SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!

So after giving out last tests of the year and turning grades in, we travelled to Rio Savane in the central region of Moz to celebrate Halloween and more importantly Vonnie and Dov’s birthdays! While it was unbelievably fun it was also a logistical nightmare as our original group of 5 turned into 17! Everyone and their mom (literally, as dov’s mom and step dad were visiting) wanted to join in on the fun that was DoVon-a-pallooza and I guess I don’t blame them cuz let’s face it we’re awesome! So after once again making it to Gorongosa in one day, (1000km in less than 24 hours? Impressive, we know) we ate dinner that Brian, he’s the vonnie of the mills duo, prepared! He made really delicious corn bread from scratch! I don’t think I can even do that! We were beat so it was food and showers then bed for us cuz we would need to get up early the next day to finish our journey to Rio Savane. We made pretty good time cuz we got some great rides and did a little last minute food shopping in Beira before finally making it to our destination. We had to boat across a narrow river to get to a small peninsula with the ocean on one side and river on the other. It was absolutely beautiful and the facilities were pretty great too. we were piled into a bungalow that had a bathroom and kitchen, but the one thing that no one who had been there before nor the owners whom I made reservations with bothered to tell me was that they don’t have running electricity and they only turn their generator on from 6pm to 9pm… charging phones, ipods, speakers were a nightmare and sleeping sans fans was not fun as we’ve now fully entered into the HOT summer season. But nonetheless it was great to be with everyone and it was great to be able to celebrate DoVon in true Halloween glory. Von was dressed as an MC Hammer “Can’t Touch This” back up dancer, and I found a ‘dracula’ made for Halloween cape at the market and so went as a vampire. We enjoyed lots of good food thanks to Dov’s mom and mike even taught us how to ‘dougie.’ Actually that’s a lie as we still have no idea what the ‘dougie’ is, but we pretended to have learned. We made it back, tired but in one piece, then had a week of “preparing grades.” Basically we read grades as another teacher wrote them down on the master grade grid, which is just archaic but how it’s done here. This weekend we went to Ilha again to party with Michelle one last time cuz she has finished her service and is leaving… so we hit up all her favorite places to eat her favorite foods and say bye to all her friends and also relax poolside one last time. She had become one of our closest friends here and since she lived so close to us we saw her more often these past few months so we’re really really really sad to be losing her… BYEEEEEE MOOOOCHHHEEELLLLLAAAAAAA!!!! SEEEE YOUUU IN A YEAR!!!! we’ll definitely be seeing more of her since she’s most likely be in SD when we get back~ Also goodbye to all the other Moz13ers! The last of them will be trickling out til the first weekend of December… EAT LOTS AND LOTS OF GOOD FOOD FOR US AND TAKE LOTSA HOT SHOWERS!!
For the next two weeks we will be proctoring national exams for 10th and 12th grade students, which basically means staring into space for 5 hours a day. We’ll probably have to grade some too eventually, but they haven’t asked yet…
Well that’s about it for now but let me fill you in on a few trips coming up!! Both von and megan are abandoning me for thanksgiving cuz they’re going down to the Moz15 training, so I’m gonna make another trip down to gorongosa so spend thanksgiving with the Mills and to meet jordan’s parents!! And then I’m gonna see Dave Bae and a few other 13ers on their last weekend before leaving moz as well and also hang out with Dave’s Korean friends that live in Chimoio! I guess there are a group of Korean Ahjussi’s that have a weave/wig factory and dave hung out with them a few times and got fed samgyupsal and kimchi! HELLLLLLO!!!! Clearly I must meet them and get in on some of that action! The only thing that would make that more amazing would be some ggettnip and soju! Mmmmmmmmm… haha and then back home for some more national exam proctoring and then we’re going to Ilha to celebrate Brian’s birthday and dillon’s departure… that’s right, our third roomie is leaving us… she had already done a little over a year in Mauritania before they got pulled out and she joined our crew, but she’s put in her second year and feels that it’s her time to go back to civilization as well, so she’ll be leaving us mid December… pretty much everyone we love in the north is leaving us and we are not very happy about it! CUSTODIO! IF YOU DON’T SEND US SOME AWESOME 15ers YOU’LL BE HEARING FROM US!!! We have definitely gotten SHAFTED these last few months… after ilha I’ll be heading down south to meet colin and mike’s families and then to Maputo to meet Von’s mom and cousin!!! I’m so so so excited! This also means I get to go to Namaacha to see my host family as well! I’ve already called and told them that I’m coming down and my Mae and brother Eduardo are soooo excited! As am I! It’ll be such a refreshing change to be able to communicate in more proficient Portuguese! And then me, von, mike, Kelly and maybe a few others will be travelling to South Africa to hit up a few malls, eat some mcdonalds and take some real showers for a few days! So I’ll try to update once more before all the travelling begins, but if I don’t update for a while just know that I’ll update soon with AWESOME adventure stories! Miss everyone so so so much and HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!
Eat lotsa yummy holiday food for me!!!

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