This Time

This time I have a pretty good idea what to expect. I haven't just read about the loneliness of being the solitary foreigner in a rural African village, or the frustration of not being able to speak any of the five local languages, or the rush of standing in front of your own overcrowded class of students the first day of school, or the happiness of being accepted by an 'adoptive family', or the fulfillment of it all... I've felt it.

This time the host country has been relatively stable for the last 10 years, and the Peace Corps Program has been relatively stable since it first opened in 1998.

This time I will be in Mozambique, located on the southeastern coast of Africa, bordering Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Swaziland, where the people speak Portuguese as well as many other local 'indigenous' languages, and there are miles upon miles of breathtaking beaches (or so I've heard).

This time I will be doing a full 27 month Peace Corps service as an English Teaching Volunteer, including 10 weeks of in-country training. For most of this training I will be living with a host family just outside of the capital city of Maputo (all the way in the south). For the remainder of my service, wherever I am located, I will most likely be living in my own house, or possibly sharing a house with another volunteer.

This time I will certainly not forget last time. I will try to use what I learned from my experiences in Chad, but i will also enjoy and value this unique experience for what it is.

This time my address (for at least the first few months) is:
PCV Zach Center
Corpo da Paz/U.S. Peace Corps
C.P. 4398
Maputo
Mozambique

Email me at: zachcenter@gmail.com

This time continues to be the right time.

Here's to another 2 years (27 months really),
Zach