BabyChickens!

Chicks!

The end of training week three brought some changes.  First, I now have 450 precious pets.  Or, my family received a shipment of several boxes of chicks.  They live in the capoeira behind the house and they’re growing fast.  In 30 days they’ll be someone’s dinner. 

Language has been hard for me.  I came with basically zero Portuguese (I’m not alone in this).  However, there’s a good sized group of trainees who speak Portuguese practically fluently already (they had a head start, or spoke Spanish fluently before arriving).  It’s pretty discouraging to go to tech-training and listen to my classmates speak Portuguese while I struggle to put more than one sentence together at a time; and we’re expected to teach full lessons in Portuguese beginning Monday.  I’m learning fast, but not fast enough.  Word has come down from our training Chefe that either the language trainers are either very disappointed in our learning-pace or very pleased with our “explosion of learning”.  I’ve heard both versions. 

Our language trainer compelled my language class to perform a skit at the week’s Ngoma Time (basically, a weekly talent show/campfire program.  We share American traditions and the Mozambicanos share songs and other Mozambique-an things.  It’s a cultural exchange).  We had about 12 hours’ notice, so we quick-translated a skit I know and performed it.  The other groups of trainees who performed were legitimately talented and wanted to perform… so we were way outclassed.  But, we got through it and our trainer was happy.  Good enough.

I did my laundry this morning.  Doing laundry is a workout here.  Never again will I complain about things like “OMG I have to put the laundry in a basket and CARRY IT OUT OF MY HOUSE and put it in my CAR and DRIVE it to a place with MACHINES that do my laundry for me.  What a drag!”  No.  Bending over a bucket of water in the bathtub and scrubbing clothes with my hands until my knuckles are raw is a drag.  Good thing my host-sis helped me.  I was far too weak (seriously, half way through scrubbing the red mud out of my jeans I was huffing-and-puffing).  This girl is awesome-town. 

Host-Sis! (Plus, Chick)

Now, getting my laundry to dry is another thing all together.  I hung it out all day, but it’s still damp and now it’s raining again.  Welcome to Rainy-town Mozambique.  It stormed like crazy last night.  I was actually scared when the lightning was a strobe-light outside and my house was shaking.  The chapa-do-zinco makes the rain sound even fiercer. 

This is what my lunch looks like.  Pasta with tuna, onion and tomato and a fried egg on top.  Yum.  Also notice the ever -present jar of Black Cat.  Every Trainee's Best Friend.