Swear In (and updates)

So, I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer. We (Moz 15) swore in yesterday at the U.S. ambassador’s house in Maputo.

Catching up on life since my last update…Thanksgiving was my first holiday away from home. We all had a potluck dinner complete with turkey and stuffing. After 6 weeks of a lot of rice, xima and fried potatoes with only salt for seasoning Thanksgiving dinner was a taste explosion in my mouth. Garlic galore. Salads not covered in oil previously used to fry previously mentioned potatoes. Steamed green beans. Freshly killed turkeys. (FYI you have to get them drunk to kill them; I hear there’s a funny video somewhere) Sugar-tastic cookies made by me and Emily. Cakes. Need I say more? I have to say that my first holiday from home was the best holiday abroad I could have asked for, and will be hard to beat next year.

Model school has come and gone. I ended up teaching about 6 classes of biology (some people got pulled out of our teaching rotation to keep practicing language) and we tested the kids. We had two classes that we rotated between, and they were very different. One was about eight 13-14 year old girls and one 11 year old boy, all host brothers and sisters. The other was a group was about nine 17 year old boys who were all friends and too smart for their own good. Talk about hard to control. Passing here is 10 (on a scale of 20) and all of our kids in the girl class passed (one was bumped up from a 9, but close). The boys class only had four of the nine boys pass. I gave one boy a zero. They were ridiculous and didn’t even try, but it was definitely good practice as far as class room management goes. It’s kind of fun here because you can mock your kids and tell them they’re bad and it shames them into behaving. For example, one of the boys I just called “Indisciplinado” (undisciplined)—I seriously didn’t even know his name. He was disruptive, asked me to be his “amiga” aka sleep with him, and I called him out and for the rest of the model school he didn’t say a word in any of my classes. Made me feel confident that I could lay down the law.

We packed up all our stuff from our host family houses. Somehow over the course of 10 weeks my stuff has multiplied into an additional two boxes of stuff. To give me credit, most of the boxes were filled with bed sheets, blankets and manuals provided by the Peace Corps. My Mãe made me a last dinner of grilled chicken, xima, fries, salad and sprite. This is the type of food they serve out at restaurants and is considered “fancy”. And she knows sprite is my favorite. It was really cute. I gave her a baseball cap that said “Montana” on it and got us both matching kapulanas. When Kikas got home he was trying to talk Mãe out of the baseball cap and I whipped out the CD mix I had made him. He got really excited and kissed me on both cheeks. Then he showed off his suit he just got for his graduation to be a teacher on the 10th. Overall a perfect night to end with the family. I’m sad to leave them.

I was sent off in the bus to Maputo with a giant Tupperware of food plus enough cookies to last me my entire week of traveling up to my site. To celebrate swear-in the Peace Corps put us up on Hotel Cardoso, a 5 star hotel overlooking the ocean. It was a glorious land of hot showers, AC, and there was amazing thai food right down the street. We got all fancy in our kapulana clothing (a pattern for each of the health volunteers, English ed volunteers and science volunteers) and were off to the ambassador’s house for swearing in. We did the deed, right hands raised, and were official. There was a reception following with little finger foods. Then we headed back to the hotel and celebrated our last night together. Overall the past 24 hours I have not felt like I’m in Africa.

Now the 70 of us have been scattered to the 4 corners of Mozambique. It’s funny to think that I didn’t know these people 10 weeks ago, and today there were tears all over saying our goodbyes. Depending on where you were placed, we may not see some of these people in person until the end of our 2 year service. Luckily Emily and I are both central so we have a few more days together. I don’t think I could’ve handled saying goodbye to Meagan and her on the same day. I am spending one more night in Maputo (at a much less nice hotel  ) and then heading up to my supervisor’s conference. I’m scheduled to reach my new house on Dec 9th. Love and miss you all!! (and new mailing address is coming, I promise).

Site Placement

Just a quick note about my site. I´ll be going to Angonia, Tete in central Mozambique for the next two years. I´ll be teaching english at a secondary school and living on an IFP campus (teacher training school). I have a roommate named Arielle that I´m excited to get to know, and inheriting a dog. It´s in the mountains right on the Malawi border so it´ll be cool and I´ll get to experience another culture as well. New mailing address is coming soon, so don´t send anything anymore to my old address. Love you all and happy thanksgiving!!

15 November 2010

Well, training is winding down way sooner than I thought. I’m through my first week of Model School with one more to go. Model school is where we bribe children to come in during their summer break and let us teach them classes with the promise of free cookies and a certificate at the end of everything. As far as teaching training went, as of week 5 I had taught one section of a 10 minute lesson with three other people involved. Now all of a sudden I’m supposed to teach a 45 minute lesson solo?!...right. We practiced in front of our fellow PCTs first and I crashed and burned. The hard concept here is that they do not take active notes nor do they get any sort of text book so what ever I write on the board is what they are going to be learning and studying from. My lesson plan was a mess and I got about 10 minutes into it and had no idea so I just quit and re-grouped. Luckily I think I was able to re-group quickly and the next day I presented a clear and concise, well-organized lesson on the muscle system and exercise. Big relief.

            I did our very first class of rules and an intro to biology on Monday to 4 students which happened to be a fellow PCTs host sisters so it went great (they were already accustomed to crazy Portuguese). Then on Wednesday I did my muscle lesson with no major problems. I now feel like I can actually do this job. Although thinking about it, going from 4 students to 60 is going to suck. I’ll worry about that in February J

            Thursday we find out where our site placement will be. This is going to be where I’m living for the next 2 years (by the time I post this I will know where I’m going) and it’s a big deal. I could be living in a teeny tiny village with no electricity and no other volunteers in a 6 hour radius, or I could be living in a pretty good sized city with electricity and running water and a fellow PCV for a roommate. It all depends. My specific requests were: 1) safety whether that be living very close to other houses or with a roommate; 2) I would like to live on a school campus to be more accessible to students; 3) I would not like to visit Maputo very much because it’s so big and crazy; 4) If I am opening a new site (aka There has never been a foreigner in that town before) I would need a site-mate or someone very close for sanity purposes. I guess I’ll see what I end up with.

            This weekend I’ll be heading to a beach right by Xai-Xai for “mental health break”. It will be our last time to hang out as a group before swearing in and going to our sites. Once we go we could easily not see each other again for the next 2 years. Crazy to think that this little comfort zone I’ve created here is about to change once again. After mental health break we have one more week of model school and the next week is a whole bunch of administrative stuff, swear-in and then we fly away to our regional capitals. That means I have less than two weeks left here with my host family…which may break my heart. It’s so great. On the other hand I’m excited to be in control of what I’m eating when, and especially how much I’m eating. It’s about to be a whole new adventure, so wish me luck!!

I told the witch doctor....

One of the most unbelievable moments thus far, get excited:

This past Saturday we had a language class field trip to visit the “curandeiro” aka “natural doctor” aka “witch doctor”. First of all we meet to get driven there in a P.C. land cruiser because it’s located way deep in Barrio A in the mountains. We pile in chapa-style (we had 14 people in a place that would squish in 10 in the states) and head down into the barrio (aka neighborhood).

I had mentioned to my Mãe the night before that I was going to see the curandeiro in the morning. I was slightly worried about her reaction because she is a stout Catholic, and she seemed to be fine with it. She asked what a curandeiro was to which I replied “natural doctor” and she was satisfied with that answer.

We finally hike down to the huts where they do their business and all have to pile into one. It’s a round mud hut with a thatched roof about 8 feet in diameter. About half of that space is taken up with bottles filled with who knows what (we asked—it’s a secret), animal skins hanging on the walls and black, red and white kapulanas hanging up everywhere (the colors of the curandeiro). In this little tiny space we all pack in once again chapa-style (that’s right, all 14 of us). Only in Mozambique would you think there’s no more room—the Mozambican language teachers just kept piling in. We sit there waiting for about 10 minutes. I can see out the doorway, and I notice a familiar face: Fuse (pronounced foo-C).

Fuse is my mae’s nephew. I met him in my first week here. He’s super patient and has some of the best Portuguese of anyone I’ve met yet. My favorite moment was the first time he met me my first week here “Este é um TEL-E-VI-SOR”. Yeah, I realize that’s a TV, thanks.  I may not speak the language but I’m not oblivious. Just the weekend before this field trip to the curandeiro he taught me the word for “lukewarm”. Main point of this tangent is that I Fuse comes to my house and I chat with him on a regular basis.

Back to the hut:

            I notice Fuse out the doorway and my first thought is “what in the heck is he doing here?” Next thing I know he comes into the hut and sits down, bites a stick and spits it into this bag of sea shells and starts explaining the process of a consultation with the curandeiro. This is when it hits me: Fuse IS THE curandeiro. Coming from a western view point, you imagine this super gray and wrinkly old man with some sort of crazy bone and feather outfit on. Instead in walks Fuse, late 20s wearing cargo khaki shorts and a G-Unit t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. Unbelievable.

I am trying to control my shock and let Emily know at the same time that this is the Fuse I always talk about. Emily tries to control her shock as well. I’m packed in the back row of people so it’s a few minutes until he sees me. He just says “oh, uma conhecida” which roughly translates into “hey, I know you” and I say “hola” in wonder. He finishes his speech, we ask him some questions and then he’s off to the next group.

            How my Mãe failed to mention that it would be Fuse when I told her I was going to visit the curandeiro in Barrio A I have no idea. Upon leaving, I explain my shock to everyone and the reason I got that special shout-out in the hut. I get home and am like “Mãe, why would you not warn me that it was Fuse?!?” and she just laughs “It was Fuse that you went to see?! Hahaha” with no real response. Such is life here.

So, that’s my story of the visit to the curandeiro, and if you know me well (or ask my fellow PCTs) I won’t get over it for awhile. Crazy times in Mozambique J

My first Marriage Proposal

So, it’s pretty common here to get a lot of attention as a white woman (especially with blonde hair). There’s the common pick up line of “we will meet again, and it will be a sign” or “I want to know you” and there are random marriage proposals (and other proposals) offered daily on the streets. I have, however, been initiated to the Mozambican male way. It happened something like this:

I was hiking to where the 3 borders of Moz, South Africa and Swaziland meet, and Emily, Jon and I were waiting for the rest of our group at the border before we went on our hike (a good 3 hours round trip). We were in search of a soda to take to drink at the top, and that’s where he was. I have no idea what is name is, so I’ll just refer to him as “Ernest”. He sees us and holds up his arms and yells (FYI this is all in portuguese) “Welcome to Mozambiqur!” to which Jon replies “We’ve been here for months now”. Ernest is wearing a border patrol uniform, and they are notoriously flirty and sketchy. He comes over to talk to us and tells us multiple times about the 3 border point (obviously Ernest has been going all night at this little bar at the border). We introduce ourselves and of course I get the common confusion of my name being “Portuguese” and having no ties to Brazil or Portugal. Ernest then asks Jon which one of us he is going to marry to which Jon replies “neither”. Ernest says that he would recommend marrying me.

Jon goes to get his soda and Ernest goes away only to return about 30 seconds later, approaching me directly this time. “So, you know I’m not married. And I’m available next week if you’d like to marry me” to which I reply “No thank you” and he laughs and walks off. Jon comes back, and Ernest attempts to reason with us. He tells Jon “I’d like to marry her” to which I interrupt with “I came here to teach, not to get married” and Jon says “she’s not going to marry you”. Then Ernest goes something like “I don’t think you’re understanding. The first president of FREMILO married an American to show that there was no tension among races, and my goal in life is to follow in his footsteps. I saw you all walking toward me and felt a shock from God.” Jon still maintains “I don’t think she’s going to marry you”. Ernest “You’re not understanding me. There’s this American woman living in Gaza province that married a Mozambican. I saw her wearing a kapulana and carrying a bunch of bananas from the machamba on her head. They do it all the time” (random shout out to this girl: Thanks a lot) At this point we’ve been waiting for 20 minutes and he’s about to go for his third attempt at reasoning me into marrying him, so I suggest that Emily and I walk back up and meet the people that are coming which we do.

And that’s how it happened: my first ever marriage proposal. Somehow not quite how I imagined it…..

Mozambican Funny-isms

-When there’s a storm with lightning you have to cover your mirror. When asked why my Mae thought I was joking and never answered (according to my language teacher it’s because the mirrors can attract lightning.

-If I don’t cook when I go to site and eat sandwiches all day, my body will dry up so it’s important that I learn.

-Mozambicans are crazy about being clean, but the buildings and houses haven’t been maintained in the last 30 years. The graffiti in schools is out of control. Paint would go a long way here.

-There are free roaming goats and chickens everywhere, and everyone seems to know which belongs to who, and they definitely know if they’re missing. I see no order.

-Small children are running free in the streets all the time, no parent/babysitter to be seen.

-being able to turn on a computer makes me a technology expert here

-they drive on the left side of the road, and if I teach English I’ll be teaching British English

-no matter if you live in a little grass roofed hut, you’ll have a giant amp to blare music from

-they were blasting Eminem “shake that” at my mom’s church party. I was sitting next to the pastor drinking beer.

-they ask you for everything all the time. Like “can I have your water?” or even “can I have your hair?” or “can I have your nose ring?”

-Amanda is a latin based name so it’s common in Portuguese too. Therefore everyone is confused that I have no Portuguese family or background.

-Amanda is also the name of a butter brand here.

-A woman wrapped in a kapulana (traditional clothing) will be walking down the street with a giant crate on balanced on her head and a cell phone at her ear

-everyone here has a maid and doesn´t believe me that it is not common in the states.

November 6, 2010

Five weeks of training and 3 more to go…time is going fast. I’ve been keeping a daily journal and at first I was filling up 3 and 4 pages because everything was new and different. Now things are getting to be more and more normal, which is strange considering how short of a time I’ve been here. I took my LPI (language proficiency interview) and tested at the level they want for being able to swear in (which is Intermediate-mid). Less than 2 months ago I knew how to count to 10 in Portuguese. Now I can tease the kids that follow us in the street, and chat with my Mãe when the power is out (which happens whenever the wind blows or there is a slight rain). It’s really crazy to me. And there are some words in Portuguese that just work their way into our English because they’re more convenient.

This last week we got to work in the garden and learn how to grow bio-intensive gardens where you get a whole lot more out of a whole lot less land. Bonus it was all at my house since I live on a giant plantation (by Namaacha standards anyways). It was great to be outside all day and not sitting in classes. This next week is dedicated to planning model school (which is where students come in for fake classes to help us practice teaching in Portuguese and see how our methods work with locals before we actually go and teach at a real school). Then week 7 we have model school, then a 3 day weekend where I plan to go visit the beach with a ton of other volunteers and then another week of model school. Right before our 3 day weekend (on the 18^th) I’m supposed to find out where I’ll be living for the next 2 years. I’m excited to find out and also see who is going to be placed around me. After the second week of model school we have a week of activities before finally swearing in as real volunteers on Dec 3^rd. Then it’s off to our provincial capitals and our new lives (again). It’s coming to an end so fast.

Just wanted to send a shout out to those of you messaging me online. It means a lot and sorry I sometimes can’t respond. If anyone has any questions they want me to address in the blog just let me know. Now that things are starting to get “normal” it’s harder to think of what to write.

Reflections on Mozambique

Now that I’ve been here for about a month, I just wanted to write an entry to try and portray how I feel about Mozambique which is an emotion I find hard to describe. Sometimes I just get this feeling in my chest and tear up in awe of this experience. This country is still recovering from 26 years of war. First, the Portuguese left in 1975 after about 10 years of war. I remember my shuttle driver in Philadelphia talking about growing up in Africa (not in Moz) and watching on the news as the Portuguese left, smashing toilets, destroying buildings and planting land mines without regard on their way. They are still trying to find all the landmines—there was a news story last week on one exploding in near Maputo (the capital). And since the Portuguese made up the majority of educated teachers and medical people in the country, Mozambicans were left with a major shortage of teachers and doctors which they are still trying to recover today.

Once the Portuguese were gone, a Civil war continued between the two predominant political parties that still exist today. Over the next 16 years war continued, with schools, hospitals and road systems destroyed in its wake. A peace agreement was signed in the mid-1990s, finally ending the years of destruction.

Now with this history in mind, it really makes me think. Just tonight as we were watching the news, my host mom brought it up a little. She was talking about when the war was going on she would get off work at 5 p.m. and head straight home with her one grandchild she was raising tied to her back (the common way they carry their babies here) and dragging the other by the hand with her bundle of food on her head (also very common here J ). By 6 p.m. the whole family would be inside with all the windows and doors shut and zero noise and no lights. Not the TV, radio, nothing until about 10 p.m. She was talking about hiding out in one room of the house with two of her children plus two grandchildren and being completely silent, listening to people running outside and the gunfire going on. My host “nephew” (who is more like a brother since he’s 21) was included in this. If I had been born here I would have grown up in this environment until I was 5. Everyone that I’m going to be working with (majority, anyways) grew up in a time of war. My language teacher right now is 29…He was 10 or 11 before war in his country stopped. I can’t even imagine that, and I cannot help but be grateful for the luck I had to be born in the country that I was born in.

On top of everything there is now a war against HIV/AIDS that they have to fight in order to develop. The newest data that just came out this month is that the prevalence rate of HIV here is 11.5% of the population. In the U.S. its around 2-3%.  It is something that needs to get under control through education and behavior change, and is another thing that I’m here to try and help with.

The U.S. has had over 200 years to develop; Mozambique has had less than 20. It’s actually impressive that they have the infrastructure they do. And it’s a humbling experience to be here and trying to help them develop further. It’s nice to have moments like this and realize that I did make the right decision in coming here. The hard times of my experience will come I know, but for now I’m amazed that I was given this opportunity.

NGOMA time

A word on NGOMA time (and no, I do not know what it stands for):

This is a one-hour talent-type show meant to help us have some fun and relax after an entire day of training and getting lectured at. I love watching it, and really enjoy it usually. Where I start having a problem is when we are forced to come up with something to present as a language class every week. Now, I’m all for jumping on the lead of another talented person who can play the guitar or choreograph a dance. I’ll follow along. The problem is that language groups are organized by your field of expertise. Therefore all the science people (me included) are in the same groups together. Last week in my group of 4 we had nothing. No ideas whatsoever.  There is a reason most of us majored in the sciences and not in the arts. There are those exceptions, however in my group of 4 none of us were talented, and neither is my new language group of 3 people. Other science groups had similar problems coming up with something entertaining. Another big problem with this is that all of our language teachers are Mozambican. When you’re from Africa you come out of the womb singing, chanting and dancing. Seriously, Mandy’s 3 year old little brother can dance JUST LIKE Michael Jackson. It’s what they do here. So I’m pretty sure that my language teacher just thinks we’re being difficult.

In my first language group, we ended up making a little poem in Portuguese just to make our language teacher happy. Fortunately for us we were not on the list to perform nor were we called out at the end of NGOMA time so we didn’t actually have to go. Then when I got switched to my new language group and we still had no ideas we decided to join up with my old language group, use the poem, and also act it out to involve 2 more people. This last week time ran out before our group got to go so I have yet to perform and I’m fine with that. Not only are there 15 language groups, but the professors and other people from the community come and perform too so it ends up going at least 2 hours. Quite honestly after a HUB day I want to go and hang out with my friends, have a beer, and unwind after being talked at all day long. Ever since NGOMA time has started we haven’t been able to do that considering it goes until 6:30 pm and our curfew is 7 pm.

In conclusion, I enjoy NGOMA time and think its fun to watch people who are far more talented than me. I just think we should leave it to the people who want to perform and who are good at performing and as an added bonus it would help us stick to our 1 hour time limit. 

My first real Chapa experience

All of the public transportation is by Chapa. A chapa generally is a 15 passenger van that they stuff an average of 20 peole in (4 per 3 person seat at least). This past Saturday I went to Matola to Shoprite (the Moz Wal-Mart) and to get home we found that there is no direct chapa all the way back to Namaacha where we live, so I experienced a chapa bus to Boane. It was the most unbelievable thing I have experienced and I´m glad some of my fellow PCTs were there to witness it. This is a smaller bus with 2 seats then an isle then 1 seat. We were all shoved into the aisle. Of the people we could see we counted at least 45 on a bus made for maybe 35. I couldn´t move. They always say to never have anything in your pockets, and I´m glad I didn´t because even if someone had reached in mine I couldn´t have moved to stop them. It was unbeleivable. I was pressed full frontal on this stranger (luckily my bag was between us) and sticking my butt in this old lady´s face. At one point I was on tip-toe because someone shoved their feet under mine. And they just kept pushing more people on. Then the couple next to me were drinking beers and threw them out the window when they were done. Just another one of those moments that make you realize "I`m living in Mozambique".

Oct 15 2010

Internet is not as easy access as I thought. Internet cafés are not exactly on every corner here like in Costa Rica. Then the town internet access was down and no one really knows how to fix it…but it’s back up now (or at least when I post this it will be J ). Just going with the flow. I actually enjoy being a little removed from everything. I have no idea what is going on in reality tv or with Hollywood and still feel completely normal. And I watch the news every night so I see all the important stuff (like the Chilean mine worker rescue).

            Just want everyone out there to know that I think I have the best host mom anyone could ask for. She is willing to sit with me and explain things slowly, makes me talk at home by telling her what I did all day and correcting me, and is hell-bent on teaching me all things Mozambican and getting me as independent as possible as soon as possible. She always says “do you know how to do this?” and my typical response is “In the U.S. yes but in Africa probably not.” She knows how to do everything and if you don’t do it like her you’re not doing it right. She even pointed out a better way that I should paint my toenails. Seriously, she knows everything. I’ve been painting my toes for probably 15 years and never once thought that it made more sense to do it another way. Unbelievable J.

            I get a lot of questions about what I eat everyday so here’s an average: Breakfast is usually bread with cheese or peanut butter or jam and tea. Then I have to bring a snack to class with me usually of a juice box and bread with peanut butter or cookies. Lunch usually has a salad and rice with beans or some sort of meat to go with. Then I come home after classes at 6 p.m. and have some tea and bread or cookies. Then dinner is usually at 8 p.m. with pasta or a rice dish with salad and more bread and papaya for dessert. For those of you thinking I’m going to come back skinny, so far no good. Many times I don’t want to eat at all, but my Portuguese is not quite up to the level that I can explain that to her without her thinking that I don’t like what she cooked. One of my favorite moments: she caught me blowing on my soup (it was hot and I didn’t want to burn my mouth) and says “Minha filha!! (My daughter!!) Why didn’t you tell me you don’t like food really hot?? All you have to do is say, I don’t like food really hot and I won’t heat it up as much” and then I got room temperature food for about a week until I explained to her that it’s not that I don’t like hot, I just don’t like to burn my mouth. Now I’m very careful to not blow on things or only blow when she’s not looking.

Just know that internet here isn’t the most reliable and many of you that send emails or facebook posts know that I can usually read them but by the time I go to respond the internet is down again but I do see them. Keep me updated--Love and miss you all!!

Finally...an Update. Written Oct 5, 2010

Where to even begin?? I’ve only been gone for 2 weeks and officially in training for one yet I feel like so much time has passed. I got to Namaacha which is where we are located with host families to learn the language and learn how to teach. My first day I went to a birthday party with my host mom and was break dancing to really bad early 90s music (which is all over here) with the best break dancer I’ve ever met who happens to be about 8 years old and named Bruno. I couldn’t help but stop and look around thinking I’m going to love it here. I don’t even know where I’ll be for the next few years until Thanksgiving (I think) but it’s going to be great. I felt right at home right away.

 Training is very intense. I go to classes every day M-F from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm plus Saturday mornings. Right now it is very language intensive and we’re learning a lot about medical. I’m in a language class with 4 other people so it’s very one-on-one which is good.

My host family is amazing. The house is HUGE which I was not expecting. Better yet we have running water and an indoor bathroom with a FLUSHING TOILET!! No squatty potty for me, obrigada a deus! The language is coming along well. It’s basically Spanish with a lot of shhhs and nasal sounds and no la’s. Which if you speak Spanish should make sense J. I’m buying a cell phone tomorrow in Maputo and I’ll get people the number if they want it (if you don’t get it just FB message me and I’ll send it to you).

My favorite thing that has started happening the last few days is the giant herd of kids that follow me and my neighbor Emily home from lunch every day. Just whatever random kids that see us on the street will start walking with us and next thing you know it’s a parade of 12 lead by the mulungos (local word for white person). Some of them even remember our name so there will be random kids yelling out “Amanda!”. It’s pretty darn cute. Até logo!!

Mozambique Hotels are nice...

Hello friends and fam--

I have arrived in Mozambique after one of the longest plane rides in my life (15 hours). We get quarnatined at the hotel in the capital of Maputo right away, so I have yet to see any of the country. Tomorrow morning I head out to Namaancha to our host families. I've been trying to cram in the Portuguese and getting to know everyone. I won't have regular internet access from now on so I'll update when I can. I'll also be getting my cell phone next saturday so I'll get my # out as soon as possible. My computer is almost out of batteries, so Ate logo!!

West Philadelphia!!

I have officially taken the first step in my new adventure!! I spent my last week working Monday and Tuesday, and then packing and unpacking and repacking on Wednesday Thursday and Friday. I also had special dinner dates with family and friends every night, a bomb going away party downtown on friday and my final comedy night with Sarah on Saturday (which turned out to be epic).

I am now at the hotel in Philly with all the other early arrivals and tomorrow it's Orientation then a bus to JFK and my 15 hour flight to Africa. I'll keep in touch as I can!!

P.S.--feel free to start writing letters :) My address is to the right----->

Some More Info

Now that I have my invitation I'm going to cover some of the basic questions/information that everyone seems to want to know.

Applicant Timeline (aka--how much waiting around I had to do)

I didn't keep super track, but here's the closest I have:

June 2009--submitted application
~this time spent filling out the additional paperwork sent to me (including fingerprints!). And the packet had to be sent to me multiple times because they were confused about my address
August 26, 2009-- Interview and Nomination (happened simultaneously)
~this time spent on 3 separate trips to the Dr getting all the required paperwork filled out, and getting a stupid $400 mouth guard for night teeth grinding and sending a confirmation letter 3TIMES!!
February 2010--Officially Legally, Medically and Dentally cleared and ready for placement
~this time spent waiting...and waiting....and waiting
June 23, 2010--Request for an updated resume from the education office
~now more waiting
July 27, 2010--Received and email with 2 follow up questions.
July 31, 2010--Invitation sent
August 4, 2010--Invitation to serve in Mozambique as a Biology Teacher received!! (which happens to be what my original nomination was for)

Now, a little bit about Mozambique and the program:

Mozambique is located on the east coast of southern Africa, right across the ocean from Madagascar as I like to say (that one's for you Peter). It's roughly as long as the entire east coast of the United States and home to about 22 million people, with over half of them living below poverty levels.

The official language of the country, plus what I will be teaching in, is Portuguese. However, mostly local languages are spoken throughout the country. Popular question: Do I speak Portuguese? Answer: Not yet. I am fluent in Spanish and am encouraged that I can read a lot of Portuguese based on my Spanish knowledge.

I'll be departing September 29th (give or take 2 or so days) for Philadelphia where I will be meeting the 60 or so other crazies that will with me for this experience. We will head over the Mozambique together, as the 15th group of volunteers to arrive in the country. We will have biology, chemistry, math and english (?) teachers and teacher trainers as well as health volunteers that will work in communities promoting sanitation and HIV/AIDS awareness.

Speaking of HIV/AIDS I've read that Mozambique has a huge percentage of people (about 20-25% from all the different stats I've read) that are affected.

I've started compiling my packing list/wish list to buy before departure. I'll be working until I leave plus selling my car plus packing up everything plus spending tons of quality time with everyone so I'm expecting that I'll be on a flight heading east thinking "What am I doing?" sooner that I can realize after living in life limbo for over a year. I'll post my mailing address as soon as I get it and I'll be expecting lots of letters :)

Hopefully this answers some questions for people. Until next time Adeus!

Officially a Peace Corps Trainee!!

Hello All!!
Welcome to my blog, and my first official posting as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I have been applying for this for over a year since graduation and am really excited to finally be able to shout from the roof-tops that I will be moving the Mozambique come the end of next month.

Currently I am slightly weirded out that I am meeting people that I will be volunteering with on Facebook (I may be young but this whole technology thing is out of control!) but am looking forward to meeting everyone in person.

Until I leave I will be working my butt off until I leave so that I can get my bills paid off in time, hanging out with those I love the most, attempting to learn some Portuguese and trying to mentally prepare for cramming the next 2 years of my life in to 80 lbs of luggage.

Wish me luck and I'll be posting more as I find out more information.

Amanda