Hey all-
We find out where our site placement will be this Thursday, so that's
something to look forward to in my next email. Hope you are all doing
well!
To keep things interesting and easier to read, here's a list of top
ten things to know about Mozambique that I've learned so far:
1) I hear more Lady Gaga, Rhianna, and Eminem here than I ever did
in the States... at all hours of the day and night. And always at
club-worthy volumes.
2) The most absurd way of getting kicked out of PC is failure to wear
a helmet while riding a bike.
3) The best mode of transportation to/from other towns is in a flatbed
truck with ten friends. :-)
4) The worst method of transportation to/from other towns is also the
most common. This involves 14 passenger vans (called chapas) into
which they stuff at least 20 people, including some people standing by
the door and leaning over everyone else. SUPER UNCOMFORTABLE. The last
time we had to take one, the guy behind me puked out the window and the
guy next to me slept on my shoulder the whole time. :-/
5) You will eat a lot rice. And potatoes. And carbs in general... at
least three kinds per meal. Also chicken. And fish. (And they cook the
fish whole. You remove the bones as you eat it.)
6) Xima (a local corn-based food) may look exactly like mashed
potatoes, but DO NOT LET THAT FOOL YOU. It tastes terrible. However,
the Americans who like it say it tastes like grits.
7) It is not uncommon for an American here to have people (especially kids)
coming up and touching you as you walk past them on the road.
8) Everyone walks everywhere. And the few cars you see are mostly
really old and falling apart. There are a handful of new cars in
Namaacha, but not many.
9) The people here speak tons of languages. Not only do they have a
bunch of local languages throughout the country that people will speak
at home, but everyone learns Portuguese in school (middle and high
school is taught in Portuguese), and they also get taught English and
French.
10) Mozambique is amazing. The country is beautiful, the people are
wonderful, and I'm loving every second of it. :-)
November 8, 2010
Today was my first mini-disaster in Africa. A series of unusual
events (at least for me) led to a really unfortunate occurrence.
First, today was a day we spent learning about perma-culture (more
specifically how to make a perma-garden). So as I packed everything
into my backpack for the day, I didn't have all my language books and
put pretty much everything into the big main pocket, including my ipod
which I sometimes like to listen to on lunch breaks (but I usually put
it into a side or top pocket). Also, since we were going to be outside
all day, the hired guy leading the training told us we would all get
bottles of water there so we wouldn't have to haul a bunch with us.
The day went really well and I feel like I learned some really cool
methods about how to make an awesome garden that will produce really
well. But on the way home (unbeknownst to me) the water bottle I had
been given started to leak (it was 1.5 liters so I hadn't drank it all
yet), and it SOAKED MY IPOD. SO SAD. Once I noticed the water had
leaked I took everything out of my backpack and set it all out in the
sun to dry. I then put my iPod in a bag with uncooked rice for four
days to pull the moisture out. Nope. My iPod still won't work. :-(
The permagarden training was really cool otherwise. We
learned how to make a garden on about a 20x20 ft plot of land that can
produce up to 400% more food than can be grown conventionally. It uses
ditches, berms, and swales to direct water flow and help in cases of
both too little or too much rain. It also involves double digging the
beds themselves while leaving packed aisles to walk down between the
beds to prevent anyone from stepping near the plants and compacting
the soil (which is bad). With this new-found knowledge, not only will I
be able to have an awesome garden of food once I get to my site, but I
can teach other families around me how to better be able to feed their
families and possibly even sell some extra produce, using only a small
space by their homes which is easy to tend and manageable, as well as
sustainable.
November 14, 2010
Yesterday we went to visit a local medicine man. It was really
surreal to sit in his small round hut and have him explain to us (in
Portuguese) all about how he uses local plants and herbs to cure a
variety of ailments -- things like bad dreams, alcoholism, hangovers,
even possessions (which he says are the most expensive thing to cure).
The best part of the whole thing: he was wearing a g-unit shirt. A
sparkly one. It was ridiculous and amazing all at once.
Today a group of us walked about 5 miles round trip to and
from this mountain outside of town. We hiked up the mountain to the
top where the borders of Mozambique, Swaziland, and South Africa all
meet. It was a long hard walk but SO beautiful. I'll post pictures
when I can.
This coming week we are starting to teach in model school. This
is where a bunch of the local kids come, we teach them all morning
and they get a free snack. It lets us practice teaching in Portuguese
in a slightly less stressful environment. We'll have 15-20 kids per
class instead of more than 50 and they take a test at the end of the
two weeks. I'm really excited and nervous.
Okay, I have to go finish up my lesson plan for tomorrow. Miss you all!
:-)
~Alissa
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