Week 2:
This week was pretty crazy and went really fast. I actually moved to a different host family on Tuesday since the mom in my first one wasn’t coming back for a few weeks and I wasn’t learning as much as I needed to about cooking, chores, language, etc. My new family is awesome though! There is a mom, dad, two teenage sisters (19 and 14) and a 10 year old brother. The first night I got to my new house my family gave me a capulana (a piece of fabric they use to wrap around their waist like a skirt) and had me helping make dinner right when I walked in the door. It has been nice to learn how to make some Mozambican foods but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to cook some of these things once I get to site. I don’t have the patience to make some of the food here.
My 14-year-old sister, Deolinda, has been helping me out with a lot! She helped me with my homework all week and taught me a lot of new Portuguese words. My new house doesn’t have the nice indoor toilet like the first one but I’m actually getting used to the pit latrine. It’s not too bad! However, it was raining quite a bit this week and taking showers in the cold/rainy/muddy weather isn’t too fun.
The food this week has been amazing! We had fried chicken and xima one day (which looks like mashed potatoes but doesn’t taste like anything from America). On Friday after training we actually made a bolo (CAKE!) and it was sooo good! First time I’ve really had dessert since I’ve been here and it was really good. I am amazed at how they can make such a yummy cake without a recipe or measuring anything. We literally just poured flour, sugar, eggs and butter and mixed it all up…it tasted great though!
The other night at dinner my sister told me she had a surprise for me and to close my eyes….when I opened them she had peanut butter (it`s called Black Cat here) on the table and said it was for me! I was sooo excited! I had some the next morning for breakfast on pao (bread) and it was heavenly!
This week in language classes we had to practice riding on “chapas” (like a mini-bus) using our Portuguese skills. Our teacher gave us all different stops and we had to make it to our stop and then take another chapa back to the shop-rite (the big market) where we could all meet up. Turned out I didn’t know where my stop was so I had to take another chapa for practice. That one was just a pickup truck where people piled into the back until it was full and then it would drive to wherever you needed to go. I thought I had already told the driver I wanted to go to the market but when we flew by it going fast I realized they weren’t going to stop. In my poor Portuguese skills I then had to ask someone to tell them to stop the car so I could get off. I probably need to work more on my chapa riding skills so next time I can actually get dropped off at my stop.
Yesterday we went to Maputo for the day with our language groups and it was pretty fun. The chapa ride was only an hour so it wasn’t too bad…boy can they really squeeze a lot of people into very small cars. It was a tight squeeze but we fit 4 people to a seat (which is the norm here). We were able to have pizza and ice cream so that was a nice surprise! :) We saw some of the tourist spots and were able to just hangout and have fun outside of Namaacha so it was a fun day. Washed my clothes again today and then it started raining while we were hanging them up to dry...thankfully it stopped raining just as quickly as it started. Tonight we are making matapa for dinner (which is a long process...but it tastes yummy!).
This Tuesday in our language groups we are making American food with our host mothers and they are teaching us some Mozambican food recipes—so that will be a fun class! I want to share a quote with you that one of my friends from home gave me in a letter this week:
“We gain strength, and courage and confidence in each experience in which we really stop and look fear in the face…we must do that which we think cannot.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt
Updates:
-Outdoor latrines really aren’t bad…I’ve gotten used to mine (well except when I’m sick and have to go out there all night long…that can get a little freaky in the dark but it’s really not bad!)
-Haven´t seen too many weird or unusual bugs yet (which has been nice!)
-The rainy season has officially started…it rained nonstop for 2 days this week but thankfully I haven’t wiped out on the muddy hills yet :)
-I just realized I’m going to miss Black Friday shopping with my family this year and I’m bummed.
-Pepto bismol is my new friend
-17 days until Halloween!!
Better go study for our first test tomorrow! Have a great week!!
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