Ainda, estou em Moçambique.

Maybe it’s the newness of it all or an adrenaline overload, but living in a Mozambican household doesn’t feel so strange or out of the ordinary. Maybe it still hasn’t hit me yet? But, after a week… I feel like it should. Maybe I’ll have one big freak out eventually? But it might be because it’s as if different parts of previous experiences are now coming together, especially China and Honduras. It’s strange to think that China has probably prepared me more for this with the bucket baths, hand pouring water to “flush”, simple electricity setup (TV, lights), and barrels of water collection. I’m pretty much living exactly how my grandparents in China are living.  

I was really excited to meet my host family. We arrived in Namaacha about an hour earlier than expected 11a, and we basically sat there for 1.5 hours.  However, I was still trying to grasp the newness of everything I saw during the drive in. It was the first time that I feel like I really got a real sense of Africa.  But, the families came in singing and dancing, and it was absolutely amazing. It was the first time I think I truly understood what people mean by everything in Africa has its own beat and song. The moms had post-its with our names on it. Apparently it’s not common for people to hug in Moçambique, but in my excitement guess what I did. Haha, my host mom hugged me back so todo e bom. (pronounced: tu-du eh ben). Greetings in Moz: for women, you kiss kiss in the cheek to cheek way. For men, you shake hands. To show respect you cross your left hand to your right elbow and shake or receive/give things that way.

It’s really funny because after the big meeting everything dispersed. I wish I could have had an aerial view of the obvious Americans accompanied by a host mom or family walking down the red dirt roads of Namaacha. Minha mãe (My mom) and I tried to talk to each other while we were walking, but there was definitely a language barrier. I can only think of a few now, but one was religion one. I was Catholic apparently for a day. I’m still not sure how to say Christian in Portuguese, but apparently Christian is close enough to Catholic. I have trouble saying words that end in ã, so when I tried to say I have uma irhmã, it sounded like uma irhmão. Sister is not the same thing as brother. But I did learned how to say street, estrado o rua o avenida, depending on how large it is. Haha.  What a great two days by ourselves with our host family it was going to be. (And it was!)

My host family is meningue nice (some Portuguese slang or carlão for awesome, I think). When I got there, I had to take a banho. Moçambicans take their showers really serious here. Some people are taking three showers a day. Luckily I only have to take two. Now I’m sure you’re thinking, why wouldn’t I want to take as many showers as possible? No, it’s not because they’re bucket baths. It’s because it’s freezing in Namaacha these days. I’m not even sure what temperature it is, maybe somewhere around the 70s. When I shower in my outdoor bathroom and a breeze comes in through the window (large hole not covered well by a piece of wood and shoes) I get real cold real fast. The past few days I’ve been walking around Namaacha in jeans with knee high socks and my hoodie. Yeah, not really my first image of Africa either. However, Namaacha is somewhat of a special case in Moz. We’re located pretty much as south as you can get in Mozambique. A quick hike out of Namaacha leads to the border with Swaziland and South Africa. Also, we’re living in a mountains region which we all know has cooler weather. Anyways, I know a lot of other people also fake their baths. I take a real bath at night, and sometimes if I’m ambitious I rinse myself in the morning. Lately, I’ve only been wetting my hair just to pretend. However, I’m really proud that I managed to talk my way out of showering this morning. The belief is that showers are good for the body (true) and health (true). But I tried (maybe somewhat successfully) that it’s not necessary when it’s cold and all I’m doing at night is sleeping.

Anyways I digressed, but after my shower I tried to unpack-ish, more organize my stuff. My room is a decent size. I have a double sized bed and a dresser/table/chest thing. It’s pretty much this impressive large wooden dresser-sized, chest-like structure that I have my hiking pack on along with my PC issued medical kit and other various items. I also have a PC black plastic bin gift of books and other goodies, which I use the lid and actual bin as additional surfaces. I got my avô (grandfather) to help me put up my mosquito net. It’s pretty impressive: white and porous. I definitely feel safe underneath, although there really haven’t been any bugs (knock on wood). The bug net actually looks a lot like one of those canopy, gauzey, drapey things on post beds every little girl wants because princesses have them. Well, I finally got mine in Mozambique. Take that America. I kid. The sheets here are absolutely crazy patterns. My roof is tin and it’s supported by wooden posts. When it rained the first time, I learned that I definitely have a leaky roof. It’s not too bad though, and most nights I’m too exhausted to mind. However, the thunderstorms here are crazy. The lights are bright and the sounds are loud.

Anyways, I really enjoyed lunch. We had some sort of chicken curry type dish with salad and beets and I can’t remember. But mom, you’d be glad to know that I actually like eating vegetables here, almost maybe even more than the meat. Gasp! Yes. Everything (green) tastes good, maybe fresh. Is that what I taste? And the fruits, don’t even get me started. Apparently some PCV develop tooth sensitivity because the fruits are much more acidic here. Afterwards, I sat outside in the shade and helped peel peanuts they’ll use for food and plant. I was able to somewhat learn and meet other people in the family, but it’s difficult because of language issues. I feel pretty awful sometimes for not remembering people’s names, but that’s the case with all names. Non-american ones are that much more difficult for me.

What I know so far is that I’m living in the grandparents house. But my brother also lives here. However, I think normally my mom and sister live in another house. My grandma is originally from South Africa and married over here. She had 9 children, so I have 9 aunts and uncles. A few live around Namaacha still (so many relations and names to learn/remember), but it seems like the two sons (uncles) I’ve meet have moved away. One is a Portuguese teacher.  My sister is the same age as me, but I don’t really see her that often. She’s in 11^th grade and has been learning some English, which has been helpful. My grandpa is a contract truck driver and seems like he’s travelled (I use this word loosely) around Moçambique a lot. My aunt owns a store/bar? in front of the house. Mhmmm what else do I know? Hopefully I’ll learn more if I can get over my language problem. However, we do enjoy the same pop Hip-Hop, R&B music. I've endeared myself to my brother by burning him a CD. Bonus points for me.

Sunday, I woke up around 7 and cleaned my room – tidying and mopping my room. Yes mom, I was not only up, but fed, clean, and dressed before 8. I went to igreja (church) with my family. They’re Presbyterian and the whole service was in Chengana, a local language. Hoyohoyo is Chengana for welcome. But, service there was interesting. We were sitting outside and there was a lot of singing (man can they sing), but in the end it was still service. I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t get bored, I can’t even understand Portuguese, much less Chengana. But there were two other PCTs there (their host families were Presbyterian too). At the end, we got to stand with the important people and shake everyone’s hand in the congregation. Although it was nice, I’m not sure I would go again.

I want my Sundays. My free time is crucial for my sanity. I’m sure other PCTs/PCVs know, but PST is packed completely FULL. If I’m not in language classes, I’m in technical classes. When I’m not in classes, I’m getting ready for class, doing basic needs stuff, and hanging out with my host family. However, hanging out is a euphemism. Don’t get me wrong, I love my host family. They are amazing, but it is draining trying to talk in Portuguese or trying to talk your way around Portuguese by finding Spanish words they know. I’ve been getting a lot of headaches because I’ve been thinking a lot (thinking… scary). It’s completely true that Portuguese and Spanish are very similar, but they are completely different languages. Total immersion is the best way to quickly learn a language, but even then…  It’s challenging every minute, every day. The moments I’m actually having a progressive conversation are golden. It really helps my self-esteem because I’m flailing in my language class. Everyone else can already talk comfortably in Portuguese. I have a ways to go, but I’m trying! I even managed to joke around and laugh with my host mom today! Success! I told her I didn’t really like chickens because I thought they were stupid. She then asked me if I liked ducks. I say yes, eating them. Haha. Yeah, that’s a major successful conversation there. Yet, the moments I can have conversations and fully express myself in English are breathes of fresh air. The little things, we need them.

I have language classes at 7:30a til 9:30a, so I’m up around 6 to take a bath, tidy/clean/wash my room, and eat. Most days we have technical training at 10 at the secondary school. Why the 30 minute interval? A break? Não (no), because it takes that long to walk there, and sometimes when we take the corto-mata (short cut), I’m hiking up red mud hills. Tech classes break at 12p for a 1:30 hour lunch break. But if I have more tech classes afterwards, I just bring my lunch. The walk back and forth itself would take up most of the time. After lunch, it’s either more tech classes or more language classes until 5:30p.  Afterwards, I take a bath, help with dinner, eat dinner, hanging out a little with the family, and then I’m off to do TPC (Trabajo para casa – homework). I’m out usually around 9/10ish, wake up at 6 and repeat Monday – Friday. On Saturday we have more language classes until 12p. (It’s only been a week, I know. But, we have our schedule for the next 10 weeks, and that’s exactly what it’s going to be for the next 9 weeks.) It is an absolutely full and packed schedule. I’m pretty much going straight from 6a – 9p every day.

The first day we reconvened after homestay, was a full language day. Portuguese from 9-5:30. We walked around to get to know Namaacha better and saw other language groups. It was a hug feast for me. Even though it was less than 2 days since I saw these people, it felt like forever. I’ve known them for about a week now. I don’t know how I can emphasis this enough. PC is intense. Intense learning, training, bonding, and friendships. Remember those breathes of fresh air? Yeah, I think of someone suffocating, and finally being able to take that delicious yet painful and shallow breathe. But it’s also crazy how fast we can spread rumors without cellphones. It was probably an hour before all 71 on of us heard that someone had already ETed (early terminated). It wasn’t true, but fofoca (gossip) spreads fast here.

We’ve also been to visit the mountains and waterfall near Namaacha. We definitely do a lot of walking around here.  But, the mountains were absolutely gorgeous. Rainy and foggy. The waterfall wasn’t much of a waterfall, but I’m sure once the dry season ends, it’ll be crazy (hopefully). Although, I might go crazy if I decide to make the trek again and the water amount stays the same.

Speaking of water, Peace Corps has decided to give us water filters that do NOT work. 71 filters and they don’t work. Well the tap doesn’t screw on tight enough for us to use it. That’s if we’ve received taps period. I unfortunately didn’t receive mine, but since then I’ve gotten a nice replacement one.  However these days I’ve been bleaching my water to drink. Don’t freak out. I’m only adding 2 drops per liter and thinking of the alternatives… I’ll take the bleach. I’ve also been buying water at the market too.

Random Things about Moz because I don't have time:

• Chickens sleep in trees at night.
• Our malaria meds are crazy – vivid dreams (of you guys of course) and hysterical crying starts if you start laughing.
• Everyone here speaks Portuguese, but the older generations know a local language (in Namaacha it’s Changana), but it seems most of the younger generations are doing all their formal language in Portuguese. My nephew can’t speak Changana, but understands it.
• We burn trash.
• I WAS IN A CHINESE STORE IN MAPUTO WHICH HAS CHINESE EVERYTHING! (Mom, they even have sesame shampoo for dark hair sheen)
• Howzit? Is a legit phrase. And I like to say it a lot.
• I haven’t gone around taking pictures yet because you have to ask permission. I can’t quite do that yet, so yeah. 
• You know those large vans we have Stateside? That's public transportation here. And you can fit 24+ people in there. Oh yeah. I definitely got to know my neighbors well.

Things I’d love to get:

• Spices
• Candy, please.
• OMG GUM! It's so expensive here (70 mtc for like 10 pieces, and I only got 1200 for two weeks, so yeah)
• Instant hand sanitizer
• Shampoo
• Toothbrush cover
• Febreze 
• CDs with new TV Shows/Movies

 I'm out of time. Sorry for the random update that probably doesn't let you guys know anything about Mozambique itself. I'll make sure to include a thorough description next time. 

Also, call me!

How to call (I'm not positive):

Dial 011-258-82-065-3973! <-- That's my mcel (provider) number.

If that doesn't work you can also try : 011-258-84-713-7579 (I only use this if the mcel network stops working).