Finally...

Long time no blog! I blame the fact that I’ve been out of a computer for a while now. Too many crazy African viruses and she just stopped working. Thankfully I have several very computer savvy co-workers and my computer has been re-vamped and set back into motion. SO! SOOOOO much has happened in the last… 3 months?… not quite sure where to start, how to start... I hope I don’t backtrack too much but here I go…


Science fair, which was in mid September after all the crazy rioting and whatnot, was a huge success for my school considering my student, Vama, won 1st place for all of southern Moz! He won a computer, but it wasn’t until October that I was able to give it to him, in front of the whole school. Mozambicans are very formal in their carrying-ons, so when we finally gathered together people took pictures, made speeches, presented certificates, a trophy for the school, and of course made me get in front of everyone and speak. The students LOVE it when I have to make public speeches- probably because they can tell I get embarrassed easily.


LUCY!!! She finally had her babies- 4 adorable little things… I proceeded to leave town for a few days to go to Maputo, which was fantastic (will describe below) and when I returned I learned she’d fugired- she left on Saturday and hadn’t been seen since (it was by then Tuesday). My neighbors were surprisingly helpful and comforting during the whole ordeal- Mozambicans don’t keep animals as pets really, and when they do they don’t actually care for them lick we crazy Americans do. Regardless, they helped me look for her and didn’t laugh at me when I was upset that we couldn’t find her. Not only do I miss her, I’m left to hand-feed her 4 starving, whining, peeing, uncoordinated babies. It took about 10 days of feeding them by hand with a little dropper that I finally gave up and let them fend for themselves. They figured it out- however before eating/ drinking they bathe in their food- they’ll jump into the milk bowl or walk through the plate of chima. My flood has been covered in food for at least the last week. Still no sign of Lucy- I think she was stolen and eaten- but Snap Crackle and Pop have become more manageable and actually pretty cute to watch.


Maputo- I went down with Scooter and Emily to have a meeting about the REDES project and the whole thing went over with overwhelming success. Also, I made some amazing friends who make living in Moz just a bit more comfortable. Maputo is a big hub for AID organizations, and many people that go into overseas AID work are RPCVs or at least have an understanding of the life that we have here. Well, I made friends with a few of these RPCV families who have graciously opened their doors wide open to me. I love where I live and I have friends out here in the mato, but it feels so good to stay a night or two in an actual house with an American family, with people who appreciate the work we’re doing and let us relax into the amenities a bit. Plus many of the people who live here have so many amazing stories and experiences to learn about, I look forward to learning more about their lives.


One highlight from my days in Maputo, besides the REDES success and the REDES-JOMA prank war that we’ve thrown into motion, was Zac-toberfest with several of my new-found friends. Those of you who know me know I’m a fan of good beer. Well! I’ve found myself in the presence of several people who brew their own beer- heavenly!
Another highlight, getting to see Greg and Lisa, two of my very best friends from training. It’s amazing how after knowing someone for 10 weeks and not seeing them for almost a year you can feel like nothing has changed and so completely comfortable with them.


One giant success for me over the last few weeks/ months has been finishing out the school year. I’m officially don’t giving classes and not only am I happy about the decrease in work, I also feel very accomplished. One year down, one to go… I can only assume that the next year will be easier, already having lesson plans written up, knowing a bit more about classroom punishment, and having made a name for myself. My students seem to like me but also understand that I won’t take any BS. An accomplishment within teaching for me came when I was grading their final writing assignment- to see the growth they’ve made throughout the year. For their first assignment they wrote 10 sentences on malaria- out of 280 students I think I had, tops, 8 versions, everyone else either copied or didn’t do it. Throughout the year less and less people were copying, more people were actually turning in their papers, and this last assignment, 250+ words about their future plans and how finish school will help them, I had almost 100% participation and not a single copied paper, not to mention all of them were actually well written. That may not sound huge, but for me it’s… ugh, there are no words. I’m going to miss my students- I can’t say I’m become personally close to any of them, but they’ve been with me almost every day of the week during the toughest year of my life, helping me through it and giving me the support and encouragement to keep going. Granted, they’ve also contributed greatly to my stress, but I’ve gained much more from them than I thought I would have.


Conselhos- finishing up classes, preparing grades, doing paperwork- conselhos is the vain of my existence. Seriously! Out of the 18/28 (depending on who cares to show up) other teachers at my school, there is one I look forward to working with during conselhos. He’s very Mozambican, yet he has a strong work ethic, works quickly, doesn’t complain, and can pick up on things quickly. With every other teacher it’s like I’m working with a 4th grader. Normally not so, I enjoy my colleagues, but something about conselhos brings out the worst in them. Needless to say I was at school for 4 days, 9 hours each day, and was productive for about 4 of those 36 hours. I did read a fabulous book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, got some journal writing in, and did a lot of waiting, trying to help people get the show on the road. I’m so grateful it’s over.


Halloween! I spent the Saturday before relaxing on the beach, soaking up some much needed sun and solidarity, and eventually met up with 10 other volunteers to have a superhero themed Halloween celebration. I’ll admit, probably my favorite part of the night was watching the VH1 Top Male Video countdown (Michael Jackson #3, John Lennon #2, Elvis #1) with Alicia and Jenna. Tremazing made her appearance, along with Rehydration Girl, Sugar and Spice, and Day Woman (among others).


Embarrassing moment of the month: Today, while giving a preparation class to my 12th graders I turned the corner around a desk a bit too sharp and caught the back pocket of my jeans… Yeah, I ripped the behind practically right off myself. Not only was I in front of people, I was in front of my students, in a conservative village where any exposed skin above the calf is considered intolerable. Awesome. Well, I’d say I usually get flustered and embarrassed pretty easily, however today I just started laughing, joked around for a minute about what a klutz I am, then excused myself to go change my pants. I was more embarrassed by the fact that I can’t even judge my own width anymore.

ONE YEAR!!!

So, it's been a very exciting few weeks.... First I had my 25th birthday. Exciting! The girls in Chokwe threw me a party with champagne, cake, twister, and movies. I'm so lucky to live next to such amazing girls. Then, for the weekend, I went up to Gorangoza to visit some other volunteers and take a mini-vacation. It was a LONG trip but totally worth it. Five of us that went have Septmeber birthdays so we had a lot of celebrating to do. I'm starting to realize just how different parts of Mozambique are. Down where I am everything is flat and dry- nothing like anything I've ever seen before. Inhanbane is more tropical, with so many coconut and banana trees, and of course gorgeous beaches. And then Manica/Sofala are more hilly and colorful. I felt like I was driving through the states, with the changing colors of the leaves and the mountains (hills really) in the distance. Too bad I dont live a little bit more central so I could travel a bit more. Anyways, I saw my first wild animal!!! It was a baboon- and I was SO excited a punched Colin who was sleeping next to me. Apparently I'm the only one in this country that's never seen a wild monkey because he just laughed at me. During our weekend celebration we went to the river close to Brian and Jordan's house twice each day. It was fabulous! And hilarious actually- a large group of molongos marching down to the river, turning rocks into water slides, playing catch with soap bars, washing our hair then putting on sunscreen... it was great. We cooked amazing food (ok, they cooked, I helped), played card games like we did during training, and camped outside next to the bonfire. Amazing weekend. I'm here with a fantastic group of people.

So, today I am celebrating not only being in country for one year, but also the birth of Lucy's 4 babies. Bright and early this morning she perched herself on my bed and went into labor. After promptly revoming her from my bed I sat with her and tried to make her a bit less confused about what was going on (if that's even possible...) She seemed pretty clueless about what to do once they were born- she kept pacing through my house- but hopefully she figures it out here soon.

One year down, One more to go. I've learned so much, grown so much, been knocked down more times than I can count, but this has definitely been one of the best years of my life. A year ago today I had NO idea exactly what I was getting myself into. I can only imagine what this next year has instore for me...

I´m over it

Monday and yesterday (Tuesday) I had the worst two days of teaching since training. My lesson was how to write a resume, something I think is pretty important for students about to graduate high school. I was well prepared, had several activities, and thought it was going to go fairly well. SO WRONG! I think it was a combination of lack of understanding, inability to see the importance, and lack of motivation for any schoolwork that led them to sit there are stare. My students don’t participate a lot, I’ve gotten used to that. But there was something different about these last two days. Each class I’d change a few things and make my lesson clearer, more interactive, more basic, whatever, but nothing got them going. I currently have 2 hours before I have to go back and continue teaching them and honestly, I’d rather just sit here today. I’m trying to find the motivation to persevere but it’s getting difficult…

REDES

Just got back from our provincial REDES conference- it was quite a success! We had about 40 girls in all, 7 Mozambicans, and several PCVs. I brought three girls from my school and they all seemed to have a great time and learn a few things. Also, Paulina Chiziane, the first Mozambican woman to be a published novelist, came and spoke to the girls about her life. She was a phenomenal speaker, and the girls said they enjoyed it so much and were very inspired by her story. Seeing as though I am now the national coordinator for this project, I definitely have my hands full to make the next conference just as enjoyable and educational.

REDES

Just got back from our provincial REDES conference- it was quite a success! We had about 40 girls in all, 7 Mozambicans, and several PCVs. I brought three girls from my school and they all seemed to have a great time and learn a few things. Also, Paulina Chiziane, the first Mozambican woman to be a published novelist, came and spoke to the girls about her life. She was a phenomenal speaker, and the girls said they enjoyed it so much and were very inspired by her story. Seeing as though I am now the national coordinator for this project, I definitely have my hands full to make the next conference just as enjoyable and educational.

Funeral part 2

The funeral process ended up lasting 4 days, that I’m aware of. The first three days were all the same- women under the tree, singing, chanting, screaming, crying, processionals to the grave with flowers, more weeping. The fourth day was silent but many people were around. I happened to be teaching a lot that day so I might have missed something but from what I could tell it was pretty calm. I’m still very curious what kind of religious or cultural impart suicide has on a family. I’m curious if there are implications for the surviving members of the family, or if the grieving process is the same. There are many funerals around here, and although I haven’t seen too many first hand, like this one, I’m pretty sure there’s not usually a lot of wailing and carrying on. I will do some research and post about it.

Cat Attack

I woke up at 2:30 this morning to something trying to come into my house. I quickly realized it was only a cat, but it wasn’t Lucy because she was with me in my room. So I got out of bed to try and shoo the stray out- bad idea. S/he flipped! This cat tried to jump out the window and got caught, leapt a good 12 feet into the air, meowed and cried for a while, then ran into the kitchen, knocking things off my shelves. Garfield (as I will call him) perched, hollering, for a good five minutes. I didn’t want to get close just in case he’s rabid, so I threw pencils at him trying to get him to move. Finally, at least 15 minutes after I got out of bed, he finally went for the open door and escaped. So I’m thinking Garfield is one of the past volunteer’s cats because this isn’t the first time he’s come into my house to eat Lucy’s food. And to be honest it really wouldn’t bother me except he’s too fat and once he gets in my house he can’t get back out. No good.

Market Day

I spent the entire day in the market this afternoon. I brought my capulana and camped out with a woman all day. The women loved having me there- they’d joke around about how horrible my Changana accent is, or how I was saying the wrong words, or how every other people that walked through the market stopped to ask why I was there. The kids loved it- they gathered around to talk to me or to ask me questions they knew I wouldn’t understand. I learned a fair amount of Changana and definitely got in a few laughs, even if they were at my own expense. It was anything but eventful, but I felt accomplished at the end of it all. I don’t know if I could spend another entire day there anytime soon, but to stop in for an hour and practice my Changana I can definitely do more often.

Funeral

Turns out the scary goat-killing beast was a baboon. Unfortunately it moved on without me getting too see it. Maybe next time.

So this morning was a bit particular. My next door neighbor committed suicide. It’s not at all common here and I have no idea why he did it. Well, I woke up this morning to some screaming and crying when he was found. Then as the morning and afternoon continued, I witnessed the funeral process. Around 8am people started gathering at the house to pay respects to the family. At around 9:30 a crowd of people came walking up carrying the body and placed it in the house. After that people just kept coming and coming. The women sat on the ground under a huge tree and sang while the men sat under another tree in chairs and watched as one man made the casket. This continued until about 4pm when the singing calmed down and it got quiet. Then the body was placed in the back of a truck and everyone (about 60 people) followed behind the truck singing as they went to the cemetery. It’s currently 5:05pm and it’s surprising quiet around here. A huge part of me wanted to see more of what was going on today, learn a bit more about the funeral process, but because I wasn’t invited to participate I didn’t feel it was my place. I will say I’m amazed at the singing that took place all this afternoon- at least 6 hours of constant chanting and singing. It was quite beautiful. Also I was somewhat surprised by the male female separation all day. Only when they were placing the body in the house and as they were driving to the cemetery did I see any men and women interacting together. This is a very gender-separated culture, and I guess traditional ceremonies only accentuate that separation.

PINK

I don’t remember if pink was a trend/popular color when I was in the states, it’s not something I’d pay attention to, but here pink is everywhere! Not only the little girls or the women, pink is worn by all. And I’m not only talking pink button-ups or pink ties, the men and boys are wearing pink hats and carrying pink backpacks. They wear “I am a princess” shirts and “This girl’s got ATTITUDE” shirts. There are also the collared shirts that have Best Buy or LOWES or other random labels on them that they wear. I think my favorite was a Trojan condom t-shirt my ped director wore when we met the Ministry of Education, or the Santa sweater (yes, one of those big puffy tacky Christmas sweaters with bells and pompoms) the director of my school wore last month (July) to an important meeting. I understand why she wore it, it was cold, but I definitely got a chuckle out of it.

Chapa rides...

My life is so much less eventful when I’m not riding in chapas! I love getting rides not only because they are safe and sometimes free, but also because it’s so much more calm and uneventful. Well this morning was anything but calm and uneventful. The taxi ride was pretty smooth going- good start. Then once we got to junta in Maputo, Scooter and I parted ways and I was left to haggle my way onto a chapa headed south. I’m a small white woman carrying bags, so not only did I stand out but I was an easy target for the cobradors (not drivers, but the people who “take care” of you once you’re on the chapa-open the door, take the money, etc). I walked back and forth between a few chapas, trying to find the one that was most full because it has the most potential to leave the soonest, and also who would give me the best price. I found one, started haggling, and ended up getting into an argument with the cobrador. I was telling him he was charging me WAY too much and I wasn’t going to pay, and he told me I was white and had plenty of money for him. I tried to explain Peace Corps- I’m here as a volunteer NOT as a tourist and I’m NOT getting paid a lot of money. He didn’t want to listen, and he was being a douch about it, so I got upset and walked off after a few minutes of arguing. Luckily, a few other people heard me and how rude he was being so they followed me and we filled up a different chapa.
So, once on the road, the woman behind me started chanting. It wasn’t in Changana or Portuguese (or English or French for that matter) and it was very strange- there was some rocking back and forth with the eyes closed… It died down about an hour in, which was when a man starting to complain that we needed to pull over so a little girl could pee. A few minutes later he admitted it was him that needed to pee and everyone in the chapa started to make fun of him. It was strange- riders don’t seem to care when we stop every 20 yards to pick up more people, stuff, rearrange, blow a tire, whatever. But to pull over and pee was absolutely out of the question! For a minute there I thought he might just pee out the window. Anyways, finally got out off that chapa and on to another. It was full of drunk teenagers, before 10:30am. At least they were friendly and the driver was sober. We waited over an hour to fill the chapa before we could leave. Once driving, we still stopped every few minutes to pick up more people- at one point we had 26 people on board, not including children and babies. At one point we stopped to let people off and I saw a dance party going on- several people with crazy hats dancing around with people watching. My favorite was the little boy in hot pink rain boots that came up to his knees, dancing in the sand. Finally at my stop I got out and waited for another ride to take me into my town. Luckily I made it home and back to school with my bata just as classes were starting, 12:20. A 5 ½ hour trip via chapa that should’ve taken maybe 3. An exciting morning.

la!

The word La (which means there) is used often here in Moz. I originally thought it meant right here, close. However, after many months I've come to realize it can mean anywhere between right here close to down the street to the other end of the country. The way to deduct this information is to listen to the pitch of the person talking. For example, "Oh don't worry you're carrying heavy luggage, the hotel is just la" - If the speaker sounds like a baritone, you really have nothing to worry about, the hotel is probably in view. If he sounds about normal, count on a few minutes hike. Now, if you hear a high pitched la, you're in for quite a hike. And if he sounds like an opera singer, just give up there because it's probably not even in the same town. This valuable information has been collected through months of long hikes trying to track down things that I assumed were just around the corner but turn out to be (opera)) la!

Box of Love

I received a care package today- an unexpectd gift from a complete stranger.

My first reaction- "Who do I know in NYC?" Next- "How does she know me?"

Apparently, Mom, Nana, you're not the only two that read this.

My new friend told me a bit about her life and her experience in a thrid world country. She opened my eyes up to a few things I hadn't really put much thought to. I hope she won't mind me quoting her on a few things-
"Hindsight has provided me the great gift of thinking about all the things I would do differently if I had the chance to go back into a third world country. I would spend more time in the village just hanging out. Maybe I would befriend a woman at the market and sit with her at the market. Just hang out, even if I didn't understand her. I would ask her if I could try for a day to do all that she does. I would invite someone from the village to my home for dinner. I'd learn how to do the daily things people in the village do: pluck a chicken, carve a chicken, or even kill a chicken. I would spend more time with my village learning everyone's name or almost everyone's name. I would try to think like them, even if I didn't agree. The reason I say all this is because at the time I thought I was pretty well intergraded. I got used to limited electricity, no tv, no computer, no internet, but it wasn't until ten years later that I was able to reflect on my experience and say taht I didn't really learn any skills there. I didn't really know the things the average person in my village knew. I would challenge you to ask yourself that. What are the five basic things your average villager does that you could envision yourself actually doing?"

Those words really got me thinking- I do feel quite intergraded but then again I have never spent more than a few minutes at the market, nor have I planted a machamba, or killed a chicken... I know these are only specific examples, and just because I'm not doing EVERYTHING the people in the community are doing doesn't mean I'm not intergraded, but it gets me thinking that there is always another way to get myself a bit deeper into my experience here.
So, not only did I get encouragement, fresh ideas, and goodies for my belly, I think I made a new friend. You have made not only my day, my week, but my month- you have left me speechless by your generosity. Thank you.

It's a what?!

So get this- I just got home from a conversation with a few of my neighbors. Walking back from class I stopped to talk to my neighbor Mana Angelina. Another neighbor passed by and the two started talking in Changana (so I didn't catch a word of it) but I did pick up on the emotion behind the words- excitement, terror, confusion. The nameless neighbor turned and spoke to me for the first time ever- "Mana Ana, fechar o porto bem, e nao pode apagar as lampadas. Nao pode sair a noite!" translation- Ana, close your door well, don't turn off the lights, and you cannot leave at night! I turned to Mana Angelina and inquired porque- My guess was a ladrao (theif) was in the neighborhood. But no, no theif, it's a wild beast. Nobody knows exactly what it is- some say large cat (leopard? cheetah?) others large monkey (chimpanzee? gorilla?) but whatever it is has been killing and eating goats in the middle of the night. Two nights ago two goats killed by the market, last night 3 at a house just down the street from mine. But what is this beast?!?! LION? TIGER? BEAR? I want to see it! I can't promise I won't go looking for it in the night, but I do promise I'll take my machette with me :)

Inhanbane

I decided to get out of site for a few days after all the stress from conselhos and the end of the trimester. I made the trek up to northern Inhanbane province, and even though I made the trip pretty fast, it took me about 12 hours on the road (not including the time it took to wait for rides). The first part of my journey was with Matt, who was on his way to the beach as well, but a bit further south than my destination. I made it up about halfway and stopped to stay the evening with Ann (a health volunteer, who I haven’t seen since parting ways in Swaziland). Not only was it WONDERFUL to finally spend time with her, I also got to see the new episode of GLEE! New to me at least- I’ve been deprived. Back on the road in the morning, and I made it to the beach at around 3pm. I met up with Tim who was also staying with Colin for the evening, and caught up a bit. And I thought I lived in the middle of nowhere! After hearing about Tim’s several hour boat rides, one-car-a-day in and out of his site, the 4 hours bike ride to the closest volunteer because there is no road… I feel like I live in the city in comparison. That evening, we had dinner with Gracey’s parents who were visiting. Gracey was busy for the evening so we were fortunate enough to be foster kids for the night. They were absolutely wonderful! I felt so at home with them, and had a fantastic meal of coconut curry crab. Unbeatable.
Lisa came the next day! A group of volunteers from all over were there for a PC conference, so I stuck around with them and caught up with everyone. Lisa was my best friend during training, and I’ve missed her like crazy. Fourteen other volunteers were down for the weekend, so we hung out, caught up, traded tv shows on our hard drives, and laughed, a lot. While they were in meetings I spent time lounging at the pool and reading. Come Monday morning all I wanted to do was come back to site. I’d forgotten what it was like to be around so many other friends and just have a good time. Being here alone is definitely changing my perspective on more things than I was prepared for.
Anyways, after leaving the beach, I made half the trip home and this time stayed with Scooter. I wish we lived closer to each other! Her dad was also visiting so I got to meet him and catch him up a bit. I’ve loved meeting people’s parents. Mom, Dad- be ready to meet A LOT of volunteers during your vacation.
Now, back at site, I’m settling into things pretty well. A few classes over and done with, third trimester on a roll, and the pace of life is picking up speed very quickly. Before I know it it’ll be Christmas!

Boleia

I got a ride from a group of divers today on my way back home from the beach. It not being a chapa, it was not only comfortable and safe but their hospitality was above and beyond what I was prepared for. They stopped in Xai-Xai to do a bit of shopping- chips, soda, water, the essentials- and one of the men looked at me and said “I hope we aren’t offending you by this, but we wanted to buy you a few things to take back to site. We really appreciate all the work you’re doing here and we’d like to say thank you.” First I was blown away, and then almost in tears. I watched as they loaded a shopping basket full of cheese, soy milk, sausage, yogurt, chocolate, coffee, and more and more… I had said earlier in the car that where I lived it was difficult to find certain things, and I hadn’t realized they’d been making a mental list. I was/am blown away by their sweet gesture and now I will have a happy belly for weeks to come.

Matt!

Matt, the Moz 10 volunteer from my site came through for a few days to visit. I had such a fantastic time! It was such a pleasure to spend time with someone who has not only experienced Peace Corps and come out the other end still intact, but to talk to someone that knows exactly what I’m going through- who my friends are, how the school and neighbors treat me, the particular challenges I’m faced by this particular town- I’m so happy he came through! We talked, cooked, spent time with friends he had when he lived here (pretty much the people that befriended me when I arrived), and both wished at the end of it all that we had a few more days to relax, hang out, and catch up. We parted ways at the turnoff to his favorite beach where I hope he spent some much needed time relaxing and catching some fabulous Mozambican sun.

Work work work

School finished about 2 weeks ago. We had testing for a week, a week of classes, and then two days of test corrections and learning songs. I taught my 12th graders the song from the world cup- “Give me freedom, give me fire, give me reason, take me higher…”- and it was hilarious! At first they thought they were too cool to sing in class, but once they had the words they got so into it. We definitely disturbed every other class in session at the time. And one of the best parts, the next day I heard 11th graders and a few 8th graders singing the song with the correct words. They shared.
Well, after classes were done we started conselhos- collecting the grades for each class and writing it all out. What a process! Let me break down the school system here a little bit. Sorry if I repeat myself. So a turma is a group of 35-55 students all in the came grade. They sit in the same room all day and teachers come to them to teach. Students don’t get to choose which classes they take or what level they take- it’s all the same. And each teacher is in charge of a turma (like homeroom?) and this Director de Turma (DT) is in charge of collecting all the grades and absences from each professor and determining who’s passing and who’s missed too many classes to continue through to next trimester. So, because I’m not a DT I was able to bounce around and help people. It’s A LOT of tedious busy work- reading off lists of grades and copying them 4 times to the various books and paltas (giant list of students and grades- one for each turma). I pointed out that if we worked together in groups of 3 or 4 we could all write the same grades at the same time on the various sheets and get things done 3 to 4 times as fast. They were blown away by my efficiency. Thanks America. Anyways, a few days of that and I was pulling my hair out. This week we started 10th grade testing for students that don’t go to school but are home-schooled (kind of- they’re all older and I’m guessing more don’t study). It reminded me a lot of SATs but much more drawn out and boring. Well, today I started grading the English exams. Some short answer, multiple choice, and essay. The average score- 5. Out of 77 students there were 3 that had above a 9. That means 3% of the students passed, and I was being generous. It was pretty depressing. I really hope my kids do a bit better than that. The best part about the past week- free lunch.

Strange thing just happened. It started raining, but only on one side of my house. I opened both doors- out of one the sky was grey and water was pounding down on my porch, and the other side the sky was blue and sunny. It’s raining on both sides now, but for about 5 minutes there my brain just couldn’t make sense of what was going on.

Sleepover!

Jenna and Valerie finally came to visit me this weekend, and what a fun time! I know I love to have my own space and I’m so thankful I’m at site by myself, but I hadn’t realized how lonely I was until I had people here with me. They came walking up to my house at the end of daycare time, when I had ten or so kids drawing on my porch, so they got a very exciting welcome to the neighborhood. Other than feeling like we were on exhibit in a zoo, things were pretty calm. We had originally planned on digging my machamba on Sunday, but because I’m still waiting for a gate to close my new fence, we decided to wait until I can keep goat, ducks, kids and chickens off my space. Good company, relaxing weekend- wonderful. Not only did I have friends over, but said friends brought me bananas, eggplant, cheese and wine. Goddesses. We made eggplant parmesan (with Gouda- parm is impossibly expensive. Care package?), drank our wine, woke up and made french toast, and I convinced them to stick around for grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch. It was the most decadent and delicious weekend I’ve had since arriving at site. I’m looking forward to their next visit, even if it’s another 3 or 4 months away.

Eye-opener

On my way back from Maputo I got a ride from a nice American family of four that was driving up to the beach. Not only was it a safe, quick, stress free ride, I also got to talk to a different kind of person than I’m used to- someone who is just visiting this country and still not used to all the crazy and peculiar stuff that goes on here. I had a fabulous time talking and answering all sorts of questions they had about Mozambique and my experience here. I’m sure the two boys who were trying to read/sleep got pretty annoyed with me but maybe they soaked up a thing or two. This family had such fresh eyes. They pointed out things I’ve come to take as normal or just blah, like the huge street market on the way out of Maputo, or the men making bricks in the little huts next to the road, or the way I bought tangerines and cashews and phone credit on the side of the road. It was a very refreshing experience. And it makes me so excited to be able to show my own visitors around my host country. As I was getting out and saying goodbye, the mother offered me some granola bars- I don’t think she’d ever seem anyone SO excited about granola bars! I accepted graciously and ate one on the next part of the trip home. It tasted like a candy bar. Note to readers- care package? ;)

New running mate

I met a man running the other day. Is name is Jonas. He scared me half to death the first time he started running with me- he was just walking along talking to two women when I passed him and he started jogging along with me, machete in hand. Once I noticed his big grin I wasn’t quite as terrified, yet still curious. After a few days of brief, 30 yard jogs with me, he decided to stick it out for awhile. We jogged for about 3 km talking about his life and about me and what the crazy running molungo is doing in this little town. I’ve really enjoyed chit chatting with him when I see him around town and out working in the fields. I made a new friend.

Birthday at the beach!

Not my birthday, of course, but I went to Xai-Xai beach for the weekend to celebrate Abby’s (a second year volunteer) birthday. It was a FABULOUS break! I can’t believe I haven’t had a vacation since going to Swaziland back in… April? May? I lost track. Anyways, I got to the beach Saturday morning and it was a fantastically sunny day. And since it’s the middle of winter here, the Mozambicans are too cold to go lie out on the beach/ play in the water so we had the whole place to ourselves. We threw around a football for a bit, got caught by a few rouge** waves, and caught up on the last few months. We made dinner, drank some beers, and had a bonfire on the beach. And another fantastic part of the weekend- I discovered passion fruit. I don’t think I’d ever had one. They are fabulous.

The last month (or two) has/have been pretty trying. I started teaching 8th grade a while back and it was definitely a lot harder than I had imagined it would be. I’d just become comfortable with my 12th graders, and then I threw myself into a whole new world of teaching. First off, during the first two weeks I only taught 1 ½ classes (instead of the 6 I was supposed to teach) because students just didn’t show up. I count the ½ class because I did have 7 students and we played hangman. Secondly, it’s halfway through their third year of English and they didn’t (and still don’t) know present simple tense or the verb to be. I was not prepared for that. Well, after trying to figure out my new schedule (I now teach morning, afternoon, and night), I was able to teach a few lessons and prepare them for the end of the trimester exam. I don’t think they got too much out of my teaching because the average score on the test was 5 out of 20. Ouch. Anyways, these last two weeks of the trimester I’m going to make sure to at least get one or two things into their brains- that’s my goal, however unrealistic it may be.

I can’t say I’ve mastered the art of baking in a dutch oven, but I’m definitely getting some practice in. I’m not sure why I’d never tried it before, but about 2 weeks ago it was the birthday of one of my co-workers and I decided to make him a cake. Unfortunately for him but lucky for me, he got stuck in Xai-Xai and didn’t make it back home for his birthday party. Instead of sharing the cake with co-workers I was able to enjoy it all to myself. Well, I gave about half to my neighbors because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Turns out many more people found out that I actually know how to make cake, and everyone started asking for me to teach them how to make cakes. This inspired me. Since then, every few days I pick out a new recipe and make a cake. So far my favs are coffee cake and double chocolate cake. Next- carrot cake, once I can track down carrots.

Along with picking up cooking, I’ve started sewing. I’ve tailored about 5 shirts and one dress so far (not because I’ve lost/gained weight, instead because clothes get a little/lot stretched out here) and my next project is to make a skirt out of capulana before it gets any hotter. I’ve really enjoyed the cool weather the last few months. I’ve been able to sleep in past sunrise and only one bucket bath a day will suffice. Not only has it been getting hotter lately, the electricity has been getting less and less reliant. It’s a huge pain when I count on my electricity to heat water for coffee or to cook and it goes out for an indeterminate amount of time. I know I should be thankful I have any electricity, it’s just been really difficult lately to count on anything.

little things in life

Sometimes it just takes a smile to make my day. A smile and a flower.

I was walking down the street in Maputo and decided that I wanted to buy myself flowers. Sometimes you just have to, right? Well, being a Peace Corps volunteer I couldn't afford a whole bouquet so I decided to just keep walking. After I got about 10 yards away, the man who was selling the flowers came up behind me and handed me a beautiful blue water lily. He didn't say anything, just smiled at me and walked back to his flowers.

It's beautiful. I love lilies. It's all about the little things in life.

A little variety

I killed 5 different kinds of spiders inside my house the today- one daddy long leg looking guy; a black, small, slow moving guy (he was my favorite, easiest to kill); a typical, large, striped guy; a small jumping spider (they’re all over the place- very common- I hate them); and lastly, a red, light green, and yellow striped leaping spider. Not only did this last one look terrifying, he not only jumped but he leapt around like a frog. Definitely the scariest. It goes without saying I had a nightmare about a giant spider chasing me around, trying to eat me.

Adorable neighbors

The little girl from the brother-sister duo is no longer afraid of me- I’m her new favorite person. I can hear her from yards away yelling “mana Ana! Hello! Hello!” and I see this bouncing child with her little arm furiously waving. Adorable.
I’ve recently taught her to say “bye bye,” so now I hear “Tia Aaaaaaaaaaaana! Helloooooooo! Bye bye!”

mail

Ok, so im retracking my no packages no mail statement- im ready for letters!!! send letters to the address on my blog and packages, you can ask me or my mom about that one :)

Babies with babies

I never seem to get used to the young kids who are taking care of babies. I’m not talking 7 year olds babysitting- that happens too- but I’m more referring to the 4 year old that looks after his two year old sister, or the 5 year old that has an infant strapped to her back. I don’t know who anyone’s parents are, and it doesn’t really seem to matter who the biological parents are because kids in my neighborhood are kids of the neighborhood, children of us all. I do get frustrated every once in a while when I hear a mother or neighbor say “go play at mana Ana’s” or “go ask to draw,” because I get tired and sometimes don’t want a heard of children screaming and fighting on my doorstep, but then again it’s not like it’s hurting me to give them something to do. And these babies watching babies- it’s insane! I have to take a picture of this little brother-sister duo. The little girl is terrified of me but the boy loves to visit and draw, so they’re over here often, and they’re always hand in hand. When she gets freaked out when I say hi to her, he’s right there to make her calm down and explain I’m not a monster. And when the other kids try to take her paper or colored pencil, he’s there at her defense. They are absolutely adorable. Michael, Will- they make me miss you guys more and more everyday.

Field Trip!

The other day Prof Silvino invited me to come with him and some friends up to Massingir district. At the time I had no idea what we’d be doing but I said yes because I wanted a chance to get to know more of Gaza. Turns out it was a provincial gathering of the catholic churches. Anyways- I was told to be at the chapa stop at 5am on Sunday morning. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER! After eight months here and I still take people on their word in regards to time. Well, I was there at 5, I was still there at 5:30 when another chapa full of people left, I was still there at 6:15 when the sun came up, and I was still there at 7:00 when the second bus load of people left. At 7:15 Silvino, Fenias, and Abel showed up. I climbed in the chapa, FINALLY warm, and we immediately got off because the chapa driver wanted more money and we weren’t going to pay. So, I was still at the chapa stop at 8am when our new chapa pulled up. Finally, at 8:15, we were on the road out of town. I wasn’t, nor am I, angry with anyone but myself for actually thinking anything could happen on time.
The three hour ride up was pretty enjoyable. There was lots of singing and chanting and some napping. When we arrived, we saw the last five minutes of the sermon before communion. I was pretty bummed we missed it, but I got to meet up with another volunteer who lives there. She showed me around her town, introduced me to her friends in the village, and we went home and attempted to cook lunch just as the power went out. Such is life. The town was quite enjoyable and I intend to go back again in the near future so I can visit the national park and see a bit more of the town when I’m not quite so sleep deprived.
It was a great day, even with the bumps in the road. And what really made my day was driving back into town as the sun was setting. I spent sunrise and sunset at the chapa stop. At least it was gorgeous- red, orange, blue, purple, all setting over giant bushy trees. I love where I live.

Cultural Festival

Saturday, after work (yes I work Saturdays too), I went to my neighboring town for a cultural festival. I had no idea what I was walking into when I got there and was extremely surprised at what I saw. It turns out, once every two years Mozambique has this kind of cultural festival with theatre, dancing, singing, and food competitions. They have provincial competitions (like the one I saw), the winners go to regionals, and those winners go on to nationals. Some of the dancing and singing was so-so, but some was fantastic! My favorite were a group of guys who were dressed in what I can only imagine was traditional hunting attire, with leather, feathers, and bones attached to them, carrying shields and spears, and dancing to drumming. As usual, I didn’t have my camera but I’ll consiguir pictures from someone soon to post. Anyways, the dancing was definitely my favorite part- the food would’ve been but they wouldn’t let me eat any until after the judges. Not only were the guys dancing, there were old men, old women, a man with one leg, and women with babies on their backs. It was great.
The ride home was quite fantastic as well. I met up with some professors from my school, so during the chapa ride back we got to talking about politics and some difficulties Mozambique is facing. I was sitting between two of my pedagogical directors, two very educated, motivated men in my community, and I was a bit disappointed when both of them conceded that there was nothing they could do to change this problem. They spoke about how if they try to talk about politics in the classroom they could get fired. I used this golden opportunity to explain to them it’s not the knowledge about politics their students need, it’s the capacity to think critically and develop their own ideas. I think after the hour trip home I saw at least one light bulb go off, and it felt really good to finally get through to someone who is more than capable of making a significant difference here in my village.

SWAZI!!

The weekend of May 27th I went to Swaziland with several other volunteers for a music festival- AMAZING!! I started my weekend by going to visit my host family from training. I was a bit hesitant at first to stay with them because I didn’t feel like we had the best relationship while I was living there, but it was an absolutely great night. It was really nice to spend time with Mae and Pai and Valdo again, and to catch up on what they’ve been doing for the last few months. My host dad and I talked a bit as well, and my host mom was surprisingly fun to be around. And walking through the town made it feel like I’d never left. I didn’t spend as much time there as I’d liked, but the time I did spend was quite surreal. So, on to Swaziland. Crossing the boarder was fun for the sole reason that it was my first time leaving the country since arriving here- finally stamped my passport! Swazi was beautiful and complete culture shock. We were all floored at how developed it felt. Every little thing seemed to surprise me- there were trashcans, no wondering goats or cows, people spoke English (for the most part), yet we were still the only white people. The whole speaking English thing actually turned around to nip us a few times- we’ve gotten so accustomed to being the only people to understand our conversations that it was a little embarrassing every once in a while when someone behind us would laugh or raise their eyebrows at what we were saying. Anyways, Scooter, Ann, Emma and I finally made it to our hostel at about noon or so. It was beautiful- not only did it have a pool and an outside bar but also hot, running water, flushing toilets, comfortable beds, and extremely friendly and helpful staff. We were in heaven! We sat down for a celebratory Swazi beer which turned into an 8 hour meet and greet with other travelers staying that the hostel. We met Americans, British, Irish, South Africans, an Australian, a Canadian, an Israeli, and other PCVs from other countries. It was quite a mixture. The festivities started Friday night and once we arrived to the concert, we met up with other PCVs from Mozambique. Saturday morning we woke up with the sun, as usual, and made the trek into town to find a Chinese restaurant we’d seen on our way in the day before. Of course it was closed because it was still breakfast time. Anyways, we spent Saturday afternoon at the hostel chatting with people, napping, and planning our night. The concert that night was amazing- on the main stage during one of the performances men got on the roof and started dancing with giant ropes on fire- it was wild. The music was great of course- performers from all over- Swazi, South Africa, the US, England, everywhere. I was having such a wonderful time on Saturday that when it came time to leave the hostel on Sunday morning I negared. I ate breakfast with Ann, Emma and Scooter, but when they left for Mozambique with a Canadian friend we’d made, I decided to stay and go to the concert for the afternoon. And I’m so glad I did! I hung out with people from the hostel and, even though it was raining all afternoon, the concert was a blast. We drank spiced wine, ate delicious fair food, talked about our experiences traveling, and danced all day. It was very refreshing to meet new people and hear about other stories from Africa and traveling. I will admit, at one point when one of my new friends suggested I just dechar Peace Corps and keep traveling with them, I hesitated before I declined. The people that go backpacking in Africa are definitely of a different breed than those who backpack through Europe. I liked what I found out here. Well, after an absolutely amazing and eye-opening weekend, I made the trek back to Moz. I met up with Clancy, Val and Jenna on the bus to Maputo so that was perfect. We swapped stories, talked about what we bought, who we met, what we ate, and how we can’t wait to go back again next year. The entire weekend was a laugh-fest and I know I’m going to keep the memories I made there with me for a long time.

Creepy Crawly

I killed a spider the size of my hand. I took his picture. It was impressive.
So I was cleaning the mud from my ceiling, and this giant spider crawls out from a crack in my ceiling. I left him alone for a while, because I was cleaning and didn’t really want to deal with it, but once he got close to the floor and looked like me might start running my direction I took action. I was too scared to get close to him (remember, AS BIG AS MY HAND) so instead I threw shoes at him until he couldn’t crawl anymore. Then I squished him and fed him to Lucy. Inhumane, I know, but he was huge and scary.

REDES excitement!

I had a meeting with my school director about our REDES group. The primary focus of the meeting was to secure a location for our meetings, but both my counterpart, Professora Telma, and my director got so into it that we were there about an hour talking about all the different ideas we have for the group and how excited we all are about it. It was so wonderful to see them so into it and supportive. I know that I have support from my school for this project, but it wasn’t until this moment that I really felt like we could do something with it. We’ll see if this enthusiasm continues, but I am hopeful.

Rain

I have been teaching for the last four months or so, and everyday we stand outside under the giant tree to sing the national anthem. Out of all those days outside, today was the first day that it’s rained. And you could hardly call it rain- there was about two minutes of drizzle and then the sun came back out. But it just made me think- every day we are outside and this is the first time it has rained in the afternoon. I’m not in Alaska anymore…
Speaking of, I used a few pictures from home during my lesson today and showing my students said pictures blew their minds. Snow? Ice? What?! It was fun.


I want to mention- I wrote this blog entry a few days ago, and it was true, we hadnºt had rain in a LONG time. Of course, I leave my house this morning to run some errands in town and it starts pouring. I´m more than an hour away from home and everything is closed because of the rain and I´m drenched. Awesome. Just my luck.

Weekend of fun

On Saturday, my school was chosen to host an HIV/AIDS community discussion on the radio. I didn’t know exactly what was going on when I got there but I slowly started figuring things out as people showed up. We pulled desks out from the classrooms (they’re benches with desktops that fit about three people) and put them in the shade underneath the giant tree in our courtyard. At first when we started the desks were full but not too many other people were around, but by the end of the broadcast the whole courtyard was full of people sitting under trees, on esteras, crowded around the desks- it was a pretty nice size crowd. So, Radio Mozambique (‘radio’ is the same in Portuguese) was doing a live two hour broadcast discussing HIV prevention, treatment, and, well I didn’t understand much other than that but I’m sure a lot more was talked about. They spoke in Portuguese, Changana, and Chopi, another Bantu language. Well, I have a hard enough time following Portuguese, so it’s safe to say I understood hardly anything that was said, but it was still pretty fun. So many of my students were there and participating- it was so fun to watch and listen to them. One of my students read a poem she’d written, several performed a skit, and many others participated in the debate and question/answer session. And I was on the radio! Yeah, so one of my students was talking about how HIV affects everyone, regardless of color or nationality- white, black, American, Mozambican. I heard the word mulungo (‘white person’ in Changana) so I laughed a little and shook my head in agreement with him. The announcer saw this and decided to come over and talk to me. Thankfully he spoke fairly slowly so I could understand when he asked me what I thought of the discussion and debate, but I was a bit flustered so I didn’t say much of anything important. I said I thought it was very important to have these types of debates and I was happy to participate, but no other words came to my mind at that moment. Anyways, I was on Mozambican radio! After the broadcast finished I went with Prof Fenias to Prof Silvino’s house for a Missa he was having. A missa is a ceremony held to commemorate the life of someone who has passed. This missa was for Silvino’s father who passed eight years ago. Well, I missed the entire ceremony, going to the church and to the grave, but I did get to participate in the party that followed. I had expected there to be a few people there but I was shocked when that few was actually about 200. People were scattered all over the front and back yards of his house, people crowded around tables, camped out on the ground, under trees- people everywhere. We arrived just in time to eat. There were probably about 20 women around the grill making chicken and cow and serving out plates with potato salad and french fries and salad. It was nuts- they must have killed 100 chickens for this feast, if not more. Side note- a pig is being slaughtered outside my house right now and it’s an incredibly disturbing sound… But back to the party. There were people everywhere eating, dancing, drinking, talking, napping (I guess the drinking had started early so a few people were already talking their midday naps). I sat with the other teachers from my school and it was really nice to have conversations with them outside of the school setting. And as the night went on and they continued to drink (I was putting back juice boxes), the conversations got more and more interesting. We covered many topics, from dancing styles to family planning to American politics to female circumcision to HIV being a commercial disease to polygamy. I learned a fair amount about teachers I’d never talked to before so that was nice. Not everything I learned was encouraging, but it’s nice to know where some of my colleagues stand on some big issues. There was a lot of dancing going on, and I was most impressed by the old woman bustin’ a move on the dance floor (aka patch of dirt under a lemon tree). She had to be at least 70 but MAN she knew how to move! Mom, you would have loved her. I’m so sorry I didn’t have my camera with me. It was quite a party and continued late into the night, although we didn’t stick around too late. Silvino was busy being host the whole night so we didn’t get to talk much and I still have so many questions about missas, but he did tell me today that people continued to come to the party throughout the night and all day Sunday as well. Being a very open, communal culture, he said he was expected to give these people food and drink, even though they were a day late to the party. Anyway, aside from the experience of just being there, learning about a missa is pretty interesting. I think it’s a pretty cool idea, to throw a party to celebrate the life of someone important in your life. From what I know, a family will throw a missa on the one month anniversary of the death, one year, and every year thereafter if they so choose, forever. I remember hearing about a missa when I was in training that was a 30 year anniversary. That’s a lot of parties. Anyways, it was a great party and another very cultural weekend for me.

Mozambican Week

Not that every week isn’t quite Mozambican, but I think something about being completely detached from the outside world has let me get even more into what I’m doing. That or I finally have a schedule that allows me to breathe and enjoy my time here. I choose to think it’s the former. So, this weekend was absolutely great. We finally got some more rain on Saturday- not enough to fill but two of my bidons, but it’s something. And I was able to read about 200 pages of Dark Star Safari, an amazing book. Theroux rights about his trip from Cairo to Cape Town, and even though he’s still in Tanzania at the moment (I’m not quite halfway through the book) I can relate to so much he’s writing about. I’m looking forward to his travels through Mozambique. Sunday was refreshing and educational. I spent about an hour with three little kids on my porch playing and laughing. I’m used to having kids around, but something about today was different- they weren’t “estou a pedir”ing for anything, they were just being kids. I was the tickle monster for a good 30 minutes and it never got old and their laughs were so infectious. It felt really good to just laugh and make other people laugh and smile. At about 10am I went to church with one of my neighbors and students, Nando. We were late, of course, and actually the last two in but I don’t think we missed anything. It was my first church experience in Mozambique and I really enjoyed it. The Padre, who was visiting from a bigger town about an hour away, was Brazilian so he spoke in Portuguese a lot which was nice (plus I wasn’t the only molongo in the building). He spoke Changana very well, and did I lot of his sermon in Changana, but translated almost everything. And what a great sermon- he talked about how in the bible it says to have only one man or one woman in your life, and to stay faithful to this person. He talked about how people here typically have many wives or girlfriends, but that’s a cultural thing, tradition, but not the word of God. He reminded the people that they should follow the bible and stick with one person. I don’t consider myself a religious person, but I thought it was an absolutely perfect message for the people here and I really hope it sunk in to at least a few heads. Anyways, there was singing and dancing and drum beating and more singing- I wish I’d had a video recorder or something. Let’s see if I can recreate something here… The church is just four cement walls about 15 feet high with a tin roof, 20 feet by 60 feet. On the right there are rickety wooden benches and on the left esteras (grass mats). The older women of the village sit on the esteras with their babies while the teenagers and men on the benches. There are probably about 100 to 125 people, so it’s full but not packed. There is a small alter in the front with candles lit, and a small podium to the right. I can’t see who’s playing the drums but I can hear them in the front. And there’s a tambourine as well. Whoever’s playing is responsible for starting up the songs and chants- I have no idea what they’re saying while they’re singing because it’s all in Changana but the harmony is beautiful. At one point all the teenagers stand up and move into the aisle between the esteras and benches and start singing and dancing. The Padre stops them, makes fun of them because they seem tired and unenthusiastic, so when they start again they shake the whole church. Everyone joins in singing, drums are going, tambourine ringing, ai ai ai ai’s coming from the old women… it was pretty moving. I look forward to going again next week. So, after church, I was riding my high and decided not to worry about schoolwork but instead to wander around town and visit with my neighbors. The women in the market were very excited to teach me a few new phrases, which I’m sad to say I can’t remember anymore, but I’m sure they’ll be just as excited to teach them to me again tomorrow. I ralared a few coconuts and buscared water (buscar = to fetch) on my head. That’s right, on my head. It was a nice break on my arms but rough on the neck. The well close to my house was just fixed so I intend on buscaring my water more often rather than having to rely on someone else. Watch me come back looking like a linebacker… Suma came over and we traded more music, read some of Dark Star Safari, cooked dinner, and learned some Portuguese. I’m going to miss having a friend around when he goes to Maputo. I’m also going to deeply miss coconut milk when I come back to the states. I put it in almost everything I cook, and it’s delicious. Maybe I’ll just move to Hawaii…

All before 10am...

Today got off to a running start for sure! I’ll admit, the last few days I’ve been sleeping in, trying to catch up on some sleep lost this weekend, but today was eventful from the get go. I was out my door by 6am and within my first four hours I watched the sunrise, met two English teachers that had been students of Emily, a Moz 12 volunteer in Xai Xai, I was on 7 different chapas, was recognized in three different towns, was mistaken for two different volunteers, learned all about the African Leadership Academy and helped a young boy with his application, bought a phone and got a free MCEL t-shirt (it’s exciting, believe me), and listened to Eminem, 50cent, DMX and techno. I was home by noon and took advantage of the extremely hot afternoon and napped on my couch while watching episodes of 30 Rock. I never did get my phone working, due to faulty MCEL service, but I have faith. This evening I made a delicious dinner with lentils and rice, and while eating I watched a spider jump across my floor. We definitely have jumping spiders all over here, but they’re typically pretty small and only jump when they’re trying to get away from being crushed by my flip flop. The one tonight was different- he was pretty big and was jumping around my living room like a frog. I’ll admit, I was too scared to get close enough to examine him or get a description, but I know he was creepy and I don’t look forward to finding more of them. On a positive note, I’ve been bat free for a few days now. I’m sure they’re not gone, but at least they haven’t been squeaking and creepily watching me at night.

Reality Check

Several of my students came to my house this morning, asking for help with their homework. I really enjoyed helping them, seeing that they understand the material, and I’m so happy they feel comfortable enough to come to my house for help. Last trimester when I was teaching all six turmas I felt a little uncomfortable having the students (especially the male students) come to my house for help because it didn’t seem quite appropriate, but now that they’re not all my students it seems a bit better. I did have one student that came over not exactly for homework help but more for conversation. He’s one of my most driven students and I can tell he really wants to learn and do something with his English once he graduates. Well, we got talking today about his life and what he wants to do in the future, and I found out he’s an orphan that really has nothing. Both his parents have recently passed, and last year he was taken in by Teacher Nelson (my Portuguese teacher during training and a former English teacher at my school). He told me his parents were very young when they had him and that they never really made anything of themselves (no money, no job, no house) so when they died he was left with nothing. Luckily Nelson saw his potential and helped him with housing, money for clothes, and money to enter school. My student, Manuel, has so much going to him- determination, intelligence, and optimism- and I really hope to help to empower him and that I can feed his desire to make something of himself.
One thing that continues to shock me time after time is the lack of emotion Mozambicans show. When Manuel spoke of his parents there was a slight trace of sadness, and even that was more than I’m used to seeing. Normally people get more worked up and emotional over missing a test question that talking about a family member or friend that has died. Manuel also mentioned a student that passed away the day before yesterday. I was at school almost all day yesterday and not once did I hear about it. Of course now I’m sitting here wondering who it was because I believe it was one of my kids. Even though I’ve only been here a few months, if one of my kids were to get hurt or die I know I would be a bumbling mess of tears and grief. I probably show more emotion in a week than most Mozambicans show in a year, if not a lifetime. Part of me thinks it’s cultural, but really I think it’s a coping mechanism. Death is so much more common here than in the states, so how is one suppose to get through life is he is constantly mourning the loss of someone.

Bat attack

I’m not sure if I’ve written about this, so if I have please forgive me for the repetition. I was hit in the head by my first bat the other week. I was teaching a class- controlling a test actually- and this bat was flying around the room, but the students didn’t seem to notice. I however am still not used to it. So, once I finally put my guard down and started to ignore him he swoops down and smacks me in the head! I was shocked, but still none of the students seemed to notice or care. Come on!

Farewell

A huge blow to my week was the departure of a good friend and fellow volunteer. This volunteer was one of the most enthusiastic, optimistic, interesting, and patient volunteers from our group. However, nobody is superman, and when enough things are stacked against you there’s only so much you can handle. If you happen to read this blog, I want you to know how much you will be missed and that I can’t wait to see you in the states. I know you could have done so many amazing things here if you had been given even a shred of a chance. I will carry your optimism and enthusiasm with me for the rest of my service. And don’t forget to write!! You will be truly missed.

Beach Time!!

The last few weeks have been a bit stressful because of school and scheduling changes, but as of today, everything is squared away and I’m set in my new classes. I have the same students, just less of them now. And I’m starting to collaborate with the new English teacher who’s pretty great and giving me a lot of great ideas for lessons. I look forward to working with him and collaborating with him.
So, this weekend I went up to Vilankolos for beach Olympics- so much fun! Volunteers from almost all provinces came- I think there were about 50 or so of us there. It was so wonderful to see people I hadn’t seen since training and catch up on life and school and work and everything. It was also very comforting to be reassured that I’m not the only one that has bad days or feelings of uselessness. All of us, from Maputo province up to Cabo Delgado, are going through the same thing. Things I learned this weekend- I’m a terrible swimmer when there’s a currant, sand flees apparently love me however the bites are anything but pleasant, Queen can always make me smile, and I will have sand in my dreds for the next 6 months. Only downside to the weekend was the lost cell phone. Hopefully I get a new one soon, but I will admit being completely detached from the outside world has not been a bad thing. Granted, it’s been all of three days- we’ll see how I feel in a few more.

Oh Africa...

I was putting on mascara the other day, getting ready to go to class, when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was a goat, standing in my living room looking into my bedroom watching me. Really!? I’m used to the goats, dogs, chickens, and children hanging out on my stoop but I wasn’t ready to have them in my house.

Randoms

After coming back from REDES, life was a bit of a rollercoaster. I went to teach class on Monday, first day of the nex trimester, and none of my sutdents were there. Not really none- out of 280 I believe I have about 15 or 20. So, didnºt get to teach my well planned out phrasal verbs lesson. Then, I was told I would no longer be teaching 12th grade but instead move down to 11th because we were getting a new teacher. I was confused about the switch for a while, but i continued to teach my classes Tuesday and Wednesday (thankfully) and Wednesday night I was reassigned to 12th grade, but now with only 4 turmas not my original 6. So Iºll be sad to lose two of my classes but my work load will be a bit easier to handle now. Well, I caught my classes back up to where they needed to be, and I headed out for the weekend. Iºm currently sitting on a mission, at Scooterºs site, waiting for her to get out of class. I got in yesterday afternoon and Iºve had a great time since. The mission not only has a school but an orphanage for young girls, so yesterday and today Iºve been runnning around and playing with all the young girls and talking tothe nuns when I find my Portuguese. Itºs such a welcoming and comfortable environment here- I feel completely at ease. Also, I met up with two of the girls from my group at REDES lst week, Sandra and Sandra. They were so excited to see me and it was wonderful to catch up a bit with them. Well, looks like Iºm off for now- should be a fun weekend- and I promise to get better at this blog writing.

REDES

This entire past week I have been at a conference in Xai Xai with girls from my REDES group. REDES is a program to educate and empower young girls of Mozambique, definitely a project I am very interested in continuing and emproving upon in my town. Well, this week we had a conference and I was able to bring two girls from my town. It was such an amazing time! In all we had about 90 people there, about 15 of those were PCVs the rest Mozambican teachers and young girls. Everything about the week was great, but one thing that really hit me was what an oppotunty this is for these girls. For most of the people coming to the conference, this is the first and possibly only time they will stay in a hotel and be waited on the way they were. Girls here in Moz are sued to waking up early, cleaning, cooking, taking care of the family, maybe having the chance to go to school, working in the machambas, and not really having much of a chance to enjoy their youth and freedom as kids. Well, this week the girls didnºt have to clean, didnºt cook, had hot showers, got to learn, play, and meet people from all over the southern region of Moz. Not to mention we were staying on the beach. An added bonus. It was a lot of work for us volunteers but i canºt imagine another way iºd rather spend my energy and time. It was a very rewarding experience. Also, I was a counselour for one of the groups, andI got to know some of the girls very well. By the end of the week I was like their mom away from home- theyºd come to me with questions, problems, or when they were excited about something. The girls in my group were the oldest at the conference, 21years old and up, so it was a bit easier to empathize with them on certain things, but by the end of the week I really felt like iºd established friendships and bonds with the girls. It was hard to say goodbtye, knowing I probably wonºt get to see these girls again. But what an amazing conference.

R & R

I spent the entire day on my porch with my neighbors reading, playing cards, talking, listening to music, and just sitting. My neighbor Suma comes over often to practice English, learn new words, and give me new music he’s found, so today we spent the majority of the day trading said words and music. He’s also, slowly, trying to teach me Changana, but really I’m not getting too far there. I’ve got the introductions ok, but beyond that it’s starting to all sound like vowels and whistling pushed together. Anyways, it was another big day on the friend front for me today because I feel like I actually have a friend now, not just an acquaintance- I have someone who I can have a legit conversation with (in a mix of English and Portuguese) and who I actually enjoying spending time with, rather than feeling obligated and uncomfortable. Plus, since he’s younger, I don’t have to take myself so seriously or have to watch what I say and how I act, like I do when I’m around colleagues. One word to describe today would be Relief.

Dia de Mulher

Very cool day. They don’t have Mother’s Day here, instead they celebrate all women, Mozambican or not  The morning started with a ceremony out in primero bairro (first neighborhood- I live in the seventh). I went with my neighbor Professor Nelson, and I got to wear my Dia de Mulher capoolana. It has a picture of Josina Machel, the wife of the first President of Mozambique, who is commemorated on April 7th. Once at 1st bairro we met up with other professors and students, we sang the national anthem, and then gathered under a tree for the ceremony. I was asked to sit up in the front, with the school director, and two other women. I was hesitant at first but they wouldn’t take no for an answer. But it turned out great- I had a front row seat to the dancing the older women did, the dancing and singing of the small primary school kids, they skit my students put on, and the commemoration speech dedicated to Josina Machel. Director was wonderful, explaining what was going on when people were speaking in Changana, and giving me short history lessons about Dia de Muhler. It was great to see all the women of the town getting into the ceremony and the men taking more of a backseat. Women here are absolutely amazing, and I was proud to participate in a day to honor them. I actually thought that they were going to ask me to say something, seeing as though everyone else I was sitting with was participating in the ceremony, but in the end I didn’t. But I had a few words prepared in Portuguese, so I was ready just in case.

After the ceremony, I caught a ride back home, did some laundry, some cooking, and some test preparation (it’s finals week at school), then Prof Nelson invited me to a soccer game. Because Mozambicans tend to be quite behind schedule, even though I was an hour and a half late to the game they were still waiting for players, so I kicked the ball around with my students for a bit. They were surprised that I could keep up (but just barely) and it was pretty refreshing spending some time with my students outside of the classroom. The game ended up being between students that live at the internato (boarding school) and students from another bairro. I think I was the only girl at the field, but I’m getting used to that. We ended up winning 2-1, just in time to watch the sun go down.

I had dinner at Professora Carlota’s house with Prof Telma, Prof Edward, Prof Armindo, and Prof Fenias. I probably spent more time talking to Carlota’s kids and Telma’s nieces than I did the adults, but my language is still slowly coming along. Regardless, I feel like I’m actually starting to fit in. I think today was one of the first days where I’ve felt like a friend rather than a foreigner. It was pretty great.

Easter Weekend

This week has been a pretty rewarding week. After spending what seemed like forever away from site, in Maputo and Xai Xai, I got back and had a successful few lessons, preparing my students for their upcoming trimester finals. At least I really hope I prepared them- I’ll know a bit better Friday after they’ve taken the test. Prepared or not, I felt great about this last week, like I was finally getting somewhere with them.
This weekend has been pretty nice. I don’t teach on Thursdays and Friday was Good Friday so no afternoon class, so it was a four day weekend. I did a lot of reading, napping, cooking, and wandering. Valerie came to visit on Friday- it was great to have my first visitor! It was a little strange, and because it was a holiday weekend my town was absolutely deserted, but I think she enjoyed it. On Friday we went to my adopted family’s house (they have taken me in and are absolutely amazing). We talked for a few hours but fugired (fugir = to leave, or escape really) before we were roped in for the 5 hour long dinner process. Instead we went back on Saturday, ate lunch, and made peanut butter cookies. Delicious! They offer to let me use their oven all the time, and after having made these cookies, I think I’m going to take them up on that offer and see if I can’t perfect a few things while I’m over here. Not really sure if they liked them (they’re not used to peanut butter) but if not they were still very gracious about it all. Saturday morning we had a brief thunderstorm. Woke me up just before 6 and by 7:30 I had the all my basias and bidons (buckets) full of fresh rain water, the dishes washed, laundry soaking, and breakfast made- all before miss Val was up. I’m still not sure how she slept through it all- the thunder was the loudest thunder I think I have ever heard. It was insane.
Today, I negared (negar = to decline, or reject) from going to church, even though it’s Easter Sunday. But a 5 or 6 hour long service in Changana just didn’t seem like the most exciting way to spend my afternoon. Instead, I sat on my stoop, watched my geese, goats and chickens that went by, read a good book, and played with Lucy. My neighbor brought me some cake and flan she’d made, which was delicious, and in the evening her sons and a few other people came over the chat and hang out. Usually I like to be in my house relaxing once the sun goes down, but today was so enjoyable hanging outside with them. There was (and probably still is) a lightning storm going on off in the distance so I was watching that as well as talking with them, practicing my Portuguese and Changana. At one point the boys were making fun or me for being afraid of a beetle that was hanging out on the stoop with us, but only a few minutes later said beetle (who was at least the side of a golf ball, with a huge hooked nose- disgusting) had flown right into my head and was taking up a residence in my hair. They thought it was hilarious as it burrowed but regardless they helped to get it out. This is why I don’t like bugs- they seem to love me.
It was a very relaxing week and weekend, and I’ve felt very much a part of my community lately. I’m obviously always going to be an outsider, but within the last week I’ve felt a bit more a part of things. Between having my new ‘family’ really taking me in, and my neighbors coming over just to be around, I’m feeling really great about things. I’m hoping that feeling continues 

Daily Obsevations

Nothing too spectacular has happened today- I’ve completed about 15 things on my to-do list (granted they are things like do dishes and enter grades- nothing too big) so that’s been an accomplishment. But a few things I’ve taken note of throughout my day. 1) Even after three months of running in the mornings, people still stare like they’ve never seen me before. And they still expect me to stop running to chit chat with them, even though I don’t know Changana. But they are so very friendly and I love that part. 2) No matter what you say to a child, they will answer with ‘sim’ (yes). I guess it’s a good thing, to be training the kids to be obedient and only spoke when they’re spoken to, but it’s a bit ridiculous. I say “good morning!” “sim”, “How are you?”, “sim”, “the sky is purple” “sim”… and it continues. I think the most frustrating part is I will say hello in three languages, sometimes four (I toss French in when I’m bored) and yet they don’t seem to want to respond. Ok, so most kids around here only speak Changana, so if I speak in Portuguese they don’t understand, but my Changana is good enough that they should at least understand “Lixilli!” (bon dia, bonjour, good morning, take your pick). Another frustrating part about this set up is in my classes, my students respond with “sim” no matter what- if they understand or not. I’ve learned I cannot ask yes or no questions in the class because it’s an automatic yes. Eepa! 3) Public urination is acceptable just about anywhere. On my way to the market a boy, probably about 10, stopped, peed in the road, and then continued walking. Granted he was only 10, but still. 4) Lucy thinks she’s invisible when she’s in the grass. She’s adorable trying to stalk the chickens and ducks that come through the yard, and even cuter when she gets scared of them and runs away. 5) If I’m not wearing plastic flip flops, it’s possible for any appliance in my house to shock me. Today I’ve been zapped by my computer, my fan, my stove, my stabilizer, and my ipod. 6) My ridiculous fear of spiders that I thought I had overcome is in fact still oppressing me. While sitting outside reading I saw, from the corner of my eye, a giant stripped arachnid coming to attack me. I processed to leap into the air, grab my flip flop, and attempt to squash it. However, he ran into my house and hid. I didn’t stop the search until he was clearly dead and removed from my house (where Lucy ate him). I guess the thought that living among all sorts of bugs would cure me of my irrational fear- flooding technique- nope, not working. Still creepy and disgusting.

Week at the beach

Was a fabulous break! We had our first In Service Training this week and it was wonderful. Not only did I get to spend time with all the other Moz 14 teachers in the Southern region, but we stayed on the beach and got at least a little sun time each day. And this training came at the perfect time. We were all able to swap stories and share experiences and ideas. I’m really excited to get back into the swing of school and get my students whipped into shape. I have a few great turmas and many great students, I just have to get them a bit more motivated and I think they’ll make my life a bit easier and more enjoyable. Anyways, the conference was great. I missed my fellow volunteers a lot. And I can’t believe I’ve already been at site alone for over three months! This weekend makes 6 months that I’m been gone from home. Crazy. Time is flying. I’m sure I’ve said this many times, but I can’t stress it enough- life is an emotional rollercoaster here. Each day I go from sad to excited, to lonely, to loved, to bored, to frustrated, to confused, to proud, and on and on… It makes the days longer than I care to acknowledge at the moment, but time really is going by pretty fast. And I’m getting my girls group up and running this week. They had their first meeting this past weekend, but because I wasn’t here I’m not really sure what happened, if they even had it. Either way, I’m looking forward to get the ball rolling, and get things ready for the conference that’s coming up in a few weeks.

I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I got back into the swing of life after spending a week on the beach. I think the only real problem I’ve run into so far is my withdrawals from air conditioning. It’s brutal going from a fabulously cool hotel room to a 35 degree room with no circulation. Eeepa! Well, the kids missed me while I was gone- I came home to a porch full of them again today. And Lucy is getting so big! She’s starting to actually look like a cat and just a baby. She loves cheese- it’s like cat nip for her. Ridiculous. She still refuses to eat unless it’s off of my plate, and when she got my cheese today she went nuts. I think she successfully knocked everything off of every surface possible, including leftovers, a few knives, some books, etc. She’s currently hanging from my fan, rotating, and biting at the wind. She’s yet to notice the praying mantis or the lizards on the wall. She was playing with an ant a few minutes ago, but her favorites are still cockroaches. She bats them around for a bit, flips them over, watches them squirm, usually walks away for a bit so I can accidentally step on it, then she’ll carry it around her mouth for a while, showing off, before she eats it. What a kitty.

Well, I’m off to bed. I’m officially starting my training for our adventure run, happening in June. Several volunteers, myself included obviously, are planning a 35km run between two volunteer sites. So far I think there are 6 people of so, probably more. I can only imagine how funny we’re going to look- a heard of mulungos running on the site of the highway- epic. I’ll make sure we have a photographer in the group.

Wireless

Mom, Dad, Nana, you'll all be happy to know that today I set up my bluetooth and I now have wireless internet on my computer whenever I want (hypothetically). This means more posts. I promise. However these new posts will start tomorrow, or even later tonight, because at the current moment there is much needed facebook stalking and Perez Hilton searching to do. I'm sure you understand.

Men vs Women

Gender roles are very different here- women seem to be the badasses of Mozambique while the men, well they’re just kinda there. Maybe this is just my opinion, but let me try to enlighten you. The women are the ones who work in the machambas (fields, gardens) starting at 4 in the morning. They work all morning then many come in to the market to sell what they collected in the morning. Women are the ones who cook lunch and dinner for the men. Women are the ones that kill and skin/gut/pluck the chickens/ pigs/ goats/ fish, what have you, for meals. Women are the ones that carry water from the canal to their homes on their heads. Women do the laundry everyday. Women raise the children (and of course give birth to said children). Women are pretty much badasses. However, when it comes to who’s in charge, the story seems to change a bit. From my point of view, the men are still typically head of the household, but I’m striving to figure out why.

I had an interesting conversation with one of my fellow professors the other night. He was talking about how it’s common for men to have not only one wife but several other women in his life. He was telling me that it’s not uncommon for one man to have three wives and three sets of children all under one roof. He gave the excuse that this is partially due to the fact that Mozambique has 8 women to every man, so therefore it’s his responsibility to make sure no women are left alone. Impressive logic huh? Well, I told him that in Alaska there are more men than women so therefore isn’t it my duty, as I woman, to have more men in my life than one? Absolutely not was the answer. I asked it was ok for men to have multiple wives, why not women? Besides the ratio problem he couldn’t think of a reason exactly, other than women just aren’t allowed to do that. They should be happy with their one. I’d like the mention that during this entire conversation his pregnant girlfriend was sitting on the other side of me. The women seem ok with this set up. As far as I can tell, all men have multiple women and all women seem to be doing just fine (besides this insanely high rate of HIV/AIDS here, no doubt passed between an entire town all too quickly). Also, this professor told me he was going to cry when my boyfriend came to visit because then he’d know I really wasn’t going to be with him- again, said in from of his pregnant girlfriend. He’s one of my favorite colleagues- he’s educated, smart, helpful, and a great teacher- but having this conversation with him threw me a bit. If these great, educated men are still acting this way, I don’t see much hope for the others. That or my judge of character is very far off.

Rain, rain, don't go away

It rained and rained and rained today! A fabulous excuse to sit in my house and do nothing but cook mac and cheese and watch episodes of Glee (I may have cried during the pilot episode, when they sang “don’t stop believin”- not going to lie). The day was great- I filled all my buckets in and outside of the house, and was able to just stand outside in the rain and feel it wash the last week off me. Not that Maputo was a bad experience, it was great, but it feels good to be back home and comfortable in my place again. I’m sure my neighbors thought I was insane, standing in the pouring rain smiling. It wasn’t the first time nor will be the last time I surprise them with my weirdness.

Welcome Home!

When I got home today it was such a great feeling to walk through the town and have everyone come up to me and welcome me back. The kids followed me to my house smiling and laughing, and the women in the road were so happy to see me, they would yell from across the road or down the street. Granted I was tired and annoyed from the 7 hour journey they should have taken only 3, but they brightened my day. I went to the loja to buy some food for Lucy, who was also very excited to see me, and I ran into the mayor of the town (at least that’s how he introduced himself to me). We talked for a bit, I talked to some other people in the store, and then he came back and gave me the best compliment I’ve received in a long time. He told me how they all talk about me in the town, and how everyone is so happy that I’m going to be living here for two years. They say I’m a sociable person with a great attitude, I’m very smart, and have a great desire to learn about my town. He said people were so sad when I was gone and people were worried about me. He told me that they feel very lucky to have me in the town and there’s no way they’re letting me leave in two years. I felt amazing. I still feel pretty great about it. I’m sure not everyone in the town has these exact feelings, but really, even if it’s only this man that thinks it, I feel like I’ve been doing something right. Lets just hope this continues.

Big City Life

So I came down to Maputo for a week because I had to have minor surgery on my toe. I had an ingrown toenail removed, and the simple 15 minute procedure turned into an almost 2 hour ordeal. Lets start from the beginning...

Late Wednesday night I got a call from our PC doc asking me to be in Maputo the follwing day before 5pm. The trip isn't too difficult, but I first had to let my school know I was leaving for possibly a week, think of something to give my students for work, tell the other English teacher to help explain my situation to my students, and secure a housesitter for baby Lucy. Thankfully my town gets going around 4:30am so I had plenty of time to get things in order before I left. I ended up waiting for a chapa to pass through my town for about 45 mins, and then once I did get on, we turned around and went the opposite direction. Not my fault, everyone seemed confused on what was going on. Finally we head in the correct direction, i get off at my "stop", immediately get a chapa (unheard of!) and take off for the EN1. About 30 mins in we blow a tire. Awesome. But the driver was incredible- he had all 20 of us off the chapa, tire changed, and back driving within 10 minutes. Impressive work. We ended up picking up a tractor so that slowed our speed quite a bit, so now the hour ride to the EN1 took about 2 hours. Once in Macia, I got in a chapa to Maputo but we had to wait to fill the chapa before we could leave. We drove around for at least an hour (probably more, my sense of time was shot by that point) picking up people, yelling for people to get in ("you know you want to go to Maputo...") and buying bananas and cashews. Ok, once on the road it went pretty smoothly. Once in Maputo the chapa driver kicked me out at my stop, and i caught a bus in the right direction toward the Peace Corps office. Up to this point I believe the trip had taken 5 or 6 hours (if you count the waiting in my town for that first chapa). In a private car, the jounrey takes about 2 hours.

So, once in the bus it was smooth sailing- I met another PCV on her way to the PC office as well so i stuck by her side. From the office I went to the clinic to have my surgery. Silly Anna forgot to eat all day (I didn't have money to buy bananas or cashews unfortunately), so when the doc started sticking me with the needle and pumping my toe full of numbing meds I passed out. I woke up in pain with a man in white speaking a funny language standing over me. It took me a few seconds to realize where I was but it came back. I got an IV and oxygen to help bring me back to normal, and then realized I couldn't move my limbs. I could feel my legs and arms yet had no strength to move them at all. Crazy! The doc didn't seem too worried, so he cut into my toe. My mobility did come back, and after about 30 mins I was able to move all limbs. Yay! The doc was pretty nice, let me lay there and enjoy the oxygen and iv fluids for a while before I had to leave. Two PCVs came to the clinic to meet me and help me get to the hotel with my bag.

It was an interesting day, for sure, but ended fabulously with delicious Thai food, 4 PCVs together hanging out and swapping site stories, a king size bed, and thick curtains that let in no light for me to sleep in.

My week in Maputo consisted of a lot of restuarants, CNN, air conditioning, MTV (called TRACE here), ice cream, and daily trips to the doctor to check on my stitches. I did see Anchorage on CNN which made my day and (as previously stated in a blog) received a few boxes which made my month. I'm off to site tomorrow morning- back to the real world! I'm curious what my students have been doing for the last week and if they'll be at all prepared for the presentations they'll be giving on Monday...

NO MORE PACKAGES

I'm so very greatful that people have been sending me packages, and I get SO excited at the thought of getting one, however due to the lack of packages that have arrived and the ridiculousness that is the Mozambican postal system, I'm asking you not to send any more packages. It's too much stress on myself and you, wondering if it will get here, or if it's already here but sitting in some back room unaccessable... Anyways, I may change my mind after a few months, but for now NO MORE PACKAGES. Letters are more than welcome!! I love letters. Actually I encourage letters. Just nothing bigger than a manila envelope. Thank you.

Already March!

So, the last month has flown by, and I can't say it's been completely uneventful but nothing too extreme has really happened. I came down to Maputo a few weeks ago to help plan a REDES conference. REDES is a girls group started here to develope and empower young girls in Mozambique. I'm really looking forward to getting more involved in the program and starting my own group in my town. There seems to be a lot of interested coming from the girls so that's exciting. While in Maputo I was about to take my first warm water shower since my first weekend in Mozambique. It was amazing!! I had AC, running warm water, Chinese/Indian/Thai/Italian food (that i didn't have to cook), American television... it was 2 days of heaven! It was also great to spend time with other PCVs I haven't seen in a while, as well as other Americans I met in Maputo. I hear people's experiences that aren't in Peace Corps was pretty exciting. I went to the apartment of a friend- he lives on the 16th floor, and the view was unreal. Not that it would be considered anything out of the ordinary in the states, but I didn't feel like I was in Mozambique while I was up there. The city lights, cars, city sounds, and of course the Ensligh that was being spoken on the balcony, I felt like I was back in the US.

As great as those 2 days were, I was pretty excited to get back to site and start teaching again. And to see Lucy of course. She's getting bigger everyday.

English classes are coming along. I started English club last week and that was a huge hit. The kids that want to come are so excited to learn Engish and so motivated, it's very encouraging. And the great thing about this group is it's a small group and I don't have to plan too much, so it's a small amount of work that I'm excited to do.

I feel like an awful blogger, not having much else to say. I did receive a few packages this week, so they are getting here, slowly. Thank you to everyone who has sent/is sending/will be sending me letters or packages. It's so exciting to get things in the mail.

Time is absolutely flying here- It's already been over 5 months!

Minha Casa