Mid-Service Vay-cay

With over 2 months free for summer vacation between the first and second school year, many a PC education volunteer plans a trip. The halfway mark is a great time to get out of dodge, a time to recharge before starting the second and final year strong. A good amount actually head back to the US for a few weeks to spend the holidays with loved ones and take in all the comforts of being home.  Chris and I initially thought we would do this as well, but after looking at the cost of a plane ticket and taking into account that our families are spread all over the country (making it very difficult to see everyone anyway) we decided to hold off until our permanent return home. Also, we’re lucky enough to be seeing both of our families this next year during planned visits and trips. And besides, we wanted to take advantage of our close proximity to a country that seems so far and exotic when you’re in the US, but is just over the border from here. South Africa would be a place much harder to get to once we get back and would also provide plenty of opportunities to indulge in the many luxuries not found in Mapinhane. In fact, all of those things I noted in my last blog that I was hoping to encounter, we found and enjoyed! The last Twilight (hold your judgment on my movie choice, please) was seen in a real movie theater while eating M&Ms, a Big Mac never tasted so good and I actually still know how to use a blow dryer! But we had so many more exciting adventures than just sitting in steady streams of air conditioning and wandering around seemingly never-ending shopping malls.

The trip began with a 5 day jaunt in Mozambique’s capital city, Maputo. It’s not the best city in the world but it’s certainly grown on me tremendously since that initial touchdown from Philadelphia 15 months ago. We’ve been there a handful of times over the last year, usually for a Peace Corps conference which doesn’t give us a lot of time to leisurely explore so it was nice to be there on our own schedule. We needed to go to the city to catch the bus into South Africa to start the first leg of our journey, but decided to go early so that we could attend the swear-in ceremony of the new group of volunteers we met in Namaacha a couple of months back. It was a proud moment seeing Moz 19 take their oath of service, both because I was happy to have helped them reach this occasion by being a part of their training, and to think of how far I’ve come since sitting in their seats a year before. Aside from the swear-in, our vacation started off right with good food and accommodations graciously provided by a couple we met earlier this year who works for at the American Embassy in Maputo. We enjoyed family dinners and chats in the living room after they’d come home from work, which gave us a sense of the home we could have been feeling if we did make the trip back to the US. After 5 days of great “family time”, we boarded the bus to Nelspruit, where we were picked up to begin our 3 day safari in Kruger National Park. We figured we might as well check out one of the most popular game parks in the world if we were in the neighborhood. I mean, what’s a trip to South Africa if you don’t see some elephants and lions? And oh did we! During the first evening of our arrival, we got a little too close for comfort on the night drive.  Our guide drove down a small, but steep hill on an unpaved road to shine a light on 4 of the most sought after creatures to spot, lions. They were chilling about 30 feet from us with only a little shrubbery between us. Wondering why they seemed not to notice us, I asked the guide what it is they see when they look at our safari vehicle. He explained that they can only see the silhouette of the jeep, which looks like a large but non-threatening animal to them if anything. Waving a hand or other body part out of the car could draw attention. Ok, that made sense so I was very careful not to move much since I was sitting on the side closest to these kitties. We started to reverse up the hill when one of the wheels stopped moving. Our two guides initially tried to solve the issue while staying in the jeep but we weren’t going anywhere. So, they ended up jumping down to investigate and found a piece of wire fence stuck in the wheel. Uhhhhhh, didn’t they just say we shouldn’t break our silhouette? And isn’t it pitch black so we can’t see anything? Awesome. We all nervously laughed and joked in the car as the guide would periodically move his flashlight from the wheel they were fixing to the lions just to make sure they weren’t getting hungry for unsuspecting tourists. After what felt like forever but was probably only a few minutes, the wire was removed and we were on our way as I was left with the realization that this sure isn’t like a zoo! But not all game drives are that exciting, in fact the can be quite tedious because of the fact you’re not in a zoo with animals in a confined area. These animals are roaming around a gigantic park and so sometimes you can drive for hours without seeing much of anything. But throughout our numerous drives and walks we were pretty happy with the amount of classic safari animals we saw. Other than lions, we spotted elephants, zebras and giraffes, yaks and monkeys, hippos and a rhino, and animals I don’t even know the name to.  So we definitely got our safari fill, then moved on to our next part of the trip, the city with the best reputation on the planet, Cape Town. Seriously. Any time I mentioned we were going to visit to someone who had already been there, they would rave about how wonderful it is. Even before I came to live in Africa, I heard nothing but overwhelming praise about this magical city. Well, we’re definitely part of the chorus now. This place did not disappoint. Everything you hear about how it’s one of the few places that perfectly mixes a big city with natural beauty is so true. Our home base for our 8-day stay was a lovely guesthouse right in the center of town. The place converted 3 classic Victorian homes for a cozy yet modern feel with great personal service and a delicious breakfast included each morning. Not to mention the beautiful and comfortable rooms with all the amenities which we enjoyed to the fullest. I could even walk barefoot without fear of stepping on a cockroach, a welcome change from my daily life! But enough writing the brochure for the hotel. Let’s talk about all the fun activities! We climbed up the city’s landmark, Table Mountain, a steep climb but well worth the good workout and awesome view from the top, and rode the cable car down. We took a ferry ride to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated. We went on a tour around the Cape of Good Hope, a beautiful area near the bottom of the African continent. On our way, we stopped to see numerous breathtaking beaches and even one filled with penguins. We later relaxed on one of those beaches and learned that the icy arctic water they have makes for quite a stinging sensation on your skin. The water is much colder than our Indian Ocean beaches, but it was still beautiful none the less. On more than one occasion, we walked around areas densely populated with a selection of great restaurants and a variety of places to shop, like the V&A Waterfront and Long Street. Speaking of which, the food exploration was all part of the fun too, as Cape Town is known for its high quality options. Aside from good Italian food and sushi, we frequently found ourselves in well stocked grocery stores to ogle at goodies we haven’t seen in a while. And I already mentioned going to a movie theater, eating American fast food and using modern appliances. Of course it can be fun to check out these things in any city you visit, but as deprived Peace Corps Volunteers, these were some of the main attractions of our trip. Another highlight was that we got to share many of these experiences with our fellow volunteers. A few were vacationing in Cape Town the same time we were there, and so it was a nice change of pace to enjoy time with them in a backdrop of a developed city. When it was time to leave the place that became Chris’ “favorite city on earth”, we were glad to know we had one more adventure left before heading home. A 26 hour train ride to Johannesburg with a lounge, dining car and our own sleeping compartment! It would have been much faster and cheaper to take a plane, but we thought it would be a unique experience to take a sleeper train across Africa. Well, a unique experience it was, but not as expected. The train departed 2 hours late, the air conditioner was not working as we rode through the desert (which led all the available ice to melt), there was barely enough food to go around and the staff was all but incompetent. Long story short, we encountered mishap after mishap from the beginning until the end of the trip. So much in fact, that when we arrived to Johannesburg, the customer service manager was waiting to tell all passengers we would receive almost 50% of our money back.  Some of you may have seen my Facebook pictures where I called it the “Hell Train” and maybe that was US standards Laurie coming out. I mean, it was still somewhat enjoyable since it was our first fancy sleeper train experience. And really, how much can I complain considering my current living conditions :)?  But we paid a pretty penny for a more luxury train experience that was anything but, so it was still a bit of a disappointment. Anyway, we did gather lots of good laughs from the experience which kept us busy while waiting for 12 hours in the bus station to get our ride back to Maputo. Our journey back to Mapinhane was thankfully, pretty uneventful. After we reached Maputo, we decided to stay for a couple more days to enjoy one more jaunt in a city, then caught the early bus back home to the bush.

The long rides home gave me time to think about how things would be when I returned. I worried all this first world pampering would make it hard to go back to bucket baths and dinner by lantern light. Surprisingly, getting right back into the swing of things was not hard at all. In fact, after being reminded of pre-Peace Corps life, it made me appreciate my home here even more. I’ll have the rest of my life to treat myself to all those things I experienced during my mid-service vacation but the way we live now is truly special. If you had told me I would live without modern comforts for so long, I probably would have told you I couldn’t do it.  But we’ve done it for over a year, and will do it for another and somehow, we make it work. And actually enjoy it.

While I appreciate my life back here, that doesn’t mean it can’t be boring. As we hang out in quiet Mapinhane, I am reminded of when we first got to site last year and no one was around. Students and teachers have left for the summer so it’s pretty dead here. But, we’re also enjoying the solitude and privacy, something we don’t get much of when school is in session and students are constantly stopping by.  We had a low-key Christmas in Vilankulo with some of the new volunteers in our area and will probably ring in the New Year around here (and celebrate Chris’ December 28^th birthday somewhere in between!). After that, mid-January will come before we know it and our second year as teachers will begin.

We want to wish everyone happy holidays and a healthy, happy new year.  As great as it was to visit South Africa, it’s nice to know that next year we’ll get to spend these festive times at home :) Fica Bem Amigos!

Turkey and Trainees

Hey there, friends! We just returned from a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration where we chilled on a beautiful island and yes, even ate some turkey.

 We spent the holiday at our friend TJ’s house in Inhassorro which provided us the opportunity to relax on a beach, use electricity for cooking and a gracious hotel’s facilities for our meal. The original plan was to take a boat trip to an island on Thursday and have our dinner on Friday night since a few of the guests were not able to make it until then. But due to weather issues, the trip had to be moved to Friday.  But, not all way lost since TJ does live right on a beach. None of us really complained about spending some time in the ocean that day, even if it wasn’t off an island. And, it gave us time to prep some of our feast the day before. My contributions were cranberry sauce, stuffing and sweet potato casserole. Of course we had to make some modifications here in Mozambique. I used dried cranberries instead of fresh ones but I was really surprised at how delicious the sauce turned out. Stuffing was an easy job since it only involved boiling water and butter for 4 boxes of Stove Top stuffing, a classic crowd pleaser. The sweet potatoes were a little trickier since we had no luck finding the veggie here this time of year, so my adaptability skills came in handy. I had remembered that cassava root tastes remarkably like a sweet potato, especially the ones here since they’re not as sweet as you find in the states. Cassava, something we never see at home and I had certainly never eaten until I came here, is a common staple all throughout Africa so I thought it would be a culturally appropriate twist anyway.  I used all the same ingredients you find in regular sweet potato casserole, complete with browned marshmallows on top, and it turned out to be a hit at the buffet table!  I have to give a BIG shout out to my wonderful family who never lets me down with my care package requests. This and many American food wonderfulness I’ve had in the past year would not be possible without you. Thanks guys! So, we woke up Friday morning with half of our dinner prepped and excited to take a boat trip. Our destination was Santa Carolina Island, one of the islands in the Bazaruto Archipelago, a group of gorgeous, government protected islands in our region of Mozambique.  We boarded our dhow, a traditional colorful wooden boat and enjoyed the beautiful breeze on the open water. We reached the small, uninhabited island and had a relaxing day on the beach. We walked along the coast looking for shells, swam and snorkeled and laid in the sand. Chris and I received an impromptu walking tour from one of our boat guides as well. He saw us peeking to see what was on the other side, and offered to take us around the entire island. I always say that Mozambique is where the screen saver people go to take pictures, and our walk around this island presented many opportunities for these photo ops! We saw beautiful ocean scenery from every angle and the ruins of a once bustling and elegant hotel. It was an awesome unexpected detour in our day. We sailed back home, then hurriedly finished making all of dishes in time for dinner. In true Moz fashion, the energy went out as we were all partaking in electric stoves and ovens, but it turned back on just in time for us to finish up. Once things were ready, we headed to the hotel to get everything set up. TJ works at a vocational school for tourism and they run a hotel at her site. The hotel was kind enough to allow us to use their kitchen, dishes and silverware and beautiful location on the ocean to have our Thanksgiving. After warming things up and getting them nicely displayed on our buffet table, we partook in quite a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Aside from my side dishes, we had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, a salad, squash and green beans. We even had pumpkin and cherry pies for dessert! Everything was just awesome. I can’t imagine having a more authentic TDay meal than if we were actually in the states. Both the food, the company also lended itself to all the coziness that makes this holiday so great. We all went around the table to say what we were thankful for, we chatted and laughed and made fun of each other. They say that your fellow volunteers become your family during your service and that is definitely true. While they are wonderful friends, they also act as your family away from home. Aside from PCVs for every region, we got to share with other Americans visiting, and an Italian and a Mozambican. It was an eclectic mix which actually, is pretty indicative of the Williams’ family turkey days as Chris and his family like to joke about. So it was another nice reminder of home :) The whole day was wonderful, from the boat to the stuffing. At the end of the night, Chris and I decided that years from now we’ll be saying about this day, “hey, remember when we had that awesome thanksgiving in Mozambique… ”

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, we hosted two site visitors in Mapinhane. Trainees are sent to sites all over the country so they can get a feel for what life as a volunteer in Mozambique actually looks like. You might remember reading about our site visit experiences last year which were a lot of fun for both of us, so we were hoping to do the same for our guests. Aside from our two visitors, we had a gaggle of trainees visit volunteers in our region, and we thought there would be no better way for them to enjoy the freedom outside of their homestay families and a relentless training schedule then to hang out in Vilankulo. The whole Northern Inhambane province crew showed these trainees everything we love about the area like the gorgeous beaches and available pizza and ice cream. After two days of living in the “posh corps”, it was time to take our visitors back to Mapinhane to experience the real deal. We spent the next few days showing them that while the “posh” part of their stay was over, there are a lot of great things about our daily life in rural Africa. We relaxed by lantern light, walked around our village, chatted with some neighbors and demonstrated various forms of cooking without a standard oven or refrigerator. All in all, it was a great visit and I think the girls left really encouraged and excited about the 2 years ahead of them.  Then, a week after their departure we got some great news:  Karina, one of our visitors who I also spent a lot of time with in Namaacha at training last month, is going to be our new site mate!  For years, Mapinhane only had a private school (where Chris and I work) in our community which was a challenge for many local kids because they could not afford the fees to attend.  A new public secondary school just opened up this year providing more opportunities for kids to go to school, and an opportunity for our community to receive another volunteer. It won’t be easy navigating a new school and living in a one room hut with no electricity, but Karina is a tough cookie and she’s up for the challenge. Luckily, she was able to see the house and the school when she came for a visit so she knows what to expect and was hoping to be placed at this site. And, of course, we’ll be here for guidance along the way if she needs it. :)  Chris and I loved our experience of being the only PCVs in Mapinhane for the first year, but we are really looking forward to sharing our ‘hood in year two. She’ll be joining us at the beginning of December and unfortunately, we won’t be here to help her navigate her first couple of weeks, but we hope to be reachable if she needs us.  But, our absence is for a very exciting reason. We are going to enjoy our summer break in South Africa! We’ll be taking a 3 day safari, spending 8 days in Cape Town and ending with an overnight train ride complete with sleeping compartments and a dining car! We’re very excited for this adventure not only for the itinerary, but to enjoy some of the “first world comforts” we’ve regularly lived without for the past 14 months. We are hoping a movie theater, a real hamburger and possibly a blow dryer are involved at some point in our journey.

Can’t wait to catch you up on our South African adventures in our next post!  We hope all of our friends, family and blog followers had a lovely Thanksgiving back in the USA. <3

Check, Check and Check

Whoa, TONS has happened since my last post so this will be a chunky one but I know you like those chunky blog posts, don’t you? :)

In the end of September and beginning of October, Chris and I participated in events we’d been planning which culminated into a secondary project palooza! We worked together to lead an English club with a group of kids who actively seek out opportunities to practice speaking outside of the classroom. It was initially fun just to do basic English activities, but we really upped the ante when we started to formulate ideas for our theater performance. Each year, every province in Mozambique participates in the English Theater Competition, a secondary project led by Peace Corps Volunteers. Students get the opportunity to write, direct and star in a 10 minute theater presentation and compete against other groups in the province. This year’s theme was “we are all equal”, so we worked with our students on a play about discrimination on a chapa (public transport). The first scene, titled “Reality”, showed different minorities being discriminated against while the second scene, “How the World Should Be”, showed those same minorities being treated equally. Our students worked hard to practice their lines and choose the right costumes and in the end, they performed well! We didn’t end up winning but it was still an awesome experience and I definitely plan to come in even stronger next year. But I have to say, the competition was tough! Mozambicans LOVE theater. They really get into acting and take it seriously. I’m not exactly sure why, but probably for the fact that many still don’t own a TV so it’s an easily accessible form of entertainment. Anyway, we still had a great time working with our group to prepare for the competition. One of the best activities was a dinner at our house the week before. The kids taught us how to make beijias, which are basically a chicken nugget made of beans. They are tasty street food here in Moz and we have been wondering how to make them at home. We added to the dinner with a classic American salad including Italian dressing from the US and banana chocolate chip muffins. The dinner served as a celebration for their hard work and a cultural exchange with food, an easy vehicle for cross-cultural discussions.  The week after English theater, I took my REDES group to a Troca de Experiência. You are probably wondering what the heck this last sentence means. Ok, I know I’ve talked about REDES a few times now but let me give you a little more detail. REDES stands for Raparigas em Desenvolvimento Educação e Saúde (Girls in Development, Education and Health) and serves as a group to empower Mozambican girls. It was initially started as secondary project with Peace Corps Volunteer facilitators but it has grown to include fully functioning groups led my Mozambicans (which is always the goal with PC projects to retain the sustainability factor). One of the highlights of a REDES group is participating in Troca de Experiências, or “exchange of experiences” where groups from different areas meet up for a retreat. These usually involve 2 groups from the same province, but this Troca had a total of 4 groups from 2 different provinces so the exchanging of experiences was kind of epic! Ok, maybe not epic but we still had a blast. My group of 10 girls travelled to Sofala to meet with two groups from that province and one more from Inhambane. After a 3 hour chapa ride, we had to take a 5 minute canoe ride across a river to reach Sofala. Although I had warned them, I was still a little nervous about how the girls would react with all the mud and water but they were such great sports. Especially on the way back when we ended up in mud to our knees! Many got their fancy shoes dirty but they ended up laughing instead of bitching. I was really proud of their positive attitudes.  Aside from playing in the mud, the girls shared a song and dance they prepared, had a disco dance party, participated in discussions on HIV/AIDS and safe sex, and met new Mozambican girls with like-minded ideals. I was so happy to have facilitated this exchange since it’s a treat for the girls to travel as they don’t do it often, but more importantly because allowing these girls to form a network allows for a possibility of an improved future for Mozambican women. By the way, here is some more information on REDES if you’re interested: http://theredesproject.wordpress.com. Another perk of participating is that I get to spend time with some of my PCV friends as well. I have to give a big shout out to my boys Mac and Mike, who are awesome male REDES leaders and planned the 2 Trocas I participated in this year, both of which were wonderful! Chris was planning on joining the Troca as well but he was called away to participate in the JUNTOS handover meeting. Again, that sentence probably confused you. JUNTOS  stands for Jovens Unidos No Trabalho para Oportunidade e Sucesso (young people working for opportunity and success). But behind that very long name, JUNTOS groups are for young people who want to be involved in the arts or culture. Chris’ group, for example, was a musical group with instruments and singers. He loved the experience working with JUNTOS at our school, but felt like there could be some opportunities to improve and grow the program as a whole. Chris went to the handover meeting, where PCVs pass along information to the new group managing the project, with ideas in hand.  And, it turns out that he will be the National Coordinator for the JUNTOS project next year! It’s a great opportunity for him to execute some of the thoughts he has for a group he’s passionate about.  By the way, did I mention this handover meeting took place in Ilha de Moçambique, one of the most beautiful places in this country? I was lucky enough to go to Ilha, or the Island of Mozambique, for my site visit during training last year and I have talked it up to Chris ever since. I didn’t think he’d be able to go until we made our big trip up north next year as it is way too far from our site for a quick visit. But another plus to being involved in secondary projects is opportunities to travel. So although he missed out on all the REDES fun, enjoying Ilha wasn’t all that bad. :)

After the secondary project excitement was over, we headed back to Namaacha, our PC training stomping grounds, to help with the new crop of Peace Corps Volunteers. Over the 10 week training period, Peace Corps sends 2 to 3 current volunteers per week to help lead training sessions and acts as a resource to answer the many burning questions of a newly arrived PCT (Peace Corps Trainee).  I have wanted to be involved in PST (Pre Service Training) since I was a PCT myself.  While I was in Namaacha struggling to integrate with my host family, freaking out over Portuguese and wondering what my 2 years ahead would look like, I turned to the visiting volunteers who had lived through it and was always encouraged and relieved by their insight. After having a rough time in training with my homestay experience and a difficult beginning at my site, I wanted to come to training to show that you can be a happy, well-adjusted, successful volunteer in one year’s time despite initial challenges. Chris and I both applied to attend PST, but were expecting that only one of us would be able to go. To our pleasant surprise, not only were we both selected to attend, but we were selected to attend together! The Williams’ would be tag teaming week 3 of Moz 19’s training. Having us both there worked out well since I was able to spend most of my time helping the group of future English teachers and Chris was with the Math and Science groups. We led sessions on lesson planning, teaching with limited resources, dealing with grief and loss (just to name a few) and answered every question imaginable about life in Mozambique.  One of the days, we led a session together on classroom management and followed it up with a short slide show of pictures to give them some idea of what life as a PCV in Moz is actually like (as opposed to the bubble of training in Namaacha).  I have to say, we made quite a team! :)  One of the numerous benefits of this experience is that we get the chance to work together, something we never really did in the states. Sometimes we want to kill eachother, but usually we’re pretty good co-workers!  Aside from the technical training, we also sat in on a few language classes which the trainees attend a few hours each day. Watching the classes gave me perspective to see how far I have come with my Portuguese. I could see when some of the trainees were frustrated with the teacher, with themselves, or the language and I clearly remember that being me only 1 year ago. One of the most eye-opening revelations came during the cooking exchange day. Each year, the language classes and their host mom participate in a cooking event where the Mom’s teach a Mozambican dish while the trainees teach an American dish. It is supposed to be a fun cross-cultural exchange and an alternative to the standard language class. My cooking day was nothing short of a disaster with my host mom disappointed in everything I did from how I cut the tomatoes to choosing the wrong oil for the salad (see by blog titled “Because you are Lazy” for more info) and I could not speak enough Portuguese to defend myself. This time around however, me and the Moms were instant BFFs as I dazzled them with my Xitswa skills (the local language spoken in my area) and easily communicated in Portuguese that I already knew how to grate a coconut and I was just here for the week to help the trainees. In some ways, it made me sad to see what my experience could have been as all of these host Moms were kind and patient and actually interested in the learning the American recipe, all things I did not experience when doing this event last year. But, I was happy to see that these trainees had such good host Moms and I remember that the challenges I faced during training certainly benefitted me later on. Each day in Namaacha was jam packed with training sessions and meetings to plan those training sessions and it reminded me of why training was so exhausting. At least when we were finished, we were able to go back to our own place where we could cook our own food. Trainees are in language or tech classes all day, then need to spend time with their homestay family which means time to unwind is pretty much non-existent. But I’ll tell you what, these Moz 19ers are taking training like champs. These 68 volunteers are intelligent, talented, mature and calm. They are an eclectic group ranging in age from very early 20s to 60s including a few retirees and also PCVs who were transferred from Cape Verde whose program closed this year. Chris and I were both really impressed with this group and are excited that we get to spend another year with them here! (but let me just say for the record, Moz 17 will always be my favorite group!)  It was also great to meet the newbies since I recently took on the role as the National Coordinator for PSN (I know, I know, more of those frickin’ acronyms!). PSN stands for Peer Support Network and is a group of volunteers who support other volunteers and trainees in Mozambique with any emotional or technical support they may need. I am super excited about this position because supporting PCVs is something near and dear to my heart as I went through some challenging times here and I know what it’s like to need someone to talk to through all the craziness.  And even before PC, I’ve always liked to be a support for my friends and family with advice. Being the National Coordinator also gives me a chance to use some of my “cubicle” skills again. While I was happy to leave the corporate world to do Peace Corps, there are still some corporate-y things I liked doing which speak to my type-A personality. Now I have an outlet for my project management and organization impulses. And hopefully, it’s all to the benefit of providing a better support system for my fellow volunteers.

And finally, we’ve made it to the present. We’re currently in our very last week of school for the year which means teaching classes is over and calculating final grades has begun. After this week, our 10^th and 12^th graders will take government issued national exams but for the most part, the bulk of our work is done and we’ve survived our first school year. As I mentioned in my last blog, September 28^th marked one year since we landed in Mozambique.  It is hard to believe how much we’ve learned and how much we’ve grown in a year and I was lucky enough to spend time with Moz 19 to really see what a difference a year can make. I have accomplished so many things I wasn’t convinced I could do. Facilitate secondary projects. Check. Coordinate logistics in a different language. Check. Not be afraid of speaking Portuguese and even speak a little of the local language. Check.  Form strong relationships with my English students, be a National Coordinator for a group, and the advice-giving PCV at training. Check, check and check. I feel like I have finally grown into the Peace Corps volunteer that I wanted to be and that sometimes seemed impossible when I was a wide-eyed, at times overwhelmed trainee in Namaacha. It may have taken me a little longer than most to get here, but that struggle makes me appreciate my comfortable PCV self even more.  

Celebrations

We’ve hit a couple of our yearly milestones in this last month and it’s been fun to celebrate them for the first time in Mozambique.

August 31^st was our 4 year anniversary and even more special, this year marks our 10^th year of going steady :).  It all began at Ohio State where we were neighbors and ironically, bonded over playing an African drum on the porch one Saturday evening. But I digress, so we’ll save those stories for another time…We had initially planned to take a trip to the Bazaruto Archipelago, a group of beautiful islands just off the coast of VIlankulos. We would snorkel, eat seafood and stay at a nice lodge but Chris’ call of duty would require him to travel to Inhambane City over our anniversary weekend to help coordinate the regional science fair.  Chris was hoping I would come along to help out anyway, so we ended sharing the day with protons and electrons. The day we arrived turned out to be a chicken-with-head-cut-off experience as we partook in the final organization phase of the fair. While Chris was the coordinator on the Peace Corps side, there was a counterpart on the Mozambican government science and technology side who was taking care of the last-minute details. We ran around with her as she handed out invitations for officials to attend the fair, tried to hire a dance troupe, picked out the room’s foliage décor and printed the events official T-Shirts. But of course, last-minute is really the only way you can organize things here so you go with the flow. We’ve learned that somehow, things do come together. And it did all work out the next day as almost 40 students and their teachers busted out their poster boards and plants in different soils and light bulbs powered by wheels. Chris or “O Senhor Cristóvão” as he was called due to his high-roller status (i.e. He was responsible for controlling the money used for the science fair) and his counterpart set everything in place for a smooth fair. Even when asked to give an impromptu speech, in Portuguese, with 5 minutes notice, Chris pulled it off. We did have a slight hiccup first thing in the morning when a PCV who was supposed to help judge the projects bailed out. Chris was hoping I would step in but science and I are totally not friends. I would have no clue how to judge a science fair in English, let alone a foreign language. Luckily, another PCV who actually geeks out over these things was super excited to be a judge.  And at the end of the day, we were happy to learn that he and the panel chose one of our students as the winner! Yay for Mapinhane science nerds! We were very proud of him and the two other students we brought to present projects. Aside from being incredibly smart, they’re all just really fantastic kids. And so the science fair itself turned into a celebration as we gave cheers to a winner from our school and the awesome effort put in by our other great students. And while we were there on the evening of August 31^st, we took a minute to sit outside on the streets of Inhambane, one of the most beautiful cities in this country, to celebrate our anniversary. We looked at the full moon and waving palm trees and laughed about how there is no way we could have ever dreamed we’d be here when walking down the aisle four years ago, but we are so happy we are. And even happier that we get to do it together.

Although I was initially bummed we wouldn’t be spending our anniversary in Bazaruto, Inhambane City turned out to be just fine. Besides, my 30^th birthday, September 16^th (oh yeah, that’s today!), would also fall on a weekend so at least we’d be around to celebrate that. We wanted to have a get together in Vilankilos but alas, science prevailed again as the national fair in Chimoio was happening over the same weekend. I decided to sit this one out since we had been doing a lot of traveling and activity planning lately. I figured if we weren’t going to have a party, I might as well take the weekend to relax.  We ended up having the Vilankulos Bday celebration a week early and it was lovely. Friends, a beautiful beach and crab. What more could a gal ask for? And randomly, we stumbled upon yet another celebration as a couple was getting married the same weekend we were staying at the lodge. Apparently, they didn’t mind at all if we stayed there too. Although we managed to watch most of the ceremony from a distance, it was looked sweet and romantic. I can definitely see the appeal in a destination wedding in an exotic location. So with the larger celebration past, this weekend was going to be a chill one as I ushered in a new decade.  My friend and cooking partner in crime, TJ, spent the weekend with me here in Mapinhane. We lounged around, walked around and of course, made some delicious Bday goodies in the form of fresh bagels and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (yes, Vilankulos sometimes has cream cheese!!!). Everything turned out great, the food and company! This morning, I ate my bagel and cream cheese, then put on my ipod and enjoyed the cool weather as I took a stroll around my hood (Ok, am I 30 or 80? :)). It was a nice way to reflect on three decades of life. And now I am waiting for the main person I want to celebrate my birthday with to return home from the national science fair. Per usual, his trip back has been a bit delayed. The car he’s in got a flat tire so hopefully, he’ll make it make sometime time today! In the meantime though, I’m keeping myself busy by looking at all the wonderful birthday wishes being sent from around the world. The outpouring of love makes me smile!  

So yeah, 30. How do I feel about that you wonder? Surprisingly really, really good. You often hear the cliché horror stories of people feeling like their youth/opportunities/life is now over. In the weeks leading up to today, I really wasn’t worried at all. I thought maybe the day of, it would hit me like a ton of bricks and I’d be crying while rocking back and forth in the fetal position. I have always been one to feel the emotion when an event is actually happening, not in the lead up to it. Like at overnight camp when we’d have a dramatic goodbye ceremony the last night and everyone would be crying but me, yet I was the one crying the next morning when we actually got on the bus to go home.  But no, last night before bed I had this sudden feeling of gratitude. Gratitude for being alive and for the things I’ve been able to do in my life up until now. And this morning, I woke up excited and hopeful about my future. I am excited about what I will be doing here in the next 15 months and where it will lead me once I return home, and about the family we hope to start in the somewhat near future. I do feel like a skin has been shed. Possibly the skin of my youth? Well, I still feel like I have some youth left, but now with experience under my belt and that’s an awesome combination! So all in all 30s=new exciting chapter and excited for the future!

After all of the celebrations, there is still one more around the corner. September 28^th will mark one year since our airplane landed in Mozambique. Be sure to check out the “year in reflection blog” to come soon. But for now, I have to get going to make tonight’s festive meal for yes, another celebration: Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. And when I eat my apples and honey this evening, I will wish a year of happy celebrations to you all too!