winter is here!

As we head into winter here in Mozambique, temperatures have become much more agreeable and my garden has begun to take shape. Now in our second year of service we are increasingly busy, finding more and more to do each day while realizing that the time we have to complete our projects is short. Despite all the rush I have still found time to continue with my garden, play the guitar, read some great books and study for the GRE. Here are a couple pictures of the recent events.

With not enough classrooms my students have been ousted to the garage. Here they are sitting among tractors and trucks learning how to form negative phrases.

A university student of mine rode his bike 10 miles through sand to study syntax with me. Man how I love syntax!

My courageous bully of a dog has managed to pump out another seven beautiful puppies.

Here I am babying my green peppers. They are arguably the most expensive vegetable here and my plants are as strong as ever. That, my friends, makes me wealthy!

My tomato plants are officially as tall as I am and my students still think I know nothing about agriculture (at least half true). I´m going to start demanding that they believe me if they want to eat any of it. Just a little vindication is all I ask.

After a long stint without leaving home or work, it was time to get out and swim a bit. The Peace Corps Mozambique Beach/Beer Olympics took place in the paradise get away of Vilankulos this last weekend. It was a fiery battle between the southern and central provinces. and as unsportsmanlike as it gets. It ended in a tie due, solely, to exhaustion. Being the anti-social that I am, I avoided the spectacle and spent the day on a remote island in the Indian Ocean. My friend Laura had two visitors, Krista and Cate, that are on a trip around the world and so they, another volunteer Caitlin, and I all made the trip. We were treated with some amazing snorkeling, where we saw some lion fish, trumpet fish, pipe-cleaner fish, blow-fish and the largest school of fish I have ever seen. I was able to dive through the school to the bottom, allow them to gather again, while watching my friends swim around on the surface, and then emerge through them on my way back up. It was really quite a treat.

Speaking of treats here is the meal they fed us. I was impressed, and although I didn´t eat the calamari or crab, my vegetable curry and ice-cold juice were enough for me.

Two southern dolls, Laura and Cate, and me.

When told by a local that the lion doesn´t walk with meat in his hands, I told him that this lion doesn´t eat meat. There´s a riddle for you.

Here is the beautiful and simple dhow that took us across the bay with the help of a near-non-existent breaze.

Oh captain, my captain!

Nobody actually said that to me but I could sense the urge.

That sense was strongest at this point.

Back on the mainland, Patrick´s offering candy to little children. Who knows what lesson they walked away with that day?

Cameron and Patrick arguably showed outright chivelrous behavior to Laura´s guests (I didn´t actually hear anyone argue that).

We had a blast with Krista and Cate and if you´re interested you can see their blog as they travel around the world in an caustic one-two fashion (that´s GRE word). I have provided a link to the blog above.

Ali was on fire all night. Here she is showing some moves few of you could even dream of.

This guy is the real reason I made the trip this weekend. Can you blame me? And here is a fun clip of Patrick, as a representative of the southern provinces, owning all that is the central, Cameron.