The Move

After a week on playing on the beach in Vilinkulo and a very memorable Thanksgiving in Gorongosa National Park, Helen and I packed up our house in Moatize.  A Peace Corps staff member came with one of those magical Land Rovers to help us move to our new place in Cateme.  Honestly, I was pretty impressed with how efficiently and quickly we were able to transfer all our stuff (we’ve been accumulating tons of things over the past year). 

It took us about 45 minutes to arrive at our new site in the private car (in public transport, it would take about an hour and a half).  The majority of that drive was on bad dirt roads headed straight into the bush.  Yikes. Helen and I were pretty accustomed to the “city life,” as we called it.  When we pulled up in front of our new house, I was pretty relieved. It’s a cute little place, right smack in front of the school and in the middle of the teacher housing section.  People came out of no where to help us unload our things and get settled in. So that was extremely comforting in itself.   Unfortunately, most of the other teachers and students had already left Cateme for Christmas break – so it was pretty lonely around here. 

I think the easiest way to summarize my thoughts about the new place is through a pro/con list.  Here we go…. First the positives:

1.      roommates- Just Helen and I in Cateme (thank god)!

2.      Commute time – it literally takes less than 10 seconds to walk to school. It’s seriously right outside our front door.  Goodbye hour long commute and fighting the chapa rush every morning!!

3.      Water! – after being such a stress in Moatize, we were thrilled to find that our new place has indoor plumbing and running water. Granted, it switches on and off throughout the day… but still. Running water!!!

4.      Community – Our row of houses is reserved specifically for the teachers at our school.  That means that 18 of our colleagues will be a stones throw away and therefore, much more accessible

And the negatives:

1.The market – we lived right next to the biggest market in Moatize (which is a sizable town, as it is).  The new ‘market’ is a 20 minute walk away.  The air quotes are because, well, I'm not sure I would consider 4 women selling only mangoes and tomatoes a market.  The food situation will be a major challenge here

2. “get out time” – Often times, volunteers will refer to how long it takes them to  “got out of their site.” For example, we could get out of Moatize in 15 minutes…chapas ran continuously and it was a major road. Hannah, on the other hand, might have to wait anywhere between 15 minutes and 2 hours – just for a car to pass through her village.  Unfortunately, Cateme is wayyyy out and not on a main road. We’re looking at the 2 hour ‘get out’ time frame now.  Goodbye jetting into the city for lunch and being home again by 1 pm.

3. Furniture – the padres from our old school furnished our entire house for us. This house is completely empty. No bed frames. No table and chairs. Nothing. Luckily I got a few little things when my parents visited last summer. Our little wicker outdoor furniture is now the centerpiece of the living room.  I’ll keep that as long as I can get myself some sort of bed hah!