Secondary Projects launched!

Hora das Crianças:

This was easier to start than I thought! I just bring a chair out to sit along with coloring books and crayons and then asked the kids hanging out nearby my house to come over and color in front of my house. Once they started, other kids saw and came to join in. I end up having 25-30 kids each time!! =) I found a website with cursive writing worksheet for the alphabets so I started having them practice writing a letter before they can color. I also started tracing easy picture from the coloring books making 20 copies for them to color since I only have 2 coloring books. I realized I can just bring it to work to make photocopies but I have a lot of free time so this gives me something to do.

07/02/14 Coloring pictures

14/02/14 Practing letter 'A' and drawing/coloring hearts

Tracing from my limited coloring books

22/02/14 Practicing letter 'B' & coloring Donald Duck

REDES group:

My language tutor [who is also a professor at the high school] helped set up a meeting with the school's director for me. I met with the director to talk about wanting to start a REDES group and explain to him what it is and he LOVED IT! He was very excited and thought it was a very good project. He told me I can start having my first meeting the following Monday [I talked to him on a Wednesday] and even showed me the computer room and said I can use it for my meetings. He also helped gathered some girls that would be interested in joining for me too so I didn't have to do it myself! He asked me how many girls I need so I told him ~15 girls between 12-18 years old. He told me he will get a list of names for me and that's exactly what he did. The following Saturday I took the chapa to Pemba to buy supplies [giant poster papers, markers, scissors, etc] to prepare for the REDES meeting. The director happened to be on the same chapa as me and informed me that he already have a list of names and how excited he is about the project again haha I still need to find a counterpart to run the REDES meetings with me so hopefully I can find someone soon within the next few weeks.

1st meeting 17/02/14: 9 girls came! Yay! I was nervous and worried that they might not show up. I started the meeting with a zip, zap, zop game [i changed it to um dois tres to make it easier] and then paired them up to in 2 so they can introduce themselves to their partner and then one by one each person stand up to introduce their partner to the entire group. After that, I went over what is REDES, what's the mission, what are we going to do, logistics [we agreed to have meetings every Tuesday morning at 8am since they have school in the afternoon] and established some ground rules for the group. I ended the meeting with a making bracelets activity. I had each girl pick out 3 strings color and braided them into a bracelet. Then we stood in a circle and I had them tie the bracelet they made onto someone else. 'Rede da amizada' net of friendship :)

2nd meeting 25/02/14: I only saw 2 girls when I got there at 8am and started to feel disappointed thinking that the others weren't coming back but I forgot about Mozambican time.. all 9 girls came back! They were just late :) Plus I have a new girl so there are 10 girls in my group now yay! I taught them how to sew a tote bag so they can use either for school or sell in the market. We only had time to sew the bag and will finish up with the straps in the next meeting. I think they are starting to warm up to me since they didn't seem as shy and quiet as the 1st meeting. They even asked if they can come over on Saturday to know my house and where I live! :)

English classes:

I'm doing one on one lessons for a few coworkers and neighbors after work each week..I haven't figure out a consistent schedule yet since my schedule varies with work. I found the Rosetta Stone English level 1-5 workbooks online so I'm using that to help me teach them. Belinda also have an English book from school so I'm helping her also. I also still have to work on getting a community English class started.. aiming for next month!

Other updates:
-Zambie was pregnant with 3 kittens!! At first I thought she was just getting really fat but then her side started to stick out. She ate a lot more and slept most of the day. Night of 24/2/14 I opened the door to let her back in to sleep with me since it was raining outside [she normally stay outside at night since she's wide awake when I go to sleep] and that night happened to be the night she gave birth.. on my blanket! while sleeping next to me! hahah I woke up at 3am ish because I heard a squeaky noise. I sat up and looked around my room with my phone's flashlight thinking there's a rat. I thought it was weird that Zambie hasn't woken up to chase after it. I finally shined the light down at Zambie and saw her 3 kittens!! and then realized she had them while sleeping next to me.. in my BLANKET ): but ahh! they're SO CUTE AND TINY!! I can't stop taking pictures of them! side note: I need to wash my blanket really really well...

The night they were born 

-My garden is getting bigger! The corns, pumpkins, and beans started growing already. I also have tomato plants and a guava tree but nothing yet.

-I BOOKED MY FLIGHT HOME!! I'm flying out a day after my mid-service conference so I'll be back 31/08- 19/09!! 

-Work is starting to pick up again! I have things to do and I get to go out in the field again instead of just sitting around waiting for things to happen.

-I visited Tio's machamba twice this month for the first time and got to explore a bit of the mato in Ntele. I found out there's a waterfall there! He has a bigger machamba but it's a lot further.. planning to visit it later when I have a free weekend.

-Sophia can finally ride a bike now on her own now :)

Goals for 2014

WORK
I just found out that my assistant director of program left for a government job all of a sudden so it's a bit chaotic at the office right now since the coordinator is new to the job so there's a lot he has to learn about the org and how the programs are run also. He was like a dad to me here so I'm sad about his leaving. Work has been slow this month since my coworkers were waiting for their salary and perdiem to come in before they can leave for the field to work so I spend most of my day studying languages, planning out my secondary projects, helping my coordinator with Excel, writing down ideas for activities that the facilitators can incorporate into their plans and ways to improve the current programs. I also help taught a coworker how to use Power Point. Last week I got the 3 months schedule plan of what the facilitators are doing in the field and which days I'm accompanying them in the field. Because of the rain and delay in delivering the facilitators into the field, they're changing the plan and working on a new one so I have more sitting around and waiting to do. I'm hoping to sit down with my coordinator when things get back to normal and figure out exactly what my role is and how I can help support the org better.

LANGUAGES
Portuguese- I can communicate well enough with people but I still don't feel completely comfortable with Portuguese yet. My Portuguese has improved a lot the first few months I got to site but since then it hasn't improved much more so it is stressing me out a bit. Most people here normally speak Macua to each other also so it's hard to get practice. I need to keep learning more verbs and words to expand my vocabulary. Hopefully I can be somewhat fluent by the end of my 1st year here.

Macua- I started Macua lessons and it is really hard to pronounce words! I thought Portuguese was hard.. this is harder! I'm pretty proud of my progress so far though. I put up papers and post its of Macua words all over my house and made flash cards to help me learn. I can pick up words here and there when I hear people talk now. One time while walking home and greeting people in Macua, I accidentally replied in Macua too when a guy asked me a question in Portuguese so I think that's a good sign!

SECONDARY PROJECTS (Aiming to get all of these up and running by end of Feb.. wish me luck!)

REDES- Raparigas em Desenvolvimento, Educação e Saúde (it's like a girls empowerment club)
I've talked to my language tutor about starting a REDES group and explained to him what it is. He talked to the school director about it and she loved the idea! I also asked him if he knows anyone that would be interested in helping me since I need a counterpart so that it would be sustainable when I leave. He said he has someone in mind and just waiting for her to return to talk to her about it so I'm crossing my fingers! School is starting up again soon so hopefully I can get this going asap. My tutor is a professor at the high school here so he will let me come to his classes to talk to the students about the REDES group to see who would want to join.

Community english classes & English classes for coworkers
I've been writing small phrases and words in English with Portuguese translation for my landlord to learn and helping him with pronunciation. I want to eventually do a community English class in my backyard since a lot of people asked me to teach them English. My coworkers want me to teach them English too so I am going to talk to my coordinator to figure out when and how they would want me to teach them. Available options I can think of are: small lesson whenever there's down time, one on one for an hour or so for whoever is present and done with their workload, and posting up posters of English phrases with Portuguese translation in the office and changing it every week.

Hora de Coser (Sewing hour)
There are a lot of people and children wear clothes that are ripped and have big holes in them that can easily be mended. I want to dedicate an hour a week where people can bring ripped clothes and I will help sew it up and teach them how to hand sew at the same time.

Hora das Crianças (Children hour)
I asked for coloring books in my care package and I have a couple boxes of crayons here so I am planning to have an hour a week where the children can come hang out in my front porch to color and get a head start on learning how to write the alphabets.

Vovinam Classes
I had one session a couple of months ago and they keep asking me to do more so I am planning to do it again and have a weekly class on Sunday afternoon to teach basic self defense techniques.

COMMUNITY
I need to start learning and memorizing people's name in my community.. I feel really bad because I don't know and/or remember a lot of people's name while everyone knows my name. I always had a problem with remembering names back in the states but it's even harder to remember names here! I have been calling everyone tio or tia. I also need to make an effort to visit more neighbors in my free time instead of just my surrounding neighbors.

I recorded this video on my phone on my way to work one day. This is one of the top reasons why I love living here! The kids are adorable! I have kids doing this everyday I walk to and from work and on both side of the road along the way. I feel so loved! :)

IN OTHER NEWS..
-Right now it is 'tempo de fome', hunger time. My market doesn't have a lot of food.. no more tomatoes, lettuce, and couve. I've been living off on peanut butter jelly sandwiches, mandaze, baija, eggs and spams, noodles, and spaghetti with tomato paste. Thank goodness for care packages! I went to Pemba this past weekend to buy food and the prices went up a lot! I wanted to buy oranges and carrots but it was too expensive.
-Mangoes season are over but it's pineapples season now! Except it hasn't come to my mercado yet..
-Rainy season + rain gutter = I can get water straight from my backyard lately. It's so nice! Whenever it rains hard I have neighbors running over in the rain with bucket to get water too since I'm one of the very few houses with tin roof and a rain gutter.

-Zambie and Sneezy are getting along a bit better but they still fight every now and then. Zambie has gotten really big! She used to be the same size as Sneezy.

A very rare moment

-I met a bunch of Vietnamese guys that work for Movitel in Cabo Delgado. They're really nice to me and are excited to have another Vietnamese person to speak Vietnamese to haha. They gave me a box of instant pho and omg it is SO GOOD! I haven't had any Vietnamese food since I left so this is as closest as I can get.
-My market sell lemons now!! I was so excited when I saw them. It was highlight of my day haha. I got to bake lemon cake using real lemon that day and now I'm looking forward to buying more to make lemonade.
-I made Moringa soup to eat with rice for the first time and it was a success! It made me a bit homesick since I grew up eating soup and rice. I miss my parent's bitter melon soup so much right now!

Holiday Break 2013

I'm super slow and late but here is a summary of how I spent my 2 weeks off! :)

12/21/13 

A -> B Ancuabe- Pemba

3hr ride to get to Pemba

Pemba when it rains a lot

This was one heck of a day! A series of unfortunate events. I was really sleepy since I woke up early to start catching chapa at 4am to go to Pemba. The mini bus were full already but luckily there was an open back truck that was going to Pemba too so I got the blanco treatment and got to sit comfortably in the front with the driver. I was so sleepy and wanted to sleep the whole way to Pemba but the driver wanted to talk so we talked the whole way. Most of the time was the questions game- does America have mangoes? matu? peanuts? this? that? does it get hot like here? does it rain a lot like here? etc etc. Once we got to Pemba, I was excited to be dropped off right in front of my friend's house but found out he was at the hotel in Wimbi praia and have lost his house keys. I got a boleia to meet up with the 3 PCV guys. Zeke and I went back to the house first to drop off our stuff using the spare key that his landlord has. It started sprinkling and became pouring rain when after we dropped off our stuff and walked to the bank and post office. I had an umbrella but I was still damp wet since it rains in all sort of directions! There's a new Barclays bank that's closer but it doesn't open until Monday. After we got to the old location, we found out they took out the atm to put it in the new bank so we couldn't pull out any money. I left most of my money in my backpack back at the house so between the two of us, we luckily had enough to cover the custom fees for my care package [see previous post]. I was so thankful to have my friend with me because I have no idea how I'd carry the big box myself! We met up with Sean and Stephen for lunch afterward and also because we don't have enough money on us for lunch hahah. It was hard getting a chapa to go back to the house with the box so we decided to walk to the marginal to catch a boleia. It was a longgg walk in the hot sun with a heavy box! A car eventually stopped and offered us a boleia as we were walking toward the marginal. Once we got back to the house, we were locked out for 5ish hours since the landlord left with the spare key.

12/22/13

B-> C Pemba- Montepuez

waited for 1hr for the chapa to fill up; 3.5hr ride to get to Montepuez

-Walked around the city but a lot of stores were closed since it's Sunday
-Went to the bank and waited forever only to find out the atm ran out of money
-A random guy approached me and said he recognizes me because he's from Ancuabe too. Pretty cool!
-Sean's house is nice!! He has real couches, I want them! haha

12/23/13

C-> D Montepuez- Balama
waited 1hr for the chapa to fill up; 1.5hr ride to Balama; waited 2hr in Balama for a boleia

They have the best bread and ice cream I've had in Moz so far!

D-> E Balama- Jamila
walked for 2hr toward the Niassa border before catching a 3hr boleia to Jamila; waited 16hr overnight in Jamila for a boleia

-Zeke wanted to start walking since whatever boleia we can get will pass by anyways. Plus it was good to get away from town and having everyone staring at us.. or it seemed like a good idea at the moment. Didn't realized the next town was really really REALLY far away

-We finally got a boleia and was relieved since we saw how really far away we were. The truck got a flat tire so we had to stop for awhile for them to switch out the tires before we're back on the road toward Jamila, the end destination of the truck.

-The driver was so friendly and everyone in Jamila was super nice! They got us chairs to sit to wait for our next boleia and made food for us to eat. While we were sitting, practically everyone surrounded us just to watch us even though we weren't really doing anything entertaining. It seems like we're the first Americans to stop in their town. We were literally off the grid in the middle of no where. Jamila, Mozambique doesn't show up on google map haha

-They offered us a place to sleep but we decided to sleep in the back of the pick up truck thinking it's a good idea since we can catch any car that would drives by too. Stargazing was beautiful! We eventually fell asleep until some people from the village woke us up because there was a huge truck passing by and they stopped it to ask for a boleia for us [see how nice they are? :)]. It was 10pm ish and by the time we'd get to Marrupa, it would be 2am ish so we decided to pass on it. Plus the truck didn't seem very safe and the roads are bad. We went back to sleep and woke up freeeeezing cold within a few hours. Wasn't such a good idea to sleep in a pick up truck anymore!

-A guy bought us all refresco in the morning while we continue waiting. I seriously thought we were going to be stuck there but a car finally drove by!!

After 16 hours we were starting to lose hope but a car finally came by!

12/24/13 

E-> F Jamila- Marrupa

2hr ride to Marrupa; waited 6hr in Marrupa for a boleia to Lichinga
-After asking for a boleia from the first car that we see, their question was "What are you doing here... how did you get here?" hahaha see what I mean when I said middle of no where?
-We got to Marrupa around 8:30am and felt good since we can get to Lichinga early until we found out that the chapa leaves for Lichinga already left at 4am.. waiting game continues!
-We waited at the gas station the whole morning and afternoon and asked everyone but no one was heading to Lichinga. A lot of people helped us asking around for a ride too. People here are so nice! :)

F-> G Marrupa- Lichinga

3.5hr ride to Lichinga 

-We found a chapa driver that was willing to drive to Lichinga if there was 10 people going. We were only missing 1 person so we said we'd pay extra to cover the 10th person. Then we only had 8 people and we ended up paying double the price but we decided it was better to get to Lichinga and would cost about the same mais ou meno if we had to spend a night in Marrupa.
-We got to Lichinga around 6:30pm and John made delicious soup for us for dinner!

12/25/13

Christmas morning breakfast at Jade's house

Settlers!! Didn't think I'd be able to play that here

Walked around the city a bit before dinner

12/26/13

Crashed plane memorial

Hiked to this reservoir

Went around the mercado for a bit

Waited inside a restaurant for the storm to pass

Walking home was a muddy adventure

Delicious dinner and watched The Great Gatsby afterward

12/27/13

G-> H Lichinga- Cuamba

5.5hr ride
-We were told it's a 6-8hr trip but we got to Cuamba in under 6 hours which was really good because the chapa was so umcomfortable! 28 people in a 14 seats mini bus.
-We had to wait until the train station open to buy our ticket for the next day so we hung around town to eat lunch and walked around.
-Stayed with 2 new volunteers from Moz21 in Cuamba for the night. Their house is so nice!! I got to shower with running water!

12/28/13

H-> I Cuamba- Nampula

18hr on the train

1st class

-I'm glad I got to try taking the train at least once in Moz. There's a bunch of people selling foods at almost every stop. The view along the way is amazing also

-This 10hr trip turned into 18hr because it stopped so often and broke down for 5 hours! We didn't get to Nampula until almost midnight. Thank goodness Lucio was kind enough to pick us up and let us stay at his house! He's so awesome!

12/29/13

I-> J Nampula- Pemba

5.5hr ride
Most comfortable seat ever!!

12/30/13-12/31/13
A lot of hanging out, relaxing at the beach and eating cheap food and ice cream :)

1/1/14

J-> K Pemba- Ancuabe
1hr wait, 33hr of chapa and 2 boleias 
-Made it back to my site! It felt good to be back since I was missing my community and my cat! :)

1/2/14- 1/5/14
-Hang out with the neighbors and played with the children
-Biked and hiked to the mountain nearby
-Baked cocoa brownie with browned butter and walnuts
-Sew some more stuffs
-Ran out of electricity and couldn't buy more because it wasn't open so I had to live without electricity for 2 days.. it was horrible :(

Best Care Package/X-mas present ever!!

Thank you for making me feel loved even on the other side of the world. I'm blessed to have such great friends like you guys!

Words can't describe enough how thankful, happy, loved, blessed, excited, and [insert all synonyms here] I feel!!!! :) I can't thank you enough either! This is the first Christmas that I'm away from friends and family at home. No overplayed Christmas songs, Christmas shopping, and Christmas decorations made me a little bit homesick. This care package couldn't have come at a better time. It is seriously a treasure box! I'm deeply touched that so many of you pitched in to send me this care package. BEST PRESENT EVER!! :) 

After 30min walking in the pouring rain to get to the post office before it closes

Anthony, Candice, Caroline, Dang, Duong, Hien, John, Kevin, Lisa, Michael, Minh, Nguyen, and Tina: Thank you for the monetary contributions!! It is ridiculously expensive to send mail to here, especially a 46lb box.

Catherine: Thank you for the beef jerky!! It was so yummy! I already finished a bag during my traveling journey across Moz. It saved me and my friends when we were stuck in the middle of nowhere with no food.

Christine: Thank you for the ramen and hi-chews!! I haven't had mi mama for years!! Reminds me of my childhood when I used to crush the noodles and eat it raw.

Dina, Rosa, & Thuy: Thank you for the candle, foot cream, lotions (x) and shampoo (x)!! I get frequent black out so the scented candle will make it much more enjoyable. It is way to hot to wear shoes and I walk around a lot so the foot cream is a life savor to my cracked n dry heels!

Jenny & Wilson: Thank you for the fiber protein bars and scrapbook (x)!! I normally don't have time to cook breakfast or lunch because of work but now I won't starve and it will be a nice switch from just eating bread :)

Katie: Thank you for the strings, cat foods/toys, hand sanitizers, coloring books, hair ties, and antibacterial wipes!! I will make you the 5 strands braid bracelet that you like :) My cat will be so happy! I can't wait to color with the children too. They're going to be so excited!

Katie's aunt & uncle: Thank you for the shampoo & conditioner (x), face wash, and chapsticks!! You guys are so kind and generous to buy these for me even though I'm a stranger! I'd love to meet you guys when I come back!

Quynh: Thank you for the multi vitamins and all the water mixes!! There's not a lot of variety of food here but I can get all the needed vitamins now :) Filtered water doesn't taste good and I drink a lotttt of water everyday so now it can be a lot more tasty!

Ruth: Thank you for the flip flop, hair dye, nutella, raisins and twisters! I can't wait to get rid of my ombré and dye my hair and stand out even more in town lol Can't wait to bake cakes with nutella and raisins too!

Vicky: Thank you for all the Starbucks!! You are a life savor! You have no idea how addicted I am hahah

Katie & Kimly: Ahh a billion thank you!!! for taking the time to plan, organize, and put this all together!!! Thank you for buying the rest of the goodies too! I love you guys!! 

(x)- Sorry there wasn't room to put it in the box but I'm still very thankful for it! The box was completely filled. Katie did a good job at wasting no space :)

I hope I didn't miss anyone (blame it on Katie and Kimly if I did since I got the list from them haha). The box got a bit wet since my friend's house got flooded from the pouring rain so I had time to open the box and transfer everything to my big plastic bag before I left for my trip. Thank you everyone again for everything!! My first bite of chocolate and sour patch kids was AMAZING! I can't wait to eat the rest and share them with my coworkers and neighbors. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! FELIZ NATAL A TODOS!

I wish I took better pictures, there are a lot more stuff buried underneath! :)

6 Months Mark

Dec 1st was my 6 months mark in Moz! The past 6 months have a lot of highs and lows. Life here definitely has not been easy and I still get those moments here and there where "why are you putting yourself through this" crosses my mind. Nonetheless, joining Peace Corps and being here is one of the best decisions I've ever made! I've already gained a lot of personal growth- discovering and surprising myself with what I'm capable of doing and tolerating, trying new things, and staying outside of my comfort zone. I'm excited to see the person I'll become at the end of my 2 years service at this rate! Living here and seeing and experiencing firsthand the poverty that exists in 3rd world country has forever changed my life perspectives. Children as young as 6-7 years old spend their days selling things in the market, helping out in the machamba, cooking and caring for their younger siblings, and carrying things on their head (like bucket of water, woods to cook with, etc). Parents leave their house for a few days or weeks at a time to work in another town to make money for their family. Teenagers dropping out of school to take care of their babies. People getting sick because of lack of hygiene sanitation and clean water, from malaria, HIV, etc. The list goes on and on.. but with all the poverty problems that they faced, people still share and give even when they don't have much. A bread or mandaze will be split between however many people are there even if each person only get a tiny piece (I've seen this with my coworkers and neighbors and it always warm my heart!) I have less than 21 months now to try to make a difference here and give back as much as I've learned and gained here if not more. "Peace Corps: the toughest job you'll ever love" True story :)

I've been getting lazier and lazier about blogging and also busier with work (sorry to those who actually reads my blog! haha) but I will try to do a monthly post from now on. Also, I'm not much of a writer so I will often let pictures do most of the talking! :) So since the last post...

Realização duma assembleia comunitária que sera asistida pela visita e apresentação de actividades culturais 10/30/13:

Bicicleta ambulância. There’s only 1 bicycle ambulance in this village to bring people to the hospital (about an hour bike ride one way)

theater group doing a play about HIV

Explaining different ways to treat water before drinking it

Line for HIV testing

Family planning

Nutrition

Reconnect IST (in service training) 11/4 - 11/8:

"The purpose of this Reconnect training is to provide you with a space to reflect on your first three months at site, learn new resiliency strategies, and learn/review a variety of technical skills to enhance your effectiveness as a Volunteer, receive more necessary vaccinations, and revisit key policies and procedures that are designed to make your service safe, healthy, and effective." 

It felt good to be reunited with the rest of my Moz 20 groups! A week of speaking English, taking showers, eating out, shopping, etc. After being at site for 3 months, Maputo was a bit overwhelming! I felt like a country girl going into the big city for the first time hahah I was able to buy a lot of things that I wouldn't find at site.

Encontro de reflexão sobre febre malaria na aldeia Nacololo com tema: toma de medicamentos 11/12:

Capacitação de parteira tradicional 11/28-29:

Worlds AIDS Day 12/1:

Family planning

Blood donation

Mesuring blood pressure

Malaria rapid test

Distributing condoms

My coworkers and I

Capacitação de multimídia 12/9-12:
I stayed in Chiúre for a 4 days training on graphics and multimedia with the Chiúre team. The first 2 days were boring and torturing for me because we learned how to use Microsoft Publisher to make business cards and invitation cards and Adobe Pagemaker to make a newspaper. The last 2 days, we went out to a community in Metoro to interview, take pictures, and do voice recording to make a video about the hygiene sanitation project. We learned how to use Photo Story, Adobe Audition, and Sony Vegas.

Feira de saúde 12/14:

Demonstrating the correct way to use a condom

HIV testing

Visita da troca de experiência 12/15:

Exchanging experiences about hygiene sanitation projects with Pronanac 

Going house to house to survey and observe the current hygiene sanitation in the neighborhood

Home improvement:

My house feels like home now! I made a curtain for my window to get a little bit more of privacy since I always have kids peeking in whenever I open the window for air. I decorated the wall more with paintings I bought from Maputo, pictures, and fabric scraps. I received a mosquito net from work so I put it in my guest room for Belinda. (She's my landlord's daughter and my best friend here. I let her live in my guest room and in return, she washes my clothes, get water, and sweep my quintal for me.) I also added a net to my backdoor gate so I can keep it open for air without having too many bugs fly in. 

Other highlights/events:

-I started doing insanity workouts and Belinda joins in with me sometime. I haven't been keeping up with it though. It's so hot inside my house even at night too. It is summer here now and it is miserably HOT. I want to sit inside my fridge/I am living in an oven/I don't want to leave the air conditioned office at work/I am melting and drowning in my own sweats kind of hot :(

-I booked my flight to Zambia in April!! After 4 years, I can finally meet my sponsored child! So excited!

-Received my 1st care package!! Everything I needed/wanted to make life easier here and more! :)

-Locked myself out of my house.. again. I never seem to learn my lesson :( I left my keys on my bedroom doors and closed my backdoor when I went back to work. I was able to open the front door with my landlord's key since we have the same lock but not the 2 padlocks on my front gate. I tried using a bamboo stick to get the keys but it wasn't long enough to reach. This already caused some attention. Belinda found a reallly long bamboo stick where she has to stand at the other end to help me hold it up. This drew a lotttt of attention and soon after, I had 20-30 people at my door watching me trying to get my keys. One of the guy managed to break off the key ring with the backdoor key so I got back inside my house! After this incident, I hid my bedroom spare key behind one of the painting in my living room and gave my backdoor spare key to my landlord.. hopefully this will be the last time I get locked out of my own house! hahah 

-Rainy season started. There's so much more bugs in and around my house now! My quintal is going to flood one of these days. On the bright side, I don't have to worry about water shortage now! 

-I just found out I have a guava tree in my backyard. Leaves are growing on it and hopefully I'll get some guavas soon. My pumpkin seeds are growing too!

 -I found a fresh egg in my storage room one weekend.. the next day I realized how it got there haha I should keep the door open for my neighbor's galinhas to come in more often.

-Mango season started! SO. MUCH. MANGOES! I love it! I've been deprived of fruits here.