FIRST FEW DAYS>>

Sapphire blue skies, air that's more water than air, red earth and terrible instant coffee.
From the first minute I arrived, it's been an adventure. So far, only the police and the driving scare me, and then not too much at all. Things have been much more comfortable than I could ever have imagined. Each volunteer I met at the orientation camp (held at a tourist resort complete with pool and bar) is a total gem, there are eight of us, Mette and Katerine from Denmark, Alex from England, Simon from Germany, Alma from Iceland, Lina from Sweden and Dougie from Canada. And everyone is happy, laughing, joking, jovial, kind, willing to help, to tell you the truth, I was not expecting to have this much fun!!! It may sound cliche, but it's true. My host family is great, my two little brothers  are very kind and interesting and funny, they love my guitar, and my host sister a bit spoiled but very fun. I don't know much about my host parents yet, they've been away most of the time, but the brothers (Benito and Franz) take care of everything. My house has a bathroom with a toilet, bidet and bathtub, but no running water most of the time, so we operate on a bucket system. :) lots and lots of buckets. There is a tv (i saw Popeye yesterday!!!), stereo, and gas stove.  

Things are much more expensive than I had hoped, either comparable or or only a little bit cheaper.  Food, especially since I dont know the proper prices for items, so Im sure Im getting over charged.  But aside from that things are great here, though Im dying for a fan.  

I miss you all tons and hope to hear from you soon, either email me allie.unisus@gmail.com or drop me a post on facebook or right here on this blog.   

Love,

Allie

OPEN HOUSE MONDAY JAN 19th!!!!

I almost forgot!!! There is to be an open house from 1:00PM-11:00PM Monday at my house, please call or email for my address if you don't have it, so if you would like to say goodbye, drop on in!!!

Bring food or drink or advice or music or what have you, mostly bring yourself!!

Hope to see you then.

Allie

In the beginning...

Oi~ (Portuguese for hello!)

On the 20th of January, I begin my biggest adventure yet. After 38 hours in transit, (@_@) I will arrive in Maputo, Mozambique, where, through the program United Planet-International Youth Cultural Exchange, I will be living and working for six months. I will be living with a host family, the Gaves, a mother, father, twin eleven-year-old boys and a six-year-old daughter. My job posting is with a charity organization called REMAR (look 'em up on the web!), and I have the pleasure to be working with 0-5 year-olds at an orphanage in the same neighborhood as where I'll be staying. Woohoo for more public transit. Every day. Awesome. At least this won't be another three busses to CHS every morning.

I'll be keeping this blog as regularly as I can, but I'm not sure what kind of access I'll have to a computer. However, I now get email on my phone, so feel free to contact me at allie.unisus@gmail.com No, this is not facebook. Nor is it myspace. Drag your old hotmail account out of the trash and dust it off, because chances are I won't be able to check my fb. So there.


For all that I'm leaving... I'll be back! Perhaps not immediately, my return ticket goes as far as Frankfurt and from there I have options, but I shall return! I have been accepted to Western Washington University, Cal State Northridge and Washington State University at Pullman so far, and I have a few applications pending. However, if there is one thing I am good at doing, it is being flexible about the future.

I'll miss you all and think of you often, so tchau, e um abracao forte.

Allie