26/11/2008
Well today I found out where I will be living for the next two years starting December 15th. Apparently I will be in the province of Zambezia somewhat near Malawi. I will be living in a very rural town that does not have electricity so needless to say my house will not have electricity, but I will learn to live without it I suppose. I’m really glad that I brought my guitar as I was planning on using my electronic devices for my primary entertainment but I guess I will switch over to guitar playing, reading and solely use my iPod. Thank the gods for my solar charger.
I was told my house is large (2 bedrooms and a large living room, with a nice outdoor brick latrine/casa de banho and a small porch) so that’s cool, though if it’s large it will require twice as many candles to light it up. I think I will be going to bed early and getting up around 5 once it is light outside because dim light, whether it be by candle, or by a light bulb with an extremely weak electric current, makes me feel very tired.
I will be working for a branch of a larger American development organization so I’m excited to be working for an organization with some resources behind it. As all Peace Corps volunteers do I will be able to do some secondary programs but I guess I will be working a lot with water sanitation issues, which is not something I anticipated doing, but should be interesting.
Also as far as I can tell now… if I want to visit the closest PCV to me I will need to travel at least 3 hours, which is close here. I shall have lots of alone time.
Needless to say today all of us PCT’s were very excited to find out our sites and I was also pleased with the abundance of meat provided for us at the Peace Corps Thanksgiving meal. My family does not eat a lot of meat here at homestay and I think my brothers were a little shocked when I told them normally in the United States I ate some sort of meat with every meal. I’m a huge carnivore, so if meat isn’t readily available at my site I think I will have to raise some chickens. I am also interested in finding a scale so I can weight myself, since Iºve now had more than one person comment on my weight or clothes being baggy. I was on my first belt notch when I left the states and now Iºve had to move up 3 notches. I can no longer wear my cargo shorts without tying the draw string very tight, but itºs okay I feel fine and still have energy so Iºm not concerned at all!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Still Training
20/11/08
Well it’s the end of week 7 here in PCT Mozambique. I’m happy that soon I will know where I will be living the next two years of my life but also a little sad that soon we all be spread out to different nooks and crannys of Mozambique. Hopefully I am placed near a few of my friends so I can have the occasional get together. I guess I’m also just really eager to “ nest” and unpack all my things into a house of my own, instead of living out of my suitcase in one room with all of my things scattered all over. Also I look forward to meeting my community and meeting the people I will see routinely. My host family has been incredible though as I often hear stories or issues other people are having and am very grateful that my family is not hassling me like that.
Right now summer is heating up and we are starting to get more and more rain which sucks here as it makes traveling anywhere very messy and I’m suddenly very conscious of how dirty my clothes get now that I have to hand wash them. I hope that I’m placed somewhere with sand and not mud. Although I do have to admit the day after a big rain when the mountains are all lush and green it’s just simply breath taking. I have to remind myself to stop and stare at the scenery sometimes as its already become something normal.
During my site placement interview I indicated that I would rather be placed in a rural area than a urban one as I think that it would be very difficult for me to integrate into my community in an urban area and getting to know my community is one of the ways in which I hope to be effective health worker. I also think that it will be a good network of support for me emotionally as well as for my physical security. I’m told from other volunteers it’s not the bars on the doors or locks that make you feel safe but knowing that your neighbors are watching out for you.
I would like to work with people currently living with HIV or AIDS. I feel like I would find the work in those adherence programs very rewarding personally. I also would like to work with teenage boys in my community, but I will try not to get my hopes and will wait and see.
I have a killer craving for turkey right now too. I hope we get turkey next week, because the turkey that my neighbors have next door is getting pretty tempting and I keep telling it that it’s lucky to be living here in Mozambique because where I come from it would be entering its last few days….
I will miss having rocking out with my irmaos to T.I.!! I was just chilling with my brothers when we started listening to T.I. King (quite possibly one of the best rap albums out there in my opinion) when I looked around and saw that all 4 of us were all kind of dancing on our own to the songs….ahhh music, rap music in this case, truly is a universal language. Right as I type this the song Touchdown by T.I. feat Eminem is on repeat and it makes me smile. I love how my brothers love these songs as much as I do and they don’t even understand all of the words because they are in English, just goes to show how infectious the beats are I suppose. One of the reasons I love music is because it can take you back to a time and place, and now I have one more good memory to go along with T.I.’s King and the song Touchdown.
Well it’s the end of week 7 here in PCT Mozambique. I’m happy that soon I will know where I will be living the next two years of my life but also a little sad that soon we all be spread out to different nooks and crannys of Mozambique. Hopefully I am placed near a few of my friends so I can have the occasional get together. I guess I’m also just really eager to “ nest” and unpack all my things into a house of my own, instead of living out of my suitcase in one room with all of my things scattered all over. Also I look forward to meeting my community and meeting the people I will see routinely. My host family has been incredible though as I often hear stories or issues other people are having and am very grateful that my family is not hassling me like that.
Right now summer is heating up and we are starting to get more and more rain which sucks here as it makes traveling anywhere very messy and I’m suddenly very conscious of how dirty my clothes get now that I have to hand wash them. I hope that I’m placed somewhere with sand and not mud. Although I do have to admit the day after a big rain when the mountains are all lush and green it’s just simply breath taking. I have to remind myself to stop and stare at the scenery sometimes as its already become something normal.
During my site placement interview I indicated that I would rather be placed in a rural area than a urban one as I think that it would be very difficult for me to integrate into my community in an urban area and getting to know my community is one of the ways in which I hope to be effective health worker. I also think that it will be a good network of support for me emotionally as well as for my physical security. I’m told from other volunteers it’s not the bars on the doors or locks that make you feel safe but knowing that your neighbors are watching out for you.
I would like to work with people currently living with HIV or AIDS. I feel like I would find the work in those adherence programs very rewarding personally. I also would like to work with teenage boys in my community, but I will try not to get my hopes and will wait and see.
I have a killer craving for turkey right now too. I hope we get turkey next week, because the turkey that my neighbors have next door is getting pretty tempting and I keep telling it that it’s lucky to be living here in Mozambique because where I come from it would be entering its last few days….
I will miss having rocking out with my irmaos to T.I.!! I was just chilling with my brothers when we started listening to T.I. King (quite possibly one of the best rap albums out there in my opinion) when I looked around and saw that all 4 of us were all kind of dancing on our own to the songs….ahhh music, rap music in this case, truly is a universal language. Right as I type this the song Touchdown by T.I. feat Eminem is on repeat and it makes me smile. I love how my brothers love these songs as much as I do and they don’t even understand all of the words because they are in English, just goes to show how infectious the beats are I suppose. One of the reasons I love music is because it can take you back to a time and place, and now I have one more good memory to go along with T.I.’s King and the song Touchdown.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Cell Phone & Election
Bom dia,
I now have a cell phone my number is 011 258( I think that is how you dial to Mozambique from the states) and then - 82 -933-7396 is my regular cell number. It is free for me to receive texts and calls so go ahead and call -> though we are 7 hours ahead of US central time and will be 8 after you have daylight savings time.
I am excited about the election so any updates about who's winning or who the next president will be would be greatly appreciated!!!
I now have a cell phone my number is 011 258( I think that is how you dial to Mozambique from the states) and then - 82 -933-7396 is my regular cell number. It is free for me to receive texts and calls so go ahead and call -> though we are 7 hours ahead of US central time and will be 8 after you have daylight savings time.
I am excited about the election so any updates about who's winning or who the next president will be would be greatly appreciated!!!
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