Tivemos Saudades!

 Guess who got the traveling bug again. Yes I traveled again after working so hard! I deserve a little vacation. When I got to Maputo I was able to see Wendy for an extra day before she was off to America Land. So we went to the fish market ate delicious shrimp and went to the art market. It was nice to actually see her one more time and say see you later, *tear*.  

 

 

Amigos

 

 

Central people (Ariel, Steven, Wendy, Aleesa)

 

Freshly made shrimp!

 

After that I was on my way to the beach. I did the same route again central Mozambique to south of Mozambique to north of Mozambique…. Except in the south I stayed in a beautiful site called Quissico. Two of my friends live on a beautiful lagoon that is 3 hours away or maybe less from tufo beach. I spent almost a week at their site literally relaxing and enjoying the view. The best part was traveling to their site. I took a 6 hour chapa to get to their site and of course got the princess seat (which means the front seat with leg space and no one smashing into you) but I was lucky enough to sit right next to the drunk man. Don’t worry mom the story gets better. This was literally the funniest chapa I have ever been on. Yes the man was annoying and all but I saw something I thought I would never see Mozambicans do. So every time the chapa would slow down or we pass a big city he would by a bottle of cheap liquor, he would set it down and one of the passengers would hide it quickly because the man was that annoying and needed to stop drinking. I found out later that it’s illegal for chapa drivers to have drunk individuals on their chapa. Anyways, they hid about 6 bottles on this 6 hour chapa. The best part was when he tried talking to me in English, please stop I speak Portuguese and he would continue because he’s English were madeup words. Every time he tried talking to me because he would forget, everyone would yell at him over and over again that she speaks portuguese. I literally sat on the bus with my earphones ignoring him but laughing. Then I made it to quissico finally.

So the chapa ride was well worth it.

 

We went exploring a tad and got to catch up with one of my best friends here. It's nice knowning he lives in a vacation spot. Jealous but not so much cause I love my site.After spending time there, laying by the lagoon and getting to know their site, we traveled up to tufo beach because yes I definitely needed beach time.

 

Sticke bridge at the Quissico lagoon

Kids working hard

Carrying stuff over the stick bridge

We met up with other volunteers who I am close with but never see because of the travel ban. I enjoyed every second about it. We camped at the beach and talked about how much has changed since we got here.

Literally September is coming up and that means we have been a year in Mozambique….A YEAR. Crazy. I feel like I just said goodbye to my family.

 

This one is for you mom!

The beautiful Beach

 

So after spending a good amount in the South it was time to head north for a week. I went to Nampula for a very special conference…. My community library project! I am starting a library in Vanduzi, I will be teaching little kids how to read and write in Portuguese and I will have about 175 Portuguese books to teach them with. These kids have never seen a book and I get to change that. I already started the project with four kids and found an amazing dependable counterpart. We spent the whole week not only eating amazing food but he was learning different teaching methods and how to read to the children. I am very excited for this project because it was exactly what I wanted to do and heck I already attract all the little kids. Sometimes I think it drives my roommate crazy that they are always over here but she totally understand how much I love them. The best part about this project is, knowing it is something I am actually really good at it. I have to say I love my job.

 

 

 

Counterparts doing a theater

Some books we have

Joe teaching the secret word

Our training group (Fei, Jules, Joe)

Can't forget the thumbs up

Everyone together

 

My best friend/Counterpart

He got his certificate!

Dombe and Zobue counterparts first time on a plane!

Derreck ending his journey

 

After the conference I was ready to go home and sleep in my own bed even though I was enjoying the hot showers and good food. I wasn't exactly ready to start teaching again because I was so tired but got right back into it and turned out my kids missed me. Here in Mozambique when a teacher enters the classroom all the students stand and greet you with "Bom Dia Senhora Professora" I respond "Bom Dia Como Estao" They say "Estamos Bem de saude" and then I tell them they can sit.  In one of my classes they decided to say "Tivemos Saudades" I couldn’t' help but laugh. Oh my ninth grade students I missed you too.

 

Side note...it's starting to get hot and even amendoim can barely take it!