Photos!!!

So below are some photos of my house and the scenery of my town! And I put some of my host-family, because they were fantastic and deserve a shout out!

The boredom of living alone and not knowing anyone and not working is setting in. But I try to fill my days with teaching myself to play guitar, reading, watching DVDs of seasons of shows on my computer- Modern Family is my new addiction, and passear-ing (aimlessly walking around trying to get to know the town while avoiding being called a Murungu- local language for white girl- or being hit on my random men, or stared at blatantly by hoards of children. I never thought I was that interesting, but apparently I am a spectacle. Many people are really nice though!).

I am going to visit two of my friends from training who live in the closest town to me (4 hours away if I'm lucky and the chappah stays on the road this time) to celebrate Christmas! Maybe Santa will visit me for the first time ever since I will be staying with people who actually celebrate this holiday. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos!

My Kitchen: water-filter, kitchen faucet that doesn't work, stovetop with only one working burner, blender and water heater (which I am scared of because there are always cockroaches in them), bucket of water, and rarely used fagao com carvao (charcoal stove). This is my Chopped training arena. If you don't watch Chopped on the Food Network, you are missing out and should watch it because I no longer can...

My Bedroom: Yes, apparently, it is orange.

My Lovely Bathroom: The showerhead and sink faucet are just for show, they do not work. The water runs every (relative term) night from the tap at the bottom of the shower.

The buckets I fill up every night (again, this is a relative term due to Mozambique's unpredictability). You take a bucket from the kitchen and fill it up with 3 red ladles full of hot water and mix with 7 ladles full of cold water and bam, you got yourself a BUCKET BATH (use the ladle to pour water from bucket). Yes, this is a science to get the right temperature.

My Place of Employment: Escola Secundaria e Pre-Universitaria de Gurue. Apparently, they call it ESPUG.

 Early morning fog on Gurue's mountains.

One of the bairros (neighborhoods) in Gurue.

Host-fam (grandma and adorable little cousins included).

Two of my host-brothers. They are pilar-ing peanuts before dinner. Aka, using this huge mortar and pestle to crush peanuts to a powder to mix with coconut milk and greens. Mmmmm delicious. Seriously. (And nice face, Felix.)

Mama Victoria and Junior. She is rolar-ing coconut. Aka, making coconut shavings to mix with water to add to the pilar-ed peanuts above and greens.

The pilar-ed peanuts and rolar-ed coconut.

Felix and some neighborhood kids holding the baby pigs born that day. Did you know that baby pigs (piglets?) make the most terrible screeching sound? Well, they do. But they are super cute.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Belated Hanukkah (which unfortunately I didn't get a chance celebrate this year because I believe me and the three other Jews in my training group quadrupled Mozambique's previous Jewish population).