pizza, cold beer, and wireless...Matola is a PCTs paradise

So my Friend Elyse and I came to Matola, a small town right outside of Maputo, for the day to splurge on good pizza and also use the wireless at the restaurant. I decided it might be good to go back in time a couple of weeks to my journal entries from when I first arrived in Namaacha. So here they are. Word for word, straight out of my pretty, blue, made out of recycled paper, journal that Meredith got me :-)As you'll soon read, things were tough in the beginning. But I am honestly very happy and content here in Mozambique! Enjoy!

Sunday, June 5^th, 2011

Today was my first day in Namaacha and I have to say, I’m scared shitless. The electricity just went out so I’m writing in the pitch black, with a flashlight in my mouth. I don’t think I have ever been somewhere that is so dark. I always thought our basement at home got super dark, but it now seems like nothing compared to this.

After dinner I showed my host family all of the pictures of friends and family that I brought with me. They brought tears to my eyes. Hard to believe I only left home a week ago! After the show-and-tell session, I quickly retreated to my room so I could be alone for the waterworks. Now I am crying for the second time today. However, unlike earlier, I am now crying for different reasons. I think I’m crying because I’m sitting alone in my room in the pitch black. Or maybe I’m crying because I spent all day time trying endlessly to communicate in Portuguese with my host family, with little to no success. Maybe I’m crying because I already miss the other PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees), not to mention friends and family. What I do know is that this is the first time I have really acknowledged my current and future situation. I am living in a “3^rd world” country. I am living here for the next 27 months. What the hell was I thinking?

After my mini panic attack, which, by the way, is quite common on the 1^st night of homestay, I frantically looked through my suitcase for the letters my parents wrote to me. I pulled out the one from my Dad (Mom, I still cannot find yours…but that’s probably good. I’m thinking I should save it for my 1^st night at my site) and immediately a sense of reassurance and perspective came over me. And, the electricity JUST came back on. Too weird. And all signs that I’m going to be ok. Because in reality, Namaacha is a place of paradise. Yes, the people are considered “poor.” We don’t have running water or fancy electronics at my house. But the people are so happy and grateful and welcoming! So now, to get back to my 1^st instance of crying today, let me recount today’s events.

We ate breakfast at Kaya Kwanga then packed into buses for the 2 hour drive to Namaacha. Upon arrival, the language instructors introduced us to our host families. Which, in my case, was my pai and sobrinho (father and nephew). My family lives in the boondocks of Namaacha, so it was quite a long walk home. I have NO IDEA how Peace Corps got my luggage to my house! At home I met a handful of children, most of which I am unsure of our relation to one another. Are you my brother? Cousin? Niece? All good questions to ask once I have a better take on Portuguese. I was also handed a new-born baby. Again, no clue as to who this child belongs to. My host father showed me to my room and helped me to hang my mosquito net. Then he headed outside to do work on the casa de banho, and I was left to entertain approximately 7 children. That’s when I started to tear up. All of those little, dirty faces staring up at me, a complete stranger. Two of the boys were holding pieces of cardboard from my set of sheets. They were pretending to write on it and I suggested they pretend to type as if the cardboard were laptops. It was one of the most meaningful moments I have ever witnessed. Cardboard. From a set of itchy sheets. Something that would automatically, without question, go into the trash in the US, is a brand new toy here in Namaacha.

Later, we ate lunch. Soup, rice, chicken stew, and xima, a Mozambican staple. Xima looks like mashed potatoes but tastes nothing like them. In fact, Xima doesn’t really have a taste, it just absorbs the flavor of whatever you put over it. And then some banana for dessest!

I gave the kids their gifts and was pleasantly surprised to see that the 2 older girls (Atalia and Aninya) and my mae enjoyed them as much as the little ones! The girls loved the washcloths (the ones you put in the water and watch them grow) and everyone loved blowing bubbles and playing with the silly string. The beanie babies are already covered in dusty sand and there are about 3 Twizzlers left in the bag. So I’d say the gifts were a success.

Later on, I went for a walk with Aninya to purchase a capulana. A capulana is an absolute staple in a Mozambican woman’s wardrobe. They use them for everything. Skirts, headwraps, to carry items on their heads, to carry babies. I needed one to wear after my bath. We ran into Joe (another PCT) on our walk and Aninya showed the 2 of us a great deal of Namaacha. The market, secondary school, soccer field, internet café, and a few bars. I din’t mind that our walk was so long. I was purposefully trying to delay going home because I knew what was next- tomar banho (taking a bath).

What an experience. Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I was imagining because you hear some horror stories from other Moz PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers). Basically, Aninya heated water for me, which was put into a large bucket, and carried into one of two rooms in the casa de banho (the other room is the pit latrine, or “squatty potty”). I then de-robed and proceeded to splash water on myself. I was too scared of running out of water, so I opted to only wash my body and save my hair for another day. We also have to wash our underwear at this time because it’s inappropriate to wash and hang your underwear outside like you do with the rest of your laundry. So all in all not a bad way to bathe!

I spent some times in my room getting organized before dinner. My brother, who works for the Peace Corps (and speaks English!), came home. It was great to see a similarly-aged face. Castro is 22 and can speak English quite well but won’t with me because the PC forbids it! And now, I’m back to where the story began. Only now, I’m much more calm and sleepy. And I’m writing in bright light! What a completely overwhelming 1^st day. I’m amazed at how much I have already witnessed and look forward to whatever tomorrow brings.

Wednesday, June 8^th, 2011

A lot has changed in just 3 days. I have already become more integrated into the family. I heat my own water for my bath and water filter and occasionally help with preparing food. Tonight I helped Aninya make a salad and set the table. They don’t use cutting boards here so all vegetable have to be cut in your hand. This is of course very challenging. So they probably think I’ve never chopped up a veggie because it takes me 5 minutes to cut up a freaking onion! Oh well.

I’m really trying to speak Portuguese as much as I can with my host family. It’s tough to understand my mae. So one of my sisters, or pai, usually end up repeating what she said. Aninya and Castro are the easiest to understand. They speak very slowly and clearly for me! Today at lunch, Pedro asked me why I talk so slowly. I told him (in English) that I can talk very fast when speaking English but I have to speak slowly in Portuguese because I don’t know it yet… and on and on. He laughed so hard! He is so cute. I just love him. When the electricity goes out (which has been a nightly occurrence) he runs to me and hugs me until the lights come back on. Bernando is sick right now and everyone has been saying that something is wrong with his elbow?! Unless I’m misunderstanding, which is probably the case. Because it’s unlikely a kid would go to bed without eating if their elbow was hurting them…who knows!

I have my xi-xi bucket (bucket that you pee in at night) now so I don’t have to pee on the floor or wake-up my entire family by unlocking the front door in the middle of the night to go outside and pee. Thank goodness I’ll never have to relive that traumatic experience!

After dinner, I did my TPC (trabalho para casa= homework) while my pai watched tv. A commercial came on for a beauty store in Maputo that sells hair extensions. The commercial displayed words while Willow Smith’s “I whip my hair back and forth” song played in the background. The news program talked about Haiti and it made me think of Mer and Brian J

Saturday, June 18^th, 2011

What an amazing day! And it’s only 6pm. This morning I helped Aninya make breakfast which means I made a salad (the dressing is a packet of chicken seasoning and TONS of vegetable oil). We also had bread, thank heavens, so I didn’t feel too bad telling my family that my stomach just cannot handle salad so early in the morning.

After breakfast, Aninya took me to Namaacha’s “Shop Rite” to buy items for my lunch- a veggie sandwich that I asked to make for myself. The Shop Rite here is basically like Roots, except for the stands are made of wood and fern leaves. They sell everything from food items to charcoal to new Nikes.

When we got home I made my amazing lunch. Salad (from breakfast!), avocado, tomato, and laughing cow cheese on a delicious French roll. Yes, they have laughing cow cheese at the 1 gas station in Namaacha! It’s unbelievable!

All the PCTs met up at the health hub and headed towards the border. Our goal was to hike to the tri-border of South Africa, Swaziland, and Mozambique. We got a little lost, however, and never made it there L At least we know where to go now and will be able to do it again some weekend.

Now, I’m sitting by the charcoal fire with Aninya and my mae. There’s a pot of “folha de aboba” boiling away that will soon be at the center of the dinner table! And, my mom just informed me that I’m going to kill a chicken tomorrow. NOT looking forward to it…but we’ll see if it actually happens!

Thursday, June 23^rd, 2011

Today is my Mom’s birthday and I miss her. But, we are busy oermagardening at training so my mind has been pretty occupied. Permagardening is tough! Especially since we don’t have all the tools that are used in the US. For example, all the ground has to be “double dug” using a hoe, since we don’t have a rototiller. Dad would be in his heaven! I’m very excited to make my own little garden once I’m at site and try to grow a few crops. The whole compost process that we learned today is very interesting and Earth-friendly. I don’t know why more people in the UD don’t use it. I guess because buying mulch is just a lot easier. If you have the money to buy it, that is.

Other than new topics being covered in training, things are pretty much the same. I did kill the chiken last Sunday and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I still screamed. On Tuesday my language group cooked lunch with our maes (well, with their maes and my pai!). They made Mozambican food: rice, xima, folha de aboba, frango (chicken). And we made pancakes with caramelized bananas. YUMMMMMMMMM They were SO good! Even more reason to be excited to get to site- experiment with cooking “American” food. We also had our first Portuguese test this week. Wasn’t bad at all, at this rate I think I’ll be pretty prepared for the oral LPI exam. Which we need to pass before we can move on to learning a local, tribal language.

Now I’m sitting inside watching “Rebelde” (a Brazilian telenovela, or soap opera) with Castro and Pedro- who is wearing our mae’s velour jacket. I think he gets so cold at night and his clothing just isn’t warm enough for him. This Saturday is Mozambique’s Independence Day, so I’m excited to see what our family will do to celebrate. Then on Sunday a bunch of PCTs want to go to Matola to eat pizza and use the wireless at Mundo’s.

Some things you should know about Namaacha, and Mozambique in general:

11. Bad American hip-hop and rap music blasts all day, everyday. There’s no need to set an alarm, you can count on Justin Beiber waking you up promptly at 6am.

2. Chickens, ducks, goats, cats, and dogs have the run of the place. Can get messy when hiking up to the pit latrine because something’s feces are bound to be on the path. And again, another natural alarm clock. The roosters absolutely forbid sleeping in past 6:15.

3. Everyone who knows me, and I use the term “knows” loosely, asks me where I’m going when I pass by. My fist instinct was to say “Well, that’s really none of your business, is it?” But I’m getting accustomed to hearing the question and think of it as a sign of respect and a way to show someone that you care about them.

4. I hear “mana Adriana” (sister Adrienne) from ALL my neighbors, some of whom don’t even live very close to me. I don’t know how all these people know my name but I kind of feel like a celebrity when I leave the house.

5. People say things bluntly. Sometimes, this can be good. For example, “Es bonita” (You’re pretty). Other times, not so good. For example, “Why do all you volunteers wear those ugly, cheap skirts?” (In reference to a simple, brown skirt I bought at Target years ago. Which I happen to think is pretty cute).

6. Most people here speak Portuguese as a 2^nd language. Their first language is Xangana, one of the tribal languages I may have to learn depending on my site placement. Some also speak a little English. I think this is amazing. I mean, how many people in Manheim are bilingual, let alone trilingual?!

7. Yes, women DO carry pretty much anything over 10 lbs on their heads. And man do they make it look easy! My sisters tried helping me put a jug of water on my head and I couldn’t balance it to save my life.

8. Anything that is not within eyesight is referred to as “la.” You add/pronounce more a’s depending on the distance. For example, “My school is laa” refers to a school that is about a 10-15 min walk away. The tri-border is laaaaaa, and the United States, laaaaaaaaaaaaa. It’s my absolute most favorite word in Portuguese, Mozambican dialect.

I'm sure with time, I'll be adding many more Mozambican characteristics to this list!

I

namaacha

I know it has been quite a while since Ive posted. Unfortunately, Peace Corps trainees have been banned from using the internet at the only place in town that has wireless. So, Im currently typing on the ancient computer at our lovely "internet cafe".

Pre-service training has been great so far. Most days are very long because we are in classes from 7:30-5:00. On the weekends I do chores with my family and spend time with the other volunteers. This weekend we went on a 6 mile hike to the triborder of Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa. Unfortunately, we got a little lost and never made it to the border. But we have another 8 weeks to try it again!

While in Namaacha Im living with a host family. I have 5 siblings that live in the house with me. Castro, my brother, is 22. Two of my sisters, Atalia and Aninya, are 17. My youngest sister joyce is 11 and my youngest brother Pedro is 7. He is the cutest! Hopefully Ill figure out how to post pictures so you can all see my family! My host mom and dad really make me feel right at home. Alberto (my host dad) is so much like my real dad! He wakes up very early to go work in his garden. When he returns home later in the day he is always tinkering around our house, repairing things or building something new. Then he eats dinner and goes to bed immediately after. Strange how men from 2 completely different cultures can be so similar!

For now, please email me if you would like to get in touch. I have internet access on my phone and it is pretty cheap because it charges by the megabyte. I check my email multiple times a day! Unfortunately, Facebook uses up a lot of megabytes so I am not able to check that often. Hopefully Ill be able to update again soon!

winter is my new favorite season

Good news! We arrived in Mozambique safe and sound. After a 15 hour plane ride, then a 5 hour layover in the Johannesburg airport, we were met in Maputo by PC (Peace Corps) Staff. They literally piled all of our luggage into a small cage trailer that followed behind a truck and us trainees climbed into chapas (vans) and headed to Kaya Kwanga, our home for the next 3 days.

Kaya Kwanga is a beautiful resort. Everyone that went to Costa Rica, remember our resort in La Fortuna? All the little hutsand gorgeous pool? That's pretty much how Kaya Kwanga is. They have cages filled with pigeons, chickens, parakeets, and parrots. Dogs and cats have free range of the place. Vanessa you would love it! Unfortunately, Mozambicans do not respect pets so the domestic animals that we treasure in the US are treated very poorly here. The best part is Mozambique is entering winter and it's so nice and sunny out every day! Even at night, all you need is a light sweater or jacket and you're set. Hence, winter is quickly becoming my new favorite season. The bad part about Kaya Kwanga is that it's in a very dangerous part of Maputo so we are not allowed to leave the premises. Obviously, Maputo has all the dangers of any large city, both in developed and developing nations. But not being allowed to leave the resort has not been a problem because they keep us so busy!

We have meetings all day that range from meeting the US Ambassador to Moz to setting up our 18 liter water filtration kits. We have met a TON of people from the PC Moz staff. Most were born-and-bred in Moz and a few are from the US. The PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) is basically our general practitioner while we are here so we had interviews to discuss our medical history. I got vaccines for: rabies, yellow fever, Hepatits A, typhoid, and meningitis. I am also on malaria prophylaxis pills. Yesterday I was pretty sick but the rehydration salts and Immodium have helped tremendously and I am feeling much better already. Some advice, if you plan on traveling to a third world country, just get used to the fact that you WILL get sick. It's not a matter of "if," but "when." That's a PC motto :-)

To say a word about the food....it has been pretty delicious, honestly. The restaurant is set up buffet-style at every meal. We receive breakfast, am snack, lunch, pm snack, and dinner. I am never hungry. It's a lot of rice, potatoes, salad, and chicken. Today we had these amazing, huge prawns! SO delicious! But, we are at a nice resort in the capital city, so I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can because I won't always be eating such fine cuisine.

Today, Saturday, was our last day at Kaya Kwanga. Time to stop living this life of luxury and see what Moz is really like. Tomorrow we leave for Namaacha, a large village that borders Swaziland and is about an hour and a half from Maputo. I will be there for 10 weeks doing my Pre-Service Training (PST) and living with a host family the entire time. I am already imagining what some of my experiences will be like. Apparently, we will be using pit latrines, taking bucket baths outside, and learn how to kill a chicken. I am not looking forward to any of the above. Especially the outside bucket baths. Namaacha is in the mountains and it gets pretty cold there during the winter. Or so they say. So standing outside naked, at 6am, in 40 or 30 degree weather, and bathing myself with a bucket of water does not appeal to me. Or maybe it will be a terrific new experience. We'll see.

Hopefully I will be able to update soon (rumor is there's an internet cafe in Namaacha) and let you all know if the baths are as bad as I think they will be!

Boa noite!