As you may have noticed, my banner at the top of the page has changed to reflect my new assignment to (drum roll, please)…Mozambique! Now instead of telling people to picture a beautiful beach without the water I can simply tell people to picture a beautiful beach. The photo above is a bit misleading. It is of Ibo Island, one of of a chain of islands in northern Mozambique. Along with beautiful beaches and amazing sea life, Mozambique has an extremely high HIV/AIDS rate, abject poverty, spitting cobras, black mambas, and the occasional land mine.
To say that I am excited is an understatement. For those of you needing a geography lesson, Mozambique is a long, skinny country almost twice the size of California. It is situated directly across from Madagascar on the Indian Ocean.
Unfortunately, I won’t be needing all of the french I have been studying. The fine people of Mozambique speak Portuguese, Swahili, and a smattering of other languages. My job has changed as well. Instead of environmental education I will be teaching Biology and Chemistry.
Alice and I depart on or around September 28th, so we are going to be couch surfing for quite a while longer. In the meantime, below are some links to get you acquainted with my soon-to-be new home. Enjoy!
CIA: The World Factbook: Mozambique
July 3, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Hi Mr AJ, I am sorry about your trip to Mauritania but I am happy to hear about the trip to Mozambique! I hope you have a great time! Are you going to Mozambique for two years like you were planning for Mauritania?
July 11, 2009 at 11:32 am
Yes, it is still a twenty-seven month assignment. I heard you are taking good care of the garden. Way to go! I can’t wait until we have fresh tomatoes. Yummy!
July 6, 2009 at 11:22 pm
It looks really pretty!! I prefer beaches with water more than without…. It looks really nice! That is, other than the “extremely high HIV/AIDS rate, abject poverty, spitting cobras, black mambas, and the occasional land mine.”
But, I mean, all that matters is how pretty it is right?! Heh heh….heh…yeah.
I WOULD tell you to have fun…but I don’t want to jinx you…another little “situation” probably is NOT something you’re wanting….
Have f– I mean…bye!
MB
July 11, 2009 at 11:33 am
Thanks for not jinxing it for me.
July 7, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I thought you were going on a road trip to Colorado. Did you put that on hold? If you’re not leaving until Sept. 28 I’d still do the road trip.
I think Mozambique will be good. Do you know where you’ll be in Mozambique or does that come after your training?
July 11, 2009 at 11:40 am
We just got out of the woods yesterday. We had a great hike through the Weminuche Wilderness, caught a bunch of trout, and saw some elk. I’m in Denver now for a week or so.
I don’t know where in Moz. I’ll be yet. I should learn that after a few weeks of training in country.
July 12, 2009 at 11:15 am
Awesome that is cool that you are going to Mozambique!You are leaving after my dad now.
Lucky! Colorado trout I’m stuck here catching Arkansas small mouth.
Have Fun
July 20, 2009 at 11:56 am
Hey Mr. AJ! Mozambique souunds amazing! Will you be living directly on the beach? I’m glad you got a new assignment so quickly! Have fun!!!
July 29, 2009 at 10:29 am
I won’t know if I get to live near a beach until we have been there for a couple of months. Regardless, I will for sure make it to the reefs for some SCUBA diving.
A.J.
July 29, 2009 at 12:16 am
Hi, AJ. Enjoyed reading your blog almost as much as I enjoyed meeting you, Alice and Toni. What an amazing place to make new friends! Please forward my email to Toni. I’m in california and heading to the coastal redwoods(again) for the weekend. Care to join me?
July 29, 2009 at 10:31 am
It was such a treat to hang out and swap trail stories! Toni is headed back to Texas to start a teaching job and Alice and I are going to follow her down and stay with family for a spell. Keep in touch and have fun in the redwoods!
A.J.
August 8, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Mr. AJ
Will you visit the school and see us since you will still be here? We are gonna miss you. Did Alice ever do Kidswrite? Did you catch any fish on your trip? hope you are having fun! That’s cool that you’re going to Mozambique now.
PS: Check out my blog.
August 10, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I would love to come by and say “hi” to everyone before I leave. I’ll probably come by during lunch or recess. Alice and I have been traveling so much that she didn’t have time to do Kidswrite, but she wanted to. It sounded like a lot of fun.
I did catch a lot of fish. They were a welcome break from dried foods on the trail. I’ll be posting something about all my in-state travels eventually.
You have a blog! How cool! We will have to put each other on each others’ “blog roll”. It is like a link from yours to mine and from mine to yours. Are you going to chronicle your adventures in Australia? That would be awesome! I can’t wait to read it, but first you have to tell me where it is.
A.J.
August 10, 2009 at 5:42 pm
That’s great! My blog is http://www.katthedinogirl.wordpress.com or you can click on “Kat” in my July 12 comment!
August 17, 2009 at 10:53 am
Hi Mr. AJ,
I was reading How to Bulid a Dinosaur, by Jack Horner, And there was the coolest quote in the intro and I immidiately thought of you; although you may have heard it. . .
“Nothing is too wonderful to be true if it is consistent with the laws of nature, and in such things as these, experiment is the best test of such consistency.” – Michael Faraday
Hope your summer has been fun!
Kat
August 21, 2009 at 1:15 pm
OK. That has to be one of the coolest science qoutes I’ve seen in a while. I will have to write that one down.
Faraday was a wicked-good scientist. Even Einstein looked up to him. We can thank Faraday for the electric motor and a whole bunch of other things.
I checked out you blog. LOVED IT! I even took your poll. As far as I’m concerned, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the nature’s most beautiful works of art.
You are offically the first to be on my blogroll. Whoohoo!
August 21, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Despite my poll I will probably visit all three, I just wanted some opinions. I so glad to be the first on your blogroll! Just to be sure you are still in the country, right? I was debating that the other with some friends. School is awesome! Have fun!
Kat
August 20, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Oh gosh… you leave in, like, a month!!! That’s so soon!!! Good luck, er… break a leg… or something!!
MB