Even before we arrived at our stop, friends began spotting us on our crowded mini-bus and shouting greetings. Being the only light skinned people in a town of very dark skinned people makes us an easy target to spy, but after our long stay in multi-colored USA, we had forgotten how much we stand out here. Anticipating an emotionally draining deluge of welcomes with trepidation, the actual experience felt more mellow and loving, although a couple of indelicate demands for gifts proved our initial suspicions not totally unfounded. After our action packed layouer in Dubai, the remainder of our long journey produced little of note. Other than some turbulent skies and evading some dramatic Southern Hemisphere thunder storms, our Emirates Boeing 777 covered the distance between Dubai and Jo'burg uneventfully. Airlink's small jet only flys between South Africa and Tete twice weekly, so we spent the night at a sporadically noisy hostel just across the street
from the main runway where we met several American teachers and volunteers returning from vacations mainly to English-speaking Malawi. Happily we had no trouble at our little immigration booth in Tete even though we haven't yet received our resident visa renewals. Our province has 7 new Peace Corps teachers and we spent our first night with 4 of them in their site within easy reach of our petit airport. The next day it was time to return to our site, luckily Father Ricardo agreed to drive up our two oversized duffles full of American specialty goods when he comes to give mass. Everything is greener and more beautiful than when we left now that rainy season is upon us. The heat is not unbearable, but it is tropical feeling. Everyone is very eager to greet us and tell us how fat we look and inquire about our families. Our chief/mayor invited us to his home to feast with the local head honchos who love hearing even the most mundane details we have to share
about the developed world. It was good to be welcomed with many smiles and have a few days before school starts.
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