"Waka Waka"

I just got back from the World Cup in Johannesburg and it was amazing! I spent about a week there and it was a great vacation besides the freezing cold. I left Inharrime on Monday the 14 to head down to Maputo. I stayed the night and it was nice to go out to a restaurant to watch some of the games. The next morning I was up early and got on the bus to South Africa. The bus ride was really easy compared to travel in Mozambique. They had movies and I think I saw more on the 2 bus rides than I have seen in my entire time in Mozambique. The bus ride took about 8 hours. There was a stop in Nelispruit and we could see the brand new stadium. It was really cool because the beams were giraffes.

We got into Johannesburg around 4 and then headed straight to the hostel. It was freezing, actually the coldest day they had had this winter and I was still in flip-flops from Mozambique. Our fist night it got down to -10 C. It was the coldest I’ve felt in over a year. The hostel we stayed at was an interesting place. It was a house with 2 smaller ‘sheds’ out back with more beds. I was in one of the sheds, about the size of my house, and it was interesting…I missed my kanisu. The hardest thing about sleeping out there was the cold. I had 3 big blankets on me and was still cold…I do not have that many cold weather clothes here and I was using all of them.

Johannesburg is a very interesting city. It is very sprawled out with many suburbs being considered the city and it really doesn’t have good public transportation. We had to take cabs everywhere and they were really expensive (the cheapest started at $10). It is also a pretty dangerous city so we couldn’t walk anywhere.

My first day in Joburg I went to a mall. Since it is a more dangerous of a city everything is in malls. It was great to just walk around and see everything, I felt like I was back in America. It was great but also kind of overwhelming. I ended up hanging out with 3 other PCV’s from Mozambique and it was so much fun. That night for the South Africa game in Pretoria we went to a fan park. They put fan parks throughout all the cities in different areas where fans could go and watch the game on a big screen. It was so much fun but so cold. For some reason we were standing right in front of the vuvuzela section…it was loud but really fun.

Thursday was just a nice and relaxing day. Pretty much everyone in our hostel had tickets to the South Korea vs. Argentina game so it was nice that the hostel was quiet. I had tried to get tickets but it was sold out but it was nice to watch it in the warm.

Friday was the big game, USA vs. Slovenia. The game was at 4 so beforehand we went to this bar called radium where the Outlaws (US official soccer fans) had rented out. It was like any bar in America and was amazing. There was so much red, white and blue and so much heart. One of my favorite things from the bar was all the songs they would sing! It was great! The game was at Ellis Park Stadium in the city so it wasn’t too far. I had a great seat! I was on the same side as the benches, in the first tier, in between the goal and the benches. My seat had a great view and there were many Americans around. After the game, 2-2 tie, I went out with the other PCV’s to watch the 8:00 game. At midnight it was Mike’s birthday so we did a little mini pub-crawl in Melville. Towards the end it was exhausting…I almost fell asleep at the bar.

On Sunday I met up with 2 friends that I had studied in Beijing with, Win and Spencer. It was so much fun to see them and hang out and to catch up. I can’t believe that I hadn’t seen them since I left China. I went to the Brazil vs. Ivory Coast game that night at Soccer City and it was so much fun! I was really happy because I had tried buying a ticket earlier in the week but they were sold out. I ended up getting a ticket and it was amazing! I was seated in the Brazil section and was sitting next to some people from Portugal. It was fun to practice my Portuguese with Brazilians and Portuguese and to try and understand the different accents…pretty hard with the Brazilians.

All in all it was an amazing trip and I’m so happy I got to go! By the time I got back into Mozambique it was time and I really did miss it here. I never thought I would miss my house so much but it turns out I did! I can’t wait for my next big adventure but for now I’m happy to be staying in Mozambique.

love,
ann

“What kind of country is this?”

This past weekend I went to Swaziland for bushfire, a concert that takes place in the Manzini valley. I went with my two site mates Emma and Scooter and we meet our friend Anna in Maputo. On Thursday night we stayed in Namaacha with our home stay families. It was just like old times but so much nicer because I could actually speak Portuguese (that was one of their first comments!) I could also speak a little of the local language with them too which was great. The house had changed so much! I really enjoyed just hanging out with my family and being able to talk about more than just the weather…

On Friday we got up early and walked across the border into Swaziland. It was really fun to walk the border although they could have used better signs… once in swazi it was so different! There were signs everywhere, paved roads, trash cans along the side of the road, pretty much anything you wouldn’t look twice at we were amazed by! It was interesting talking with the locals because even though English is the national language there was still a language barrier. The concert was outside (which was a little cold) but it was fun for the time I was there.

One thing I really enjoyed was the hostel. Everyone was really nice and just cool to hang out with. Much different than my hostel experience in Europe. Even though it was a great trip it was really nice to come home! I can’t believe that in a week and a half I’ll be in South Africa for the World Cup!!! Miss everyone and hope you’re having a great start to summer!

Love,
Ann