Arrived safely in Mozambique!

Staging

I have a hard time believing that staging was only 2 days ago, partially because it seems like much longer and partially because I have no concept of time (having not slept properly in 3 days and being 7 hours out of sync with the sun....)
At the hotel in Philadelphia, we did a 5-hour seminar about the basics of what to expect, what the Peace Corps goals and commitments are, and the logistics of travel. We all met each other for the first time, too (though some of us had corresponded on Facebook already) and I am really surprised at how many names I got down pretty quickly. It was kind of nice to know that everyone else has the same reservations/fears/anticipations as me. Calming.

Travel

We traveled by bus from the hotel in Philadelphia to JFK Airport in New York, and in order to be "on-time" we left at 3 a.m. and arrived at the airport at 6 a.m. for our 11 a.m. flight. Of course, the check-in counter didn't even open until 7:30 so we sat around the airport and waited for a few hours, then checked in and waited for a few more hours.
The flight was very long, about 15 hours, but since none of us had slept the night before we were all pretty tired. I manged to keep myself awake until the meal service came through after take-off, but then I fell deeply asleep and didn't stir again until halfway over the Atlantic, about 6 hours into the flight. I watched part of a movie, but fell asleep for another few hours. My seat buddy, Saranya, must have been thrilled with my company.
We arrived at the Johannesburg airport without incident, and didn't have to pick up our bags. Half of our group transferred to a smaller flight to Maputo right away. The other half, including me, got to sit around for about 4 hours waiting for the next flight. At least the Joburg airport is pretty big and has lots to do. We ate lunch and had some delicious hot coffee.
Our flight to Maputo was really short, only about an hour, but that didn't stop me sleeping some more. I missed the snack service, which I came to regret later.  The landing was pretty bumpy and turbulent -- you could tell some of the people who weren't used to flying a lot looked super uncomfortable.
The only problem we ran into during arrival was some hitch in our visas and passports. I never quite figured out what the issue was, but eventually, after some phone calls and a meeting with one of the people picking us up, we got cleared to leave immigration and went to the hotel.

Mozambique: First Impressions

The area around the airport is pretty run-down, but the city center of Maputo looks pretty much like any other big city in a developing country. Lots of people, lots of cars, lots of buildings in various states of disrepair mixed in with fancy embassies and hotels.
I'm feeling overall pretty calm at the moment. We're in a nice hotel right now, and it kind of reminds me of South America. The fact that everyone is speaking Portuguese really adds to that perception.
Somehow things that would have bothered me under normal circumstances don't seem too important right now -- like the fact that the water coming out of the faucet was an opaque brown color for a considerable amount of time, or the fact that at this moment there is a little cockroach sitting on the bar, staring at me. I'm just happy that we're not underway anymore, that I have all my stuff and am in (relatively) unharmed condition (Though I managed to bump into something and give myself a rather large, multi-colored and swollen bruise on my leg).  It's weird, but nice to know that this is where I'm going to be for the next two years. It seems feasible.
I am definitely looking forward to sleeping in a bed for the first time in many nights. But before I do that, I have to organize and re-pack my bags, because we surrender one of them for storage tomorrow. I am running on my last reserves of energy, so I am going to go ahead and stop typing now.