'Ta Chique, Maputo!

Last week I went to Maputo, the country's capital, for a week and I had a great time.  The other 50 plus volunteers in my group (Moz 19) had medical and dental exams along with conferences about safety and security and cultural differences between provinces.  It was great to see everyone and there were some people who live in the South and Central regions that I haven't seen since training in December 2012.

 I was last in Maputo in December 2012 and I've since forgotten how developed the city is.  They have stores like Walmart where I was able to purchase a yoga mat and Italian and Greek dressing.  My stomach was happy because I ate Mexican, Italian, Thai, and Indian food while I was there.  It was great to be in that fast-paced environment, since I've been living in an town where people still go to curandeiros, community healers, instead of going to a hospital.  Although there's nothing wrong with the traditional lifestyle, in fact I love it, it was great to change the scenery a bit.  But I still want to acknowledge the city and say, "'Ta Chique, Maputo!"  You're fancy, Maputo!

Here are some pictures of the fanciness:

The billboard says, "There's a smile."

"One more kiss"

View from my hotel room.

My fancy hotel room.

The restaurant "Cafe Sol" is where they had the delicious Mexican food.

Veggie Burrito

Cheese Quesadilla

On a side note, the new school year will begin February 4th, so I may not be posting as many blogs because I'll be busy again now that I'll be teaching and coaching. However, I do plan to post at least a couple of blogs each month.

Tchau!

The Grand Tour Of My Home In Mozambique!

Feliz Ano Novo!

 Happy New Year, or Feliz Ano Novo as they say here in Mozambique.  I know I'm a little late, but I've been traveling and I needed to put up my feet and reflect on the good time I had traveling and my resolutions. 

I went to a gorgeous beach town called Pemba with some other PCVs and we stayed at a volunteer's house. I traveled from Mocuba, which is in the province of Zambezia, to Pemba, which is in the province of Cabo Delgado, and it took 16 hours!
























Anyway, we went to the beach everyday and played games and conversed.  On New Years Eve, there was a stage that had huge speakers, instruments and a microphone.  It seemed as though the whole town was there.  There was dance music and fireworks that lit up the ocean and then cascaded like confetti pieces.  I was surprised that there wasn't a countdown, but we Americans counted down in our own little circle.  I didn't bring my camera to the New Years Eve event because there was a lot of hullabaloo.  It could have easily been stolen with so many people.  Instead, I have some pictures of Pemba in the daytime.  Take a look...

Pemba Dive

This is where we hung out everyday.  It was easy to get used to.

Some of the volunteers searching for a place to lay out.

Lonely boat.

Picture of just the PC girls before going to the NYE event.  I'm on the left standing up.

 Since it's my last year here in Mozambique, I've decided to share some of my resolution for 2014:

1. Read at least 20 books.  I'd also like to read more in Portuguese to expand my vocabulary.
2. Implement creative drills to improve my girls basketball team's skills.
3. Execute a sports camp by August 2014.
4. Promote more HIV/AIDS projects in my community.  Ideally, I would love to have the students at my school paint a mural in the gym with educational information about HIV/AIDS.
5. So far I've posted 67 blog entries.  Let's make it another 67!

Feliz Ano Novo!