Oh Man, I just had this whole post written and the internet went out and deleted it all. Ugh, I'll start again. Here's an update of my journey to Mozambique.
Milwaukee to Philadelphia:
After a tearful (mostly Anna and Mom) early morning airport goodbye to my family and Matt, I hopped on a plane to Philadelphia. The flight was uneventful because I slept the entire time (surprise!). At the Philadelphia baggage claim I met a fellow Peace Corps Chemistry Teacher named Anna from Milwaukee. She's sassy, went to UW Madison, and fills lulls in the conversation with her words. It's like I never left my Anna! They even have the same scarf. We shuttled to the hotel together. Next came a frenzy of storing our suitcases in a sketchy back room until our rooms were ready, filling out dozens of forms, and changing into our business casual outfits (yeah, that's right, I can be business casual). Six hours of getting to know the Education volunteers and rules of Peace Corps later, we were given debit cards to use for dinner. Then drama struck. The ATMs refused to give us our $160.00 and after many confused calls we realized there was only $120.00 on each card. After whining about our first world problem of being short changed $40.00 we went out to an Asian fusion tapas restaurant for our final American meal. By midnight I was asleep.
Philadelphia to New York to Johannesburg to Maputo:
The alarm went off at 2:00AM so we could check out by 2:30AM so we could board a bus by 3:00AM. We hopped on the bus in a downpour and decided it would be a good idea to watch Super Troopers instead of sleep. It was a poor idea in retrospect. By 5:30 we were at JFK International. Why did we get there so early? I can't know. Unfortunately, we couldn't check in until 7something and our plane didn't leave until 11:40 so that permitted plenty of time for naps and final calls. Then came the 15 hour flight. Although there were good movies and decent food, the woman next to me did not let me out of my seat nearly enough so I could have to wait for the 2 people on my other side to get up. Luckily, they were Peace Corps volunteers. What seemed like FOREVER later we landed in Johannesburg where we immediately got onto our plane to Maputo. At sometime during the hour flight, an MP3 player was stolen out of a backpack and a purse was taken completely. I made it with all my luggage. Apparently my bags don't scream "Take me!" I guess people aren't interested in stealing underwear and coloring books. Whatever. It Maputo we were greeted by the Country Director and whisked away on a Chapa to the hotel. For those who've read my Peru blog a Chapa is like a Combi. We drove past shanty towns a barefoot children until we arrived at our super swanky hotel. Hello pool and air conditioning and toilets and toilet paper! Fancy. The first day of orientation was just an epic lunch buffet and vaccinations. I still can't lift my arm above my head after all of those shots. Wimpy. I think I was in bed by 10.
Day 2 in Maputo to Home Stays:
Today we sat through 8 hours worth of talks. Safety talks, medical talks, host family talks. Thankfully every meal in this 4 star palace is a gourmet buffet, which takes the sting out of talk after talk. Fresh seafood, fresh fruit, and curry? It's like a dream come true. It's also a big tease. Tomorrow we meet our host families in Namaacha. I'm both excited and nervous. None speak English and we will be separated from our fellow volunteers. I've been told our host families will most likely treat us like infants. They will try to hold our hands, feed us until we burst, and even try to bathe us. I guess now is the time to practice my "no thanks" in Portuguese. Starting Monday, we will have both language and technical training. We need to be at the intermediate/advanced level for Portuguese in 5 weeks. Easy, right? Luckily, we are arriving just in time for rainy season. This means not only will i be sweating through my business casual dress shirts, but I will also be caked in bright red mud. Yum. I just want these 10 weeks to fly by so I can be placed at my site so I can get a puppy! The Peace Corps advises volunteers to get dogs not only because they are cute and cuddly, but because Mozambicans are afraid of them and you're less likely to have your house broken into. Hooray! I already have 10 names picked out. This either means my dog will have one really long name or I'll just have to get 10 puppies. We'll see.
Bah, I'm all MozamBLOGGED out after typing all of that a second time. Hope this post tides you over until I find internet again! Wish me luck!
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