Mozambiqe and US

It is hard to believe that in just two weeks I will be arriving in Maputo, Mozambique and gazing out at the land I have been dreaming about for the past several months. No longer will I have to click from one image to the next to get me to my destination. No longer will I have to slave long nights in front of a computer screen reading text after text until my eyes dry out of my sockets. I will be there, ready to take it all in.
I have to say it has been quite the task preparing for this trip. And with that said I have had to do all of these things in just little over a month.
Paperwork, visas, immunizations (for me 5 shots in one sitting and one more to go)(yikes!), learning Potruguese, group project research, individual project research, a 4 1/2 hour class every Wednesday, travel medication prescriptions, bug defense shopping, extensive readings, BLOGGING!! This class has already been an experience worth sharing but I am getting ready to see it all in the lime light.
So, Mozambique. Their fourth democratic election. A coutry so new to democracy, how will it all pan out one might ask. Do they get excited about elections? Do they discourage elections and this whole democracy thing? How many people really get out there and vote? I hope I find the answers to these questions. Although this country is new to all of this they really don't seem different than any of us here living in the States. In the south it seems like any other big city with restaurants, clubs, bars, museums etc...In the north you have your more rural areas, the farmers, self sustained villages, small tribes and then the big city of Nampula with a large Arabic community. The big difference between the US and Mozambique is the obvious. We are established and have been for a long time. Mozambique is still picking up the pieces from their recent civil war.
Within their democratic system they have two major political parties such as the US except theirs are known as RENAMO (Resistence) and FRELIMO (Liberation Front). I have read about one smaller party that exists but receives little attention. And maybe as Mozambique progresses over the years more parties will be added such as the US.