Random Run-in

Last weekend, after a dance party on a roof in downtown Maputo and then a dramatic downpour of rain, we (myself and several other PCVs) got a ride home from a friend of Ali’s. His passenger in the front turns around and looks at me, says “You’re Anna, from Namaacha right?” “Yes…..”
I respond, slightly taken aback. “I did your dreadlocks two years ago.” How random! It definitely took me by surprise. We talked about how long I had my dreads, why I no longer do, and the fact that we were on TV together last year. Strange end to an interesting and eventful evening.

Mini English Lesson

On my way home from work yesterday I ran into a young girl who approached me and asked if I could help her with her English homework. I explained to her that I would help her by explaining what she didn’t understand, not by writing her composition for her. She said she understood and still wanted to come by for help. It was so wonderful to sit and talk with her, someone who was motivated to learn and learn correct information. That sentiment seems to be lost on most people. Usually I don’t like to be singled out, but it was SO refreshing to be sought out by someone who genuinely wanted to learn, and someone I was able to help.

Frustration

I was so beyond upset yesterday after 2 things happened: 1) I came home and there were two children in our yard climbing a guava tree. I yelled at them to get down, but before I could unlock the gate and get to them, they jumped the fence and took off running. NONE of my neighbors helped me locate these kids and their parents, even thought EVERY single neighbor I have saw what was happening. 2) Two little boys were yelling and throwing rocks at Amenduim from my neighbor’s house and their mother was just sitting watching them, laughing, even after I told them to stop.

One thing I still can't come to grips with here is the apparent lack of parental guidance. Culturally, child rearing here is VERY different than I'm used to, and I recognize that, but still the fact that parents (let's be honest, mothers, because fathers are virtually non-existent here) don't seem to play much of a role in disciplining their children is difficult for me to get. After speaking to all of the women who live around our house, they all understand that we don’t appreciate their kids throwing rocks at our house and jumping into our yard when we’re not home. For the record, when it comes to school, many parents don’t see the importance of school so they do not monitor their child’s schooling- if s/he does their homework, passes each grade level, or even goes to school.) For me, it seems like a small thing to set boundaries, ie “go to school”, or “don’t throw rocks at the neighbor’s house/dog”. Instead the mothers act like they don’t see it. The 11pm screaming games they play just outside our house, the constant “Mulungo! Mulungo!” after I say “my name is not Mulungo, it’s Tia Ana”, turning off our water. They act like it’s not their job to control their kids, but isn’t it? At least to an extent? Then again, I don’t have kids…

Again, I understand that things are different here, and I’m sure the mothers care deeply for their kids, but I still can’t seem to get how often they turn the other way and act ignorant when I know they’re not. Is it because we’re the foreigners? Do they get away with all this with other people in the community?

Our water situation...

This is our bath bucket. This is the water that comes out of the hose in our yard, the water we’re using to bathe, cook, drink, clean, etc. A little ridiculous, is it not? Do I really feel cleaner AFTER taking a bath?

SHENZI!!!

Our new puppy, who was named after a hyena in The Lion King. We think he’s about 5 weeks? And absolutely adorable.


This is little Shenzi trying to eat the leftover pasta out of the pot. He got stuck on the wooden spoon a few times

St Patties!!!

A group of about 20 PCVs came to the beach in Xai Xai for a weekend of celebration. No, I’m not Irish but I can still enjoy St Patrick’s day! We wave surfed, threw the WaBoBa (WaterBouncyBall is our understanding. Scooter gave herself an enormous knot in her back from her 4hours of continuous play), soaked up some sun, ate green food, drank green beverages, and caught up with volunteers from all over the south. A great, festive weekend, and believe it or not, I even got some work done :)

Lemon and guava and mango OH MY!

I'm not used to having to many fruit trees in my yard! Guava, mango, papaya, lemon - It's wonderful- at any time of the day I can walk outside and grab a snack, or fresh juice to use in tea. I've been on a lemon kick lately- lemon juice goes in EVERYTHING!

Several of the neighbor kids come by just about every day to ask to pick from our "peara" tree (a guava tree from what I'm told). They know the drill- I come out, grab hold of Amenduim, open the gate, and the kids get one minute to gather as much fruit as possible. The second or third time they came to the house, I heard one little boy tell a girl "we only get one minute! move fast!" They fill their pockets, turn their shirts into bags, and hit up as many trees as posible. Yesterday there were three kids in a tree at once, grabbing at fruit, shaking branches. They're pretty amusing to watch.

Scooter and her Piri Piri

The other night, Scooter and I had a visitor, another PCV named Jonathon, so we decided to head to a bar and grab a beer and socialize a little. We all have a weakness for samussas (ESPECIALLY from this particular bar) so we were pretty excited when we saw they had them.

Scooter (to me in English): Oh look! They have samussas! we should get some.
Scooter (to the vendor in Portuguese): We'd like 3 beers. Do you have Piri Piri?
Two vendors look at each other but nobody says a word. You can see the wheels turning in the man's head- She wants hot sauce for her beers? Who is this crazy white lady? I'm not going to give it to her- that's just too weird.
He takes a few steps backwards, and continues to look at us, a look of disgust forming on his face, trying very hard not to answer our question.
At the same moment, Scooter and I realize she hadn't mentioned samussas to them, just to me, and we burst out laughing.
We clear up the confusion, asking for a plate full of samussas to accompany the piri piri, and both vendors let go of the breaths they'd been holding.
Female vendor: So you're not going to put piri piri in your beer? Ok, then yes, I think we have some.

We just keep seem to adding to the stereotype of "those crazy white people," trying to ruin our perfectly fine beers with hot sauce.

Fun times in 3 days

Favorite moments between Tues 7am until Thurs 6pm...
- visited 3 different PCVs, had two official meetings and visited 6 different towns.
- rode in 24 different vehicles
- saw a semi-truck with the windshield FULL of beanie babies
- a man's polo shirt with a dragon embroidered on the front
- was startled awake while sitting on the toilet, reaching for the TP, when a gecko who was sleeping inside the TP roll leapt onto my arm
- a MAN gave up his seat on a bus for a WOMAN with a baby. Unheard of
- 7th car (of 24)- whenever he hit the brakes, the music would stop
- 11th car (of 24)- as we talked about the horrible traffic I said, "It must be because it's lunch time, everyone is going somewhere." The driver, "oh no, lunch is at 12. It's only 11" While saying this, he points to the clock on the dash which reads 11:58.
- Made it to and from my bed in the time I had originally planned :)

Meetings

I was invited to a meeting with the Ministry of Science and Technology, along with representatives from all districts in Gaza and several professors. Important meeting. Very different from a meeting in the states.

1. We started an hour and a half late, because the boss-man was late;
2. People were STILL walking in late;
3. Boss-man (Minister of S and T) would answer his phone in mid sentence of talking to us;
4. The presenter was clueless to what he was presenting, like he hadn't practiced at all;
5. Boss-man in turn ripped the presenter apart, telling him "that's wrong" "change that" "research this". I'm sure he was right but the presenter never got more than 5 words in without being interrupted;
6. Invitees were asked to present (without being informed ahead of time). Turns out the invitee was yours truly- not sure it was the best presentation of my life, but I got through..
7. When wrapping up the meeting, each person (whether they want to or not) individually, must talk about the meeting- what they liked, learned, any feedback, questions, etc (note: this went on for an hour).

Several things-
-If the person before you, who has given feedback for +5 minutes, has mentioned everything you want to say, is it imperative that you repeat everything again? Almost word for word?
-Also, if you're going to make an annual calendar and plan events for January and February, it might be helpful to have the planning meeting BEFORE March. Just a thought.

Hokwe!!

Yesterday I went to visit my old site for the afternoon. It was amazing!!! I will admit, when I left back in November, I didn't have the best feelings about coming back to visit. Well, I was pleasantly surprised by what a great time I had. I got into town and went straight to the new house of my empregada, Cristina (the one with the two MOST ADORABLE kids on the planet). Eloite and Rafito were SOOOO excited to see me, they came running out of the bushes with their arms outstretched and lept onto me. For a few hours I talked with Cristina about how she's been doing, how Rafito has started school and LOVES doing homework, and trying to arrange a way for her to come visit me. And to eat with our tea, she bought me bread and bagias because she knows I love them so much :)

Next I went to visit my old house, where another teacher is now living, and all my old neighbor kids. They had about the same reaction- running towards me with outstretched arms. They followed me to the school where I was able to see so many of my old students, a few different teachers, and my director. So many of my students came up and gave me hugs- I'm assuming that means they have good memories of me rather than me yelling at them or giving them too much work ;)

I stopped by the store a used to visit on a daily basis to talk to Rafael- he was beside himself that I actually came back to say hi. Then I visited the parents of one of my REDES girls, to talk and eat and catch up on how they spent their holidays.

It was a wonderful trip- very rushed (I was only there about 4 hours) but for my first time back I think it was great. Next time I want to sit down with all my REDES girls and see how they're doing, help Cristina with her machamba, study with Rafito, and of course visit my adopted Moz family.

Also, a new record- in 4 hours I had tea 3 times, lunch twice, and got well over 100 hugs. Big morning!

Maputo

It's been a kinda crazy week- meetings in the city, traveling up to Gaza, finally getting some progress on work. Last night was a nice break from everything- we found a hole in the wall restaurant which was amazing! We had to walk through a courtyard and then through a random restuarant and ended up in what looked like a run down fair, with bumper cars and a ferris wheel. Where we ate was an authentic Korean place, where we cooked our our food at the table. It was amazing!! Me and Michelle, another PCV, were the only non-Asian diners at the place.
After dinner we went out and convinced the bumpercar attendent guy that it wasn't too late and he should let us drive around for awhile. It was a very awesome 3 minutes.

Now I'm headed back home, to finalize some work, spend some time with Amenduim, and try to keep our house from flooding. We've had 3 (or is it 4?) cyclones his Mozambique so far in the last few months- another is expected to hit tomorrow. I'm guessing for me that means no power, inability to leave my house due to the yard flooding, and bi-hourly water removel from my room and the kitchen. Should be a good time...

Rat-killing dog who's affraid of Frogs