Christmas in Africa

This Christmas was very different…not just because I was away from family, friends and snow but I spent it on the beach and it truly felt just like any other day. I was able to go to mass on Christmas morning so that was nice (I didn’t understand a majority of it since it was in the local language) and they sang the “Gloria” song from back home at the end of mass. I missed the Christmas season back home—seeing the Bell ringers outside Hy-Vee, making hot cider and watching the Grinch, making those peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses on top and mostly being with family. It was really nice to be reunited with all the Moz 19ers in Nampula and get to catch up and hear about everyone’s sites though.

We did celebrate with very good food though (chicken, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, French toast, banana pancakes with mango syrup, cookies, garlic bread and shrimp pasta—which I actually liked, shocking that I would say that about seafood I know!) and listened to Christmas carols and watched Home Alone! I even learned how to bake in a makeshift Dutch oven using pots and sand. Today I tested out my skills and made a coffee cake—it turned out great! I was so proud of myself for making a Dutch oven and baking for the first time by myself in Africa J

Traveling to Angoche for Christmas was interesting…I left my site and caught a semi chapa to take me to Nampula city. In the city I met another Moz 19 PCV at a coffee shop (I honestly would still be wandering around the streets of Nampula if not for a VERY nice mother and daughter who showed me exactly how to get to the café—thank goodness for nice people!). We then tried to catch a chapa to Angoche but the only thing leaving was an open back truck full of cargo and they weren’t planning on leaving for another few hours. So of course we decide to just walk along the highway (I know, smart right?) and hope to catch a boleia. Only a few cars passed us by but no one was going that way. Then out of nowhere a car speeds past us and we didn’t even have time to flag them down. The car turned around and started driving back towards us—it ended up being 2 nice South Africans traveling in an air conditioned car. They even had a cooler in the car and offered us cookies, pop, ham & cheese sandwiches, hot dogs and chocolate. They were so nice they even drove us right to our stop in Angoche and let us take some food with us! It definitely made up for the semi and craziness of Nampula.

When we were trying to leave Angoche we had better luck catching a chapa to Nampula at 4am. However, I did get my first marriage proposal on that chapa. I had no idea what to say to that so I just kept telling him no…then of course he had to ask why I didn’t want to be with him, etc. It was all I could do to keep a straight face and not laugh. I mean seriously—he didn’t even know me, he just met me on this truck and asked to be my husband. It was an interesting day to say the least! I was able to shop for food in Nampula and get syrup, veggies and other tasty things I can’t get at site. While I was in Nampula city I saw someone wearing an Omaha/Council Bluffs YMCA shirt! I literally stopped in my tracks because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I knew he probably didn’t know where Omaha was but the fact that I got a reminder of home made my day! And on the chapa back to Nacuxa I saw a man wearing a Whistler, Canada sweatshirt and it reminded me of when I went there with my family! Overall, even though traveling back to site was very stressful it made me smile when I had these little reminders of home and fun times with my family J

Ringing in the New Year in Africa will definitely be a bit different as well. I’ll still make my list of resolutions but I won’t be watching the ball drop on TV. I’m going to Nacala (the closest big city about 30 minutes away) with my roommate to stay on the beach and watch some fireworks!

Finishing my laundry has never made me feel so accomplished. I can’t believe how easy it is in the States to just put your clothes in a machine and add soap then go watch tv or do something else while your laundry is being cleaned. Here that is not the case…It entails a little bit more labor than that but once you have it all done you feel like you’ve really accomplished something J

School will be starting soon and I’ll be busy teaching English and computers—I’m excited and anxious to teach at the secondary school. It will definitely be different than the 3^rd graders I’m used to but it will be a great learning experience. I’m still not quite sure when school starts. I’ve asked a few times and each time I get a different answer. It’s either starting Jan 7^th, the middle of January or early February. Hopefully, I’ll be finding out soon so I can be prepared! For now I’m cleaning the house, making curtains and catching up on my reading—I’ll be glad to have lessons to write and tests to grade to keep me busy soon!

Happy New Year!! Thanks to one of my college professors I have a quote to start the New Year with that I hope is as inspiring to you as it has been to me…

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bugs, Peanut Butter M&Ms & Christmas lights

I wanted to share with you some statistics I got on the education system during my PST…I was really shocked by some of them and thought it was important for people back home to see the differences between our education system in America and those of other countries.

Statistics on Education in Moz

o      Adult literacy rate is 47%

o      Female literacy rate is 32%

o      52% of children attend school in a mud or stick structure or under a tree

o      26% of primary school teachers have not received any training

o      Based on a USAID study in Mozambique of 50 schools, on average a school had 30 days of effective instructional time per 183-day school year

o      59% of 3^rd grade students in the Cabo Delgado province could NOT read a single word

Random Happenings in Nacuxa

-This last week I was wondering why my bread was crunchy…I then looked and saw some black specks and figured it was mold. I then decided to look closer and pull that piece out and realized their was a bug in the bread. I had been eating bread with bugs in it—I felt kind of gross but I kept eating the bread since it was dinner, (haha—not something I thought I would ever say)

-Went to the hospital with my roommate, Anna, and was able to see her weigh babies and what it is like to go to the hospital in Nacuxa. In order to weigh the babies they put them in this fabric swing that hangs off a scale. Most of the babies don’t weigh as much as they need to and look pretty malnourished. It’s also so weird to me to see women breast-feeding in public and not covering themselves up. It just is odd that women cannot show their knees in public or even at home in front of men but they can walk around feeding their babies uncovered. It’s perfectly normal to everyone here and I’m sure soon I’ll be accustomed to it as well.

-Finally got my 2 year bag and other boxes! It was so happy seeing what all I had in there. It was like I got a whole new wardrobe with all my other clothes I forgot I had. (Still can’t find my camera cord….so no pictures until my mom sends me the cord, sorry!)

-Buying a fan was the BEST purchase I think I have ever made! I absolutely love it and was even able to sleep using my quilt from home for the first time this week (Without sweating!)

-I now have a USB internet modem that lets me skype (yay!) but not check gmail or go to my blog…so it’s working but only for certain things

-Killing cockroaches and other weird bugs in our house has become a daily occurrence—at least so far I’ve only had one in my room and none in my bed!

-Last night I walked into my room to find 1 of the biggest spiders I have ever seen…I didn’t want to step on it so I instead went and got our bug spray. When I sprayed it lots of mini little bugs/spiders came out of it and it ended up getting away! I then saw 2 more huge spiders in my room—I only successfully killed one (and the babies) but the others are somewhere hiding under my clothes/suitcase. I’m just hoping the fumes from the spray killed them slowly. For the rest of the night I sat on my bed with my laptop, kindle, water bottle, hard drive and ipod securely tucked under my mosquito net for fear the spiders would come get me...I haven’t gotten over my spider fear yet but I’m working on it J  

-I hate to admit this but I got a little too excited to have peanut butter m&ms from my care package….I ended up eating both bags (not the mini ones either) in just 3 days...let’s just say I haven’t been eating the most healthy lunches when it consists of pb m&ms and fruit! But I ate them all so now hopefully I can start cooking and stop being lazy with my meals. My roommate and I are going to try and go into the city sometime soon and buy an oven so we can start baking!

-Thanks to my family back home our house is now decorated with a Christmas tree, nativity scene and wreath! It feels so homey now J Anna and I are going to have one night where we make the snow in a can (thanks mom!), drink hot chocolate and make cinnamon toast—I’m so excited! I’m hoping it’ll cool down some before we do this or else I’ll be sweating as I drink the hot chocolate.

-I finally put up all my pictures on quotes on the wall—so now with our Christmas decorations and pictures on the wall my house is starting to feel like home J

-This weekend the neighbor kids came over to color and I brought out my 2 big English picture books (thanks Katie!) and the kids absolutely loved it! They asked me to tell them what every word was because they really wanted to learn English and then they would tell me in Portuguese. I even had one little boy come back over to our house this morning asking for the books so he could read it on our porch! They are super cute kids—I took lots of pictures this weekend of them playing and acting crazy and I’ll be sure to put them up soon

Hope you all are enjoying the Holiday season! Make some Christmas cookies and drink some hot apple cider for me J

Home Sweet Home

Sorry I’ve been slow at updating these last few weeks…life has been crazy between Model School,‭ ‬our final LPI‭ (‬which I passed‭!)‬,‭ ‬packing,‭ ‬swearing-in and moving to site‭!

Nacucha‭ (‬Nacuxa…I can’t figure out which way to spell it because it’s spelled both ways‭) ‬has so far been a beautiful site and the people are all really nice.‭ ‬The town really wouldn’t exist without the secondary school,‭ ‬where I’m living.‭ ‬The school has‭ “‬machambas‭” (‬farms‭)‬,‭ ‬animals,‭ ‬big field for‭ ‬“futebol‭”‬,‭ ‬houses for the professors and dorms for the‭ ‬students.‭ ‬The only other parts of Nacucha that are outside the school are the market about‭ ‬5‭ ‬minutes down the road,‭ ‬the Hospital‭ (‬where my roommate,‭ ‬a Moz‭ ‬18‭ ‬Health volunteer works‭) ‬and‭ ‬2‭ “‬barracas‭” (‬bars—where you can buy water,‭ ‬pop,‭ ‬cookies,‭ ‬and some other staple foods‭)‬.‭

Nacucha is only about‭ ‬2‭ ‬hours away from Nampula city‭ (‬the Province capital/Peace Corps office‭) ‬but getting transportation to and from Nacucha can be a challenge.‭ ‬The nearest big city is Nacala,‭ ‬about‭ ‬15K away so it shouldn’t take long to get to but no‭ ‬“chapas‭”‬ or cars really come on the road by the school so it makes getting off campus a little difficult.‭ ‬The nuns and priest do have cars and thankfully go to Nacala a few times a week and let us come with them so that will be nice‭! ‬But otherwise traveling out of site will probably be a little bit difficult.‭

A priest and‭ ‬3‭ ‬nuns run the school,‭ ‬just met the Priest‭ ‬and some professors‭ ‬this morning and‭ ‬they are very nice.‭ ‬They have all been really welcoming and have put up with my low level of Portuguese‭ ‬ My house is really well furnished—Anna and I both have our own rooms with a bed and‭ ‬2‭ ‬side tables,‭ ‬an indoor bathroom,‭ ‬desk and round table in our living room,‭ ‬a fridge/freezer,‭ ‬electric stovetop and a pantry.‭ ‬We also have electricity‭! ‬We have running water that supposedly comes on twice a day for about‭ ‬30‭ ‬minutes each but since I’ve been here it hasn’t‭ ‬come on much.

The weather here is VERY hot right now since it’s summer…and especially hot in our house since we don’t have fans.‭ ‬I really haven’t stopped sweating since getting here on Friday…gross I know.‭ ‬Today we‭ ‬made‭ ‬a trip to Nacala‭ (‬about‭ ‬20‭ ‬minutes away‭) ‬to buy fans,‭ ‬stuff for our house and food‭! ‬Nacala is the closest big city that has a bank and all the food we can‭’‬t get in Nacucha—it also is where they have beautiful beaches‭! ‬Our house is starting to look more and more like a home‭! ‬We just hung up rope for our laundry,‭ ‬put together our fans,‭ ‬got an organizer for the bathroom and the water came on this afternoon so I was even able to do laundry‭! ‬Having a fan has changed my life‭ ‬ I now will be able to sleep all the way through the night and hopefully not sweat too much.‭

The school here is still in session,‭ ‬which is really unheard of in Mozambique…they go until December‭ ‬22nd and then come back January‭ ‬7/8th.‭ ‬Most schools here have already taken their annual exams and are out for the summer break.‭ ‬I will start teaching in January‭ ‬English and Informatica‭ (‬Computer class‭)‬.‭ ‬The good news is that my school has computers‭! ‬I was really worried I would have to teach a computer class without computers.‭ ‬ Also I found out that the maximum number of students in my classes will be‭ ‬30‭! ‬I’m really happy about that because a lot of other volunteers will be having‭ ‬70-100‭ ‬students in every class.‭

As soon as I get my other bags from PC and find my camera cord I’ll post pictures of my house and the school where I’ll be working.‭ ‬More posts to come soon‭! ‬I can’t believe it’s almost Christmas…it really doesn’t feel the same without snow,‭ ‬bell ringers and Christmas cookies‭ (‬but I have been listening to Christmas music so that helps‭)! ‬