I feel like I've got a novel inside of me, but there's some massive wall that's preventing me from figuring out what that novel is. I guess I didn't think seeing familiar faces would make me miss them more. Almost as if I had thought I could get over missing everyone by simply seeing my mother for two weeks.
Well, she had a blast, but it was quite a short time to see a huge country. Speaking of....(HERE'S WHERE JOHN GOES BACK TO RECOUNTING SOME OF OUR ADVENTURES - OBVIOUSLY OUT OF ORDER. ALICE)
On Thursday, we sat in the hotel playing cards through the rain. Not bad, one day of rain in the middle of the visit. We also visited the market in the city, which when wet is quite an experience.
On Friday, we traveled to the beach and saw Monica, unwittingly leaving her with Mom's water bottle (she was looking to buy one anyway). We then went to Maputo, the hard way, and ate dinner at the closest thing to Chinese food I've found.
Saturday, we went to Kruger Park after visiting the crafts fair in Maputo. We ended up seeing some of the animals in real life that we had seen in wood carvings, like giraffes and various deer-like creatures. The night tour yielded several white rhinos, one of which I nearly dispatched with a blinding flash of the spotlight I was holding.
On Sunday, we finished up at Kruger after a dinner on Saturday night that took a bag of charcoal and several meters of tinfoil to cook. Good, but I now truly appreciate pots and pans. Anyway, we saw several lions sleeping under a tree and we were seen off by a herd of water buffalo.
Yesterday we broiled under the hot, dry sun in the training town, visiting my host family and presenting some gifts from America. Later, Ebi showed us around Maputo and then Charles, Annie, Charles' brother Julien and his parents, and two other Canadian volunteers, joined us for dinner.
Today we saw more of Maputo and met an embroiderer who does some wonderful work. And then at the airport, Mom's adventure abruptly ended - and the second half of mine started.
Peace
John
