Is anyone still reading this?

Dec. 20

3:40pm-ish, Friday afternoon

Is anyone still reading this? ha! 

Well, for those of you who are... here are the latest novidades na vida do wendel-

At the moment, I am stuck in my house waiting for a handy man that is suppose to repair my roof. He came by at noon, scoped out the work and then went to buy the supplies. My dona (my landlady and owner of the house) said he would be back "d'aqui a nada" (in no time). D'aqui a nada?! Psshh.. let's see what this means, I thought to myself. Well, 3 hours later and no handy man in sight. Why does my house need fixing? Well, my lovely chapa (tin) roof has started leaking during the hard rains. At first it was just in 3-4 isolated places but now the leaks are spreading and there are 3 new leaks right on top of my bed. The other night I crawled into bed and couldn't tell whether my bed was damp or just cold. It was damp. I moved my bed from under the leaks as best I could but that didn't help much. At one point I was laying there thinking that I would be better off sleeping in my tent and then it came to me- A-HA! The rainfly! I ran to the living room and took the rainfly from my tent and brought it back into my room. I put the rainfly on top of my mosquito net and BOOM! I was protected from those pesky leaks. Probably not that big of a deal/discovery but I felt so clever at the time! ahahaha...

Since I last wrote, we welcomed the newest group of volunteers to site, wrapped up the year at work (LEMUSICA), and said goodbye to YET ANOTHER pal. 

So, let's see. Newbies- there are 13 new volunteers/additions to Central. They went to site about two weeks ago and they are the latest additions to our Peace Corps family. The departure of MOZ 17 (group 17th to serve in Moz) along with the arrival of these new kids, makes my group, MOZ 18, the veteran PCVs in country. Weird! What's even weirder? Well, since I am the ONLY 18er in central, I am officially the oldest volunteer in the region (15ers use to joke by calling those vols "crusty"). So now I am old as fuck. I definitely feel like a  seasoned vet... 

It's actually pretty interesting to be around the new volunteers. Nothing makes you feel old as fuck quite like being around a whole NEW group of PCvs. How come? Well, for starters Mozambique has yet to CRUSH their spirit.... Justkidding! ahaha. ... ahem. 

For starters, you notice all those quirky little things about new volunteers: things they do, things they ask... All things you did and asked when you were new.... but now you're on the outside looking in and it's pretty amusing. Examples? Well, firstly- they look SO clean! Their clothes don't have any wholes in them and look almost new. Their jeans are still cute and have yet to fade or stretch. They also still wear make-up (ladies) and look as if they could've come straight out of a college campus. How else do you know someone is new? They still leave WAY too much food on their plate and/or meat on their chicken. I remember when I was new to site, I was surprised at how the older PCVs would have no shame in asking "are you gonna eat that?" when you left food on your plate. Well, now I'm THAT person. I am the crusty-ass volunteer JUDGING you so hard for not finishing your salad, fries and chicken completely. ahahahahh. yes, this is my life now. 

Alright, work! Work came to a close last week on the 13th with a big holiday party. Like I've mentioned before, the associations shut down from mid-December to mid-January for the holidays. I showed up to work the wednesday before the party and my colleague casually asked me if I was coming to the 'encerramento.' I said I had no knowledge of it but that I would come. So there I am, with no details, just a casual mention of it from Afonso. I showed up on the day of the encerramento dressed pretty casualy- hiking boots, cargo pants and a comfortable shirt. Well, turns out- the encerramento meant a big fucking party. All my colleagues showed up in these gorgeous capulana dresses and there I was... looking like a bum. Had they told me it was a more formal event, I would've worn a dress or something! But nope. I looked like a peace corps volunteer.

Francisco and Nsasha, two of the kids at LEMUSICA's transit center 

Anyway, once I got over that, I really enjoyed myself. All the Maes ("mothers", nickname commonly used for women) spent the morning cooking a big feast. I floated around and helped my counterpart set up the main sala (conferencce room) and wrap last minutes presents. When the time came to start the festivities, our director gave a big closing speech thanking everyone for their hard work and then awkwardly reminding the activist that their contracts were over because the funding for certain projects had ceased. Kinda weird. Anyway, we served the kids from the orphanage first before staff (and volunteers) helped themselves to lunch. After lunch, there was a big secret santa exchange, which was then followed by some music, beer-drinking and a bit of dancing.

Prepping the big feast

Durcilia and I

Achievement for the day: learning to strap a baby to my back 'a-la-africana.' haha. My co-workers helped me get little Achia on my back while I strapped her on... I was pretty nervous about her falling so I kept my right hand on her just to make sure. Of course, my co-workers thought this was the funniest thing that they had ever seen and were in hysterics! 

colleagues yelling at me- "Nao vai cair! Nao vai cair! Deja!" (She wont fall! Let her go!)

 me- "Nao! Vai cair!" (No, she will fall!)

It was quite a site to see.... but then again, when is a branca with a baby strapped to her back not a site to see?? I told myself I would keep practicing so that I could one day do it as smoothly as Mozambican women do!

Little Achia just hanging out

Later that night, I went to yet another despedida.  This time we said goodbye to our friend Henry (one of the British 'lads' we befriended a few months ago). It was another typical ex-pact BBQ with good company, delicious stakes, and plenty of beers.

ladiessss

My two new sitemates on the left + our new Dutch friend

Ciao-sinhos Henry! Best of luck to you in your next post!

Sadly, the despedidas will just keep on coming. This weekend I am saying goodbye to two really good friends, Zach & Carolyn. I am still partly in denial that I have to despedir them so, naturally... I am gonna put off thinking about this heartbreaking goodbye for as long as possible. aha

Things to look forward to:

I will be traveling up to Niassa province, another one of the Northern provinces, and spending a few days at Lake Niassa where I will meet up with some friends and bring in the New Year!! I have yet to visit this province so I am looking forward to not only crossing it off my list, but checking out the Lake, which I hear is really beautiful. Passear'ing through Malawi is also an added BONUS. 3rd African country coming up! yeeeeeee!

By the way, if this is the last word you hear from me before the holidays/new year, I send you all back home some big hugs and wish you Boas Festas (happy holidays) & Boas entradas (happy new year)! 

ate o proximo ano!