Girlfriend, trips, and more

Well it has been a while since I have written last. I hope things are well with you. This will be a quick update for the past few months as I should be sending out a much more boring and longer final report(how I spend my summer vacation). Now things are starting to wind down and I will be leaving in a few months and starting my travel around the area. I plan on arriving home to see family friends and the nearest taco bell employee around feb.

I have been dating a girl since March and things are going really well. We are separated by about 12 hours of travel but see each other suprisingly often(about every three weeks). Her name is Liz and she is 24 and lives in the NW. She likes the outdoors, camping, hiking, and most importantly me. She is a bit younger than I am and it works out for the best, I have someone to share all my hard earned knowledge with, my great racing stories, and to tell about all the great 80's tv shows. She is funny and warm and a bit sarcastic. Great girl, probably will wise up and get rid of me.

Major trips I have taken in the past few months are good ones. I went down to southern malawi for some camping, then to the lakeshore for a birthday and finally to Mozambique.

The first trip I took was with Liz and another friend. We visited some friends of ours in the central and southern part of Malawi. The final part of our trip was just Liz and I stopping at one of the more scenic areas, Zomba Plateau. It is beautiful with lots of hiking and things to see. We decided to camp to save some funds. On day one I started to get ill and by the second day the manager of the campsite suggested I call the embassy to get transport to a doctor. The worst part of this was that we set up our tent about 200 feet from the toilets, and that was 200 feet too far. It was a very humorous situation as there is not much peace in a tent. She helped me out a lot and as I do not take medicine found a spiritual solution and was able to take normal public transport back. Not exactly a dream weekend.

The second was meeting up with Liz and another friend of mine to celebrate liz's birthday. We met at a resort area along the lake (becareful what you picture when I say resort, scenery yes, facilities probably not). We stayed for a night and then boarded a large boat (much like the a large ferry) to travel up the lakeshore to a lodge only reached by boat for their 4th anniversary party. Really beautiful place with great snorkeling and no large stereos.

After that it was back to school for my end of term exams and some more reading. I am doing that a good deal of my time. It is a mixture of spiritual study and recreation reading. Lately I have taken an interest in learning about eastern asian religions(tao, buddhism, and the like). There are similarities between my religion and them.

The last stop on this entry is my mozambique trip. four friends and I were headed to the beaches along the indian ocean. we traveled by public transport over three days, well that was the plan. In a small town in the central area our bus lost control and ran off the road and rolled. We were blessed throughout the event as there was plenty of runoff and the bus missed a number of trees. A few people needed to be taken off for urgent attendance and we followed later as my friend broke his clavical. The area where we went off was 30km from a facility that had an x-ray machine and good staff, which is quite rare. My other friends and I received some good cuts,bumps, and bruises as remeberance. Just amazing how protected we are considering that a seat belt is not even built in to the busses. One lady sitting in front of us carrying her young boy and a 6 month baby was able to hold onto the baby and it did not receive a scratch. We were flown to the capitol by peace corps for further inspection and evaluation. They put a snoopy bandaid on us and told us to get the hell out(just kidding they were wonderful, treated us like family, that they liked). One girl was required to take anti HIV medicine (ARV) as she was exposed to contaminants on the bus. Once here we were put up in a nice hotel across the street from an ice cream place and surrounded by great restaurants. We visited a museum and cultural center and walked around quite a bit. the portugal influence here is wonderful. It is much more developed and progressive than Malawi.

The vacation did not go off as planned but I see it as a good experience and I think my friends and I will be glad to get back to malawi and recoup. My glasses were broken in the roll and I am looking forward to getting a repair.

When I get back I am attending a conference for my education training group that came to the country a few short years ago. We will stay at one of the resort areas in southern lakeshore and get caught up on how to go back to the states. Suprisingly they say this is difficult thing and many do not adjust well. They have never tasted my moms lasagna.

Ciao from Mozambique. Take care. Matt