Trouble in Paradise

I had saved a few posts on MS Word that I was hoping to put up last week. Unfortunately, plans get sidetracked. Seriously sidetracked. I spent Tuesday at the beach with four other PCV's. Our hitched ride back to my town sped and eventually flipped over off the road. All but two passengers (out of ten) were thrown from the van. I was fortunate to have a seatbelt on. I would provide a lot more detail, but I'm currently typing with both hands in casts.

I came-to to find myself covered in blood in an empty car off the road with my crooked left wrist throbbing in pain. Some bystanders helped me out and threw me in the back of a pickup to take off to the Macia hospital (basically a little house). I struggled to put the pieces together in a brain scrambled by concussion, pain, and adrenaline, and confusion. They gave me a pain shot and stabilized my wrist. Eventually thr other PCV's showed up. Two passed away. Two living: One with a severe concussion - very confused and scared; and one more (luckily doing well enough to be on the phone with PC. Hours later, ambulances showed up. We sped down to Maputo (about two hours), spent a night there, and then were evac'ed to Pretoria, SA on Wednesday by plane. I went into a long surgery on Thursday. Permanent plates on the left wrist. Bone graft on left elbow. Staples all over left arm (I think my elbow went through the window next to me) including closing up where my entire elbow joint was exposed. Bone set on right wrist. Stitches in head. Christmas in the hospital. Released yesterday to a nice guesthouse in Pretoria. Nice to be out but friend is helping bath me... haha. Hanging in. Lots of big question. Would like to provide detail but typing is very slow. Doing ok. My phone is down. I can be contacted at The Rose Guesthouse in Brooklyn, South Africa. Hope everyone's holidays have been better. All the best wishes.

Transition

A food deprived man happily digs in on Thanksgiving.

Sporting some new gear at the host family party.

Hiking outside Namaacha.

Currently sitting in the Peace Corps Mozambique Headquarters in Maputo. Today is a big admin day before we swear-in tomorrow and transfer to our sites later this week. Peace Corps Office = Fast Internet. Thought I would take the opportunity to put up a few photos.

Not a ton to report at the moment. Been busy packing up my life in Namaacha and prepping to go to site. While we are all a little sad to say our goodbyes and spread out around the country, everyone is ready to cook their own food and have some more personal space; eating deep fried everything for every meal and worrying about what time you have to be home gets tiresome when you are used to more independence (although I was lucky to have a lax family with the latter).

I scored "mid-Advanced" on the final Portuguese language interview. I gave five seperate 45-minute classes on math and physics in the language; am feeling comfortable speaking. Now I just have to learn some Changana (local language - a dialect of Tsonga - spoken around southern Mozambique) so that I can avoid getting ripped off at the market in my town.

This afternoon we are trucking back up to Namaacha to chill with our families for one last night before leaving the breezy mountains on the Swazi border. Tomorrow morning we come back to Maputo, "swear-in" at the U.S. Embassy, and then enjoy an afternoon and night to wander around the city; likely some 'despedida' festivities for our training group. Friday we all ship off to regional supervisors conferences.

The southern regional meeting (I live in the south) will be in the beach town of Bilene right down the road from my site (see photo in my "Site Placement" post). We will be chilling on the beach and having meetings with our school directors. By Monday, I'll be in Macia setting up my house on a completely deserted school grounds. No students (and likely no other teachers) on campus until late-January. Peace Corps restricts our travel for the first three months at site to make sure we are getting to know our towns. The idea makes sense, but when your entire community is basically gone on vacation it seems like the rules could be loosened up a little.

With no school in session and limited travel, I'll likely spend the next 6-8 weeks setting up my house, starting a garden, building a fire pit in my backyard, reading a ton, regaining my physical health (all day classes, a terrible diet, and lots of beer take their toll...), getting really good at walking back and forth on a thin rope, decorating my house (I'm thinking some cheese wheel and geometric drawings on my walls using charcoal as my paintbrush), getting to know the dog that was left for me (Bee-Bop is his name, I am told), finding a bike, wandering around my town, and hopefully chilling on the beach a bit. I will likely meet up with other PCV's for Christmas and New Years at a beach somewhere.

I'll be sure to update everyone when I get to site and start finding my way around.