Well things are good here in Mozambique. I am on a site visit her in Xai-Xai (Pronounced, Shy-Shy) It is right on the beautiful atlantic ocean, with an amazing view and amazing weather. We spent all of yesterday hanging out at the beach and relaxing with other Peace Corps volunteers. I will be here for a few more days and then back to Naamacha, for the rest of my training. The training is intense and at times frustrating, but I think in the long run it will be well worth it. The Portugese language is hard, and I am worried that when I get to site I will not need it as much as some of the other volunteers. I am a teacher trainer, which means I will be at a university type institution, where everyone speaks english and will expect me to speak english to them. Some of the other volunteers will actually be teaching students in Portugese, so there language will be much better. I will be teaching adults effective ways of teaching students english in the primary and secondary schools. So I guess that means that I have to be really proactive with my community to speak as much portugese to them as possible, so that I don´t loose what I have already learned. It has been fun to see an institution in which I might be teaching at and living at for the next few years. There are several that I could be at. I could be at one just about an hour outside Maputu, one in the Tete province, up north or Namacha. The family in Naamacha is great! Everyday, I go to school for most of the day and then come home and study portugese or play with the kids or sometimes help with the cooking or cleaning around the house. It´s a simple day, but it seams to be packed with lots of activities. Other than that, life is good!

वीक 5

Well, things are good here in Mozambique. I am continuing to learn lots of Portuguese. I am also learning lots of really good recipes. This would actually be a good place to live for vegetarians. Some of my favorite dishes are those without meat. Speaking of meat! There is this turkey that scares me every morning. I am afraid that one day it is just going to unleash and attack me. I told my family that I didn’t like it and it scared me, just joking of course. I asked them if I could cut the head off and we could eat it. I was just joking, but they thought it was a good idea. So literally three hours ago, I cut the head off, de-feathered and the Turkey is cooking right now for dinner. It will be a good dinner! The money! You know I have been paying a lot of attention lately to the way that people in this area live. The amount that it costs to live! The monthly income that most people make in a month or a year. I did the math, and most people will make from 250 to 300 dollars a year in Nammacha. That’s roughly the price that we spend on one Ipod, A new phone, or in my case the amount that I spent on coffee for one year. I am not trying to sagest that the physical items that we treasure are bad, or that I haven’t consumed my fare share of gadgets, that in retrospect I probably didn’t need. We all have! But I think that it’s important to know that when we go to Best Buy, we think about what we buy, do we really need it. There are people that I live with right now, that will work harder than I have ever worked in my life, and they will not make that much money in an entire year, and I can spend that much money in a few minutes. The computer that I write this on cost me $1500.00. It would take my host family 6 years of hard labor to have enough money to buy a computer like this and that’s only if they didn’t eat. You get the idea; they would never be able to afford it. And yet, they probably don’t need it. They have food on the table, a roof over their heads and water from the lake, that’s all they need. I’m not asking people to go sell their items, or never buy expensive things again. When I get back to the states, I will probably make a trip to best buy within the first couple of months, if nothing else, just to see what’s new. What I am asking everyone to do is thank god, that you have what you have. Anyone of us could have been born here, and then you would be living in poverty, with nothing but the ratty cloths on your back, and food on the table. Thank those that mean the most to you, without them, you would probably not be where you are today. And if you get a chance give some money to your favorite charity and try and spread the wealth around the world. The Chappa! So the Chappa is the main mode of transportation. It is a 14 passenger van, which travels about 70 miles an hour, in both lanes and if you get in the way of one, sucks to be you, because it isn’t stopping for you. When I went to Kenya, I rode them all the time, so it isn’t a new experience, but a fun experience every time. We took one to Maputu, which is the capital city of Mozambique. It was packed full of people, that had no room to breathe or move. We were stuck in this vehicle for close to an hour and half. One instance which I feared for my life was when the driver decided to pass someone going the same direction. The only problem was that there was another vehicle coming from the opposite direction. We played chicken for a while and right before we collided the driver swerved back into his lane. It looked like we were inches away from an accident. I was of course clinching my teeth and holding my chair as hard as I could. Every Mozambique around me was as calm as can be, like it was normal. Well that is all for now! Take care David