I am ready to go! I just had a meeting where I needed to evaluate if I am ready to go... I only miss insurance and a week of work to pay for the expenses. Going to Angola is EXPENSIVE no matter how you look upon it!
Today I got 4 big boxes, where I should back all my belongings into and put them in a depot to wait for my return. The college I live in needs my room during my absence. But the thought of squeezing all my belongings into few boxes is not very motivating so naturally I push it to the very last minute.

We spent some 3 hours with some of my team mates cleaning the building we all have rooms in so when we leave there will be no complaints. I still have one more exam before I leave (in didactics) on Monday. On Wednesday I leave for home to visit my family and friends for 10 days and to have a little holiday before Angola.

There is million little things to do before I go from planning over and over what to take with me (luggage space is limited to a 90 liters backpack) to getting films in Portuguese for my students.
I have just been informed that there will be one volunteer from Brazil working in the same project. That was surprising since before it seemed clear that no-one will be sent there besides me.

Tomorrow I will go for writing a letter to the new headmaster and inform him about my ideas/plans/me :) So far I only know that he is 24 and freshly graduated from OWU (One World University in Mozambique) And I honestly don't have a clue about his managing skills or ideas. So am sure many surprises await me there as well.
In the cold autumn weather of Denmark I am looking forward to the sun of my favorite continent.

The first time I went to Angola - this rough diamond - was in August 2007- February 2008. I can simply say this amazing land and its people became part of me. I was working as a teacher in EPF (Escola de Professores do Futuro) teacher training college. It was an experience of a lifetime. I had circa 100 students for half a year.
So why do I call this country a rough diamond. It is all it represents to me with its' mountainous landscape, its' war torn appearance, its' loving but at the same time a little aggressive culture and its African soft Portuguese.

The 6 months there felt like a lifetime that passed by. I experienced happiness there - true happiness. I made friends to last forever and I lost dear friends as well. There was times I was in euphoria and times when I was devastated of extreme sorrow of loss.

It changed something in my core, something substantial. I fell in love deeply and thoroughly with this diamond. Now after half a year in Europe I am still dreaming of my days in Angola. I am still feeling the joys and sorrows that got rooted so deep in my very existence, so much that I have decided to return for another half a year period.

To my pleasant surprise I have found out that my working visa I applied for last year and never got is ready and I have already got it in my passport. I managed after hours of searching to get flight tickets. I am flying in September 9 to from Copenhagen to Frankfurt and from there to Luanda, the capital.
I am exited and scared at the same time. Although I love the country, it is still rough and full of all sorts of surprises.

Today I actually made a first step of preparations. I went and bought a mosquito net - very nice one that is washable and extends to all sorts of angles. Then I spent an hour looking for some company or organization that could donate a projector or two for the school. It would make the teaching so much livelier when it is possible to show films and documentaries to the students.

In my head I am already forming courses to give and actions to take with the students. I am indeed glad to see all my students again and am actually wondering how many is left; specially the female students, since it is really so few of them and the chances of them dropping out are higher.

Before flying out I will visit my family in Estonia for 10 days to relax ( I am not sure how much this will succeed) and to enjoy time with family and friends.