Car Party!

Hi Everyone, greetings from the office again!

So, here are the exciting things that happened to me this week:

I had 6 of my classes cancelled.  Turns out Good Friday is holiday even in a government school and also when the kids have to take a final exam they just poach class periods.  None of this is a problem, of course, I can be flexible.  It was the surprise nature that got my hackles up a bit. Surprise, like I was walking to class in my bata and someone said "Why aren't you proctoring a test right now?"  and I said WHAT TEST?  Ugh. 

Then, later in the afternoon I was doing a test review with my students.  "What happens if we don't finish?" 

"Oh, you precious baby-angels, don't worry we can finish on Friday" I said to them in my sweetest voice.

"We don't have class on Friday!!!!"  And then I put my palm to my forehead and closed my eyes and gave up for the day.  I quickly gave my kids the rest of the study guide and told them that they could come to school on Friday and Saturday and I'd help them study...

So anyway...Not having class is a thing that happens sometimes.  Not Being Told that we don't have class is Just Plain Annoying.  Oh Mozambique, I love you so much.  Why you gotta do me like this?

In more exciting news.  On Saturday night Kim was over (we cooked a chicken that we found dead and frozen in the market and IT WAS GOOD! Shocker!).  I left the house for a few minutes to go pick up some refreshments at the local barracca.  On my way home I got summoned to a neighbors' house.  They were obviously havnig a party.  I walked over to say hi, with every intention of saying "Oh, Hi, I see you're having a party!  Congratulations for whatever, but as you can see I'm on my way home with a backpack full of cold drinks and I have guests"  But instead he handed me a glass of champagne and told me to get some food.  "What happened?" I said instead of what I had planned.  He just laughed, took my backpack to put inside and walked off.  So there I was with a plate and a glass of champagne with 20 Mozambicans watching and insisting that I serve myself first--like I was the guest of honor at this party for I-dont-even-know-what.  Honestly, I was just walking home.

So I serve myself some xima.  Then I notice the meat.  Or, I notice the bacia full of .... animal parts? This is exactly the situation I dreaded in Peace Corps.  The expectant look of my hosts as I tried to decide what I was about to eat and if I had the stomach for it.   Then I noticed the chunks of bone and bits of hair bobbing in the broth.  I was having horrible flash backs of the tripe I was served on my first day in Mozambique.  I had to make a decision, fast.  I stood for an embarassingly long time stirring the bucket.  WhatdoIdo?WhatdoIdo?WhatdoIdo? Finally I decided that even if they were dissapointed, I would not eat whatever was in the bucket. 

"What you don't like meat?" someone asked me.

"Uhhh, what is it?"

"Oh, it's really good!  It's beef!  Beef head!!!"

oh lord.  I splashed some sauce on my xima and sat down.

"Why aren't you eating!"

"Uhhhhh I'm not really hungry."

"But it's so good"

"Uhhh I've never eaten beef head, I'm scared"

Uproarious laughter.  Long story short.  They found me a small piece of beef head for me to try....I'm NOT sure if it was brain or not.  It was soft but tasted pretty good actually....Does anyone know how long the symptoms of mad-cow disease take to manifest?


Sooooo turns out the party was a Car Party.  That means that someone in the family had bought a new car and so they were having a party to celebrate the new addition to the family.  If you DON'T have a car party you upset your family and then it's likely that your car will be cursed....

It's also very common for volunteers to be roped into these car parties..."I was walking to get water and ended up having dinner and dancing with some strangers for 4 hours......"



IN OTHER NEWS:  There were more packages at the office :) thanks everyone!  I may, or may not have already eaten all of the candy...