January
of 2013. Wow. It has already been over three months since
I have left home. At the beginning of a
new year, make the resolution to actually keep up this blog. It is, after all,
one of my job descriptions as a Peace Corps Volunteer to share my experiences
with home.
I was petrified in September when we
were handed off to our host moms, or I should say our maes (you have to clarify
when talking to a PCV, if you say mom, you mean mom in the states. If you say mai, you mean your host mom back
in Namaacha). Anyways, I’ve been out of training and at site in Montepuez, Cabo
Delgado for almost a month now. As nervous
as I was then, I never could have imagined how much I would miss her handing me
my juice box and crackers (yep, that happened) before bouncing off to language
classes and returning home to a perfectly prepared plate of fried fish or bean
stew (didn’t appreciate that enough until I actually tried to do these things
by myself for the first time…). I miss
my host brother, Jose (17), who was always there to interpret my butchered
Portu-Span-Glish. I miss my sisters
Laurenciana (14) and Carla (11) who would just shake their heads and laugh at
me while I ran around the house/yard bringing them everything but what they
asked for. I miss my host pae, Adriano,
who would always try to have an intelligent conversation with me about the
state of our great nation when the same episode of 60 Minutes came on what felt
like every evening. I miss the slew of
nieces, nephews, and grandkids that always got in trouble for who-knows-what (I
had a hard time learning adults’ names because they never got yelled at…). And my mae, Marta, who taught me everything I
know about how to survive in this country. I will have to devote a whole post, with pictures, to my host family soon.
All in all, things are good. I have an
amazing school director who genuinely seems to care about the students, and me,
thankfully. My neighbors are fantastic,
including the neighbor’s 3 (?) year old daughter, Seul, and her cat who have
pretty much decided to take over my house.
Fine by me except Seul is a bit of a thief and her mom, Marisa, is
constantly bringing back things that Seul has taken home with her. It’s hard to hold a grudge when Seul will
wonder in to the room where you’re sitting minding your own business, climb
into your lap and fall asleep. I have an
awesome site-mate, Will. He thinks I’m a
good cook. I think neither of us
are picky eaters and both like spicy food.
I also have a roommate! That I
haven’t met yet… Mireya is has already been here teaching English for a year
and is home for the holidays. Until she
comes back (two days!!!), I’ve resigned myself to the feeling of living in
someone else’s house. Ever moved into a
house where the person who lives there isn’t there? It’s weird.
School doesn’t actually start until
mid-January but I still have somewhat of a routine:
5
am – Sun rises and so do I
5-6am
– Sweep and haul in water for the day (water only comes out of the spigot until
9:30am and I’m not the only one who uses it)
6-6:30am
– Breakfast!
6:30-8am
– Dishes (and laundry if needed)
8-9am
– Bucket bath, get dressed, sweep
9am
– Poke my head into the school to confirm that I do, in fact, have nothing to
do
9-11am
– Run errands (Market, bank, etc)
11-2pm
– Make lunch (and probably dinner)
2-7pm
– Study Portuguese or chemistry (aka chemistry in Portuguese…Eeek!), talk to my
neighbors, stare at the wall, sweep
7pm-10pm
– Dinner followed by more studying, not blogging, staring at the wall (there are geckos!), bucket
bathing, or watching tv on my computer
10pm
– Bed time!
A little about my site: Northern Mozambique is so different from the
South where we had our training!
Namaacha was perched on the top of a beautiful green mountain. Montepuez is a sandy city sitting in the
shadow of a giant rock, like many found all over this region. I would call it a mountain, but Cabo Delgado is
not “mountainous.” It is really flat, sandy land with really big, cool rocks. There’s even one outside of town that looks
kinda like Pride Rock! Montepuez is the
second largest city in Cabo Delgado.
However, since I’m in a city, it means I have an awesome market with
just about anything I could ask for (at a price, of course). This market is an intricate rat maze which I
have yet to totally figure out. I
couldn’t find the food section last week if my life depended on it (not so
funny when you’re life actually does depend on something… like food) and it’s
mostly luck that I keep finding the food.
I live in a concrete duplex with electricity and an indoor bathroom but
no running water. I share said duplex
with the family of another teacher at my school. My kitchen counter appears to be the bathroom
door Mireya must have pulled off the wall and covered. I have a sandy yard in which I have overpaid
someone to take up the grass and plant corn and peas. We’ll see if I have a green thumb. I was trying to grow mint and cilantro, but
Seul decided to be “helpful” one day... But
she hasn’t gotten to the three huge basil plants already growing in my yard!
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