Pre-service training

Hello from Namaacha!  This town of 10,000 on the border with Swaziland will be my home for the next 8 weeks.  Each Peace Corps Trainee (PCT) lives with a different host family in the town.  The town hosts PCTs twice a year so the townspeople are pretty used to having Americans around.  So far we have had a lot of language classes, classes of 4 or 5 of us with a Portuguese teacher.  We meet in each other’s houses for class.  We speak only in Portuguese so my language ability is improving very rapidly!  Once a week all 50 of us trainees meet for a long day of Peace Corps orientation classes, safety and security briefings, and health classes.  We also have technical teaching training that we started this week.  It is a lot of class time, but I'm learning a lot and I know it's preparing me well to be a good volunteer.

My host family has completely adopted me into the family.  They call me sister and have made me feel extremely welcome.  It has been so fun so far!  The family is big—mom, dad, grandma, cousin, and three kids: 10, 8, and 9 months.  The Mozambican people are so friendly and welcoming—I love this country already! 

Before I say anything else, DID YOU KNOW THEY DRIVE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD IN MOZAMBIQUE????!!! I didn’t.  Now I do.  And now you do too.  So, now if you picture me riding in a car in Mozambique, picture it driving on the left side of the road.  I’m still not used to it.  When I’m walking down the road I can’t quite figure out which side of the road to go to when a car is coming and I keep looking at cars and thinking there is no one driving them (or that a child is driving them) because I am looking at the passenger seat of the car.  It’s going to take some getting used to.

A tip regarding mail: if you plan to send me a care package, please send it USPS and declare less than the actual value of the package.  The more you declare, the more taxes we will have to pay.  Also don’t declare anything super exciting like electronics or it will surely get stolen.  Apparently it’s also helpful to write crosses on it and address is to “Sister Sienna” because people are less likely to steal from a nun.  Life in Mozambique.

Please email me or comment on this post if you have any questions!  Also, I’d love to hear what you all are up to! J