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.