Namaacha

I moved! At the end of last week, I finished up teaching, said goodbye to my students and fellow teachers, had a fabulous party with my REDES girls, and moved to a new town.

The end of teaching was completely bittersweet. It felt great to be done teaching, finished lesson planning and grading, but I'll really miss a lot of my students. They were difficult a lot of the time, but to see them learning was so rewarding. And funny story- my last day with them, one of my favortie students gave me an apple. An apple. Yes, that may seem normal for the states, but it's definitely not normal here. Apples are so expensive, and can't be bought in my town, and to give presents to teachers (not trying to solicit grades) is unheard of. I felt so special- she was such a great student and I really hope that she gained at least something from my classes.

My REDES girls helped throw a going-away party for me which was so much fun! We made t-shirts from the money they made selling jewelry, cooked delicious food all afternoon to make a wonderful feast (I had no idea 20 tiny little girls could consume that much food!!!), and sang and danced the whole day. I loved watching them let loose and have fun- so many of my girls have pretty structured and difficult lives at home so I enjoy giving them some freedom. And, corny I know, seeing theirs smiles. I will miss them so much.

Wednesday, I finished packing and then gave all my extra little things to my neighbor kids. They had a box of toys they would play with everyday - jump ropes, my-little-ponies, tennis balls, frisbees - so each kid got at least one thing to take home. After all my things were packed up and loaded into the Peace Corps car, I said goodbye to all the kids and my empregada Christina, and left Hokwe behind.

Namaacha is amazing! It's been forever since I've been here but it was a great homecoming. The area is so beautiful- lush and green and hilly. My new house is wonderful, and I have a great new roommate, Abby (3rd year PCV on her way back to the sates). I haven't really started my new job yet- it's a pretty busy time for Peace Corps with training new volunteers and sending my group home- but I can't wait to get things rolling and get into working.

This is definitely a huge change for me - new town, new house, new job, new roomy, new everything. I won't be working so much on a community level, I'll be working more with PCVs and PC staff, developing sustainable youth development projects, but I'm sure I'll have more crazy stories and adventures to share in the coming months.