A Minnesotan in Mozambique: Bye Namaacha, time to head north!

On a Tuesday morning, December 2nd, all of us in Moz group 23 left our host families and training site in Namaacha to head out and start our actual Peace Corps service. There are a lot of little details about Namaacha that never made it into any previous blog posts, so here's a variety of some last short glimpses:

That random guy's pet monkey

One of the AWESOME GIANT PURPLE TREES of Namaacha, which I have finally learned is called a jacaranda tree

These trees, just popping up in the middle of all the other normal green trees, always made me feel like they come from some kind of psychedelic magical candy land or something.

SERIOUSLY AWESOME

That time someone threw the football in the abandoned, potentially-parasite-infected pool next to the science teachers' hub, and creative attempts were made to retrieve it...

Going outside to the casa de banho to take a bath on a rainy day

A fruit found in Namaacha called an ata, or sugar apple

The inside of an ata has seeds covered in sweet white soft flesh

Namaacha also has litchis... many, many litchis

Lichis!!! :D

Portuguese language class under the litchi trees

Fish-filled chamusas at one of the local barracas, always popular at the end of a full day of training

At Xavier's, the most frequented barraca to meet at the end of the day

My daily view on the walk back home after training sessions

But training in Namaacha didn't last forever, and at the end of nine weeks we left for the capital of Maputo to finish training and swear-in as official Peace Corps Volunteers. On my last morning, my mãe made a special going-away breakfast.

Mãe with the big breakfast she made

Heck yeah french fries and eggs

Then I dressed up in my custom-made capulana dress, left the house for the last time, and left for Maputo on a chapa (mini-bus/van). The swear-in ceremony took place at the U.S. ambassador's house, an absolutely beautiful place right near the ocean. First there were a lot of speeches, until finally we all held up our right hands and swore to support and defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, and faithfully discharge our duties in the Peace Corps. This is actually the same oath taken by the President. Rock on.