Reunions galore!

It's been a good day on this end, I've reunited with many old friends and acquaintances today!
I rushed out of my shower when Joinha's aunt, my "prima" (or "cousin" -- we've called each other that for years now...can't remember how we figured it out) was here to visit. She works at the college dining hall. She brought a lovely "capulana" (traditional African cloth) for each of us girls.


Shortly after visiting with her, we headed into town with Dad to visit our old school, the Christian Academy in Mozambique. Classes were in session and students were hard at work (final exams), but the Weils (who taught us when we were here and who are now the acting directors of the school) gave us a tour of the place, even interrupting classes to introduce us to the kids. Mary got to meet some of the children she will be teaching next school year and got to see her classroom. She's nervous, but getting excited! She will probably be helping tutor some of the children during the summer (winter here) break, so that will help her ease into it.

From the school, we did some grocery shopping and headed back to campus. Classes were just getting out of session for the lunch break, so Mary and I headed down to the school to see all the professors. It was wonderful to see them again! Some had been my colleagues back when I volunteered in the library. Joinha had been busy teaching English, but was free for the rest of the day, so I spent the afternoon with her...it was wonderful to catch up with her again!! She is expecting a baby and is positively glowing!! We headed over to the dining hall and had some good, genuinely Mozambican bean stew, "feijoada" and "vuswa" (a stiff, white porridge made of maize meal). It was delicious!!



We spent quite some time visiting with all the ladies who work there at the kitchen and then we went to the "escolinha" or creche, where all the students' children spend their time.

One of the little boys, Casmiro, was celebrating his 5th birthday and so his mother brought a cake, so all the kids were very excited! I got some good photos of the kids, but for some reason they think they are supposed to look serious for photos...it took much coaxing to get them to smile! I finally got to see Joinha's 4 yr old son, Noel, again. He was very shy but soon warmed up to me!! He's a real character!! Pretty soon he wasn't letting me out of his sight and when his mom scolded him, he ran to Tia (aunt) Beth... I can see this being a problem! Hehe!



Anyway, I had a delightful time with the kids, just playing and chatting with them. Got to spend more time with my "chara" Elizabeth (here we are below)...



The afternoon flew by and before I knew it, it was dinner time. Since then, we've been loading up the truck and packing to head out on our adventure tomorrow. We are going to the Limpopo Transfrontier Park tomorrow -- we really don't know what to expect... it's all uncharted territory to us and will be quite the adventure! We are camping but at this point don't know what sort of facilities there will be. We'll be in the Limpopo Park one night and then cross the border over to Kruger National Park, where we will be camping in two different campsites, Satara and Maroela. I can't wait to see some animals!! It's wintertime, so the trees are sparse and the grass dry... good game viewing! I'm hoping we get to see lions and leopards! I've got lots of film ready in anticipation!! We'll also have a full moon while we are camping, so should be nice!

Well, need to finish packing... we'll be gone until Monday and I'll fill you in on all adventures then!