Missing Mozambique and feeling more at home in South Africa.

I am back! I am tired! I need a vacation! That is right I got back this afternoon and although this is one of my final weekends I don’t think I will do much more than sleep, write tons of emails, prepare for Kenya and go to church. I will explain more about this past week in the coming days but can say for now that I had a good time even though things didn’t go quite as planned but one can always find gems even when facing adversity. Not that I really faced adverse situations but just had to roll with the punches. I found that I really miss the communal, relaxed, laid back feeling I experienced and usually enjoyed in Mozambique and found a bit of this in the small town of Orkney where I spent the week. It was nice to be able to sit out side at night, walk around with safety, see the communal atmosphere where most everybody knew everybody and get out of the big city. I did get a few chances to speak Portuguese with some Mozambicans, see the mines from a distance, participate in the training and make some new friends. I will share more stories later as I now need to rest and get some good sleep to catch up from a busy week.

First extended trip out of Joburg. Heading to the mines to do Peer Education, hang out with Ben and hopefully meet some Mozambicans!

In a few hours Ben will come pick me up to drive about two hours to the town of Orkney which is in the heart of a big mining operation in the North West Province. I was in Orkney with Ben a little over two weeks ago when we went to do the “CD4 Game” and have a booth at a mining exposition. I wrote a bit about the experience at the expo on Friday November 3^rd. Ben has been going to Orkney for almost two years now to train and this will be his final trip for the year. Going to a mine to do training in HIV/AIDS has been own of my wishes with this practicum since before I came to South Africa. When Linzi told me about how ETC does training in mines, mainly training HIV/AIDS Peer Educators I was very interested and thus it is excited that in my final few weeks here I will get to spend time at one of the mines. I will do my best to run in to some Mozambicans to speak some Portuguese or Shangaana. I will definitely have many photos to share and stories to tell when I return late Friday. I might sneak into an internet café during the week to post one or two entries but if that is not the case you will just have to wait till next Friday for more thoughts on my time here in South Africa.

Lest I forget, Freshly Ground put on a good show at the Bassline last night and I have many witnesses to testify to the fact that I did dance. Considering the fact that I don’t drink and thus don’t get rid of my inhibitions through alcohol and don’t come from a family of dancers I think I held my own and had fun regardless. There is another concert coming next weekend that I will try and go to if I can just find out the details of when and where.