There have been a lot of big and important events that have happened around here lately, but I'm short on time so I'll tell those stories another time and instead reflect on my time already spent in Mozambique. I have now been here for over a year. I arrived in Mozambique on September 29th 2010 and we are almost through October 2011. Time flies. This has really been one of the most interesting years of my life, if not the most interesting. Honestly, when I came here a year ago I didn't know what to expect. I assume it's the same for many Peace Corps volunteers. I was ready to jump into a new job, culture, and environment just for the experience truly not knowing if I would love it or if I would have to force myself to stay for the two years. I have enjoyed life here so much that I am sad that a year has gone by so fast. I feel so well integrated into the community here and it's a really comfortable environment for me. One thing that still bothers me here is racism and descrimination. I feel totally at home in Chongoene. The people all know who I am and I never really feel the difference in the color of my skin. When I go to Xai-Xai or any other city or place where people don't know me, I hate the attention that I get for being white. A lot of the time people assume that I know no Portuguese or local language so they will talk about me and think that I don't hear them. They all assume that I am rich and make other assumptions about me based on the color of my skin. Men always harrass me for my phone number and ask me to take them back to the U.S. with me. These are things that I have gotten used to and do my best to ignore, but it's hard to be completely numb to them.
Despite these challenges I can't complain. My boyfriend's family has really welcomed me into their home. His younger sisters and brothers play with me around the house, and his mom has also really taken a liking to me. I love my job at the school and I love my students. It's great that I have the opportunity to open my students up to new opportunities through the theater or girls empowerment group at my school.
I watch the nightly telenovela on TV with Francelino every night, and I hate when we miss it. I have gotten used to eating rice with every meal and having the same food day after day. I think it would be weird to sleep in a bed without a mosquito net on it and taking a real shower will be pretty strange after 2 a day bucket baths for the last 13 months.
I find myself wanting to stay at site more and more with people from my town. I get less urges to go to the city in search of a pizza or a few hours on the internet (hence the lack of blogs of late...). All in all, I think that I have really settled into the pace of life here. I no longer obsessively check the time like I did in the U.S. although I still do get bothered when people are obnoxiously late.
I might have mentioned this before, but I did decide that I will go home this December to visit my family and friends over the holidays. I think that my transition back to the United States will be a weird one. I might be overwhelmed with 100 TV channels to choose from, the use of cars, and how easy technology makes life. It should be an interesting trip, and although I will miss Mozambique terribly during that time, I can't put a price on being with family for Christmas.
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