The Rest of Training

Ups & Downs

A motto of the Peace Corps is “the toughest job you’ll ever love.” As the current volunteers have warned us, the next two years will be filled with some of the highest highs and lowest lows of our lives. During training, it is not nearly that extreme, but each day brings its own ups and downs. Overall, however, I'm very happy with the experience and very excited to get to site.

Ups:

• Finding treats: We’ve found Pringles and refrigerated Kit Kats at a gas station here and dark chocolate at a grocery store in Matola, a nearby town.
• Being served chicken.
• Receiving messages, calls, and care packages. Another shameless plea: even if it takes me a while to respond, keep sending me messages. Chances are the weak internet connection on my phone will let me read but not respond or I can read them but am waiting to type up a long response on my computer. Either way, I read them.
• Getting tons of movies and TV shows to put on my external hard drive from other trainees. I’m currently addicted to Mad Men.
• Playing Taboo, Bananagrams, and my all-time favorite card game Asshole at a baraca.
• Hearing juicy fofoca (Portuguese for gossip).

Downs:

• Finding bed bug bites: Realized that I had bed bugs just as it proceeded to storm for the next few days. Not very helpful when you need to put your mattress out in the sun.
• Being served canned sardines. With onions. For breakfast.
• Larium dreams: A major side effect of mephaquin, the anti-malarial medicine I’m required to take is extremely vivid dreams, usually for a couple nights after taking my weekly dose. My dreams are frequently scary (woke up thinking there was a rat in my bed) or frustrating.
• Unwanted roommates: having a cockroach run across my back while in bed (I then killed it and left it smashed on the wall as a warning to its brethren); hearing rats during the night.

My First Birthday in Moz

Thanks for all of the birthday messages! I really appreciated them. Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond to them; as I previously said, it can be difficult to respond. We celebrated at the bar after class, and I had a great day. The only negative was the lack of acknowledgment of my birthday by my host family (yes, they knew it was my birthday), but culturally, birthdays are not nearly as important here.

Comida Americana

During one afternoon of Portuguese class, our host moms showed us how to cook a traditional Mozambican meal of coconut-flavored rice, roast chicken, and a sauce of cooked pumpkin leaves and ground peanuts. Then one Saturday morning, each language group cooked an American meal for their host moms in return. After our host moms dressed us each in a traditional capulana skirt and a lenço (head scarf), my group made French toast with bananas, caramelized apples, and homemade syrup with hash browns. Cooking American food under Mozambican conditions proved to be quite a challenge. We had no cinnamon or vanilla for the French toast, pots instead of skillets, and two “burners” on a charcoal stove. The hash browns took over 45 minutes to heat up and were more of a mashed potatoes-hash browns hybrid, and some of the French toast was a bit burnt since we couldn’t regulate the temperature. However, our moms loved it, and it felt great to serve them for a change. My host mom has since made French toast twice for me when I need a packed lunch, which is super sweet.

Beach Weekend (See pictures!)

We had three free days this past weekend for a mental health break. About 50 of us trainees rented a couple beach houses in Bilene, a beach in Gaza Province about 6 hours away. The beach closest to the houses was on a beautiful lagoon with clear water and no waves. It was very peaceful; there were very few other tourists, just a few wooden boats. My site is only 30 minutes away from this beach, so I will definitely be going often. We lounged on the beach, ate lots of pizza, drank, had a dance party with a DJ one night, and played Asshole (president three times in a row, bitches!). The weekend was great break from training, and now we have less than 2 weeks left until swear in!

Pictures!

Weeks 2 & 3

Typical Day

5:45 Wake up, iron my clothes, take a bath

6:45 Eat breakfast (bread with jam)

7:30 Portuguese class

10:00 Health class

12:30 Return home for lunch (either soup or salad)

1:30 Health class

3:30 Portuguese class

5:30 Return home; take bath; help with dinner

6:30 Eat dinner & wash dishes

7:15 Study Portuguese; do homework

8 Bedtime (usually relax for a bit in my room first)

I also have class Saturday mornings 8-12. We do get some breaks, though. A couple times each week we’ll go to a bar for a drink after class, and on the weekends we have time to pasear (walk around) and hang out.

My house

Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures soon, but my house is very nice. It is made of stones and concrete with a metal roof and has three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a veranda, a back porch, and a garage. The living room is especially nice with multiple couches, a TV, and a stereo system. They have a car but it is rarely used and currently is in disrepair. Cooking occurs in both the veranda and porch. In the backyard there’s a latrine, a trash pit (trash is periodically burned), a clothes line, and some crops. My mom cares for various vegetable plants as well as banana, avocado, and papaya trees.

Cooking Moçambicano

Cooking is done in pots over a charcoal stove. Dinner typically consists of a sauce with vegetables, beans, fish, or chicken over rice. Often, the sauce primarily consists of various leafy greens, such as couve. A standard dish is matapa: a green sauce of couve and ground amendoim (peanuts) over rice. The amendoim is ground into a fine powder using a pilão, a giant mortar and pestle. Rice is often flavored during cooking with various ingredients, such as onions or coconut. The latter is done by using hot water poured through ground coconut to cook the rice. The result is so good it’s now one of my favorite ways to eat rice, and that says a lot, as I love me some rice.

The Circle of Life

I used to say that it was difficult to gross me out. I also used to be vegetarian. I officially resign my post of not being squeamish, but I am tempted to go back to vegetarianism. All thanks to Randall. Warning: the following is pretty gross.

This past Sunday, my mom announced that my sisters and I were going to cook dinner. When she called me out to the veranda to start, there was a live chicken chilling in a wheelbarrow. Already feeling a bit queasy about the whole situation, I followed Justina as she took Randall (yes, I named him) out back behind a shed (the stereotypical spot for killing animals). She stepped on his feet and wings to hold him down and chopped his head off. Yes, chicken bodies do keep moving after they’re decapitated. They convulse, in fact. She casually tossed Randall’s head in the trash pit, and I carried Randall inside, horrified. We then poured scalding water over him and plucked his still-warm body (I warned you). That was by far the grossest part and was the point where I admitted to being squeamish. My sisters noticed my discomfort, which they found hilarious, and repeatedly asked me, “Tens medo?” (are you afraid?).

Making Progress

This week, I finally felt some sense of accomplishment. Sunday, I was determined to do some household chores completely by myself. After running around like a chicken with its head cut off (too soon?) all day sweeping and then mopping with a rag my room, washing my clothes and shoes by hand, and taking a bath without being told, my mom was very impressed with my hard work. And I was excited to finally feel some sense of competence, although it quickly disappeared when I tried to cook with my sisters.

I am starting to feel more confident with Portuguese as well. Learning Portuguese is definitely a struggle, but my conversations with my family are getting better and better.

Contacting Me - Update

I'm currently on a field trip to a nearby city, hence the internet access. I bought an internet phone, so I will be available through Gmail more regularly. Also, you can call me! (I can't call you, though.) My phone numbers are: 820653314 .

So if you want to call me, you can use an international calling card, Skype, or Google Voice. The best time to call is 8pm-10pm here (2pm-4pm in the US) on weekdays or on weekends. Email me to set up a time. The country code for Mozambique is 258.

UPDATE: The cheapest option is Google Voice. I think it's around 13 cents a minute, whereas Skype is over 40 cents a minute. Also, Skype can have poor quality for calls.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Nobel calling cards are cheap and have good call quality but round up minutes and have weekly maintenance fees. You can buy them here: http://www.nobelcom.com/phone-cards/calling-Mozambique-Cell-from-United-States-1-570.html

First Weekend in Homestay

I absolutely love my family so far. My pai, Vasco, is a mechanic in a mine in Johannesburg, and he left Tuesday to return to work. My mãe, Rosamaría, is kind but very no-nonsense when it comes to getting work done. Whenever I hear “Mee-gon,” I know it’s time to learn a new chore. The best part of my family is the kids, two girls and a boy. Zaida, 18, is quiet and very sweet. Justina, 15, is fun and very outgoing. Eduard, 9, is shy but curious and super cute. They’re all very helpful for learning household chores as well as Portuguese. For example, we will take turns drawing various items (pineapple, cat, etc), and they will teach me how to pronounce and write the Portuguese names. When at the house, I spend most of my time with them, and on the second night they said, “We love you so much.” Precious.

Como se diz “I swear I’m a functioning adult in the United States, everything is just different here”?
My host family spent most of my first weekend teaching me how to do household chores and laughing at me (sounds mean but really all in good fun). Every daily activity is done differently, from bathing to cooking to bathing again to cleaning to bathing once more. A big part of training is learning this new routine so we can be fully functioning adults once again. The most interesting facet thus far has been cooking. Under the instruction of my host siblings, I gutted several fish for Sunday dinner, which was delicious.

The red-headed stepchild of minha família
The Peace Corps Volunteer stereotype of dirty hippies most certainly does not apply here in Mozambique. The first thing my mãe said to me Sunday morning was “your clothes are bad.” Through some hand gestures she explained that I needed to iron immediately. And despite my three daily bucket baths, she still felt the need to cover my hair with a bandana she personally tied on my head.

This great pride in appearances also extends to housekeeping. Every morning, I need to sweep my floor (and occasionally scrub it with a soapy rag), make my bed, and organize my things. Upon seeing my daily care products in the bottom of a nightstand, I was told to make it look bonita. This is not your standard tidying up; the whole house must be immaculate.

The Perez Hilton of Mozambique
My health assignment here is mainly related to HIV/AIDS, but another major epidemic has recently hit Mozambique… Bieber Fever. Not only did Justina and her friend gush over him, they watched an entire montage of his clips on TV. Although they were disappointed I haven’t met him, I earned back some cred since I’ve seen Rihanna in concert. I, on the other hand, was disappointed they don’t know Kanye West (good thing I left my Glow in the Dark Tour t-shirt at home). Chris Brown is huge here, and I shocked them by saying that he’s mau (bad). I explained in terrible Portuguese that he beat up Rihanna, and I’ve since been demanded twice to tell others this (long outdated) celebrity news.

Funny Quotes
“Would you like to have a black boyfriend?”
“Is it good to be fat in America?” (trying not to take that one personally)

Orientation

After two days of orientation in Maputo, we’re heading to Namaacha (a town of about 40,000 people south of the capital, on the border with Swaziland) for pre-service training (PST). All I know about my family is that my host father’s name is Vasco, so I’m very curious to meet everyone. The 24 health volunteers live together in the same neighborhood. I really like my group of volunteers so far (Moz15) and the older volunteers orienting us have been very helpful, so Peace Corps is definitely off to a good start. During training, my internet access will be limited. Skyping will be rare, but I’m purchasing an internet phone during our field trip to Maputo next weekend, so I will have access to Gmail and Facebook then.

Highlights of orientation:

-I unknowingly ate goat, and it was delicious. Also, lots of my two favorite foods, rice and potatoes; I’m pretty pumped.

-Lots of shots. Luckily I only had to get three of a possible six… this round.

-Bucket bath demonstration: Basically, you keep rinsing yourself with cups of water from a bucket in a room next to the latrine (the whole in the ground/squat toilet). We’ve been warned that host mothers will very adamantly offer to bathe us at first. Luckily, “I can bathe myself” is in our packet of survival Portuguese (eu sei tomar banho).

-Mozambicans eat five times a day (three main meals and mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks), and bucket bathe three times a day. So obviously I’m going to be really busy.

-Several sessions on health and safety, so no worrying!

-Homestay orientation: Women and children eat on the floor while men sit at the table; we will do all of the host family’s activities with them; etc.

Sending Care Packages - Update

The address listed here can only be used for the first 5 weeks of training. (Obviously, I’m not expecting anything anytime soon. When I know what things I will want if you are so inclined, I will post a wish list). After that, I will need to wait for my site placement to get a new address. Currently, packages are taking about a month to arrive. Bubble envelopes are best, followed by flat rate boxes.

Packages are less likely to be opened and examined if they look religious. You can put Jesus stickers on envelopes, draw crosses, write religious things, or address them to “Sister Megan Lawless.” Jacqui and Jesse, if you send anything I expect you to go all out. Also, on the customs form, NEVER state the real value of the package; max state $5. Finally, list the contents as school supplies.