A much-needed "rest"

First and foremost – Happy Mother’s Day to the most wonderful mother in the world (next week)! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you, but I guess I’ll have to make up for it next year J

We’ve just begun our second trimester of school here in Macomia.  After provincial exams and a few days of very painful “conselhos de notas,” we were able to take almost 2 weeks to do some traveling.  I met up with the rest of the Northern MOZ 19ers in Nampula.  There were there for In-Service Training, or “Reconnect,” which I did not take part in because a) I’d already done it in CV and b) I needed to be here to represent myself and Eryn as directoras de turmas during the conselhos de notas.  From Nampula, 16 of us rented a private chapa to meet the central and southern volunteers in a beach spot called Vilankulo in Inhambane province.  The ride down was probably the most painful 30 hours I’ve had so far in Mozambique – both physically and mentally.  16 volunteers + 3 Mozambicans + a cramped car + really bad roads + a 4-hour pit stop to repair the car + transit authorities out to make a buck off the foreigners + a distance of more than 1200 km = the recipe for an incredibly exhausting 10-hour road trip.  But…it was totally worth it.  We were welcomed by nearly 70 volunteers from the central and southern regions and spent a good 48 hours just being crazy and catching up and finally descansando cabeça after a slightly stressful first trimester.

We spent two days with the rest of the volunteers and then most of them headed back to start classes again, but since we’d traveled so far, we decided to stay a few extra days.  We relaxed on the beach, read books, cooked delicious seafood – we made a gourmet crab meal for 3 for about $8 – and just enjoying not being in a classroom or a car for a few days.  The beach was absolutely beautiful, and since we were staying at a backpackers we didn’t break the bank and we met some really cool people. All were sad to leave, but we had to get back to school so eventually it was time to make the trip back up.

The return trip took us 5 days and approximately 10 different cars/vans/trucks/SUVs.  We were lucky to be able to stay with some PCVs on the way and had a night of relaxation (and yoga!) at a hostel in Nampula.  It was exhausting, but overall really fun.  We got to see a lot of the country, met some cool expats and some cool Mozambicans, and best of all got to catch up with friends that were placed far away.  A highlight for me was seeing Alexandra, my roommate from Cape Verde, albeit only for a day.  But it’s nice to know we have friends near and far.

And now we’re back to the grind.  I have to admit, I kind of missed my students! Classes went well this week and I’m anxious to get my English club started.  That might be all for me in terms of secondary projects, however, because I just found out that my teaching load is moving back up to 25 hours.  We lost a P.E. teacher during the break, so I have to cover 3 more turmas of Noções de Empreendedorismo so the teacher who was teaching them can teach P.E.

Anyway, not a very detailed update, but since I was getting online I figured it’d be good to post something.  Can’t believe it’s already May!