Don't volunteer to make the schedule...ever

For the past couple of weeks, I've been kind of an emotional wreck. I don't really know how else to describe it. I keep apologizing to my roommate for being such a freak, but she says she hasn't really noticed...which makes me feel like I've just been an emotional wreck since meeting her back in Philly. So that's great. Anyway, I have already enlightened you all to the ever-so-pleasant experience that followed from my back problems. After a week of being pain free, the back pain returned in full force a few days ago. I promptly texted the Peace Corps medical officer, who told me that I should take ibuprofen and sleep on the floor for a week to see if that helps. So on top of stress about the impeding school year (with curriculum and everything about teaching unbeknownst to me), medical problems galore, and just in general doubting my abilities to live in Mozambique for two years, I was about to lose it a couple of days ago. Luckily, I have a pretty great support system both here in Mozambique and back in the states. Talking to my friends here, I quickly realized that I am not alone in my feelings of “what the hell am I doing in Mozambique?” Also, upon further examination of my wacky behavior, I realized that the malaria prevention that I've been taking for the past three and a half months of which I'd previously shown no side effects has a kind of personality altering side effect. It just makes you kind of a crazy version of yourself. So when I realized that all of this crazy might not be my fault, it made me feel much better about the situation.

In other news: I found out that I will be teaching 4 sections of 11^th grade math. Curriculum here isn't exactly the same as it is in the U.S., so 11^th grade math includes a little of everything: mathematical logic, algebra, trigonometry, logarithms...yeah...should be fun. Of the 4 sections I'll be teaching, 3 of the sections are the exact same, and one is a similar class, just at a slower pace. I will teach for 15 hours every week. I teach in the afternoons. I have a loaded schedule teaching 6 classes on Mondays and Thursday, and teach one class on Tuesdays and two on Wednesdays. If you guys can do the math: 6 x 2 + 1 + 2 = 15. No classes on Fridays for me. :) Yay!

To be fair, Sarah and I made the schedule for the school. The whole school. Yeah, it was a mess. We started working on it on Monday, and just finished today (literally working on it for four days straight with hardly any breaks...). We were told by other volunteers that it was a good idea to volunteer to make the schedule for a few reasons:

1. Peace Corps supplied us with a program that can make schedules, and otherwise the school has to do it by hand...which is a huge pain.
2. We can determine our own schedules.

So clearly, at the beginning it sounded like a great idea to make the schedule. When we brought home all of the papers on Monday to get to work, we honestly had no idea what we were getting into. We thought the program was fun to use and we were really excited about it. Then we brought the schedules we were oh so proud of to the school the next day, and promptly learned that we couldn't print anything from the program we had been using. So we set out on the daunting task of transferring everything to excel by hand before printing it. So there was a whole other day of mind numbing work on the computer. When we returned to the school and printed the schedule, our pedagogical director told us that we needed to change it...like basically re-do the whole thing. He gave us a bunch of stipulations to follow that we hadn't had in the first place. So by that time I was pretty frustrated, and then sitting at home for 6 hours redoing the whole thing didn't help my frustration level. By 11 o'clock last night I was practically crying from being so tired of the freaking program and messing with the near-impossible puzzle. And then there left the daunting task of recopying everything back into excel to print it. Mozambique, man. Sometimes it's rough. Finally at 12 today, we printed out the schedule. And I haven't heard anything from the school since then, so I'm crossing my fingers that we're done with it for good. But yeah, seriously regretting volunteering for that task now. If we have to do that again for every trimester I might cry...

I do feel bad for all of the teachers though because while we were doing all of this crazy work on the schedule, even today they didn't know what grades/classes they would be teaching or know anything about their schedules (some of which are pretty rough...). In Mozambique, school is set up differently than in the U.S. In most schools, there are not enough classrooms to have everyone at the school at the same time. At our school in Messica, there are 13 classrooms on the school's property, and then there are an additional 4 in an annexed building that is about a 20 minute walk from the school. So in the morning, 9^th and 10^th graders have classes. Then, in the afternoon 8^th, 11^th, and 12^th graders have class. Then, for all of the people that can't go to school during the day because of jobs or whatever else, there are night classes of every grade.

Also, classes are set up a lot differently than in the U.S. They do not change classes like a typical high school in the U.S. Here, students are assigned to a turma (homeroom). They are with these students all day, every day, all year. Each turma is assigned a classroom. The professor's move classrooms, the student's don't (which actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it). They don't have the same classes in the same order every day. They have between 8 and 10 subjects for each grade, so obviously that wouldn't be possible. Therefore, as you can imagine, scheduling is a freaking mess.

Classes start on the 15^th, but the 'official opening' of the school year is on the 14^th. I'm not quite sure what that entails, but it should be interesting to see what happens. It is coming up so quickly, and I really have yet to start preparing due to the scheduling situation. Today we briefly met in our respective subjects and 'discussed the curriculum.' Basically, this entailed copying the mandated objectives and procedures onto a different sheet and submitting it to the pedagogical directors. I thought I would get a little more information than that, but I'm learning to roll with the punches. I have the 11^th grade math book, so with that and the list of things I should be covering, I will hopefully be able to get some plans together. This weekend, I am planning on writing out my lessons and studying the vocabulary that I will need to give an effective lesson. I'm thinking that I have a good review activity to do the first day though, because I'm stealing someone's lesson from model school (thanks Anna Derby!).

I know by the time Tuesday rolls around I'm going to be super nervous. Luckily I only have one class on Tuesdays. For right now, my nerves are under control and I'm feeling more or less capable of doing this...crazy, I know. But that feeling could probably change by the time I finish writing this blog...stupid Lariam.

For now I will leave you with something that spoke to me today. It was one of my New Year's Resolutions to read a devotional by Mother Teresa every day called “The Joy in Living” and reflect on it. Today's reading really struck a chord with me, so I'll share it here.

“To students: I pray that all those young people who have graduated do not carry just a piece of paper with them, but that they carry with them love, peace, and joy. That they become the sunshine of God's love to our people, the hope of eternal happiness, and the burning flame of love wherever they go. That they become carriers of God's love. That they be able to give what they have received. For they have received not to keep but to share.”

This just explains so perfectly what I hope to be doing over here in Mozambique. So here's to sharing my love, my knowledge, and all I have with everyone I come in contact with here. Whether they are Mozambican, Zimbabwean, Portuguese, Brazilian, American, or anything else, may I carry God's love to them. I know that they've most definitely already shown His love to me.

2013

Happy New Year, everyone!

I wasn't sure what to expect with a Mozambican New Year's celebration, but it turns out that Mozambicans party it up just as much as Americans on December 31^st. I spent the 31^st in Chimoio with seven other PCV's. We went out to dinner and I had some pretty fantastic pizza. Then six of us continued to a bar, where I enjoyed one beer while being harassed by a very very drunk Mozambican. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Then we went back to my friend Anna's house (there are approximately a bazillion Anna's in PC Mozambique, which is rather obnoxious most of the time...) and ate cake and ice cream and played bananagrams while waiting for midnight to roll around. At around midnight, we had our own countdown that we have no idea whether or not was accurate. But who cares? We made our way out to the street, made noise with pots and pans, and set off 10 firecrackers. I did not partake in the lighting of the firecrackers, but I did almost have a few heart attacks courtesy of them. It was a pretty mellow New Years Eve, but as many of you know mellow is just fine with me!

New Years day was quite an adventure. We decided to wake up early to watch the ball drop live via internet at the Peace Corps office. We got to the office with a little time to spare and set up my computer to watch the live feed. We watched live footage of Times Square for about 10 minutes, and about 30 seconds until the new year, my computer decided it was a good idea to shut down completely with no warning. Luckily, one of the other volunteers there, Lisa, was on the phone with her mom, so we still counted down with all of you on the east coast to the new year. :) After we watched the ball drop, we watched a few hours of classic youtube videos to really ring in the new year right.

Then it was time to make our way back to Messica. My friend, Anna, that we were staying with in Chimoio decided to come back to Messica to check out our place and make a traditional New Years meal with us. Other PCV's from our province were also passing through Messica, so they also came over to celebrate the new year. The problem with getting to Messica on New Years Day was that there weren't many chapas going back and forth due to lack of people traveling. When we got to the chapa stop in Chimoio, there was one chapa to Messica waiting (while there are normally about 3 or 4), and the chapa that was there was completely empty. So we got in, thinking we had no other choice and began to wait. After about 20 minutes, two other people had showed up. So at that rate, we would have sat in the chapa until the next day waiting for it to fill up. Luckily (kind of) there was a guy there who was hitting on me that decided to help us out. He told us that there was a chapa going to Manica that was almost full, and that we could just have them drop us off in Messica which is on the way to Manica. I investigated the situation, and it turns out that the guy wasn't crazy, and they agreed to drop us off in Messica. So yay for creepy guys who turn out to be helpful.

So we told the cobrador (chapa guy that tells the driver when to stop) that we needed to get off at the paragem (or chapa stop) in Messica. When we got closer to Messica, the cobrador asked me where we wanted to be dropped off, and I was super confused because I had already told him at the paragem. He pointed in two different directions and asked me “la” or “la”. I was quite frazzled at the sudden questions when I thought that I had been abundantly clear about where we wanted to get off. All of a sudden, Sarah tells me that we passed the street that we needed to turn down to get to the paragem. After a few seconds of being like “umm....what are we gonna do?” I decided the first order of business was to tell the cobrador that we wanted the paragem that we had just passed. He just sighed and looked at me like “how could you be so stupid, you white girl?” and said, sorry, we're dropping you off at the other paragem of Messica. And I promptly told him that I had no idea that there were multiple stops in Messica. So then he proceded to think I was even stupider than he thought possible. When we got out of the chapa at the stop he asked if we wanted the stop by the Catholic church and I said yes, so he pointed in the direction of the Catholic church. But he was pointing in the opposite direction from the church I've been going to. So I started arguing with him telling him that the Catholic church was the other way. Then a nice man in the chapa promptly told me that Messica has two Catholic churches. So I learned quite a bit about Messica from this little mishap, including the fact that Messica has multiple paragems, and multiple Catholic churches.

After the chapa left us standing on the side of the road a few kilometers from home, it started raining. So there we were, three white girls with large backpacks and other bags walking along the N6. Soon, the light rain turned into a full fledged storm. We saw an empty building not far from the road, so we made our way towards it and took cover inside. It turns out it was home to the new water office of Messica. There was a man inside who was guarding the building. He told us that we could stay there and keep dry as long as we needed to. He also showed us a back path that was a shorter way to get to town. Conveniently enough, it was a mud pit by the time we were able to start making our way up it, and the only shoes I had were flip flops (my other shoes broke on New Years Eve). So we waded through the mud up the path we were shown periodically asking people we passed if we were following the path toward the market. About halfway through the walk, I wiped out and got all muddy - of course...because that's my life. Eventually we made it home after about a 45 minute walk. It was quite the adventure, but I was happy to see the rest of Messica, which until then I didn't know existed. A few hours later, our other friends showed up and we made a wonderful New Years dinner. It was great to have some people at our house and show them around Messica a little bit. The consensus was that Messica is super cute and all of the people are very friendly. :)

Also on the first, Sarah and I found out that the administrative boss of the secondary school, Chimoio, had died. We weren't told exactly what the cause was, just that he had been sick. He was the first person that we met in Messica. He got in the car with us when we were just arriving and helped us move into our house. He was also there every time we visited the school in the past weeks. So this news was absolutely shocking, and pretty devastating as well. We were told that his funeral was this morning, and that we could meet at the school at 7AM in order to ride to Chimoio where the funeral would be held. Obviously Sarah and I felt that we needed to go, so we went to the school this morning at 7. Around 7:45, the car showed up, and we made our way to Chimoio with about 20 other colleagues.

I really didn't know what to expect from a Mozambican funeral, but it was very different than what we're used to in the states. First, we went to Chimoio's house for a blessing and some singing. Then we all piled in many flat bed trucks that were stuffed to the brim of people. Not kidding, probably about 40-50 people in each truck. We then made our way to the cemetery. There were so many people in our procession - I would guess about 300 people. There were more blessings and speeches at the cemetary, given in both the local language and Portuguese. After this, there was more singing, and eventually the burial of Chimoio. They actually lowered the casket into the ground and buried him as we were all standing there. Then people planted flowers and other assorted plants around his grave. We eventually all piled back into the truck and returned to Chimoio's family's house. Then we washed our hands, and took turns entering the house and shaking the hands of all of the sobbing relatives of Chimoio. It was so sad. I really didn't know what to do with myself. When everyone was done paying their respects, we went back to the truck and headed back to Messica.

So that is how my New Year has started. It has already been the most interesting year of my life, and we are three days in. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for me in 2013, and throughout the rest of my Peace Corps service.

Tomorrow Sarah and I are going to the school to find out officially what grades we will be teaching and to help make the schedule. So with my next blog update, I should have more information on those things. For now, all I know is that school starts on January 15^th, which is actually coming up really quickly. That's really scary. Prayers appreciated because I have to teach math in Portuguese...it's gonna be rough.

Finally some pictures!

I thought it would be nice to put some pictures up for the facebookless to see.  I hope everyone has a great New Year!

Also, you all get to read this blog to get updates from me about my life here in Mozambique, but I don't know what's going on in most of your lives.  So you should email me and summarize the goings on of the past few months in America. :) (My email is listed under the 'Contact Me' section of this blog.)

After officially swearing in as Peace Corps Volunteers in Mozambique.  These are my two closest friends in Mozambique, Maggie (on the left) and Hannah (on the right).  They are wonderful, but both super far away from me. :(

The Catholic church in Messica.

My adorable neighbors.

Messica! Beautiful views. :)

One of our markets in Messica.

Manica Bread. :)

The town of Messica!

 

Example of a fully stocked stand in the market.  This is taken at the other market in Messica.

Some random guys at the market that wanted their picture taken.
Also,  this stand is where Sarah and I normally buy  our rice. :)

Messica is on a map! So exciting!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!  Since my last post, things have been a little bit crazy.  As I wrote at the end of my last post, there were 15 of us staying in a three bedroom, one bathroom house for 4 days to spend Christmas together in Chimoio.  Everyone left this morning to go back to their respective sites, and I'm just staying in Chimoio a bit longer to milk the free wireless internet in the Peace Corps office for all it's worth.  :)

So in my last post I wrote about half of my trip to the clinic.  After my post, however, things got a little crazy.    I went back to the clinic and the doctor told me that the blood tests were all negative (I think they were checking for infection), so he gave me a prescription for some pain medication that I had to go pick up at the pharmacy.  Ofelio took me to the pharmacy, and got the medicine for me, but when I looked at the medicine, they were in glass vials that were completely enclosed.  I asked Ofelio what the medicine was and how it is administered, but he said that he didn't know and that I had to go back to the clinic and ask.  Upon returning to the clinic, I was informed that the vials were actually injections that I had to return to the clinic daily (for the next 9 days) to have administered.  Icing on the cake: the injections have to be in the ass.   So that was lovely.  Merry Christmas to me.

I went back to Messica on Friday afternoon, and returned to Chimoio bright and early on Saturday for my second injection. I have been in Chimoio ever since Saturday, and will be going back to Messica today (they will administer my last shot at the clinic in Messica).  So the guys at the clinic know me now, and when I walk in they just follow me to the room,  give me the shot, and I'm on my way.

Everyone else started arriving for Christmas on Saturday as well, and by Monday all 15 of us were in Chimoio. On Christmas day I went to mass with a couple other PCVs.  The service was great, but also incredibly long and HOT.  We didn't realize that it would be held outside, so I lacked to bring a bottle of water or put on sunscreen.  Whoops.  Also, there were about 50 baptisms, which added approximately an hour to the length of mass.  It was a little rough.  But it was also really cool.  Throughout the mass whenever I thought about how miserably hot I was, I remembered how awesome it is that I'm able to have this experience.  Also, there was a huge line of offerings and it was truly humbling to see people who don't have much give what they do have to Jesus.  :) Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Anyway, Christmas was very much different than what I am used to, but I had a great time with everyone here.  It was just super strange to Skype everyone while they were together and feel so removed.  It sounds like everyone in Ohio had a white Christmas, while I have been sweating over here like it's my job.

For New Years, Sarah and I are going to stay in Messica and try to find a family to take us in. It should be fun. :)

Hopefully I'll find out what grade I'll be teaching and be able to start lesson planning soon.  Sarah and I are going to help make the teacher's schedule next week, so I should also know my school schedule soon.  School starts in mid-January, so until then I'll be hanging out, reading some books, and washing laundry by hand.  Sounds like fun, right?

My first solo adventure

Right now I am sitting in the air conditioned Peace Corps office in Chimoio.  That has a toilet that flushes.  Man, I am feeling spoiled today.  Anyway, I am here in Chimoio because I had an appointment this morning at the clinic to check out some back pain I've been having the past couple of days. Of course, I know that this back pain is probably never going to go away, but it was getting hard to breathe there for awhile, so I figured it would be best to get it checked out.

So this morning I made the trip into Chimoio from Messica.  Alone.  On a chapa full of Mozambicans.  When I got to the chapa stop in Messica at 7:00 this morning, there was an almost packed chapa waiting to head out to Chimoio.  I got the seat right by the door (with a window), so I thought it was a pretty good location.  Boy, was I wrong.  Turns out that whenever anyone had to get out, I had to move.  Also, whenever they wanted to cram a couple more people in, I was the one that had my little leg room robbed from me.  Whenever I thought there was no possible way that anyone else could fit in the chapa, I was proven wrong.  It was quite incredible, really.  Like I've been telling everyone I have talked to on Skype, you don't know what you've got until it's gone.  And when it comes to transportation in America verses transportation in Mozambique, whoa is that the truth.

Anyway, so after about 45 minutes in the chapa, when I was stopping to let the guy next to me out, I realized that the exact place where we were was about a 2 minute walk from the Peace Corps office.  So that worked out well!  Then I proceded to waste time on Facebook and such when I was waiting for PC staff member, Ofelio, to take me to the clinic. 

Upon arriving at the clinic, I realized that Ofelio definitely wasn't going to be translating for me...so I had to figure out how to say everything I wanted to in Portuguese.  So that was a fun realization.  They took me back to get my weight and I promptly heard "Oh, you weigh a lot," which is always super awesome to be told.  They took my blood pressure, and then I waited to see the doctor.  The doctor ordered some x-rays and a blood test, and I was there for approximately 2 hours to have all of that done.  I was pretty proud of myself for communicating everything correctly (mais ou menos) and the doctor couldn't believe that I was 21 years old, from America, and living in Mozambique.  He told me I am very courageous. :)

Anyway, I got my x-rays back and the doctor told me he sees where the problem is, but I am still waiting for the results from the blood tests.  I have to go back to the clinic in about 20 minutes to see if they've drawn any conclusions.  I don't know what the outcome is going to be, but today's been quite the adventure already and it's only noon.

Also, super exciting news!  Almost all of the central Moz 19 volunteers are meeting in Chimoio for Christmas, so I'll be able to see everyone and hear how their sites are! I am so excited.

It doesn't feel much like Christmas here, but hopefully once everyone gathers in Chimoio it will feel a little more Christmasy.  Everyone eat some Christmas cookies and drink some apple cider/Starbucks for me...

Some Sounds of Mozambique

• Freaking goats. All the time. They are loud and obnoxious and EVERYWHERE. Currently our neighbors have a goat that they tie to the tree that is between our front doors. The goat likes to go under our gate and sit in our yard and makes the LOUDEST noises. It also conveniently likes to make the most noise at 5 am. Lovely. I've been told that the goat will only be around until Christmas, when it will be killed and eaten for Christmas dinner. I promptly told my neighbors that I want to help kill it. Never thought I'd say that about a living thing, but that goat just gets under my skin.
• Roosters. Almost as bad as the goats. They don't just make ridiculous amounts of noise in the morning, it is non-stop. And our fence does not keep them out of our yard, so conveniently enough they can make lots of noise from right outside my window. Excellent.
• Blasting music. Mozambicans like their music, and they also like blaring it. Most of it is American music, and they probably don't realize that swear words are flying all over the place in the songs.
• Children. Either crying, screaming, or playing.
• Howling dogs. These were much more common in Namaacha. They would howl at 10 o'clock at night for at least an hour. It was lovely.
• Rats/Bats. This is an occurrence in my new house. At night there is a crazy squeaking noise that comes from the ceiling, so I'm assuming it's either rats or bats and I have absolutely no idea what to do about it. I am terrified that they come into my room, so I just hide in my bed with my mosquito net tucked in and pretend not to hear it.
• Flies. Buzzing around your head, in your ears, landing all over your body. It's especially bad right now because it's mango season. And though I absolutely love mangoes, I absolutely hate the flies.
• Singing. Lots of times there will be church choirs that you can hear at like 10 at night, which is quite beautiful. There are also lots of people that just sing to themselves as they walk. I like it. :)

Chegamos em Messica!

Well this blog post is extremely delayed so I apologize for that, but as you can imagine life has been pretty crazy recently.  Since I've last written a blog post, I have left Namaacha and my wonderful host family, traveled to Maputo and officially swore-in  to the Peace Corps, said goodbye to my closest friends that were placed in the north, flew to Chimoio, met the pedagogical director of my school and had a two day conference with him, was driven to Messica with my roommate, moved into my new house, and am currently securing my house with window locks, new door locks, etc.  Pretty crazy stuff.  So I'm going to try to start from where I left off-ish, and I'll quickly recap what's been going on.

Leaving Namaacha.  What a weird situation.  All of our bags had been picked up prior to us leaving, so last Tuesday morning when I woke up I only had my backpack to bring with me on the chapa.  It was really strange because I felt like I was leaving the house for class.  And Walmer is the cutest ever, so  you can probably imagine how hard it was to leave him.  He was crying as I left, and my family said it was because I was leaving, but I'm pretty sure he was just hungry or something.  Anyway, leaving itself was pretty anti-climactic, I just said goodbye and left.  They don't so much do the hug thing in Mozambique, which was kind of strange for me.  Also, both Didinha and Nucha were taking Chemistry national exams on Tuesday, so they were a little sidetracked by studying and such.

The Peace Corps picked the math people up close to my house, and we headed to Maputo for swearing-in.   There was a lot of traffic going into Maputo, so we ended up arriving  late to our own ceremony.  Swearing-in was held at the U.S. Ambassador's house.  All of the PCT's wore at least one  piece of clothing made out of the same capulana, so we all matched (as you will be able to see when I am able to post pictures).  The ceremony included speeches by the PC Country Director for Mozambique, the U.S. Ambassador to Mozambique, one of my fellow trainees,  and a representative from Mozambique's Ministry of Education.   There were a bunch of fellow PCVs (most of them were closing their two years of service in Mozambique) and RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) in attendance.  After the ceremony, we had a small reception, and then were taken to our hotels for the night.

We were separated by region into three different hotels in Maputo, so I was in the central hotel called Villa das Mangas. It was super fancy, and I was really excited to take a shower.  With running water.  Ohhh yeahhh.  After dinner that night, everyone met at a small bar to hang out one last time together.  After a crazy night, there was a sad goodbye with all of the people staying in the southern part of Mozambique for service.  A  large majority of our group is in the northern part of Mozambique, and there are 19 of us in central Mozambique.  I didn't have to say goodbye to the people going to the north until the next day at the airport.
I was freaking out at the airport because my bags were overweight and I was still waiting to get my boarding pass 20 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave.  When I made it through security, I had to say goodbye to my closest friends in Mozambique.  So that was less than enjoyable.  Luckily, my flight left 45 minutes late, so we had more time to hang out in the airport.  Eventually the time came that we had to board our flight.  A bus took us from the gate to the plane.  The plane probably had about 13 rows of seats, 2 on one side of the aisle, and 1 on the other.  The propellers were right outside my window (of course), so by the end of the flight my ears were basically bleeding.  It was an enjoyable 2 hour flight.

When we arrived in Chimoio, we got our bags and headed to the hotel.  After check in, we had a quick meeting,  then had the day to explore Chimoio.  I had some issues with my bank card, so I had to go to the bank and try to  get those resolved (two days later, they were), and then I went to get something  to eat.  I ordered a greek salad at a restaurant and  an hour later they came out to tell me that they didn't have the greek salad.  Umm...really?  Not cool.  Anyway, long story short, I didn't get to eat anything.  So I bought some bread that Namaacha bread would put to shame, and walked the 40 minutes back to the hotel.

The next day, our Supervisor's Conference started, where a representative from our school came into Chimoio to learn about the Peace Corps and how he could help us integrate into the communities.  The pedagogical director for  11th and 12th grade from the Secondary School of Messica came as our representative, and he was a super nice guy.  We got to ask him a little bit about Messica and the school. He told me that I will able to teach math, so that was really exciting news.  We also got to talk to the Peace Corps housing coordinater who told us that our house had three bedrooms, running water, and electricity. :)

While we were in Chimoio, my roommate Sarah and I bought mattresses for our beds, pots, pans, basins for cleaning, an oven/stove combo, an electric kettle, etc.  Basically, just things we knew that we would need because we were opening a new site in a city that has never had a volunteer.

So after Supervisor's Conference, it came time to leave Chimoio and head to Messica.  Sarah and I packed up the Peace Corps vehicle that was taking us, and headed west from Chimoio toward Messica.  (By the way, Messica is pronounced with the emphasis on the i, not on the e...it doesn't rhyme with Jessica...)  After about 45 minutes, we arrived at our house and quickly unpacked everything.  The Peace Corps left, and all of a sudden we were alone in Mozambique.

After cleaning the whole house, we unpacked a little, and headed to the market to get some food and also to find our way around.  Messica is such a cute little town.  It has two markets that are relatively large, and I can get most things here.  If I want specialty items, I might have to make a trip into Chimoio or Manica.  Manica is a city on the border between Mozambique and Zimbabwe and it is only a 30 minute chapa ride away.  Chimoio is a little farther, but it is also bigger.  Regardless, if I ever need/want anything I am within an hour from access to it.

That first day,  a carpenter came to fix the locks on our metal grates on our doors to make sure that we could shut and lock them.  He ended up having to come back the following day to finish the work because he didn't have the right tools to fix it.  The next day when he came back, he brought his brother, Inoque, with him.  Inoque has turned out to be a great resource to Sarah and I.  He helped us find someone to fix our window locks and get some screens put in our windows, and he bought new glass for the windows in my room that are currently cracked.  He took us to Manica today to show us around so that we can go whenever we want and be comfortable in the city.  He also said that tomorrow he's going to have us over to his house to meet his family, and he's offered his fridge to us to use whenever we need to keep things cold.

I also ventured to church on Sunday, which was an interesting experience.  I left really early, because I had been told at least 4 different times that church started, and I also had no idea where it was.  In Mozambique, people just know where things are, so they have no concept of giving directions.  They just point in a direction and  say "la"  which is helpful about 10 percent of the time.  After finding the church, I was told it started at 8 and it was 7:20.  The church wasn't even unlocked.  I waited for the church to be unlocked, and at about 7:30 I went in.  The church was a lot different than Namaacha's.  There were no pews, more like benches with no backs and no kneelers.  Also, when I went into the church, I sat down and started reading my bible.  Everyone else that came in knelt down to pray and when they finished, they left the church again.  I was sitting alone for the church for an absurdly long time.  It was really strange.  At about 8:45, people started to come into the church and started singing.  I was really confused again because when mass started, there was no priest.  I thought he was just running late, but it turns out that they can only have an actual mass every once in a while when they have a priest.  The rest of the time, they have a celebration which just includes the liturgy of the word and sign of peace.  I found this really interesting.  After mass, they made me introduce myself in front of the whole church (how embarrassing).  Then when I was walking out, the only other white person in the whole church came up and started to talk to me.  It turns out that he's Portuguese, but has lived in Mozambique for the past 50 years.  He was a really interesting person to talk to.  I also met some of my neighbors that morning at church and walked home with them.  They showed me the shortcuts to my house. :)

Overall, I feel like I will really like it here.  Most of the people I've encountered are very friendly.  I know that my Portuguese has already improved in being here and away from all of the English speaking PCVs.  I am excited to continue to explore and meet new people here.  Also I'm excited to learn to cook!  I really have no alternative considering  there are no microwavable meals here.

I have a new address now that I posted on the Contact Me link at the top of the page.  Beware that I have currently only gotten one package and one letter from the states.  The mail here is slower than the slowest thing you could possibly think of.  So that's frustrating, but it's just one more test of my patience.

Our House! (and my roommate, Sarah!)