Adaptation...

So three weeks in and I'm beginning to fall into a normal routine. I wake up between 5:30 and 6:30 (with my favorite rooster outside my window, take a bucket bath, (with our inside bathroom), get dressed, eat breakfast (usually an oily egg, bread, and coffee, walk to language class, have lunch, go to our health sessions, then language class again, and if I have time hang out and mingle with the other trainees. We all have a curfew of about 7pm on weekdays, and midnight on the weekends. Its a large group of us - 71 including me - and we're all really diverse. I have some favorite ppl here already, and they can make any bad day a good one. I am very lucky there are som amazing ppl here!

I've gotten used to alot of things I never had to deal with before - waking up by sunset (except Sundays when I sleep in!), going to bed to the sound of roosters, frogs, crickets, etc., killing cock roaches!, walking 25 minutes to health sessions, and trying to communicate in Portuguese. Alot of times minha mai she looks at me like I'm crazy, then laughs bc my portuguese sounds like gibberish at times....but anyway its getting better.

I've also gotten used to "the looks," a few times Mozambicans will walk up to me speaking Portuguese and Changana, and then I start responding and they're like, "oh she's not from here" haha I love it. Most people in my community know that I'm from the Peace Corps. I sometimes get people asking me for food and other things, but of course I play dumb and then laugh it off, and then they usually laugh with me. Having a sense of humor here is important - it makes the day go by!

I just recently uploaded some pictures on facebook, but still have more that I'll put up later. I'm trying to get some good pictures of the scenery, because its absolutely beautiful here. And when it rains here - it RAINS. Its like ten times louder than anything I've ever heard, but Im used to it. Things are coming along, I'm actually getting a "tan", and learning more and more about health, mozambique, and life in namaacha....

In my next blog, I'll talk more about what exactly I'm doing here, and the interesting things Im learning about healthcare and other health-related issues in this country.

and don't forget to write, text, and call me! Caio =)