Integrating into my community & workplace; Adapting to life in Ancuabe

The Reconnect Conference in Maputo is in less than 2 weeks, that means I've been at site almost 3 months now. Time goes by fast! Integration has been a slow process and with the language barriers, it is hard. Overall, things are going well at site and I'm finally used to the fact that I live here now! :) I stopped getting those 'OMG I live in Africa..' moments. I think that means I've adapted to life here não é? Life is really tough here but I got my daily routine down and slowly learning how to deal with obstacles (bugs, water shortage, lack of transportation, etc) as they occur. A lot has happened since the last post so I'll try to summarize.

My community:

The only mercado in town. This is also the main road

The people

Everyone's been very nice and helpful, especially my surrounding neighbors. They bring food over for me occasionally and always greet me or just drop by to see how I'm doing. Everyone also ask about Zambie (my kitty, more on her later) and how she's doing and consider her as my filha (daughter). A lot of the women always invite me over to their quintal to make small talks or just want me to see how they're weaving hair extension or pilar-ing. They often try to talk to me in Macua and teach me phrases. I'm really bad with names and a lot of the names are hard to say so I haven't done a good job of remembering names. With the language barriers, I haven't gotten to know a lot of people in my community yet besides the daily greetings and small talks but I'm working on it! 

The children

I really enjoy my daily walk/bike ride around town because all the children run out or pause what they're doing to yell out my name to say Bom Dia/Boa Tarde or Salaama or wave to me. My name is spreading fast! These children makes me feel like a celebrity! hahah They often come over and ask to play with me in my front or backyard. 

Dance party in my backyard ended up with 60+ people

Futbol and jump rope evening

Languages

Most people speaks Macua more than Portuguese here since it's their local and primary language. Some people speaks only Macua and/or their Portuguese isn't good so communication has definitely been a huge challenge. I've learned how to greet and say random phrases and it makes a BIG difference! People get so excited when I talk to them in Macua. 

Marriage proposals/boyfriend offers:

It is almost impossible to go to the mercado without being proposed to. I think it is safe to say half of the men in my town already asked me to marry them and/or offered to be my boyfriend. This is how the conversation usually goes:

Guy: I want to marry you

me: I dont want to

guy: why not?

me: i already have a boyfriend

guy: where is he?

me: in America

guy: thats far.. you need a boyfriend here. i can be your boyfriend

It does get annoying but I'm slowly getting used to the daily harassment here. I should just say I have a husband here in Mozambique already to make it a bit easier. 

Here are some pictures from events in the community

Futbol match

Dia de Ancuabe

Dia da Paz

My workplace:

Wiwanana- Ancuabe

View from the inside

This is where a lot of people come to get water including myself

Inside the office

I get my own cabinet! :)

My house is a 5 minutes walk from Wiwanana. I work 7:30-3:30pm everyday but I really haven't done much work-related stuff beside helping my supervisor type up documents or teaching him how to do things on the laptop. Majority of the days I just sit in my office and study Portuguese, work on the Peace Corps blue binder (community entry activities), or talk to my coworkers and bother them to teach me phrases in Macua. 

I spend most days studying Portuguese and Macua at work when I don't have anything else to do

Toward end of September, I finally found a Portuguese professor to hire as my tutor. Since then, I've been having lessons either in the morning or afternoon at work for 2 hours whenever I'm not working in the field. I pay my tutor $5/hr and Peace Corps reimburse me afterward. I can get up to 80 hours for each language tutor so I'm planning to learn Macua after Portuguese. My supervisor told me that it's necessary that I learn Macua and I can see why. Everytime I have a work training or community outreach events, it's all conducted in Macua so it's been a challenge trying to understand what's going on.  

Coworkers

I love my coworkers! There are only 13 people who works here and the facilitators stay in the field for work for half of the month so I don't get to see them too often. They've been very very helpful with everything including outside of work. 

Wiwanana- Chiure

A couple times a month I go to the office in Chiure for meetings. It's about an hour away and I always take advantage of these trips to buy bananas, cabbage, use the atm, etc since my town lacks a lot of things. 

Working in the field:

I accompanied my supervisor to several meetings and community outreach activities to observe and see what the facilitators do in the community. Wiwanana Acuabe works in 3 posts: Ancuaba-sede, Metoro, and Meza. So far, I've seen both Ancuabe-sede and Metoro. 

Metoro:

Conferencia de Santolic

Demonstração da boa lavagem das mãos

Sou facilitadora do grupo das crianças

Ancuabe-sede:

Encontro de reflexão sobre maternidade segura com tema: Partos complicados na aldeia Nanduli

Distribuição de sabão

Zambie:

1st day I got her

I got a kitty from my supervisor beginning of September. She was born sometime end of July so she was really needy and annoying! But she's so cute so I can't be mad at her. She's getting more independent now and I'm starting to miss her clingy-ness. 

She helps guard my house from unwanted guests

She has a lot of really cute sleeping positions!

Leisure time:

I have a LOT of free time here so I'm always looking for things to do/make to keep myself busy:

-Playing futbol or jump ropes with the kids

-Passear around town or in my neighbor's backyard

-Biking around town with the kids

-Cleaning

-Baking

-Cooking

-Home Improvement and DIY projects

-Watching tv shows/movies

-Reading

Goals for secondary projects:

-Teach English: A doctor from Spain that works for SolidarMed have asked me to teach English to the hospital director and a few doctors/staffs that have some level of English already so this will start soon once we figure out a schedule and where to hold lessons at.

-Teach Vovinam: I taught 1 session for a few of the neighbors' kids so far and they're been asking for more so I'm planning to do weekly classes once I can speak better Portuguese. 

-Start a REDES (Raparigas em Desenvolvimento, Educação, e Saúde) group: REDES is a national network girls' clubs in Mozambique that promotes girls' empowerment and reduces their vulnerability to HIV through gender awareness activities, reproductive health and HIV prevention seminars, technical skills-building, and planning for the future. 

Other highlights/random events:

-I went to a Malaria ToT (Training of Trainers) in Nampula beginning of September. 

-Wiwanana hired someone to fumigate my house to get rid of all the insects and even bought a new queen sized bed frame and mattress for me! I love the new mattress; it is so much better than the foam mattress I've been sleeping on that's starting to concave in. I switched out the twin sized bed in the guest room to my old queen sized bed. I just realized this is also the first time that I have a bed bigger than a twin sized!

-I officially hate long chapa (public transportation.. it's either a mini van or a pick up truck that holds way over the maximum capacity of people) rides here. Transportation is a problem in Ancuabe.. lack of chapas, unreliable time, and bad road condition. Both times that I took the chapa to Pemba, it has been horrible! The 2nd time was worst than the 1st "worst ride ever". Pemba is about 2 hours away from Ancuabe by car, but on chapa it takes 4-6 hours one way. Here is my vent from the 2nd trip so you can imagine what it is like:  Waited for the chapa to come from 4am-5:50am. I lost the ability to move shortly after I got on because there was 36 other people all squished together on the seats and on the ground. The chapa keeps stopping for people to get off and on. A lady that sat 3ft away from me threw up and a baby on the other side of the chapa threw up too. Lots of babies crying. A woman next to me was changing her baby's dirty diaper and the baby on my other side kept kicking onto my side. Police stopped the chapa and checked everyone's ID. I didn't get to Pemba until 10am and only had 2 hours to go to the bank and do my shopping before catching the last chapa at 12pm to go back to Ancuabe.. which was another 4 hours ride.. 

-I bought more capulanas and got more dresses and shirts made :) 

-I never baked so much in my life! And first time I'm not using cake mix! :) So far, I've baked chocolate cake, peanut butter cake, brown sugar cinnamon oatmeal cookies, and chocolate coconut cake. All my coworkers and neighbors said they're delicious :D

-My landlord will install a water pump in my backyard!! I don't know when but hopefully soon. I've been getting water from Wiwanana and it is a work out every time. 

I'm gaining muscles from getting these gallons of water!

-My Portuguese tutor knows someone whose dog had 3 puppies so I might get a puppy soon!! I hope the puppy will get along with Zambie.
-2 of my good friends in Moz 20 ET (early termination) so we have 24 people left in our group now :( Missing them a lot already but I'm already planning to visit during my road trip when I get back to the states!

-I found a store that sells elastics and zippers!! I can sew more things now.

-I had my first site visit from Peace Corps earlier this month. Lucio said I'm really lucky that my org provided me with so many things (fridge, bicycle, bed, a lot of tables and chairs) when the requirement was only a bedframe, a table and 2 chairs.
-My org helped me open a mailbox in Pemba!! My mailbox will be connected to Wiwanana so they will call me whenever I have mail and will help deliver it if someone's coming to my town or Chiure.

-I have a bad habit of forgetting my keys inside the car back at home.. since I don't have a car here, I've been locked out of my house 4 times now. 1st time I forgot the keys inside so my landlord had to help crack open the lock on my back door. 2nd time I was locked out of my backyard and couldn't get in through the front door because of the inside lock on the front door. I had to wake up my landlord to open his backyard gate (his backyard has a door to my backyard). 3rd and 4th time I locked myself out of my bedroom but luckily the keys were on the table both time and there's a huge gap under the door so I was able to get it out with a broom stick.

Settling Into My New Home

My house:
I can't wait to tell my kids in the future that my very first house was in Mozambique! :) It's been almost 3 weeks since I moved in. I finally feel settled in enough to blog about my house now haha so without further ado, here's my home for the next 2 years:

Living room. The door goes to the kitchen

Kitchen

Bedroom

Other side of my bedroom

Closet room. I'm still living out of my suitcases for now until I can get some shelves built

Bathroom

Guest room

Hallway. Door to the left is the guest room. This is also where I wash my dishes

Backdoor and door to my storage room

Backyard

My favorite part of my backyard

Cooking:

I have electricity [yay!!!] so I bought an electric stove. I'm also very fortunate to have a fridge that my org provided for me! Cooking is my new stressor and hobby [not by choice] now. I don't really know how to cook so the next 2 years will be a huge learning experience. So far, I've been making a lot of soups or eating rice with eggs or dry shredded pork that I brought over. My rice cooking skill is a getting better and not so watery or mushy anymore. I really miss my rice cooker ): The mercado in my town is really really small. There's only tomatoes, onions, potatoes, couve, and lettuce. I have to go to the next town to buy cabbage and other food. 

It felt like Christmas when I opened my 2yr suitcase!! I've been restraining myself from indulging it all at once.

The first meal I made since being on my own! My neighbor said it was good.. yes! success :)

Water:
I don't have running water so I have to walk about 5 minutes to get water to bring back to my house. I am so lucky to have such wonderful neighbors who refill water for me :) I told them I wanted to help them so they let me practice getting water once. It caused a big scene because a bunch of my neighbors came out to watch me trying to carry the bucket on my head hahah I'm planning to buy a big gallon container so I can just use my bike to carry it back to my house without having to bother my neighbors.

My bucket was only half filled with water. My neighbor's kid who is a lot smaller than me was carrying a bigger bucket filled to the top with water without spilling.. I need more practice to get to her level! haha I woke up with sore arms and neck.. The girls here are so strong!

The unwanted pets in my house:

I feel like I have a zoo in my house when I first moved in. I was quite afraid of my own house, especially my bathroom. I think I've finally gotten these pests and critters under control (for the most part)

Cockroaches: They are HUGE here and some of them fly! I was so afraid to use my bathroom because there was an army of them crawling around the corner and on the wall of my bathroom everyday. I bought baygon and sprayed my whole bathroom so that did the trick. I actually had to get my neighbor to help me spray it because it was raining cockroaches when I tried to spray a corner. All of them starts running away and crawling up walls and then falling down. I still see 1-2 here and there but I can deal with that.

Bed bugs: They are my worst nightmare!!  I have bites all over my body and they swells up really big too. At first I thought mosquitoes were attacking me but I realized it was bed bugs when I wake up itchy with new bites in the middle of the night. My dono da casa helped me spray my bedframe with baygon and I had to leave my mattress in the sun for a few hours. I did that twice already and it's working so far. I havent gotten any new bites. My dono da casa is going to help me do this 3 more times to make sure they're completely gone. 

Rats: During my 1st week, I saw something running past by out of the corner of my eye but I thought I was just hallucinating and paranoid from Larium (malaria prophylaxis). I started noticing little black pellets all over my house the next few days.. which I later realized it's rats' poops. After many attempts of preventing them from going into my house and getting rid of them, I think I finally did it! As of today, 4 have died in my house. I'm definitely going to get a cat asap.

The rats been entering my house through my shower (more like bucket bath) hole. There's large gaps under all the doors so I tried to block it with the box. It didn't work since it apparently can jump over. The first few nights I tried blocking with the box, I keep hearing rats running into the box and trying to get through >.< I thought I was clever when I covered the top opening with books but the rats managed to squeeze through, chewed up my books and get back into my house ):

I went into the city to buy this glue and it worked! I caught 2 rats with this trap but it made a huge sticky mess in my house.

My neighbors were already asleep when the rat got stuck so I trapped it in the bucket to wait til the morning to get rid of it. I'm too scared to do it myself haha

Besides leaving poops all over my house, it started chewing things up when it couldn't find any food in my house ): Good thing I have a capulana that matches well with my bag!

I woke up to 2 dead rats in my bathroom from the rat poison that my neighbor got for me. My dono da casa also found a hole outside my house that leads to my shower hole so he will cover it up with cement for me. Hopefully this will be the last time I see rats in my house!

Other animals in my house: lizards, ants, mosquitoes, smaller flying animals, frog

PST Week 10: Moving out, Swearing In, Supervisor Conference, and Site delivery

Moving out 8/6: 

I was a crying mess :( It was very hard saying goodbyes to my host family. They have been amazing for the past 9 weeks! My host mom was trying to make me feel better by saying that things in the north are cheaper hahah I'm definitely going to go back to Namaacha to visit every chance I get. 

Swearing In 8/6:

My fancy invitation to my own swear in ceremony :)

Singing the Mozambique and US national anthems

Swearing in oath

Moz 20 with PC Country Director Carl Swartz, Ambassador Griffiths, and Mocambique Government Representative Sr. Mauricio dos Santos

Finally a PCV!! Milestone mark! :)

Supervisor Conference 8/8-9:

I met my counterparts for the first time and had 2 days conference in Portuguese with them in Nampula. They're very nice and seems excited to have us. I was really nervous about this conference but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. During the conference, we talked about what Peace Corps is, their roles as supervisors, our roles as volunteer, expectations, policies, etc. 

Our supervisors at Wiwanana

Site delivery 8/10:

It was a 4ish hours ride from Nampula to Chiure and then another 45min-1hr ride from Chiure to Ancuabe. We stopped in Chiure for awhile so that I can visit the Wiwanana office there and meet the director. I also got to stop by the mercado to buy some vegetables since it's a bit cheaper in Chiure and drove by Elizabeth's new house.

Ancuabe is 7km from the main cross road and on the way there, it really felt like it's in the middle of no where. It's a small town and everyone seems nice so far. I can't wait to get to see more and meet more people in my new community.  (I'd be lying if I said I'm not nervous/scared as well about integrating.. so wish me luck!) 

I finally saw my house! Unfortunately, they're not done building it so I can't move in until at least Monday. I'm currently staying in a hotel here until it's ready.. except the hotel I'm staying in this time is rather really a motel -3 stars because there's no running water and there's bugs and lizards in my room :( I also have to take cold bucket bath since I have nothing to boil water in. I definitely living the PCV life now.. 

Other highlights/things I've learned:

-I taught my host sister how to play velocidade (speed) and she loves it! :)

-I love staying in hotels!! I stayed in a hotel in Maputo before flying to Nampula and then stayed 3 nights in Nampula for the conference. It's so nice to take long hot shower instead of bucket baths! :D 

-I learned a technique from a friend here on how to trim my hair! I'm going to do this for the next 2 years haha

-Wiwanana (the org I'm working with) means 'together' in Macua. 

-It's about to feel like Christmas soon once I open my 2yr suitcase!! Can't wait to eat ramen and sour patch kids. I don't remember what else I packed in there but it's going to be so exciting!!

-Said goodbyes to my fellow Moz 20 this week also. I won't see them until 3 months later during Reconnect Conference :(

-I got a lot of shopping done for my new house so I'm excited to unpack and settle in.

-I don't have a bank in my town so Peace Corps will give me a bit extra each month so that I can travel to Chiure to do banking (and visit Elizabeth, scored!)

PST Week 9: Waterfall, Ngoma time, Tests, 4th Practicum visit, and Homestay Celebration

This week was our last full week of training before we swear in as Peace Corps Volunteers!! Time has gone by really fast. It was hard to pay attention in sessions this week because we are tired  of classes and all we can think about is getting to site haha

Waterfall 7/28:

We went to the cascata for Brianna's birthday. It was beautiful and relaxing. We had our mini picnic at the bottom of the waterfall to just talk and relax.

Ngoma time 7/31:

We finally had our 2nd Ngoma time since it kept being canceled. 2 girls wrote a song about our malaria pill, 'Blame it on the Larium', and it was really good. 3 other persons sang songs. Our language professors did a skit impersonating us during language lessons. It was hilarious because everything was so true. Then at the end, Edmund and I decided last minute to do our self defense skit so we quickly reviewed it since we haven't practiced it for weeks and wasn't planning to do it.

Tests 8/1:

We had our final LPI and Round Robin tests this week. For LPI, I wasn't too nervous before starting but once the recorder was on and he asked me the first question, I started to have a bad feeling about it because my first response was "Desculpa, pode repetir?" [Sorry, can you repeat?] I had to ask that several times throughout the conversation. I was also asked how my martial arts is different from other martial arts in which I responded with "Desculpa, eu não quero falar sobre artes marciais porque eu não sei muito vocabulário por artes marciais" [Sorry, I don't want to talk about martial arts because I don't know a lot of vocabulary for martial arts] I left the oral test with a bad feeling but I ended up doing better than I thought! Yay!! I passed :) I'm at intermediate high level for Portuguese now. So happy!

For our Round Robin test, we have to blindy pick 1 scenario and 2-3 questions to do for each sections. I think I got lucky because all the number I picked ended up being pretty easy.

4th Practicum visit 8/2: 

We talked to Irmã Maria José about the organization and learned so much about their history and programs. Afterward, we worked together to write a report and prepare a speech about the organization.

Homestay Celebration 8/3:

We had a Festa das Familia party to thank our home stay families and our practicum organizations. Julia and I gave our speech about our practicum.. in Portuguese! It was hard even though we had the paper in front of us. Only a few days left with my host family.. I am going to cry on Tuesday when I leave my host family. I know it already :( 

The maes started cooking at 5:30am to prepare for lunch

There were a lot of dancing afterward :)

I'm going to miss her so much!

Other highlights/things I've learned:

-We made flower hair clip out of our capulana scraps for swearing in ceremony :)

- I got more information about my house!! I am so excited. and so happy to have electricity! I didn't expect to have such a big house all to myself either. I found out that there's 2 water pumps near my house: 3 min and 5min walk. I'll have to see how long I can keep up getting my own water before I hire someone to get water for me.. haha