So we are having our lunch on my back steps. This kid is ALWAYS around my house. He's one of those kids that he's a good kid, but he just doesn't get it sometimes when maybe he should go somewhere else. I tell him something, for instance, to move out of the picture, and he doesn't move. He means well, and his quirkiness makes me laugh sometimes, but I think sometimes I need the house to myself. I'm getting a bit harder on him about this, so we'll see what happens.

One of the ladies I buy my flour from or rice and it's weighed in the thing you see in the picture. I can also buy a few other things in Makwakwa as you see the shelves behind her.

These are the typical houses of Makwakwa, made of mud walls and straw roofs. No windows, very small, but it's only used to sleep. And even then in the hot weather, people bring their mosquito nets and mattresses outside and sleep outside instead.

Here we are heading into Makwakwa, the vila now. I know it looks kind of like nothing, but remember, I'm in the bush. :)

I could use a gas stove. I have one, but I ran out of gas. Plus, for my Peace Corps experience, I was looking more towards using a charcoal stove anyways. Yes, it becomes a bit more of a pain when I have to cook all the time. No simple sandwiches here so much. And it's definitely not my sister's 5 burner gas stove... Replacing gas here is also a pretty big hassle, so overall, I'm saving money and getting my Peace Corps experience I wanted.

Out by my clothes line. And yes, I made those pants myself. The outfit is a bit ridiculous right now cause I had no other shirts that were clean. Laundry day!

About halfway between Mapinhane and Mabote on the dirt/sand road, they sell gazelle. You can buy a whole one like the guy is holding or like on the ground, or you can buy some meat already cooked and on a stick. I noticed some people putting the meat on bread. I'm definitely doing that next time. It looked good as a sandwich!

Here I am standing on the road out of Vilanculos waiting for a car to stop. It's not a thumb you stick up to hitch hike here. Instead you wave your hand up and down.

My gorgeous smile got this truck to stop for us. WOOOHOOO!!!! Okay, maybe not a gorgeous smile. Maybe it's because Mozambicans are just generally pretty nice. :)

Which way should we go. This is an intersection in Vilanculos near Camila's house.

The beach in Vilanculos. This is when the tide is out so it's a lot of sand bar. It reminds me so much of the Carribeans. Have I been to the Carribeans? No. But I have seen pictures. And that's Nala, Camila's dog. Great dog.

We first made a castle and then transformed it into chairs, then made it our landing spot for doing flips and jumping on it, then we made this sweet-ass turtle. It's like transformers but better!

And here Shannon and I are jumping.

And lounging... I will have to say, my lounge chair definitely way better than Shannon's little chair.

Are we done with the chairs yet?

And here was our castle. We got secret doors, caves, a stick on top for I don't know what, and walls for protection. And, of course, we can't forget the moat!

That's my friends Shannon (who is burying me) and Julie (who is pointing and taking the picture) and me being made into a mermaid I do believe.

But before I was a mermaid, I was a jellyfish/octopus, and I just stung Shannon. Wahahaha!

And before that, I buried Shannon and made her into that superhero duck person that gets around on one wheel. I always forget the name of this cartoon character...

Julie and I "running" into the water in Tofu.

I made my friends "boleia" everywhere we went. In other words, we hitchhiked. I hate the chapas (little tiny vans that can somehow always fit more and more people when you think they are full). The chapas probably wouldn't be as bad if my legs weren't so long and my head not hitting the ceiling. Hence, private cars or the back of trucks are definitely the way to go.

One thing I really love about Mozambique is how everybody, boys included, love to dance. There might not even be any music, and they'll dance. That's not so typical in the states. It takes a lot to get a boy especially to dance in the states.

These 2 girls know some good dance moves also. I usually just try to repeat whatever they are doing. This is a Saturday night performance time, so I am not out there dancing with them...in case you were wondering... :)

Any chance these kids can get in a picture, they try to crowd right in... as this photo goes to show. These are some of my students.

So, we did try to do some "organized" pics also.

This was my first holidays I had back in April. I am eating straight sugar cane. You chew up the stalk to get the sugary water out, and then you spit the solids out. It's pretty good stuff. When it's in season, you'll just see people walking along the street eating a stick... like this. :)

So, this is a scorpion/centipede. They sting like a scorpion...The teachers who had me come out and see this one said that the sting will kill you...I don't think that's true because they also say there is this spider that bites and kills you that doesn't. Anyways, the thing is huge. You have to kill it in a certain way. First you cut the stingers off, then you smash the head. They are fast also. If you just cut it in half, the 2 halves run away from you, and they might regenerate...but I don't know if I understood that correctly...

So, here is is just to get a closer look at this ugly bug....

So this snail was on my steps climbing around. I couldn't believe how big it was. The poop is big also (it pooped on my steps, then I didn't clean up the poop cause I wanted to show my site mate Julie how big the poop from this thing was.) :) And next to it is one of those giant centipedes. I remember before leaving the states I was at a store and talking about going to Africa and the salesman said something about giant centipedes. I just dismissed it. But apparently it was totally true. This centipede is harmless, though. You could pick it up, it will roll into a ball and then poop. I haven't tried that yet...

I've talked about climbing my tower to watch the sunset, and how beautiful it is. Well, here's one photo I took one of the times I climbed. This would be nice to have one of those fancy ass cameras. :)

So, from the top of my tower, this is an overview of my school. My house is not shown in this picture. These are the classrooms and offices, but my house is literally not far off...as well as the dorms for the kids.