My Arrival

Well I'm happy to say I've arrived safely in Mozambique! We are staying at a rather nice hotel in Maputo, the capital of Moz. We have just had the lucky chance of meeting MC Rogers who is apparently a famous Mozambican popstar. I've never heard of him, but google him and see if it's true. So far we've had some orientation sessions, gotten some shots and other medicines, and gone over a bunch of info. Tomorrow we will be going to Namaacha, the town where we will have Pre-Service Training (PST). I can't really get a feel for Moz yet since the hotel is nice, but in a bad part of town, so we're not allowed to leave. We will be back here next Sat so I think I will be able to see more of the capital then. I'm excited to meet my host family and see what my house will be like. There are some current volunteers here with us now, and it sounds like living conditions might be better than we expected. Some families had TV, almost all had electricity, none had running water though, which is fine. It's supposed to be pretty cool in Namaacha, especially at first.

I've met a lot of cool people so far, and all the staff seems really nice. There's almost 70 of us, so it's taking a while to learn names and whatnot, but we're getting there. I wish I had more "Mozambican" information to share, but all we've really seen is the hotel, which is not too different from any other hotel, except we don't drink the water here.

And I'm happy to say, I have an address that I you can use to send mail to me during PST:

Jessica Bass
Corpo da Paz/Peace Corps
Avenida do Zimbabwe 345
Maputo, Mozambique

This address will be valid the entire time I'm here, but after mid-Dec I'll probably get a PO box closer to near where I'll be living, when I find out my site, but you can send letters to that address until I say otherwise.

I'm not sure when my next opportunity to use the internet will be, but not for at least a week I don't think, maybe not for a month, who knows.