Time is flying by...

What just happened to the last trimester? It seems like just a month or so ago I was finishing my first trimester and getting in some beach time. Now I am back at the hotel where we stay during conferences in Chimoio (the Central hub for us PCVs) and I have no idea where the last few months of my life have gone. Here are some updates about what I’ve been up to lately:

I have mainly stayed in my home town, only traveling down to the city for a birthday and to pick up some meds. And I know that life is starting to be normal for me considering that I haven’t written in my journal since my last vacation.

My roommate traveled down to South Africa to meet her family and go on safari and she brought me back some amazing coffee and a new kitten for our house. He’s super tiny, and I’m convinced that if it were in the states he would still have to stay with his mom. We named him L.O., short for Little One. It’s verrrry cold in Angonia now so he spends most of his time cuddled up with us under our sweatshirts or blankets and he’s really cute. I have been warned though that he needs to be watched carefully since the traditional communities where I live like to eat cats. Guess that explains why I’ve only seen 2 since arriving at site :/

The Third Annual Science Fair at my school took place, see my other blog post.

I am currently attending a conference learning about developing small projects to help develop my community and help with HIV/AIDS. And as always the best part of conferences is the amazing hot showers and great food that they serve at the hotel.

My vacation this time will consist of a meeting and training down in Maputo, with a few days of traveling in Maputo in between. I hope that it will be filled with Thai food and hope to make a quick stop in Namaacha to visit my host mom. I don’t quite know what my plans are yet for my off days. I will be in the land of constant internet access though, so I’ll be sure to keep you updated!!

Science Fair!!

I pulled off our local school science fair. And by I, I mean that I bought some pens and typed up a few documents while my amazing science teaching colleagues organized about 35 students presenting 20 experiments. It was a science fair unlike any I ever attended in the states, so I really was no help. Many of the experiments were not really experiments but demonstrations of scientific phenomenon (for example the fact that fire consumes oxygen so you put jars of differing sizes over a candle and wait for the flame to go out). It was a huge production with some amazing prizes provided by the school, and the best part was that I wasn’t needed. The main goal of the Peace Corps is to be able to transfer our skills to the people living here so that one day when the program is no longer in the country they can continue developing instead of losing a bunch of resources. I was very impressed by the initiative taken by my school to pull it off.
Then we took 4 winners from our school (two from primeiro ciclo (8-10th grade) and two from Segundo ciclo (11-12th grade)) to the provincial fair down in Tete city. Since Tete has not had many volunteers until my group arrived, it was a first fair for a majority of the schools as well as for the province. Long story short, my kids won 5 of the 10 prizes, and much deserved too. It was the third annual fair for my school and it was a huge event (even bigger than the provincial fair) so I feel the trip to the national fair is well deserved. The national fair will take place in Beira in August at some time with the Escola Secundaria de Ulónguè representing Tete province. Wish us luck!!!