Inhanbane

I decided to get out of site for a few days after all the stress from conselhos and the end of the trimester. I made the trek up to northern Inhanbane province, and even though I made the trip pretty fast, it took me about 12 hours on the road (not including the time it took to wait for rides). The first part of my journey was with Matt, who was on his way to the beach as well, but a bit further south than my destination. I made it up about halfway and stopped to stay the evening with Ann (a health volunteer, who I haven’t seen since parting ways in Swaziland). Not only was it WONDERFUL to finally spend time with her, I also got to see the new episode of GLEE! New to me at least- I’ve been deprived. Back on the road in the morning, and I made it to the beach at around 3pm. I met up with Tim who was also staying with Colin for the evening, and caught up a bit. And I thought I lived in the middle of nowhere! After hearing about Tim’s several hour boat rides, one-car-a-day in and out of his site, the 4 hours bike ride to the closest volunteer because there is no road… I feel like I live in the city in comparison. That evening, we had dinner with Gracey’s parents who were visiting. Gracey was busy for the evening so we were fortunate enough to be foster kids for the night. They were absolutely wonderful! I felt so at home with them, and had a fantastic meal of coconut curry crab. Unbeatable.
Lisa came the next day! A group of volunteers from all over were there for a PC conference, so I stuck around with them and caught up with everyone. Lisa was my best friend during training, and I’ve missed her like crazy. Fourteen other volunteers were down for the weekend, so we hung out, caught up, traded tv shows on our hard drives, and laughed, a lot. While they were in meetings I spent time lounging at the pool and reading. Come Monday morning all I wanted to do was come back to site. I’d forgotten what it was like to be around so many other friends and just have a good time. Being here alone is definitely changing my perspective on more things than I was prepared for.
Anyways, after leaving the beach, I made half the trip home and this time stayed with Scooter. I wish we lived closer to each other! Her dad was also visiting so I got to meet him and catch him up a bit. I’ve loved meeting people’s parents. Mom, Dad- be ready to meet A LOT of volunteers during your vacation.
Now, back at site, I’m settling into things pretty well. A few classes over and done with, third trimester on a roll, and the pace of life is picking up speed very quickly. Before I know it it’ll be Christmas!