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!