Prayers

Two weeks ago, my friend Otilia came over to my house to borrow some nail polish.  I sat on my esteira (bamboo mat) with her as she started painting her nails, and eventually took over for her and started doing the painting.  As we were sitting there, somehow our conversation moved to the civil war that ended in  Mozambique 21 years ago after 16 years of conflict and fear.

I asked Otilia where she was during the war.  She is 40 now, so she was a child/teenager during the years of the war.  She told me that she lived in Beira and witnessed things that she would never forget.

For example, she told me stories of RENAMO soldiers entering a house, holding a father at gunpoint and threatening to kill him if he didn't take advantage of his daughter.

Another story was that of a soldier on school grounds holding a professor at gunpoint in front of a class of students and forcing the professor take of all of his clothes.

The last story that Otilia told me is something that happened to her aunt.  She was forced by a soldier to take off all of her clothes, lay back, and spread her legs.  Then soldiers took dirt and sand and shoved it up inside her.  Using a pole, they packed the sand and kept putting more until her aunt could no longer stand up or use her legs at all.

Otilia has scars all up and down her legs from walking for miles upon miles in the dewy grass trying to outrun RENAMO soldiers.

I was in tears listening to these stories.  My heart breaks knowing that my Mozambican friends and family were put through this only 21 years ago.  And these stories only make the reality of the current political tensions in Mozambique that much more terrifying.

Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a lot of political tension and unrest between the majority party in Mozambique, FRELIMO, and the opposition, RENAMO.  RENAMO has officially ended the peace accord that was signed at the end of the civil war. This does not necessarily mean that there will be another war but it does invoke fear in many Mozambicans, especially those in close proximity to the areas that have been targeted with RENAMO attacks.  With local elections coming up on November 20th, many Mozambicans fear that these attacks will continue and perhaps escalate over the coming weeks.

Though not many have died in the attacks, Mozambicans in targeted areas have fled their homes in fear. Other Mozambicans are terrified to travel outside of their towns.  These attacks are unpredictable and random, invoking fear of traveling (and even living) in Sofala province.

Don't get me wrong, where I am living in Messica is COMPLETELY safe.  I feel comfortable and safe at site.  But it is devastating to think about what would happen if things escalate further.  I don't want to leave my friends, family, and students.  It would break my heart to see Mozambique head back down the path to war, and I pray with all of my heart that doesn't happen.  Analysts say that war is unlikely.  I pray that they're right.

But regardless of if a war breaks out or not, Mozambique is in need of prayers.  Even with no official war these small attacks are causing citizens to live in fear.  They are fleeing their homes. There are random people that are being injured and dying in the crossfire in attacks on the national highway in Sofala.  This is no way to live.

Pray for peace in Mozambique.  Pray for successful dialogues and uneventful elections this November.  Pray for all of the Mozambicans that have fled their homes and are living fearfully in the bush.  Pray for all of the Mozambicans that have witnessed traumatic scenes from the war that will be with them forever.  Pray that they will never be forced to witness them again.

Cheating, Church Dance Parties, and Calamidades (my Mozambican life in a nutshell)

The past couple of weeks have been busy with the end of the school year and other festivities.  Two weeks ago I gave my last tests of the year to all of my turmas.  As you may have expected, it didn't go so well. 

Testing is one of my least favorite things about teaching, especially in Mozambique. Mozambicans know how to cheat.  Some of them aren't as good at it as others, but they all try.  Some succeed.  Some fail.  I despise it all. 

This trimester, I gave my tests on Wednesday/Thursdays.  I had one ciencias turma on Wednesday and two others on Thursday.  The test seemed to be going okay in the first turma I gave it to, until I realized that one of the best students in the class was writing all of the answers down on the corner of his scrap piece of paper.  These scrap pieces of paper are THE WORST.  All of the students want to use them, and I leave them space on the back of the test, but they just hate “dirtying the test.”  They will complain to no end if I don’t let them use scrap paper, but scrap paper is a Mozambican teacher’s worst enemy when it comes to testing.  Students pass them back and forth, sending the answers.  They’re just the worst.  Anyway, when I saw this student writing down the answers, I made a mental note to make sure to collect his scrap paper when he turned in his test.  By the time he came to turn in his test, there were only a few students left in the room.  He brought me his test, and I asked him for his scrap paper.  When he turned it in, there was a chunk of the paper gone, conveniently where all the answers he had written down were.

“Where’s this piece of the paper?”

“I don’t know teacher, another student gave me the paper to use and it was already missing.”

“No, I saw it on here earlier, and you were writing down all of the answers.  Where is it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about teacher.  That part of the paper wasn't here.”

“You’re lying.  Give it to me.”

“I don’t have anything, teacher.”

…

Until he eventually reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper.  On one side was written ‘Prova A’ with all of his answers, and on the other side ‘Prova B’ with all of his neighbors’ answers.

This was the chefe da turma; the person who is in charge of the turma, and who is an excellent student in math.   I didn’t even know what to do with myself.

“What were you going to do with these?”

“I was just going to take them home to remember the answers.”

“Don’t lie to me.  What you’re doing is so ugly, do you realize that?”

“Yes, teacher.”

“The year went so well and this is how we’re ending it.  How?  Why did you do this?”

“I’m sorry, teacher.”

“I want to cry right now, just leave.”

That’s basically how it went.  I was so disappointed.  I wanted to quit.  I wanted to cry.  I wanted to crawl in bed and never come out.  Unluckily for me, there was a whole other day of testing in front of me.  It seemed to go smoothly in my first two turmas (until I got home and realized half of one turma cheated), and then I got to my third turma.  Everything was going well, until one student came and turned in his test, followed by the dude sitting next to him.  They turned in the same test.  I purposely alternate tests to keep the students from cheating. 

“Joaquim, come here.”

“Yes, teacher.” 

“Why do you and Felix have the same test?”

“What do you mean, teacher?”

“You turned in the same variation of the test.  You were sitting next to each other.  How did this happen?”

“I don’t know, teacher.  That was the test that you gave me.”

“Okay, well you’re lying because I never would have given you the same test.”

Just then the third person sitting at their desk turns in his test which is, conveniently enough, the same variation.  They all traded tests while I was passing out the tests so that they could cheat.  Later, while I was grading, I found out that 4 separate desks of students all had the same variations.  I also found out many students from that turma also cheated.  (I know when students cheat because they have at least 5 points higher on the test then what I think they’re capable of getting.)

I didn't know what to do.  I felt defeated by the Mozambican education system.  I felt disrespected by my students.  I just wanted to go home.  Then I got an idea.  I decided that if the students really knew the material of the questions they got right, they would be able to do it again in front of me.  I selected two questions that the students got right on the test, and the next class called them up individually to solve them.  If they solved them both correctly, their score would be maintained.  If they missed one, they would have 25% of their grade taken off.  If they missed both, they would have 50% of their grade taken off.  The students didn’t know what I was doing or why I was doing it, and I didn't tell them until the next class when I handed back their tests.  Some admitted to cheating.  Many denied it, though they clearly had no idea what they were doing.   Mozambique, you are so frustrating!

Saturday October 12^th was Professor’s day in Mozambique.  I went to the praça with Sarah in the morning.  After the usual festivities of placing flowers on the plaque for the praça dos herois and cultural activities at the praça, all of us teachers headed to the soccer field for the face-off between the secondary school professors and primary school professors.  They had uniforms and everything!  It was so official!  After my colleagues finally understood that I would not be participating in the game, I watched half of the game, and spent the second half eating gelo (flavored ice/a popsicle) in the shade and talking to the school’s director.  It was such a hot day and they were playing this game from 11-1.  Who’s idea was that?

After the game, we went to the school for refreshments.  All of the teachers said they would prefer to go to the school right after the game instead of going home to take baths first.  Sarah and I went to the school, and in true Mozambique fashion the rest of the teachers took about an hour to get there. By that time we would have been able to go home and eat lunch, but we thought we didn't have time.  Silly Americans.  Anyway, we stayed long enough for me to drink a beer with our colleagues (and get extremely tipsy from it due to lack of food), and then headed home to eat lunch and hide from all the drunks.  Later, we found out that they were at the school until 7 at night and then went to the bar to continue the party.

The next day, I got up for church -- like normal, and a mãe came to get me for mass – unlike normal.   Normally, I just meet everyone at church, but little did I know, this was a special day at church.  I helped some mães carry a pot to the church, and they explained to me that we had a lot of visitors in Messica for mass and a big party afterwards.  I didn't really understand the occasion, but I also didn't really need an explanation.  I was just happy to be part of it and happy to have a full church and a priest in Messica!

Mass was indescribably wonderful.  I understood the message of mass, because it was done in mostly Portuguese, and I could understand the Polish priest extremely well.  All of my favorite mães were there.  There was so much joy in the church despite the ridiculously hot temperatures.  The priest initiated a dance party at the end of church before the blessing.  It was my favorite mass thus far in Africa, and just what I needed after the rough week of cheaters and feeling discouraged.  After mass we had lunch at the church, and I got to talk to the priest, sisters, and other mães from church.  The priest spoke fluent Portuguese, local dialect, and English, so I was pretty impressed.  He was visiting from Sussendenga, but I’m planning on going to visit him sometime because he was awesome.  After lunch, all the different visiting groups danced and sang individually, and all of the máes from Messica gave me a capulana and made me go up with them though I had no idea what I was doing. I caught on pretty well and was told I dance well and need to buy a capulana matching theirs so I can officially be part of the group. J

This past week was my last real week at school.  I went and told the students their averages for the trimester and for the year.  I worked on grades and dealt with students coming up to me and asking me to bump up their grades because they wanted an extra point or because they were failing.  Such a fun time.

On Friday, I went to Chimoio with Sarah and our friend Otilia to go shopping.   We went to the huge calamidades market and went a little capulana crazy.  I am so excited to get new clothes made, though I don’t know exactly what I want with each capulana just yet.  The rest of the weekend was a normal weekend in Messica.  Then today I went to calamidades with Otilia again, and spent most of the day with her.

Tomorrow, Otilia is going to teach Sarah and I to make the fish that Messica is famous for. I am pretty excited about it. I also will turn in the grades for the year, and then the school year is officially over and I am free!  Besides the pesky national exams in November.

The countdown is on for December 1^st when I will have some special visitors in Moz, and then the 16^th when I’ll be back in the US.

Até a próxima, fiquem bem! (Until next time stay well!)

Mozambican Wedding: Round 2

About a month ago, my colleague Mauricio mentioned that he was getting married.  This came as a surprise to me because I was under the impression that he was already married.  In Mozambique, it is very common here for people to live with a significant other that they call their spouse and have children with them without being legally married.  Mauricio and his wife, Ana Dulce, were making it official.  Registering as a married couple.  And spending a lot of money on a big party.

Mauricio and his wife are both professors at the secondary school with us.  Mauricio teaches Portuguese; Ana Dulce teaches biology. I was thrilled when Mauricio went out of his way to make sure Sarah and I knew that he wanted us at the wedding.  He came over one night to talk to me about a project that we are working on, and mentioned that his wedding would be on October 4th: Dia da Paz.  It was a Friday, but also a national Mozambican holiday, meaning there was no school and people were free.  He told me that he was trying to rearrange money so that he could make sure Sarah and I would be able to attend.  I didn't want to put him out  by trying to accommodate us, so I asked how much it was so maybe Sarah and I could pay our own way.  I don't know what I was expecting, but he said it was 700 mets (about 20ish dollars) per person.  I was taken aback at how expensive that was, but after discussing it with Sarah, we decided that it was worth it. Our wedding gift to Mauricio would be that we were present at his wedding....so that's what we did.

Procession of the bride (walking on capulanas)

The wedding was at a hotel in Garuzo that I'd been to twice before: once for Women's Day, once for a Peace Corps Conference called PDM.  Garuzo is nice.  There is a beautiful pool, the food is delicious, and it is just a nice environment.  October 4th was a beautiful day.  After arriving and waiting around for awhile, the procession started.  Ana Dulce walked from one of the hotel rooms to the pool to meet Mauricio.  In front of her were the 5 adorably dressed "flower girl"-like girls.   I don't know what their actual purpose was, but they were so cute it didn't matter.  The procession was over dirt, so women took time to lay out capulanas for the group to walk on, and kept taking them from the back and moving them forward.  This made the procession take a lot longer, but it also made the whole process extremely entertaining.  The spectators were all singing and dancing with so much joy, and it made me so happy to be there to witness it.

Bride and groom processing in

After the vows and exchanging rings, Mauricio, Ana Dulce, the padrinho (Godfather), and the madrinha (Godmother) signed the registry, making the marriage official.  There was much singing, dancing, hugging, and kissing.  Then there were many pictures.  Mozambicans just LOVE pictures.  After about an hour  or so, we made our way over to the reception area, where as we waited for lunch to be served, the cake was cut.  Mauricio and Ana Dulce fed each other small pieces of cake, and soon after we were all served our own small pieces of cake.  Sarah and I were trying not to be too awkward at our table, but considering we didn't know anyone at our table very well, that didn't go so well.  The eating/buffet  process took an hour or two, and before I knew it, the car we came in was leaving.  We said one last Parabens to Mauricio and headed back to Messica.

Officially husband and wife.

Mozambican wedding round 2 was a lot different than round 1.  It was a civil wedding, not a church wedding.  It was way more elegant and fancy than the first wedding I went to.  There was no dancing (what?! - I was shocked).  There was a lot of joy, a lot of love, and a lot of smiles. Knowing the bride and the groom only made it that much more exciting.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I've been given to witness once-in-a-lifetime moments in Mozambique.  Blessed doesn't even begin to cover it.

Sarah and I with Mauricio and Ana Dulce

America love.

Crazy to think I've been in Mozambique for a year, and the members of Moz 19 are no longer the babies of the education volunteers in Mozambique.  Moz 21 arrived in Maputo yesterday, and will be heading to Namaacha to start their 10 weeks of training on Saturday. Unbelievable.

Though I love it here in Mozambique, there are a number of things I miss about life in America.  Here is my list.

10. My bed.  The mattresses in Mozambique leave a lot to be desired.  About a week after moving to Messica, I realized the mattress that I bought (basically a foam pad) was not going to work with my back, so I moved my bed into the extra room in my house and now sleep on the floor on a bamboo mat.  It is a lot better for my back, but I still have saudades for a good night sleep in my bed.

9.  Hot showers.  One of my favorite parts of Peace Corps conferences/staying in hotels here is having a hot shower.  Sometimes the water pressure isn’t great, but a trickle of hot water to get clean is better than no hot water.  Can’t even wait to take a hot shower every day when I’m in the US.

8. Good coffee.  They have instant coffee here.  Enough said.

7. Grocery Stores.  So. Many. Options.  There are two grocery stores in Chimoio, Shoprite and Spar.  Shoprite is good for buying cheese and chocolate, and Spar is good for buying other random things from the US (sometimes they have m&ms!) but on the whole, Shoprite and Spar aren’t really Peace Corps budget friendly, so I just miss US grocery stores – and I can’t wait to check out Jungle Jim’s in December!

6.  Fall.  Pumpkin flavored everything, jeans and hoodie weather, leaves falling off the trees, bonfires, apple cider.  Man, I miss fall.

5.  Mass in English! (with Communion).  I’ve already mentioned in other posts that we don’t have a priest in Messica, which is definitely  a struggle for me.  I get communion maybe once every 2 months, and mass is in Portuguese and Shona, so sometimes I can understand  some minimal things, but on the whole, I don’t take as much from mass as I would like.  I’m so excited to visit the Newman Center when I’m home and go to mass in English. J

4.  So many food options!  I already have a mental list of what I want to eat in the US.  And it’s LONG.  I don’t know if I’ll be able to fit it all in to three weeks, but I’m sure going to try.  Mom, get ready to make some delicious foods!

3.  OSU Sporting Events (Live & on TV).  There’s nothing like some Ohio State love either in the Shoe, the Schott, or sitting on my couch in the living room.  I miss all the hype and being in the know about what’s going on.  I miss singing Carmen at football games, and seeing campus blow up with people on game day.  Peter, I’m counting on you to get me a basketball ticket in January so I can get my fix before coming back to Mozambique.

2.  My car/transportation.  Transportation in Mozambique leaves much to be desired, and the thought of getting in my car (or any personal car for that matter) and driving myself to my destination without stopping countless times to let people on and off sounds glorious.  Having a seat to myself, what a luxury!  Can’t even wait for the plane ride.

1. Friends and family.  By far, the thing I miss most about America is the people that I left there.  My friends and family have been so great and supportive, and it doesn’t feel like it’s been a year since I’ve seen them.  I can’t wait for all the hugs and the love that will be shared in the month of December.  Loving Mozambique, but literally counting down the days until I get to see you all again.  SAUDADES DEMAIS!

Oh and for those of you that don’t know, I will be in the states from December 16^th – January 6^th.  I will be visiting my family in California December 19^th-22^nd, spending Christmas in Cincinnati, and hopefully New Years in Columbus.  Plan accordingly, my friends!

Moz love

It's extremely hard to believe that I've been in Mozambique for about a year.  I left my family and friends on September 25th and headed to Philly for a day of meeting my to-be friends and support system in Mozambique. We all flew together from NYC to Johannesburg, connected to Maputo, and arrived in Mozambique on September 27th.  Wednesday marks my year mark from leaving friends and family, and Friday marks my year mark of being in Mozambique.  I figured in honor of this large benchmark, I would make a few lists.  So today we have my 10 favorite things about being in Mozambique.

10 Favorite Things about Being in Mozambique

10.  Capulanas - Capulanas are an all-purpose piece of fabric that Mozambicans wear as skirts, use to carry around babies on their backs, use as padding when carrying heavy things on their heads, make clothing out of, etc.  They are so versatile.  I own probably about 10 capulanas and I have capulana pants, a capulana shirt, three capulana dresses, capulana purses, capulana wristlets, and will soon be adding a capulana hoodie to the mix.

9. My students - There are some days where I hate teaching.  There are some days where I have absolutely no patience.  There are some days where I want to quit.  But then there are the days where my students don't want to leave after math class because they are so excited to have me check their work and tell them that they got the right answer.  There are the days that I stand and talk to my students for hours in the shade about America and answer all of their questions.  There are the days that I am walking around Messica and a student excitedly says "Good Morning, Teacher!"  There are the times that my students are shocked to realize that I know their names.  All of their names. "Teacher!  Ja me conhece?!" ("Teacher, you already know me?!")  Though it can be a struggle at times, my students have made my time in Mozambique unforgettable (along with my birthday), and I am so grateful for them.

8.  The Mozambican Landscape - Mozambique is absolutely beautiful.  I have been to 8 out of 11 provinces, and each one is beautiful in its own way.  I am so fortunate to live in Manica province, where temperatures are a little more tolerable, and I'm surrounded by beautiful mountains and gorgeous views everywhere I turn.  Mozambique has some of the best beaches in the world, and before the end of my Peace Corps service, I hope to explore lots of them. I am so blessed to live in a country where everywhere I turn, I am reminded of the greatness of God.  God's presence can't be denied in a place this beautiful.

7.  Experiencing Mozambican Culture - Throughout the past year, I have learned so much about Mozambican culture.  There are some things about Mozambican culture that drive me crazy.  And then there are other things about Mozambican culture that inspire me daily.  There are so many things I will take from this experience, especially how giving Mozambicans are, despite what little they have.

6. Learning Portuguese - When I arrived in Mozambique, I had briefly looked through at Portuguese for Dummies book, and listened to some Brazilian recordings of Portuguese.  I was scared to try to learn Portuguese in the US, because I didn't want to learn something wrong or in the wrong accent and then mess it up for my two years of service.  During Pre-Service Training (PST), I struggled at the beginning with Portuguese.  I would speak to my host family in mostly Spanish.  I even heard myself say "Gracias" on the first day, and I was so embarrassed that I hid in my room for about an hour.  Throughout training, my language skills drastically changed, and since being in Messica, they have gotten even better.  I am now confident in my abilities to speak Portuguese.  Though I make MANY grammatical errors, I can communicate.  I have been told that my accent is great.  I have been asked if I am Brazilian or Portuguese because otherwise there is no way I could speak Portuguese this well.  I am so grateful for the experience to learn and use Portuguese on a daily basis.  I teach in Portuguese, and am constantly learning new vocabulary.  Learning Portuguese has been something that I've enjoyed greatly.

5. My Host Family - During PST, every trainee was placed with a host family.  My host family happened to be the bomb.  Seriously, though.  I have two host sisters, Dadinha and Nucha, my host mom, and my host nephew, Walmer.  I have mad saudades for all of them.  I really wish Namaacha was closer, but I visited once in April, and will be visiting again in December when my family is here to visit.  They really have been a support system for me while in Mozambique, and though I live far away from them it always brightens up my day to get a call or text from them.  I can't imagine my experience in Mozambique without them.  They are my family and I love them.

4.  My Placement -  Where you are placed and who you are placed with can basically make or break your service.  I mean, many volunteers are placed in sites that are less than ideal and they make the best out of what they were given.  I am extremely blessed to have been placed in my ideal Peace Corps site.  Messica is between the two largest cities in the province, Manica and Chimoio.  There is constant transportation from Messica to both cities.  I have running water and electricity in my house.  I can buy food, clothes, and all necessities in Messica.  I can go into Chimoio and use free internet at the Peace Corps office whenever I want/need. The direction of the school in Messica is supportive and helpful.  The people in the community are excited that we are here, and are all super friendly.  We are the first PCVs here in Messica, so the community doesn't have preconceived notions about Peace Corps Volunteers..  I get along with my roommate extremely well, and she puts up with my crazy.  Honestly, I could have not gotten any luckier on my Peace Corps placement.  Every PCV that's been to Messica raves about what a great site Sarah and I have, and we know that we are extremely blessed.  I couldn't be happier in Messica.

3.  Peace Corps Community - Honestly, when I joined the Peace Corps, I didn't really think about the community I would be entering.  I thought more about the Mozambicans I would befriend than the other American volunteers and what an impact they would have in my service.  I don't know what I would do without my Peace Corps support system.  These people know what I'm going through.  They understand the cultural differences.  They understand when I'm craving Chipotle so bad I want to cry. (And they don't judge me for it.)  I've formed friendships that are life-long. I am so blessed.

2.  Witnessing the Universal Church - Being in Mozambique and being a member of the Catholic church in Messica, I have met incredible people.  I have become close to a small group of ladies from the church that are part of the Legion of Mary.  They are just incredible people that inspire me daily.  They make me feel welcome, and treat me as family.  I am blessed to be on the other side of the world, and still feel at home in my church.  Mass might be in Portuguese, we may not have communion on a weekly or even biweekly basis, but I have a home in the Catholic church in Messica, and for that I am extremely grateful.

1.  Expanding Horizons - My comfort zone has been stretching and expanding over the last year.  Not just in social situations, but in every aspect of my life.  I eat foods that I never thought I would.  I can comfortably travel by myself.  I can stand up for myself in Portuguese.  I am content with no personal space on chapas. I have danced in public (wish less embarrassment). Seeing my personal growth over the last year is something I am proud of.  I have been open minded, and because of that I have transformed.  I hope to continue this transformation, and go back to the US in 2014 with a new outlook and ready for anything.

Quelimane

This past weekend, I went to meet up with one of my best Peace Corps friends in Quelimane. There was also a Peace Corps event in Quelimane over the weekend that was the National Science Fair.  My plans were to have someone buy my bus ticket on Thursday, go into Chimoio after class on Thursday, stay up all night, and sleep on the bus that departed early (4AM Friday morning).     My plan went about halfway smoothly.  A friend bought my bus ticket on Thursday, I got into Chimoio Thursday night, and that’s where my plan went downhill.  I should’ve known I would be able to stay up all night.  At around midnight, I could barely keep my eyes open and decided to take a nap.  I set my alarm for 4AM (because I had found out the bus really left at 5AM), and fell asleep. 

Around 4:20, I got a call from Jamie, another volunteer that was also traveling to Quelimane for Science Fair.  I was excited to have someone to travel with, so we made plans to meet up at 4:20 to walk to the paragem together.  Whoops!  I hurriedly got my stuff together and walked super fast to meet up with her.  Just as I met up with her, I got a call from the bus driver saying that I needed to get to the paragem immediately because they were getting ready to leave.  Of course the only time Mozambicans are ever early is when I’m running late.  I told him I was coming, and Jamie and I picked up the rest of the science fair goers and booked it to the paragem.

Upon arriving at the paragem, we were greeted with a mini-bus to Quelimane piled with both people and other things to transport.  I’m pretty sure there was at least 6-8 feet of additional baggage piled on top of the bus.  In front of the mini-bus there was another almost full chapa.  I was with about 8 other people for science fair, and they promptly told us that our group would be split up into two groups, one to go in the minibus and the other to go in the chapa.  Me, being the lucky girl that I am, got immediately chosen for the chapa. 

Let me quickly explain the difference to you:  Minibuses are exactly that, small buses.   They normally have one comfy seat then an aisle followed by two more comfy seats.  In the aisle, there is one more seat that folds down (notably less comfortable than the other seats) and allows at least 6 more people to sit in the bus.    Chapas, on the other hand, are more like minivans that at least 18 people are shoved in.  There are normally 4 rows of seats.  The back row is a bench that seats 3 people comfortably (and according to Mozambican law), but 4 people must sit in.  The three rows of seats in front of this back bench include a half-bench and a fold down chair bench-extension thing.  Four people also must sit across each of these rows.  Finally, there are normally a few pieces of juttng out plastic behind the driver’s and passenger’s seat.  There are normally 4 people sitting on this piece of plastic with their legs intertwined with the people sitting in the first row of benches, leaving zero personal space or room to breathe.  There are also 2 people put in the front seat.  And you can’t forget the cobrador that normally stands by the door, hunched over the second row of passengers.

Now….which sounds more comfortable to you?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.  And I was pissed when I found out my friends had arranged an actual seat on the bus for me, but I had no proof and I didn’t want to be that white girl that was too good to sit on a chapa.  So I sucked it up and got in the chapa.  After an uneventful and very crowded trip to Inchope where the turnoff is located to go to the north, our chapa stopped.  We were told we were going to wait there for another car that was pre-arranged to pick us up and continue to Quelimane.  After for waiting about a half hour on the side of the road, people started to get angry and pretty vocal about their complaints.  They decided since there were enough of us to fill a chapa, we might as well get in one and start on our journey north.  Soon after, we all piled in the chapa (I luckily got in as one of the first people and didn’t have to sit in a fold down seat), and proceeded to wait at least another half hour for them to switch all of the things tied on the top of the chapa from one to the other. Throughout this long and drawn out process, our original “pre-arranged” ride showed up.  It was the “maningue nice” bus from Beira to Quelimane.  We had a discussion in the chapa about how we should get out and switch because it would be much more comfortable, only for our original cobrador to come over and tell us the maningue nice was full and we’d just have to go in the chapa.  Outrage doesn’t even begin to cover it, because this dude took our money not even knowing that we would have been able to get to Quelimane.  How irresponsible!  What a jerk! Seriously.

So that’s how I was in the predicament where I ended up sitting in a chapa for 12 hours.  At first, it was pretty miserable with my huge backpack on my lap, no air, and lack of sleep.  At our first stop to go to the bathroom I rearranged my stuff, putting my backpack under the seat in front of me, and giving myself a much more comfortable rest of the ride. 

After about 6 hours in the chapa, we arrived in Caia, Sofala.  We all got out of the chapa, and people took off in different directions to find something to eat.  I went with three other people that were on their way to science fair, and we found a little barraca that sold chicken and rice/xima to go.  They decided that we had enough time to sit down and eat quickly.  That’s about when I looked up and saw our chapa driving off.  I immediately called it to their attention and they didn’t seem fazed.  “It’ll come back,” they said.  “It won’t just leave us.”  I tried to play it cool, like the whole situation wasn’t putting me on the edge of an anxiety attack, but what I really wanted to do was run after the chapa and at least get my backpack (containing my laptop) out of it.  We continued to sit at this barraca for at least another 15-20 minutes as my colleagues leisurely ate their lunch and I sat waiting in anxiety, not even eating my lunch because I’d lost my appetite.  When they finished, I nonchalantly suggested that we should probably go find the chapa that abandoned us, and they all slowly agreed.  After walking to the main road and looking around for a little while, my colleagues started to get worried, therefore causing me to be in full-out panic mode.  One of my colleagues made some calls as we continued to wait around and wonder how the heck we were going to get our stuff back.  About 5-10 minutes later, we looked down the road and saw the chapa coming towards us.  I honestly don’t know what the heck they were doing during the time they disappeared, but I was so happy to see it at that point that it really didn’t matter what the heck happened.  I got back into the chapa with an unbelievable sense of relief and feeling a lot cooler, since I used the break from the chapa to change into some athletic shorts instead of the jeans that I was wearing before.

About 4 hours later, we made our last chapa transfer with just a little over an hour to go.  After about 30 minutes of transfer time, we headed out on our last leg.  I was noticeably more comfortable since I was sitting by a window and could control the air temperature.

At around 5 pm, I rolled into the central market in Quelimane.  After getting out of the chapa, immediately a man tried to reach into my purse and grab my phone.  I caught him and gave him a nasty look/lecture about how he can’t steal from me.  He reluctantly gave my phone back, and I got on a bike taxi and headed to meet my friend.  I promptly got a beer and tried to forget the previous 12 hours.

Besides the rough time getting to Quelimane, the weekend was great!  I got to see lots of PCVs that I hadn’t seen in a long time, and it was really interesting to attend the science fair that I might be helping with next year.  The trip home was much less eventful - in a good way.  I hitchhiked back with another PCV that lives in Chimoio, and we scored a good ride with a Mozambican chefe (boss) all the way to Inchope.  From there we got another ride to Chimoio, and I made the final leg of the trip by myself to Messica from Chimoio, arriving at about 4:30 pm.  I spent today catching up on some sleep, grading tests that I gave last week, and preparing my lessons for the week.  

O Happy Day

Sorry I've been a little MIA for a while.  Motivating myself to write blogs has been kind of difficult lately. It’s not like I haven’t been happy or happy to be in Mozambique, but I've just been in kind of a homesick funk, especially for the last couple of weeks while one of my Peace Corps besties was  back in the States for a wedding.   I miss my friends and family, and am literally counting down the days until my visit home in December.  This is the longest I've ever been away from home (almost at the year mark), and I honestly can’t believe I've made it this far.  But I think yesterday finally broke me out of the funk.  Yesterday was just a great day.  It might sound like nothing special, but to me it was a picture of a perfect day in Messica.

I woke up to freshly made cinnamon cake.  Enough said.

I went to calamidades with Sarah and we literally bought two full bags of clothes for under three dollars.  I bought some Nike’s for 200 mets (about 7 dollars). I was so excited!  We also found avocados at the market which is pretty impressive because avocado season is over.  Overall it was a very successful  market trip.

When we got home, Sarah and I had a fashion show with all our new clothes. We can now kind of wear the same-ish size pants/shirts, so we have some clothes we’re going to share!  Seriously, this was the best news of all time because I never thought this would happen. Yay Africa diet!

Then one of the Pedagogical Directors from school came over to fix our sink that hasn't been draining for awhile.  He is the best and always comes to our rescue.

After an amazing lunch of guacamole and homemade corn chips, Sarah and I set out to go see the modista (seamstress) that I had dropped capulanas off with the week before to make a dress, a pair of pants, and a purse.  I was super excited to see how they turned out, and though they needed a few alterations, they looked great!  I will go back to pick them up on Tuesday.

On our way back from the modista's house, Sarah and I stopped by our friend Otilia's house to invite her over to work out with us.  We had been talking about working out with her for awhile, and we downloaded this new workout/dance program called Hip Hop Abs that we thought would be fun.  On our way home we stopped by another friend’s house and invited Vovo Gida to join us in our workout as well.  I honestly wish we would have taken pictures, but literally this 45 minute workout was probably the highlight of my Peace Corps service thus far.  They really enjoyed it but it wore them out.  After the workout ended, we put on music and just had a dance party in our living room.  Hilarious and awesome don’t even begin to cover it.  The whole neighborhood knew something crazy was going on in our house and I bet they were all super jealous.  Hopefully they’ll come work out with us more often, or at least come over for more dance parties.

After Hip Hop Abs, the over-achievers that we are, Sarah and I did day 3 of Insanity.  It was tough, but I’m super proud of us for staying motivated and sticking to our workout plan.

Sarah and I then made a very Mozambican dinner of fried fish, rice, and salad.

I went to bed early and fell asleep after watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

So in general, life here in Messica is going well!  The third trimester is about halfway over.  This week I will be reviewing with my students and giving tests.  Next weekend I’ll be going to Quelimane to visit one of my Peace Corps besties and also to check out the National Science Fair. Lots to look forward to!