Life is boring when there is NOTHING to do.

Yeah so it has only been like a week since my last post, I kow its crazy but since my town has internet and I nothing to do at this moment, I suppose I can post.

I surprisingly and remarkably continued my already long vacation last week when I unexpectedly decided to go to the capital of Maputo for a weekend excursion. I told no one I was going and was just going to go and have the weekend to myself...boy was I wrong about that. On my way to Maputo, in a lovely chapa, we stopped for gas. Beacuse it was so stuffed and cramped, therefore hot in the chapa, I was desperately craning my neck out the back window to get some relief of fresh air. At that same moment, I spotted what the locals call us, a "mulungu!" It was one of the gals from the health group with 3 others that was on vacation with me in Tofo. I came to find out that they had the same destination as I and we were all staying at the same exact hotel. The weekend turned into a really fun one with us going shopping, lounging around in the air conditioned oasis of Hotel Africa II, enjoying meals out, and going to the best club n the country: Coconuts. It was awesome and I had a great time, kind of made me not want to go back to my life of a house with no fan, running water, or a sittable toilet. But, alas, I went back and all is well here in Chibuto.

That Monday I returned was MOZ 12's official 1 month anniversary of service! I didnt do anything special, just sat around all day trying desperately to escape the heat. Congrats us...1 down 23 to go! haha.

Yesterday I had a chicken coop built for me by some of the neighborhood children. It was awesome how they were gathering the materials and analyzing a local coop to see how to construct this one...good skills to learn! 'Ta Bom! It only cost me like what would be in USD, $2.85...nice! Next comes the chicken then the eggs.

So as I alluded to earlier, I have nothing to do in my town until the school year starts on the 30th of this month. So I just sit in my house reading "Les Miserables" all day and watching the chickens run around. Its really boring and I'm just itching until the school year can start. I cant wait. Oddly enough, right now it feels more liek solitary confinement than Peace Corps service but that will end, like I said, when school starts and I start working full time.

Well thats all I have in my life right now, dont be surpirsed if you have a 315 area code bc I'll probably call you since its free (thanks Orlinda!). OK enjoy the record temps in NY!!

- Jon

Life is a whirlwind when you're in Africa...and then some.

Hello again everyone! I know it has been a long time since i have last posted here (like 6 weeks I think?!) but with swearing in and site delivery and finally getting here and starting to get situated it has been really hard to get to a computer and not to mention the fact that the internet in my town has been broken for the last 2 weeks. Well anyway I'm just lucky that I am in Africa and have internet. So no onto what my life has been like for the past 5 or 6 weeks...

I think I last posted before Model School...well itr was a two week teaching experiment (or thats what I called it, bc thats what it seemed to be like) in which they put all of the freshly speaking portuguese speakers in front of classes of 20 students and had us teach to the students. I have to say that even though it was all in portuguese it was not too hard. Yeah sure the lesson plans took 10x longer than any of the english teachers but it was still a good time. My students liked me or so i heard from my collegues (bc most of the students were our host brothers and sisters) and it was just fun. I think it may be in part due to me being a Leo but I liked to be up in front of them and teachng them. It was a challenge too so i think that had a lot to do with it as well. All in all it was a good experience...i dont think it prepared me for my real job but rather just ntroduced me to what it could be like. Nonetheless I'm pretty stoked for my job to start in a month.

In the midst of Escola Modela was Thanksgiving. The PC basically screwed us this year and told us that unless we were going to plan and execute everything then it wasnt going to happen. Usually they buy everything for the dinner and that was even cut. But you dont give PCT's (now PCV's) an ultamatum like that one. We took the bull by its horns and had ourselves a damn good Mozambican Thanksgiving. We bought two turkeys and killed, defeathered, and gutted them and cooked them: one in stew and the other in the traditional oven. We had most of all the traditional staples of a US Thanksgiving feast as well. We had mashed potatoes, yams, deviled eggs, apple pies and crisps, cookies, browniws, squash, green beans, and even cranberry sauce...made from crasins (bc cranberries dont exist in Moz). For such a sad day to be away from home it wasnt all too sad. Mainly because eveyone was there and just having a good time cooking and having a few local beers.

About a week later was what all of us had been waiting for since we started training...SWEARING-IN!! Sadly we came in as a group of 69 of us and left with 65...4 ET'd, 1 transferred, and we got a transfer from another country! The ceremony took place at the ambassadors house in Maputo...it was an awful and rainy day. Everyone took care too look their best in Moz and the torrential downpours that followed just rined everyones magnificent look. Damn it! So we got to the ceremony and took the oath and after a few speakers we were official Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV's). Everyone from PC Moz was there including officials from teh government, the US Ambassador, and the former Peace Corps Worldwide Director, Gaddi Vasquez. That was such an amazing surprise to hve him there...it made it special x 100. Funny thing is that while walking on the road in our training town of Namaacha to get a chapa to Maputo Gaddi Vasquez stopped on the road and got out and talked to us. How in the hell does something like that happen?! It was fucking awesome... his response after was "I thought you were in the Peace Corps." Amazing. Something I will never forget. PS - I did have a mohawk for the ceremony...all the dudes did...well most.

So a day after we were sworn-in we were delivered to site. With 64 of us to get to every stretch of Mozambique it wasa clusterfuck of a mess but all in all I think they di an awesome job. I left my home in Namaacha at 5 am and got to my site at 3:30 pm. I was the second to last of 7 to be dropped off in my group. It was long and tiring as well as exciting and really sad. I really wanted to get to a place where i knew it woul;d be my home but i didbnt want to leave everyone! Well lets just say that after a day I had my first break down. I have since then bounced back and am doing much much better. It's just the shock at first to know that you know absolutely no one but this is your home and not to mention the fact that you are the different one and everyone knows it just by lookign at you for 0.001 seconds.

My first two weeks here, at site, were a real rollercoaster of just about everytuing. The dog that I took in from the volunteer before me killed a goat so I had to deal with all of that my 3rd day here....that is what set me over the damn edge. All my neighbors wanted to kill her and the dogs she ran around with. They basically gave me a deadline before they were going to kill her. I found 2 voluteers to take her...now I just have to get her to them. lol. That was probably the worst thing that happened to me by far so far. I did go to work for a week to grade tests and meet all of my counterparts. That was intreresting. I also met a lot of my neighbors and people in the makret. Made my first friend and met up with one of the other volunteers in my town from MOZ 11...Alyssa from Amityville, NY. Two people from NYS in the same small African town...what a trip.

So those two weeks went by and along came the holidays. We planned a vacation to the Praia do Tofo on the Indian Ocean in Inhambane Province. What was only supposed to be 5 days ended up being 10 and itw as one of the best vacations i have ever been on. We left for a PCV's birthday party in Cumbana and spent the night there with lik 12 PCV's and one of the PCV's girlfriend that was visiting. It only took us 4 hours to hitch a ride from a nice Swazi-man on his was to Vilankulo. The day after we headed to Tofo Beach, didnt take long at all, only like an hour. We got to the hostel we were staying at...fuck that it was more of a resort than a hostel. It's called Fatima's Nest and has dorms, private bungalows, camping, and tents with beds in them. Its literally on the ocean, I could hear the waves at night when I was sleeping. They had cabanas with hammocks in them where you could chill all day under and sleep under at nigth if you wanted to. I slept in one my last night there.

At first it was like 15 PCV's which after Christmas dwindled to like 9. It was nice having everyone there but it was even nicer being in a smaller group. A few days after Christmas 4 more left and one came so it was better yet. What was awesome about this trip was the amount of people there and how many countries were represented by people staying there and that I met. Here's some of the countries that had citizens there and thatw ere crazy fun: USA, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, France, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, England, Belgium, and Egypt. It was fucking awesome. We celebrated New Years at Tofo as well and it was redonk fun. I have never had such a great meal here in Moz until that day. We cooked a fish called "dacuba"...? I think its wrong but I know its starts with a D. I am not someone that likes fish but it was so good. Loved it, shut up! Other than the group I came with I made a small group of friends from South Africa. Lo, another PCV, was enamored by one of them and we became a happy little family (Myself, Lo, Natalie, Carl, Al, Floyd, and Marie) for our time there. It was awesome because now we have plans to go to Joburg and Cape Town and visit! So excited to go and visit in a few months! Cheers guys and thanks for making it what it was...a kick ass shit show.

I should let all of you know that if you want to send me anything use this address from now on:

Jonathan Bates

CP 270

Xai-Xai

Mozambique

I got one closer to me by like 3 hours. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

I also want to take some time to shoot some thanks to everyone that has been awesome at sending me things and contacting me in any form. I really really really appreciate it all and every buit of it helps even if it is just a wall post on facebook. THANKS GUYS, I LOVE YOU ALL. I really do have some of the best friends ever. I really do love you all. Also, btw I'm getting my computer soon so I should be able to communicate for frequently, which will be awesome. Also, I want to apologize to all the people in the 315 who I have been harassing...its free for me to call 315 area codes for soem reason so I am taking full advatage of it. If you're getting sick of me just let me know! I dont know how you could though...haha. jk.

Yeah so now I'm just waiting for school to start in a month and get my hopuse ready as much as i can before all hell breaks loose there. I have a lot i want to do to my house but it should be fu getting everything and completng the jobs.

OK I just had to add this funny thing that happened today: I threw away a condom bc it was covered in shampoo from my trip and not but an hour later did I see a small neighbor child of mine blowing up what appeared to be a balloon...well yeah it was that condom. what the hell?! it was so hilarious.

OK and one last update on my feelings on being here... its still hard especially after an amazing vacation where I had running water and my friends but its getting better everyday. So tomorrow I leave for Maputo for the weekend to go get my mail and see Felipe. Fun!

PICS OF MY HOUSE ABOVE

Until next time,

Jon

What the fx up-

Dão-lhes um centimetro e eles tomam um kilimetro

OK sorry everyone that this blog has been delayed so much...there has been so much to do. not to mention that the one fast computer in Namaacha is always taken by other volunteers. I actually has to get out of class early to get this spot...haha. well anyway like I said, a lot has gone on here in the past three weeks and I am going to do my best to catch you all up to speed on the happeneings here in good 'ol Moz. (PS - sorry about the nature of this blog its a bit choppy but I have so much to talk about...bear with me!) (A group of clad in costume at our halloween party)

Well, the weekend after my last post myself, Lo, Tommy, Jared, Tara, and Raposa (all education volunteers located here in Nam-town too) went on a huge ass hike up one of the mountains bordering here and South Africa. From a point here in Namaacha you can see the quintessential African trees (think Lion King on the savana)...well we went in search of those. we crossed a huge damn that is like 50m hight and no bars across it to cross. Nevertheless, I was scared! Well we finally got to the top of the mountain and it was a beautiful view...well worth it!!

The day after all the volunteers here in Namaacha celebrated Halloween MOZ style. We had a big festa at the casa da corpo da paz where almost everyone was clad in a costume. Let me tell you these costumes were great for the limited available resources!! There were robots, pirates, peacocks (that was me and another girl), the people from Wizard of Oz, a lobster, and a glow worm! Most of teh costumes were made of things found around here (like banana fronds) and items bought from the huge third world market that rolls into town twice a week. It was a blast...not like any halloween I have celebrated in the US but still awesome! (Lo and I as peacocks for Halloween!)

Sadly...two more people have left our training class here in MOZ. One individual was sent home bc of his adverse actions against other trainees and the other was transferred to Namibia for her service...we all wish her luck in her new adventure!!

Sooooooo....on October 19, 2007 my niece, J'ana Theresa Xenon-Bates (or whatever her last name is...I still dont know what my sister decided) was born. I am so happy to know that both her and my sister are healthy and doing well. I am just sad that I cannot be there to see her and knowing I wont see her for a year and a few months is tough too. I knew these things would happen while I was over here but when it happens its just harder to swallow. But all is weel and I will be home before you know it. While on the topic of babies, my mother here is preggers and is in her 5th month. She has decided to name the baby after me or my mother in the US if it's a boy or girl, respectively. Its pretty cool knowing that they like me enough to name their child after me! Of course its tradition (called "chara") that if they are named after you that you must buy them some clothes...i like to think that they like me enough more than they just want clothes. Such the optimist! Cool anyways. Love my fam here! (Those are 3 of my siblings!!)

OK so I got my first piece of mail here from Angay!! I was so elated to finally get somethjing. I was starting to think that nothing was going to get to me here. It was great to hear from people back home and have it to keep as a "momento" of sorts. I still like emails though! Thanks Ange!!

In terms of my portuguese, it's loads better. We had our mid-training LPI (language proficiency interview) and I scored in the region that woukld qualify me to become a PCV)...which is flippin awesome. Our group as a whole had a 92% pass rate...from what we heard about years prior (I dont know how trustworthy this info is though) we are doing much better. Go MOZ 12! Its pretty sweet. Things are looking up here in all aspects, not only in language. Thje Malaria meds arent as potent on my emotions anymore so I am not siffering from bouts of depression like symptoms and always wanting to go home. Actually in fact I rarely feel that way and am starting to really love it here!

So thispast week we all went on site visits aka vacations for the trainees! I went to the Manica province which is located on the border between MOZ and Zimbabwe. It was B-E-A-utiful! The mountains came out of no where and were very reminiscent of 'The Others' village in LOST. The volunteer I went to visit, Kelly Searl, was awesome (thats me and her). She had a lot of info for me about the whole PC experience (she COS'ed after I left aka finished her service). She told me alot about being gay and in the PC and more specifically PC MOZ. It was great to finally hear it from someone that has gone through the whole things. She put me into contact with an RPCV who lives and works in MOZ now for an NGO, this RPCV is also gay. Talked to him last night for awhile which was pretty awesome. I'm excited for service now more than ever after the site visits...it really inspired me to do my best and got me excited to be here! Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!
(This is a view from the plane down to Mozambique...Sofala province I think!)

So I mentioned this open air market here in Namaacha earlier...well they call it "Shoprite" but its actually not a shoprite at all. Shoprite is actually a huge groceryt store but this is a flea market of sorts. Well we went shopping the other day and I got some great finds. I would have never thought that I was going to shop at a third world market, let alone like what i found. I found like 3 nice vintage t-shirts from the US...these are shirts people pay upwayrds of 30USD for but I payed only like 0.85USD. I also found a sweet muscle polo from Abercrombie (that I'm actually wearing right now!) for the same price!! It was the ebst deal ever...this is worth like 35USD...I love it! Amongst the other treasures there...I found a nice pair of jeans from Austrailia for less than 2USD. what finds at the Namaachian Shoprite!! (Thats all of us at the local bar playing drinking games and enjoying a Friday night Nam style!)

On my trip to Maputo two Saturdays ago I went to the 2007 World Press photo exhibit. Apparently its really famous and, yes, I went to see it for free. It was located in this old fort on the harbour and was beautiful. The pics were awesome/sad/inspiring/thought provoking all at the same time. I went with my Mozambican friend, Felipe. He shows me around the city when i go there and lets me use his internet sometimes. He is a nice guy and someone to hang outwith that isnt a trainee too. The day after Maputo, Sunday, my Mozambican parents took me to church with them. I told them I was raised Catholic but they insisted that i still come to their Apostolic Church. Well I eventually aquiesced (sp?) and went. IT WAS PURE HELL. Not only was it 95 degrees the whole day but it was 13.5 hours long. I was so mad at them for taking me there on the longest church service of the year. I thought It was rude of them and they knew I was pissed at them that night when I slammed my door to go to bed and hardly talked to them at dinner...the enst day is when I went on my site visit so they didnt see me for a week after...haha. we are all good now but lets just say that i did my penance and am not going to anothe rone of those services ever again!

Well MODEL SCHOOL is next week and I'm pretty damned nervous about the whole thing. We have to teach like 5 lessons or something, im still not sure yet, in all portuguese in front of like 45 students. I know that this is what its gonne be like at site but i am still nervous to be doing this in a language that i am still new in and hardly know that well. I will let you all know how it went in my next blog, thats for sure! ALSO, in less than 2 weeks we find out where our sites are going to be!!! crossing my fingers for an ocean site or mountains...I dont want to be in the boring plains where there are no beautiful landscapes...hope that I get a good one people!!

I miss you all and hope that you all are surviving the cold weather over there in the US...as its becoming winter over there, its approaching summer here and boy can you tell. Today it was 95 again. Have a great Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Love you all and until next time,

Jon

(Myself, Adrienne, Tariq, and Lo at a Maputo gelataria)

Another one bites the dust...

Hello everyone! It has been awhile since I have last updated...about 2 weeks or so. I think this schedule is going to be pretty regular providing my access to internet is available but pretty expensive (60 metacais per hour or about $2.20 per hour).

So I am and have been at my training site in Namaacha for the past week and a half. I have been taking portuguese classes every day for like 7-8 hours a day. Lets just say that it is pretty tough and mentally exhaustive. In the US I go to bed usually at like 1 am...here it is not un-normal for me to go to bed at like 8:30 or 9 PM. WHOA! I def do not like that but I need to do it because there is nothing else to do and I am just so tired that I have to go to bed. The malaria prophgylaxis I am on (Mela-something) is making me have bad dreams every night, and I,m pretty sure it is the reason why I feel I am mildly depressed. Dont worry thougH! I am fine and its just a lot to bear all at once. I will survive so dont worry too much about me. Oh yeah! If you do want to get ahole of me in person I just got a cell phone in Maputo...contact Dave Rust or someone from my fam to get the number...just remeber to dial 011 before the 258 country code!

I love my familya nd they seem like they love me too...I have a mother (mãe), a father (pai), 2 sisters (irmas) and 2 brothers (irmãos). My bros and sistrers are all younger than me and they are really curious to know about me and where I am from, in egenral just everything about me...kind of cool! The climate here was hot whern we got here but since we are in the mountains we are fortunately cooler than most of teh country. Right now it is freezing at 34 deg C (I think like high 60´s or low 70´s)...Its really freezing here! Who would have thought?!

My portuguese is coming along at a steady pace. Every Friday we have an LPI whichj is just an interview with the language peopel to see how we are doing. I am rigth in the middle so its all good. I can communicate what IU want to my fam and they generally knwoi whwta I´m saying. Most of the time I) just have my dicitionary with me so I can look up the terms I dont know at all. But like last night I was explaining to them that my sister was about to have a baby and what halloween was. They didnt get the ideaabout carving pimpkins bc that would be a waste of food! Also I cooked for them last night an »American» dinner which consisted of roasted chicken (which I helped kill) with roasted potatoes, carrots, and onions. I also made mashed potatoes which they really liked. Which is great b.c I am sick of rice!

Ok on a more depressing note...people keep leaving here to go back to the US. And by people I( mean people that I am close with here. Yes I would consider tjem friends already b.c when you go through soemthing like this you need as big of a support system as one can have. Shari...a friend from Wisconsin left about 5 days ago while Heather a nice girl fron Ohiop left like 30 minutes ago. My support system is dwindling and its not cool. I cant deal with people like this leaving its really really hard. I often want to go home to but I cant leave because I feel like I need to stick it out for the next 10 weeks here and give it a real go. I am not a quitter but hey if after 10 weeks I decide like I am really not meant to be in the bush takinbg bucket baths and all that good stuff then hey, I tried right?! Its not that bad now whre I am dying to come home but I think of it often. I am told this is normal and I know every singloe one of s here is going through the same thing....we just miss home. AKA CULTURE SHOCK. It´s hard and if you have never gfone through this...try it. You will really learn to appreciate everything back at home. Now I dont mean to paint a horribke picture bc I have learnbed a lot and this is a great experience. I wouildnt give this for anything andI hope It continues.

I will leave you with a goodbye from myself and from the entire MOZ 12 group...and hey do us a small favor, have a beer on us!

Love always,
Jon

The beginning of an adventure...

WOW...so much has happened in the last few days it's hard to know where to start so I can think of no better place than the beginning. Side note: for the sake of time and efficiency I wont bore you w. endless details.

PHILLY
I arrived in Philly 23 September and met up with the 68 other volunteers going to MOZ. It was pretty exciting to meet so many new people. SO far everyone has been absolutely fabulous. The hotel was sehr presh and more than accommodating. Even though staging was pretty packed with seminars and meetings we still had the night free and did we ever use that "free" time. We went out both Sunday and MOnday nights. We all bonded over food and copious amounts of beer. It was an enriching time had by all! Well we left Tuesday morning to go to JFK in NYC...what an emotional trip...people called me and thats all it took for me just to loose it.

Most people still have their game faces on but everyone knows that we all are feeling the same way. Sad about leaving home but overwhelmingly happy/excited. Onto AFRICA...

AFRICA
We had two back to back 8.5 hr flights and stoped midpoint in Dakhar, Senegal. yayy. It was along ass flight but had awesome peopel all around me. The South Afrucan man in frnt of me reassured us that MOZ was an awesome place to be...he said "it's so much fun, and you will have it too!" SWEET!
Arrived in Jo'burg, S. Africa at roughly 4:30 am your time. We stayed at a 5 star luxury hotel that immediately served us wine and cheese from the country. Let it be known that S. Africa wine is absolutely delish. We also had a buffet that was at least 5 courses and world class food. The best last meal I could ever think of. PS - just to give you a sense of what this place was like, for the breakfast they had make your own bloody mary's w. Skyy vodka...which of course I helped myself to!

The next morning/today we left for Mozambique! When we arrived myself and 9 other lucky people got sent to another hotel bc there wasn't enough room for us. It really sucks bc we are separated from the group but at least we have this brief internet stitch! Today we had dinner, talked about issues/ questions we had, got vaccines, and say a tribal dance w. music! It was so awesome...words cant describe! Now we are at the hotel in the cty of Maputo and just chillin out before bed...its about 10:30 pm here aka 3:30 pm in the US. More is yet to come tomorrow and the day after and day after. On Sunday we get separated into very small groups and dropped off at our homestay. It's sad to be separated from all these great people b.c thats just what they are great people that i have fallen in love with in a very very very (muito muito muito) short period of time. Such is life...but it sucks! lol.

I love and miss you all! I am thinking about you all.

Cheers/Salud!
Jon
xoxp

2 days!!

I leave in 2 days

and have so much still left to do!



excited
nervous

just two of the many emotions fluttering through my mind right now.


I need sleep. More packing tomorrow. Last time going out tomorrow too. Better make it a good one!

Cheers!

Jon