All of a sudden it’s December, and the calendar says that I’ve been here for 9 weeks. Week ten begins tomorrow, and with it we start the traveling process. Tomorrow we pack, and on Monday our bags get picked up and we have our last day of training. We go home, eat one last dinner with our host families, and then go to sleep (without a mosquito net because it will have already been packed (mmm…malaria). Our journeys to site begin the following day.
On the morning of Tuesday the 4th, I’ll travel with the entire class of trainees down to Maputo where we will attend a Swearing-In Ceremony and become official Peace Corps Volunteers, PCV’s! The event is being held at the Ambassador’s Residence, which sounds pretty cool to me. Word on the street is that it’s also being catered, and that sounds even cooler.
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| Invitation to the Swearing-In Ceremony. Observe in awe it's official-ness. |
This is the last time that we’ll be together as a full group
(aside from a possible reunion for mid-service training…), as after the event,
we’re being split up into three groups and sent to different hotels according
to the geographic location of our sites (North, Central, and South). We’ll be given free reign that night, but the
group headed to Northern Provinces will be waking up early on Wednesday so that
we can get to the airport in time for our 8:30am flight. We’ll be flying from Maputo to Nampula, and
then spending a few days in Nampula City where we will participate in a
Supervisor’s conference. Here we will
meet a representative from the schools we’ll be working at (possibly the school
director, possibly not), do formal introductions, and then be given a whole
bunch of information. After two or three
days enjoying the sights and sounds of the conference and city, we’ll complete
the final leg of our journeys and make our way to site. Not sure how this will go down exactly
(Delivery by Chapa? Maybe by PC Land Cruiser?
Maybe by Limo? No, definitely not
limo...), but I’ve been told that we should arrive by the 7th or 8th. If all goes according to plan, by this time
next week, I’ll be sitting in my new house!
What I’ll be sitting on remains to be scene though, as it’s
a distinct possibility that I have no furniture. Apparently, a window was left open while the
former resident was out of town for a few days, and some robbers got inside
because there are no bars on the windows.
Among the things they took were the Fridge, the mattress, and
ironically, the material (metal rebar and cement) that was supposed to be used
to put bars on the windows. My mom is probably freaking out after reading this,
so I’ll make her feel a bit better by explaining that I’m in the process of
getting bars put on to prevent this from happening again. The work should be done before I arrive, and
if it’s not, it’ll be done within the first few days (I hope…).
See you soon Montepuez. I hope you and your Black Mamba’s
are ready.
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