April 30, 2017
My feet have grown accustomed to my 8 am walk to the local farmers market. My tongue has become comfortable twisting and turning to the blend of Portuguese and Moniga words necessary for conversations there. My smile has grown more genuine and my laugh more sincere as I grow closer to the friends that I have made there. Despite this, for weeks now, I had been anticipating my first break from site since I was sworn in as a PCV.
Last week, I had a conference, known as Re-Connect, where the volunteers in my cohort came together to share the struggles and successes of their first trimester of teaching. It was great to see everyone again. I enjoyed celebrating the triumphs and sharing the weight of the defeats. It’s still crazy how individualized each PCV’s experience is even if they are only the next town over or a couple of hours away.
At the end of Re-Connect, my roommate and I (along with about 20 other PCV’s) were joined by our counterparts for a Project Design and Management Conference. This conference was much more informative and taught strategies on how to implement and follow through with projects. I found it personally rewarding to have time outside of our sites to hang out with our counterparts. My favorite part of the weekend was Felecio admitting that his favorite dish at his first experience with Chinese Food was “arroz simples” – “plain rice”.
Upon my return into Pebane, I was greeted by our neighbor with a “Desapareceu” –“You disappeared”. He then began to explain all the mischief his son and daughter had gotten into, how his first trimester grades had turned out, and how work was going for him. I told him about seeing old friends, eating pizza, and my hope for some of the potential secondary projects.
In short, we were catching up as friends do after an extended period away from one another. We talked. We ate boiled peanuts. We sat in silence. I enjoyed every second of being in that moment. I soaked in every second of the first time that Pebane has felt completely like home.
P.S. the sentiment was echoed on my first 8am walk to the market, my first classes with my students, and my first visit to see my host family since returning.
P.P.S. I’m excited and equipped to start working on some pretty cool secondary projects.
MOZ likely to sunburn 