Welcome to Maputo!

Welcome to Maputo!

Mozambique 17

Myself, and the 50 other education volunteers that are a part of Mozambique 17, arrived yesterday to this amazing country. Surprisingly, the first people we saw when exiting the airport were not Mozambicans, but the Chinese construction workers building the new terminal for the airport (figures). After a furious and overwhelming drive through several neighborhoods of Maputo, we arrived at the very swanky Hotel Cardossa where we are staying till we leave for the training facility in Namachaa on Saturday.



Till then, we have been enjoying the many

Hotel Gardens- que bonita

 amenities of the hotel, as surreal as they may seem. For a group of  people who signed up for a minimalist livelihood, its a little uncomfortable to be having doors opened by hotel employees and meals served as a giant buffet. On top of that, we're prohibited from leaving the hotel because of our lack of cultural experience. As far as introductions to a country, this is as close to dipping a toe in as possible.

Our day today was filled with 12 hours of information meetings that gave brief, but important, descriptions of training, home stay policies, medical kits, safety and security issues, water filtration, and administrative policies. We also got to meet with Ambassador Rowe for a talk about her priorities for the region (women's education, sexual education, american business investment). The funniest part of the day was when one of the Peace Corps Trainers described how some of our host mothers might try to bathe us, as they've been instructed to treat us like children. I quickly learned the phrase "Eu posso me banho" (I can bathe myself). All in all, it's been a mentally exhausting day, setting a high bar for the next 10 weeks of training.

I'm looking forward to leaving this air-conditioned cage and meeting my Mozambican family tomorrow, cause it's about time for this to get real!

Oh, oh, oh I wanna be free-yeah, to feel the way I feel

Man! I feel like a woman!

(song played in the hotel lobby while this post was written)