A blog in pictures

I have been really behind on posting blogs recently and decided it'd be faster to post some pictures from the past few weeks. Most of the pictures are from Dia dos professores (Teacher's day) on October 12th. I hope to have some free time this weekend and a break from grading to write another blog post. Until then here are some pictures from the past few weeks. :)

At the dinner with Irma Rita, a professor's wife, Professor Filomino and one of my students, Hostalina. Hostalina taught me how to dance Mozambican style...maybe when I COS I'll be a better dancer :)

At the praça for Teacher's day a school gymnastic group performed and this was just one of their stunts. 

 Mozambicans love to dance. Here are most of my colleagues showing off their dance moves.

For Teacher's day we had a big dinner and party. Somehow I was given the cake cutting job--which apparently was a big deal. It was a really nice time to hang out with the other professors.

National Anthem ceremony at the closest praça (about 25 minutes away)

Some of the professors, Irma Rita and I at the Teacher's Day ceremony. 

Our local praça/Administrative offices where the Teacher's Day ceremony was held.

A church I visited when I was in Carapira. It is gorgeous inside and out.

Dia da Paz

Today was Dia da Paz (Peace Day) in Mozambique, which meant no school, yay! I was really looking forward to just sleeping in and having a lazy day. I was lying in bed most of the morning (after waking up at 6am—of course I couldn’t sleep in on my day off) reading a book and feeling lazy. Thankfully my counterpart, Irma Rita, asked if we could study English since she has a final exam for her class next month so I was able to stop being lazy and get out of bed.

I was over at her house for about 5 minutes before I heard students making a commotion outside. I asked her what was going on and she told me they were going to Crusse, a beach near Nacucha. Anna has been telling me about Crusse since I arrived in Nacucha last year. She only went once but told me it was the most beautiful beach she had ever seen. So of course when I heard this I decided to go and get Anna and see if we wanted to go with all the students. The students were leaving right then so we only had 2 minutes to get our stuff together and I didn’t have time to change into my swimsuit. I didn’t care I was just so happy to finally be going to this wonderful beach.

There were two tractors with flat beds attached for the students to pile in and one car. Thankfully the students made room for Anna and I to sit in the car otherwise we definitely would have gotten sun burnt on the ride. It only took us about 30 minutes to get there on a pretty mato “road”…I’m not sure if it should even be called a road, haha, but for my site it was a decent route for transportation. After driving a few minutes out of Nacucha there was nothing—no houses, people or animals. It was so serene and I truly felt like we were driving in a safari. I was expecting to see a lion jumping out from the high grasses, I know, I know…not very realistic. I didn’t actually see anything exciting though, maybe next time.

When we got close enough to see the beach and ocean from the road I was speechless. It. Was. Gorgeous! The water was such a pretty turquoise blue. When we arrived and got closer it was more beautiful than I imagined. The beach was pristine…no one was there besides a few fishermen. You could tell when you walked on the beach that it was hardly ever used. The water was clear, clean and the sand was so smooth. I could have lain there listening to the waves all day. However, we only got to stay a few hours. We went swimming, took pictures with the students and just relaxed.  Since I didn’t have time to change into a swimsuit I just had on jean shorts and a t-shirt. I tried going in there with that but I didn’t want to have to wear wet clothes back and not going in wasn’t an option. The ocean was so warm and the water so clear that I just had to go in! I was wearing a sports bra and since none of the female students had swimming suits either they just went in their bras and shorts so I figured hey I can do that too. Let me tell you something…I have never, let me repeat never, gone to a pool or the beach showing that much skin. I always wear a one piece or a tankini but today a sports bra was my only option. I felt so exposed and was so nervous wearing just that. After saying “estou gorda” about ten times I decided to just ditch the shirt and enjoy the beautiful ocean. Of course when I got out of the water I quickly covered up…I don’t think bikinis are in my future. :)

It was such an amazing day! I wish we could go to the beach every weekend—Anna and I are going to try and get there more often though! We can’t really walk there since it is pretty isolated and there is no cell phone reception or anyone out there. We’ll just have to talk some of the nuns or priests into going one weekend!

I took so many pictures of Crusse but I don’t think they don’t do it justice. I wish everyone could see this beautiful, untouched and mesmerizing beach. Since that probably isn’t an option for most people I’ll post some pictures here from Crusse.

One Year Later

I can’t believe last week marked the one-year mark of my Peace Corps journey. I remember last year at this time getting settled into my first home stay family—I was SO nervous and could not communicate a single word in Portuguese. I’m so glad to have this year under my belt and not be the PCV newbie anymore.

Last week brought up a lot of memories from getting ready to come to Mozambique (the packing disasters, Sheridan’s overload, and Vala’s Pumpkin Patch), PST (Halloween and Thanksgiving celebrations) as well as thinking back to my first few months at site. So many things have happened this last year and I have grown so much—in my knowledge of Portuguese, Mozambican culture, as an English teacher and in many more things.

I'm so glad that I’ve gone through this year with my fellow Moz 19 PCVs. I could not imagine staying sane without these wonderful “government mandated” friends. I feel so happy to say that I’ve been here in Mozambique for a year (well…except for those 12 days in August)!

During my first week in Mozambique last year I was very nervous and unsure of what I was getting myself into. Even though I still have days where I feel unsure of my work and if I’m making a difference I can truly say that I am in the right place. Mozambique has become my home in so many different ways—

•  I realized that there are some words I don’t even remember in English. While I was home in August I think I got some weird looks when I kept saying crianças, lá, chique, bolo, etc. Portuguese seems to always be in my mind now.
• Spiders on the ceiling are now a normal décor in my bathroom and they don’t faze me anymore.
• Air-conditioning makes my teeth chatter from being too cold.
• Baking in a big pot with sand is so easy to me now.
• I crave Matapa…sometimes even more than Runza or froyo.

Peace corps life is an amazing, challenging, inspiring, happy, funny, sad, rewarding, and indescribable experience. The Peace Corps describes service as “the toughest job you’ll ever love,”…and oh boy is that saying true. Peace Corps has its ups and downs but it is the most influential volunteer experience I have ever had. I am really looking forward to what these next 15 months of service brings.  Estamos Juntos MOZ 19! :)