Temporary Disconnect

Hi guys,

I´m afraid the blog won´t be updated for a while. We aren´t supposed to have them until Dec. 8th after swearing in. It´s a lot harder to be so far from home than I expected, so letters are going to be really valuable. If you happen to have a cheap calling card or feel like texting me, my new cell number is 011258 825 156 362. I probably won´t have it on all the time, but weekends in the evening are your best bet. I am six hours later than you guys (ie. 2pm for you is 8pm for me).

If you do by chance send packages here are some tips:
--write Educational materials on the customs slips, and undervalue everything
--write your favorite bible verse or "jesus saves," all over the packaging
--send things in padded envelopes instead of boxes
--don´t send anything valuable
--do not by any means write clothing, as this is the #1 stolen item
All of these should help avoid things being lost or stolen, and should decrease the taxes.

Love to all, and wish me courage and strength,

Laura

First Views of Moz

Hello All,

We are now safe and sound in Maputo, Mozambique! This will be a quick update, that probably won´t be followed by another for quite a while, but I´ll do my best!

We arrived in JoBurg yesterday after a 14 hour flight and went right into an extremely nice hotel that greeted us with wine and cheese. Today we took a 45 min flight to Maputo, and were ushered into another fabulous hotel (this one with a beautiful bay view). We are all asking ourselves--this is peace corps? where´s the mud hut? We´ll be here until sunday and then we go off to our host families in the suburbs of Maputo, where we will start the real experience; intense language, culture and technical training. It will be difficult to check email while we are in home-stay, but I´ll see what I can do, and I´ll hopefully learn how to use the regular mail system here soon.....

Hope everyone at home is doing well. Mozambique is BEAUTIFUL, and my training group is awesome, and I´m really excited to get started and actually learn some Portuguese!

Staging in Philadelphia

Just a quick note from Philly. I've had a fun couple of days getting to know the other 55 people in my training group--english teachers, community health volunteers, teacher trainers, and fellow biology teachers. I think it's going to be a great bunch of people.

We have a few slight changes of plan....Mozambique no longer requires that we have the Yellow Fever vaccine before we arrive in country, so Peace Corps decided to wait until we arrive to administer all of our shots. Essentially I'll feel horrible and awful when I'm jet-lagged, rather than on the plane :)

Wish me luck through 17 hours on the plane to Jo-Burg, and hope all our luggage makes it to Moz on Thursday!

Don't forget to send me lots of letters!