Homecoming

I’m home, and my house is a leaking ship. The windows are crying on my floor and the nails in the roof are dripping water onto my bed. Such is life in Ile. Dio (my new houseboy/son) and Quadra (my best friend) put up flowers everywhere. I saw Teixera in the Mocuba bus stop selling water, and he made a big scene and hugged me, to the amusement of every traveler waiting in the vicinity. He offered me a bottle of water, which I denied because it was a third of his inventory. They make me feel so loved. It’s like having ten puppies to welcome you home; puppies that can write you sweet notes to stick on your door.

I spent last week in Hotel Cardoso, one of Maputo’s nicest hotels. All 60 PCVs in my training group were there for our mid-service conference; our halfway point. I was spoiled by conversation and companionship. They understand exactly how I feel, and that was amazing. People can be supportive, but no one can really understand what PCVs go through but PCVs – no other foreigner lives like Mozambicans. They have cars and flushing toilets. I waited in the chapa stop for hours the other day, sweating so much that it looked like I was crying. We’re on this weird plane of existence. When I was in the States for vacation (in December), I truly felt like a girl coming from the bush and going to the big city. It’s so completely overwhelming to know that your friends are back at home, slapping their laundry over rocks and scrubbing the xima out of their pans with sand while you’re putting your clothes in a laundry machine and filling your dishwasher. Yet, I am an American at heart – I was saddened at how fast I fell back into old habits. On the flip side, I fell right back into my life in Ile. My room, unoccupied, was ridden with cockroaches when I got back, and what did I do… smash ‘em, spray ‘em, pick ‘em up by their antennae and throw them through the screen in my window.

I think this year will be better. I’m excited to be back, excited to potentially teach English instead of stumble through a year speaking Portuguese to my students (although, how awesome do I feel now that I’ve survived that). Excited to make new friends (I’ve already made a few – two chapa drivers, brothers, who grew up in Botswana). Excited, and a little nervous, to have the power this year now that Eli is gone (although I’ll miss her tremendously).

My goals for 2009:

- Get my scuba diving license

- Allow myself to rely on other people more, know that I am not alone here

- Kick butt