BREAKING NEWS! Site placement!

BREAKING NEWS!   I have my site placement!  I’m going to Invinha in the Zambezia Province.  I couldn’t be happier. 

As my Peace Corps Country Director told me today, I have the most beautiful site placement in all of Mozambique volunteers.  I am in a little village surrounded by mountains.  I am taking over a site from a previous education volunteer, her name is Annie.  Here’s her blog if you want to take a quick look at where I’m going to live:

http://anniebtakesonmozambique.blogspot.com/

Here are some more pictures and sites to check out:

http://apadrinhamento.webs.com/index-en.html

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/invinha

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/61910371

Tea plantations surround me, the temperature is cold (this is was my one request above all others…I despise the heat and have a hard time functioning in it), I am in a small town, but I’m a 15 minute drive away from the district capital, Gurue.  The market in Invinha doesn’t have the best options to choose from, but Gurue has everything that I will need.  My site is a little hard to get to, tucked away in the mountains, but that’s fine with me.  It has great hiking, running trails, etc.

            More breaking news, I’m not supposed to teach biology now, but math.  I’m actually a little more excited for this!  I’m more comfortable teaching math than biology, but then again, this is the Peace Corps and my subject will probably change three more times before I get to site in a month.  My average class size will be about 50 students, which is much less than the average number of students in the country.  Annie said that we have a pretty great school system too, and the fact that it is religious tends to mean that the students have better Portuguese and are a little smarter. 

            I have a roommate named Hannah who is great.  She is going to teach English at the same school with me.  We live in a Catholic community, which is safe, and with minimal corruption, especially in comparison to the rest of the country.  Even better, the nuns won’t care that I am atheist!  Annie is a practicing Jew and they love her.  The nuns are very open minded and are apparently hilarious.  They are Annie’s closest friends along with her students and colleagues.  They run the local school there, and my director is a female.  This is very exciting, because I was slightly worried about having a male director. 

            In Mozambique, the majority of directors are males—mine is the first female one I’ve heard about—and they tend to have power and control issues.  Because Peace Corps volunteers are American, we are at a higher risk for our director’s ‘desiring’ us, which can cause problems, especially if we do not return or share the feelings.  I’m really happy about my director.  Annie says she’s great! 

            I’m inheriting a fully stocked house with beds, all spices and kitchen supplies (stove, fridge, etc), and other furniture.  We have electricity and an indoor bathroom, but no running water.  The water pump is a few houses away, but when that’s not working we can go to the river.  We’re also inheriting a dog called Devin, who is great and gets food by himself.  Annie recommended to us to get him a playmate, which I have no problem doing!  We also might get a cat to handle the bugs and small snakes. 

            Here are some fun facts: The nuns are excited to meet us and cook delicious food for us, I live in a community with other teachers, a small walk from the school, I might also teach computers, I have a science lab at my school (this is rare), I have a clinic in my town and can help out whenever I want, my school has a boys soccer team…AND a girls team (pretty rare), I also have a primary school in my community, and finally, my community cannot wait to meet me and Hannah. 

Here are some pictures that I got from a volunteer that visited that site! (The pictures are random and just show the rooms and area around my soon to be life!)