Week 1 My first night, I was able to communicate to my family in Africa, about my family in America. It actually went really well. Of course I think they think my brother and sister have four legs and arms, which means they think my mom is weird for giving birth to them. Sorry James and Shilah. The food is awesome here, although there are a few odd things here and there, which is to be expected. Let’s start with their mayonnaise issue. They absolutely love it and they put it on everything. I'm eating rice and I must put mayonnaise on it, or the cole slaw covered with mayonnaise, a little weird. Now lets talk about the soup, or as I call it the surprise soup. You know that scene in Indiana Jones and the temple of doom, when they are sitting at the table and Indy is served the soup and when he puts the spoon in the soup, out pops the eyes. Well, I am sitting at home about to eat the soup. I stick my spoon in the bowl and out pops the chicken leg. I actually ate the soup, minus the chicken leg, of course. Other than those two things, the food has been great. I had Mataba, which was amazing. Now let’s discuss the bathroom issues. So my bathroom is outside, which is customary in Africa. It is surrounded by a brick wall. I go in there expecting a hole in the ground, but instead there is an actual toilet, that does not flush. They have dug a hole for the piping and then you dump water down the toilet to manually flush it, pretty interesting, but it works. Well everything is fine here! I have to run and study Portuguese; it seems to be my life these days. Week 2 Well things are still going well. My Portuguese is seeing improvements every day. I am actually able to understand my family, most of the time. There are the occasional times when we have a hard time communicating. I am still unable to respond too many of the questions, or when I do respond it is very grammatically incorrect, but it is getting better. There have been a few eye openers this week. For starters, I cut the head off a chicken, It was actually my second de-heading, so this time I saw improvements in my techniques and swiftness. I guess that's not something to be bragging about, but it's not every day you get to de-head an animal. There have also been some nice cultural exchanges. For instance, we were making rice in our language group with our host moms. The rice was almost done, and they put a wet plastic bag over the rice, which is still on the open flames. Our mouths drop, because the bag would have to melt in that kind of heat. If a burnt plastic bag is that bad for the environment, can you imagine what it would do to us. We explained in our broken Portuguese how unhealthy it was, and we were able to convince them to take the bag off the rice. I have also been playing with kids a lot, You know it's amazing, that when you are that stressed over the language and adjusting to new culture, going and playing with kids, makes everything disappear and your stress level go down. Week 3 Hey everyone. Well things are going well here in Mozambique. I love my family and they are so patient with me, when I don't understand what they are saying. There is still the language gap, but my ability to communicate is getting better everyday and my ability to understand what they are saying is really improving. I had my first mock language interview. I have to be at a mid-intermediate level in Portuguese, in order to swear in at an official Peace Corps Volunteer. Right now, I am a trainee. My mock language proficiency interview went well. The lady told me that I speak good Portuguese. I just need to work on my verb conjugation and my vocabulary. That was a huge relief off my back, knowing that I am ahead of the game and shouldn't have anything to worry about. The food is amazing, although I am getting a little sick of all the rice. I have rice for lunch and for dinner, everyday. I did the math, that 14 meals a week, 60 meals a month and 138 meals with rice by the time I am done with my Training. I guess that is something that I should get used to, seeing as how it is such a staple food here in Mozambique and I probably won't be able to avoid it during the next few years. I think my favorite foods so far are Matapa and covey, (Not sure on the spelling of covey). They are both a great coconut sauce. Speaking of coconut, my ma taught me how to cut a coconut. She told me to hold the coconut with one hand, so I did so. Then she handed me a huge machete, and told me to hit the coconut as hard as I could in a certain spot. Mind you, she didn't have me put the coconut down. So I held the coconut with one hand and swung the machete with the other hand and cut the coconut in two. And guess what, I still have both hands. I live right next door to two other volunteers and every night we have 30-40 kids hanging around, so we mostly play with them and study Portuguese as well as help our families cook. I have used a pillar to smash garlic and Matapa leaves. I have cut the head off two chickens, skinned them and cooked them. In fact I even ate the intestines of one of the chicken and actually liked it. We cook everyday over a charcoal stove that is in the kitchen which is separate from the house. So this funny, kind of disgusting thing happened the other day. My language group and I were sitting around, cooking with all our moms. We were, of course, were having rice. The rice was almost done, it was fluffy and just about ready to serve. The rice was still on the open flames and one of the moms grabbed a plastic bag, wet it down with water and placed the bag over the rice and left it over the fire. Not one was the bag dirty, but if burning a plastic bag is that bad for the environment, think about what it will be like to eat burn plastic. We politely explained to them the dangers of that and they took the bag off. They said it was to keep the rice moist. We told some peace corp staff, and there response was, 'wow, I never knew that was that bad for you, I'll have to stop doing that.' I guess that everyone in Mozambique does it. I thought my rice tasted a little funny, I now know why. Well I have to go eat dinner. Tonight I am having, fish, which is awesome, fruit and of course, RICE! UGGGGG.

Day 6 Maputo Mozambique

Well I am in Mozambique and loving it thus far.  Although I haven't seen much of the country yet.  We have been staying in nice hotels, which will be changing soon, once we arrive in our home stay city, which is rural and pretty rustic.  I will spend three months with a family, learning the culture and the language.

I'm excited to get to meet them and excited to learn Portuguese, although I did find out that I need to teach in Portuguese, at least some of the time, which kind of scares me.  I don't know that I will be fluent enough in three months to teach in front of a group of people.  I guess that's all about the challenges that lie ahead of me. 

I am excited to get out of these hotels and experience the land and the culture.

 

Peace for now!

 

David