from maputo

hello all, writing really quickly during my last few minutes at the hotel in maputo. sorry i haven't written sooner. things have been great. lots of training, lectures, questions, getting to know people. we split down for the first time into our project groups and it was really great to see just the 18 health people together, a much more manageable group, and to start to talk about what we'll be doing. and we had our first portuguese classes, which i know many of you were curious about. there are actually 5 other people in my group who have portuguese background, and all but one of us are doing health so we're in the same portuguese class and it's nice to be around other people who can comiserate w/ me over the funny accents and the fact that they don't use the fun brasilian phrases i love. oh well. it sounds like i should be able to improve a lot of my portuguese, and then after week 5 i can hopefully start learning the local language! so i'm off in like 10 minutes to my homestay! we''re all in the same city 2 hours outside of maputo, but split up in different neighborhoods, with all the health people together. we have classes planned for like 8 hours a day, it's gonna be really intense and tiring, but i'm really excited to start learning everything! i'll update when i can, but i guess internet is pretty sparse there. i do, however, have a cell phone! the number is: 011-258-82-8198136, so feel free to call/text, keeping in mind that i'm 6 hours ahead of east coast time, and i can't answer/respond when i'm in class. k, i gtg for now. hope everyone is well. send emails!!