4 October 2012

4 October 2012

I've been with my Host family in the training village for almost a week.  It feels like an eternity--in a really good way. In the--I've been having so much fun I can't believe that my life hasn't always been like this--way. I've learned a ton of Portuguese and how to do stuff that I thought I already knew how to do in the proper Mozambique-y way--like how to fry an egg or take a bath.  Basically, I'm just a giant baby who doesn't know how to do anything.  Good thing my Host Mae is super patient. 

My first two days were absolutely crazy.  I mostly just stayed where I was put until I was moved somewhere else because I had no idea what was going on 95% of the time.

When we arrived from Maputo my Host sister picked me up from the school and walked me home.  I was expecting quiet and quaint African life.  Nope.  There were probably 100 people in my tiny house preparing for a wedding when she and I got home.  Talk about timing. I was expecting shell-shock but this was insane. My sister took me around and introduced me to people.  Because I couldn't find any words she would feed me lines and tap me with her elbow to get me to say the right thing at the right time.  My Mae showed me my room and then feed me a "small" lunch.  I had a chicken leg and french fries an orange and a coke.  Then she put me back into my room for a few hours.  I took a nap and she collected me and brought me out to the wedding.  There were speeches and singing and dancing.  It was pretty awesome.  So, I've finally been to a wedding for anyone keeping score at home. 

After the wedding was finally cleaned up and I figured out who actually lives in my house things settled down and I started feeling a bit less speechless/helpless/terrified.  My Mae is super nice and teaches me tons of stuff.  I get up around 6:15 and take a bath and eat breakfast--which has been an adventure.  I get fried eggs or fried bologna with french fries.  There's always a plate of bread and a jar of peanut butter.  My family has hosted a volunteer before, so they already have some ideas about what all Americans are like.  We like to run (this was the very first question they asked me "Do you run?"  Maybe it's the weirdest thing Americans do--they run in circles around town in the mornings) and eat peanut butter.

After breakfast I walk to class--we start at 7:30. Our classes take place in a variety of places.  Lately we've been having language classes all day so I go to my neighbor's house.  There are 4 other folks in my language class and we all sit on the porch and have intense Portuguese class with our own tutor.  It's pretty sweet; I'm learning a lot.  We get done with class around 4 or 4:30 and then we're free until 7.  We walk down the street and drink cokes at a local watering hole. Then, we return to our houses for our 2nd baths and dinner. 

The food here has been awesome.  The host Maes here take pride in taking the best care of their volunteers, which translates loosely to "making their volunteers fat", so most of my friends are way over-fed and sometimes are fed things they don't like.  My Mae always asks if I eat things and lets me serve myself, so I basically hit the homestay jackpot.  I have eaten some adventurous things though.  Within the first hour of being in my house (remember, wedding prep...tons of people around) I was sitting on the back porch with my Host-Pai and Host-Avo (dad + grandpa) and... some other guy? when they brought out a plate of... meat?... I asked them what it (they spoke a little bit of English)  I was pretty sure it was tripe.  They said "Oh, it's meat.  It's very good.  Have some."  I hesitated.  They looked at me expectantly, so I reached forward and tried to grab the smallest piece I could.  It was not small enough.  It was definitely not the best thing I've ever eaten.  It was like... chewing on a salty piece of carpet that was cut from the floor of the tack-room in a barn maybe.  Not so good.  Just as I was swallowing with great effort my Mae came out to check on me.  She lauged, looked shocked and asked if I had eaten that.  She put me back in my room then for a while...

I also ate goat, it was pretty good.  We had lots of different foods left over from the wedding but now that that's all been eaten we're back to eating what is probably more normal food.  For dinner tonight we had navy-bean soup with tomatoes, carrots, cabbage and green beans over rice.  It was pretty similar to bean soup that folks make in the US.  We've also had a mix of Couve (? i don't know what this is, it's a green leafy plant that tastes like broccoli), coconut milk and ground peanuts over rice.  That's my favorite so far.  I really like the food in my house because for the most part we eat lots of vegetables and not a lot of meat. 

Besides the food Mozambique is beautiful.  I live on a red-dirt road with a view of Swaziland.  Our training village is in southern Mozambique, in the mountains.  It's cool in the morning and evening and blazing hot in the afternoon.  My house is really awesome and swanky.  There are six rooms and I have electricity and an indoor bathroom! My room is probably three times bigger than my last 2 rooms in the States (those rooms were actually closets...).  I have a mosquito net (It's like sleeping in a tent every night!  Inside!) and a tin roof. We're going to get into the rainy season soon...I'm looking forward to the sound of rain on my roof.