We Made It!

We are here in Mozambique and the amount of things we have done in the past 48 hours is astounding (I think it’s been that many hours anyway! Considering the strange sleeping and eating patterns these past couple of days, I’m not really sure. ) So we are sitting here in our beautiful hotel room in Maputo where we can take advantage of the internet for the next day until we head off to Namaacha (say “nah-mah-sha”) for training. Ok, let me give you a quick rundown of what’s occurred…We made it to the airport in great timing for our 9:30 flight to Philly for orientation. That would have been awesome except it didn’t make a difference because we ended up being FOUR hours delayed due to weather. Normally,  I would have been a nervous  wreck but I had one little pout and decided it was time to roll with PCs whole philosophy of practicing patience and flexibility and it actually worked! I was at peace with the fact that we sat on the tarmac for hours before taking off however, it still meant we were an hour late to our orientation session.  We were the very last people to walk into a room of fresh-faced, wide-eyed trainees who were intently listening to information about the PCs mission and goals. As we quietly took our seats to not interrupt, I felt kind of bummed that I didn’t get to be a part of the initial chatter and excitement of the group meeting in person for the first time. But my feelings have completely gone away as spending the last couple of days with everyone has actually felt like weeks. We already feel such great connections with everyone, really, the group is awesome and we are enjoying getting to know these people who will become our family over the next 27 months. Just a little statistics on the peeps- there are 51 of us total in the 17^th training class in Mozambique. Aside from Chris and I, there is only one other younger married couple. We are all in our 20s except for one person who is 32, and no retirees which is surprising! Everyone has a unique and impressive background and it’s so exciting that we get to be a part of this group! So back to the logistics...after the training session in Philly, we all went out to our last American meal and slept for an hour or two (or some decided staying out would be better! :)) before boarding the bus to NYC at 2:30 am.  We made it to NYC oh, I don’t know, like 6 hours before our flight, but it was great. It gave us another chance to chat with everyone. We got on our 15 hour flight to Johannesburg which surprisingly, was not nearly as bad as we thought it would be. It was basically a pattern of eat, watch movie, chat, and repeat. And PS- they served big, hot meals and they were quite delicious! Thanks South African Airlines for still providing free meals on planes! Once we landed in South Africa, we took a very short flight to Maputo and were all gitty with excitement when we landed in our new home.  However we did quickly get a taste of the hazards of being in a developing country.  Our larger carry-ons had to be put under the plane from Johannesburg to Maputo and many of us did not have those bags locked assuming we would be able to hold on to them the entire trip. Sure enough, many people found things to be missing once the bags reached Maputo, myself included. Two of my necklaces were taken, but I was lucky they did not take all my jewelry so I can still accessorize! Really though, I packed everything with the understanding that something may happen to it when I came here, so it is what it is and I know I can find similar looking jewelry here for a replacement. This was another situation where I realize I really am shifting my energies on what to focus on and get upset over.  I feel really bad for someone who got his entire wallet, including all of his cash, stolen and someone else whose sentimental jewelry was taken. And, it showed a great display in our group’s camaraderie as we all chipped in to add a few bucks to a cash pile for our friend whose wallet got taken thanks to a great idea from a fellow volunteer.  We finished today at the hotel with vaccinations and medical interviews and will convene tomorrow to meet more of the PC staff, the American Ambassador and discuss basic safety info and how to live with a host family.  It’s hard to believe we will be living here yet since we’ve been so sheltered in a beautiful ocean front hotel and provided with pretty good meals and surrounded by Americans.  We did get a dose of reality on our packed van ride from the airport to the hotel. 60 people in a van for 30 with few seatbelts and no apparent regard for traffic laws? No problem, welcome to Africa! But more than that, we saw so many different stories in action on the streets of Maputo. Children playing barefoot in the dirt outside of their homes, a boy walking his goat, pickup trucks weighed down with people, colorful skirts and fruits in the market. We were all in awe at what is now our reality.

Alright, so we are off to go see who is still out and about! Hopefully we will be able to get on here again sometime in the near future while training in Namaacha for the next 10 weeks. Can’t wait to fill you in when the true adventure begins!

So this is it

These are our last hours in the US. So many thoughts and feelings are running fast that are hard to contain. And to think that this started 13 months ago…. so much has been done to organize our lives and prepare for service. I can see in small ways that the process has already begun to change us, we are not the same people we were back then, we are much less entangled in material things, much more free.

I know that the next several weeks are to be intense as we experience a loss of innocence coming from a reality far different from here. Where life and death hang in the air, where sickness and disease are familiar, where community and fellowship are essential, and where culture is rich and undeveloped natural beauty is prolific. These are memories from my childhood that Laurie will soon understand.

We will miss many comforts from here; we talk about this often. But hardest of all... we will miss our family and friends. Growing nieces and nephews, weddings, holidays, Sunday afternoon phone calls and so much more. Our hope is that we will bring back a unique perspective and experience that will positively impact those we care about. Love you all, you’re the greatest!

We head out to Philly tomorrow for orientation and will be in Mozambique by Thursday… see you on the other side!

P.S. Oh yeah and we conquered the 2 bag, 80 lbs limit… OK, well maybe its more like 85 lbs ☺

Scenes From A Garage Sale

I am happy to report that my first garage sale was a success. I did not even want to have one, but Chris convinced me that these things tend to be worth while and besides, why not try to make a little extra cash before we head into a few years without a significant salary :). Our lease was up at the end of August, so we had a 3-day regional moving extravaganza which consisted of loading a moving truck in Columbus, unloading to store stuff at our parents homes in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and then heading back to Columbus. We left behind the things we categorized as something we probably wouldn't need after 27 months away, but someone else might need right now. We spent the last few days in our home by cleaning and labeling these things and seriously questioning if selling them would even be worth the time and energy, especially after the exhausting move. But we soldiered on and posted our sale on craigslist, hung signs and balloons around the neighborhood, and decided we were ok with making only a little bit of cash. We woke up early Saturday morning to get everything out in our front yard before the 9:00 start time...and by 7:30, the craziness began. Apparently, if you are a serious garage sale buyer, you know to get there early so you have first dibs. Between about 7:30-8:30, you would have thought we were giving stuff away based on the amount of people we had! They bought tons of our furniture, cameras and art work before the sale had officially begun! One of our favorite parts of the early morning rush was when we heard these two older ladies squeal with delight after peeking in the front door, "THEY HAVEN'T EVEN TAKEN EVERYTHING OUT YET!!!!!". Chris was kind enough to let them inside to see what else we had. :) So, before 9:00, we had already made hundreds of dollars and met some very interesting people. Like the guy who used to collect blasphemous religious artwork, worked as an embalmer in a funeral home and can't work now because of an undisclosed disability. He bought some old art magazines Chris didn't even want to put out to sell since he thought there was no way someone would want them. And that's when we found the theme of the day: people will buy anything! I think my favorite "who the hell would want this" sell was the women who bought a set of 3 (not 4), used, dirty cork coasters. She zoned in on them like her life was complete when she found them. She asked me how much, and I felt a tinge of guilt when I gave her a price since my gut instinct was to say "just take those nasty things!". But hey, I can't argue with supply and demand, so I asked for 50 cents and she was happy to oblige. Day one continued on with barely a lull period. Tons of people came in their beat up pickups to add to the already large pile in their truck bed, or with their Lexus SUVs, or just by foot. And many of then knew each other! We found a lot of people who ran into someone they knew on our front yard. I didn't realize a perk of the sale would be to connect the community, but I felt good knowing it did. By the end of the day, we had made much more than anticipated and had a lot less stuff to bring into the house. Day two was not nearly as lively and it makes sense that it wouldn't be. The shoppers seemed to know all the good stuff would already be taken. But it worked out well since it gave us time to start cleaning out the house (we want every bit of our security deposit back!), and we got to chat with some return visitors.  Our embalmer friend stopped by to again, a sweet couple who are thinking about joining the Peace Corps, and a dude who was very excited about showing us wood carvings he acquired from Tanzania and Mozambique. The amount of people we met with a connection to Africa and/or the Peace Corps was another pleasant side affect of the garage sale.  I don’t know if it was the people we met, or the fact that we sold tons more than expected or maybe just because the weather that weekend was perfect. But after 2 days of selling, chatting, cleaning our rented townhouse, and saying goodbye to my home of 11 years, Columbus, I felt a moment of complete certainty. My life is going in the exact direction it should be. And it feels really good.

And now we are in our final leg of "Operation PC Prep". We moved from having our stuff in a 3 floor townhouse to almost everything into one bedroom at my Dad's house in Cleveland where we will stay until our departure. And you know what, I am liking this living with less thing. In fact, we're already talking about having another garage sale for the stuff we are storing when we get back from the Peace Corps. These are all things we thought we would want, but we're starting to see that may not be the case. And now we are confident that someone will want to buy them. :)

Tchau!