Szasha and I were originally going to spend NYE in Tete City, at a fancy party that we heard about from an ex-pat -- but changed our minds when we found out about the $300 cover charge. Also, the one family that was left in my village decided to spend NYE with their relatives in the city -- so even if I had wanted to leave, there wouldn't have been anyone around to feed Poppy. Thus, Szasha and I rang in the new year on my living room floor, watching Bridget Jones' Diary and eating pasta. We've been getting better at dealing with the heat, but it was so hot this time that we went to new extremes to keep cool.
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| Yup, we're sitting in buckets. Little bucket for the feet, big bucket for the rear. Periodically pouring water on your head feels awesome. We sat like this and watched a movie. |
Midnight came and went -- Szasha and I clinked glasses and that was that. 2013. I thought back to exactly one year ago, when I rang in the New Year in a taxi headed for a night out in downtown Houston with my best friend -- granted, that evening ended in Rachel and I waist deep in a gutter in the middle of the night, searching for a lost iPhone, so I can't definitively say which year was better.
So much has happened in the past year -- I went back to Sweden, quit my job at the elementary school in Houston, moved away from Houston, moved back in with my parents in San Antonio, got a theater job in New Braunfels, joined the Peace Corps... it's been a busy year, and somehow I don't think this coming year is going to be any less busy. Not just for me -- several of my friends are starting new jobs, getting married, moving... everyone's life is hectic.
Thankfully, I won't be moving this year -- I'll be in Mavudzi-Ponte all year. Next year, too. It's always difficult for me to wrap my head around the length of Peace Corps service: 27 months. A few days ago was our three-month mark of being in Mozambique. Sometimes it seems like an eternity and sometimes it seems like it's going to finish in the blink of an eye. To help me visualize (and also because I was bored) I made this paper chain, with each link representing one month of service left -- so right now, it's 24 links long.
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| Cool, huh? I got this idea from my friend Jamie. The chain hangs by my window. |
As for the coming year, here are my resolutions:
- Don't suck as a teacher
- Learn to play my new guitar
- Don't screw up
- Stay positive
- Stay sane
- Stay cool
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| My new guitar. I carried it home sitting in an open pickup truck on top of sack of coal. |
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! I LOVE the buckets AND the guitar! You will be an awesome teacher!!! Big hugs from all three of us---especially Don! Stay cool----literally! Love, Aunt B
ReplyDeleteI hope so! I've never taught a big class before, or for an entire year, so it'll be... new. We'll see how it goes -- school year starts in about two weeks!
DeleteI remember an old lady who went to college in the 1920's telling me about how they kept cool without air conditioning. She said during the hot weather (in South Carolina) she and her roommate would sit at opposite ends of a bathtub - they sat on the edges and had their feet in cold water in the tub. They set up a desk between them to work on. She was also the one who told me to run cold water on my wrists to cool off. That was the way it was back in the pre-air-conditioning days in the South - not so different from Mozambique, maybe? Good luck with the guitar - where did you find that? It looks so . . . American! Mrs. H.
ReplyDeleteYep, I've found lots of ways to cool down -- putting cold water on pulse points, sitting in front of the fan, lounging in a bucket... etc.
DeleteI got the guitar from another volunteer who left recently. So far I do not play at all, but I'll have lots of time to learn! Haha.
Your resolutions made me laugh Helen! I love your voice on these blogs. Happy new year.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you too, Yesle!
DeleteHappy New Year! Hope your 2013 is wonderful! <3
ReplyDelete