VANDUZI. My new home.

Hello!

So I am all moved into my new site in Vanduzi and so far everything is going great! I don't know what else to say besides that it is really nice here.

I flew yesterday morning from Maputo to Beira, then met a PC staffer at the airport to drive from Beira to Chimoio. In Chimoio I met up with another PCV from my training group who was wonderful enough to lend me some household items I would need for my first few days at site. Most stores are closed on Sundays so it would have been difficult to find things like utensils, buckets, and even a stove but these are all things that are pretty much crucial to doing things somewhat easily here. Utensils are self-explanatory, buckets are used for washing dishes, laundry, taking a bucket bath and sometimes just for storage...and the stove, well I didn't expect to borrow a stove but Anna offered so I took it :) so much for my goal of never cooking on carvou again (I should have known that was an unrealistic goal!).

I finally got to Vanduzi late yesterday afternoon and a few teachers from the secondary school were waiting at my house to greet me. I got a small tour of my house (its really nice!) and then met my landlord, who explained what kind of work still needed to be done to the house. I then sat outside and talked with two of my colleagues and my school director. When everyone learned I hadn't actually eaten all day I was taken to a colleagues house and given a late lunch. Her neighbor, another teacher and clearly a good friend, then invited me over for dinner too. The teachers insisted that after a day of traveling I would be too tired to cook, which was probably true, I was in no way motivated to try and cook on carvou last night. So between meeting people, running errands (to buy a lock for my door, and some bread for Amendoim) and a small bit of unpacking I had a pretty productive afternoon.

I can't emphasize enough how friendly people have been here. Other teachers from the school have been stoping by throughout the day to say hello and introduce themselves. Everywhere I go people try to stop and talk to me and welcome me to Vanduzi, its really nice. I am the first PCV to be working at the secondary school here; there were some PCVs in Vanduzi a few years ago but they worked at a different school-so I have been told by a number of people that for most villagers I am the first white person they have ever seen or met, isn't that crazy! I guess when I went to Guija I expected it to be like that but it wasn't so I forgot that it could be like that at my new site. It's okay though, because I'm so new everyone wants to say hello and show me where things are, apparently there was a rumor that a new english teacher was coming but no one knew it would be an American so this is all very exciting.

If only my Portuguese wasn't so rusty.

It will get better though and I am happy...to be able to finally unpack, to have my own space, to cook my own food and to once again enjoy the slow-paced life that exists outside of the city. Of course once I start teaching again, probably tomorrow, I'll be busy again, but I can say now that it is great to be back at site, even if its a new site. I think these next few months are going to be really tough but I'm excited for the challenge and so far, things are good.

IF ANY ONE WANTS TO SEND ME MAIL HERE IS MY NEW ADDRESS:

Haleigh Duggan, PCV
Corpo da Paz
C.P. 331
Chimoio, Mozambique

*packages are really expensive BUT if you send a card or letter or something else small I would be incredibly grateful. I brought a bunch of pictures and small trinkets to decorate my house with but most of them were destroyed/lost in the flood so I'm starting from scratch. It's pretty much guaranteed if you mail me something it will go on my wall. THANKS SO MUCH. I'll post pictures of my new site soon....

And a website about the Guija Fund is in the works, my sitemate Elisabetta, is working on it!