Francelino

So this is a post that I have been meaning to write for a while but have just not gotten around to doing it! For six months now (almost) I have been dating a guy in my town. His name is Francelino, he is Mozambican and is just wonderful! We are the same age and he lives in a house close to mine. He is finishing 12th grade this year, which age-wise is more normal for schools here. He didn't start school at the correct age because the civil war was still going on in Mozambique and it wasn't safe for kids to go out and attend school. We were introduced by Zach, the volunteer who lived in my town before I got there and left just a few days after I arrived. I spend a lot of time at his house and his family has really welcomed me as a daughter. When my parents and my sister visited Mozambique two weeks ago, he met them and his family invited us to dinner for the two nights that we were in Chongoene. It was definitely an interesting cultural experience for all. My parents, sister, and I are the only Americans that they have ever met and they are the only Mozambicans that my family has ever met. We did have to do some 3 language translating which was definitely a first(Francelino's family said something in Changana, their local language, he translated to me in Portuguese, and I translated to my family in English), but overall it was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed the company. More on the family's visit to Africa to come in another post!
When I made the decision to go into the Peace Corps, a relationship was the last thing on my mind, but I was certainly very lucky for him to come along. He makes me very very happy and he makes life here and the whole experience so much easier for me.