Everyone else has gone down this road so I feel bad being
yet another person stating the obvious, but it must be said. The honeymoon in
Africa is over. It is still an unbelievable blessing to have this chance, but
I’ve hit a wall. Life is just getting a little real. We are starting to write
lesson plans in Portuguese without feeling fully prepared to do so. Our
families are starting to be a little much—I love my family but me going into my
room in the evening does not mean I hate you…It means I’m an American living in
Africa without my family and friends.
Today was particularly hard to be away from home because it
is my very best friend’s birthday and it became so real to me that I’m going to
be gone for 2 years but life in America doesn’t get paused. It’s just a weird
realization. Thank God for the people here. My Lingua group is the absolute
best. We laugh literally the entire day but are also there to support each
other when one of us just needs to say “Chega Africa!” And I am absolutely
grateful to have a Bible study with some other trainees. Those girls really
help me spend time with the Word and remember that we are here for a reason
regardless of what is happening in America this is where we are supposed to be.
All that real stuff said…I have some funny stories now.
On Tuesday, we got domesticated in Namaacha. We had a
cooking day with our maes where we cooked Mozambician food and American food.
For our American dish we made stuffed peppers…well we learned fairly quickly
that Mozambicians do not like their food inside other food, which I had kind of
guessed from having eaten here the past few weeks. But WE enjoyed it. It was
frustrating to keep being told by our maes that we don’t know how to cook when
really we do, we just don’t know how to cook Mozambician food, but it was still
a really great experience and I think just about everyone here thoroughly
enjoyed the break from typical lingua class and the opportunity to learn some
Mozambician recipes.
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| Sara crushes some corn meal |
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| Shredding some coconut |
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| Nick sifts flour |
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| Minha familia |
On Saturday, We visited with a
traditional medicine doctor on Saturday. He sacrificed a chicken and blessed us
for good luck for the next 2 years. It was really cool to be able to be apart
of such a honored and important tradition here in Mozambique.
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| Learning about traditional medicine |
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| Preparing the sacrifice chicken |
After the ceremony, we wandered to “Shopright”…there isn’t
really a way for me to describe Shopright if you haven’t experienced it, so I
apologize. But it is outside and it’s a bunch of little stands selling just
about anything you think you need (capulanas, food, shoes) and things you don’t
want (monkey hands and fish skins). But they have the BEST little alley of
chicken stands that sell platters of ¼ chicken grilled, xima (also…hmmm…it’s
like grits, but not also EXTREMELY filling. PS pronounced “chee-ma”), and
tomato salad. Shopright only exists on Wednesdays and Saturdays so we go
whenever we can to stuff our faces with the chicken. So, now I can tell my
story after that introduction. My lingua class (consists of me, Salome, Sara, Joe,
and Nick) plus a couple other friends walked to Shopright from the Peace Corps
office…about a 45 minute walk, but it’s close to where we science teachers live
(thank God). On the way, we passed my favorite bakery with the best warm
bread…BEST BREAD. So I get some and we discover these little soy nuggets, so I
stuff some soy nuggets into my loaf of bread and eat it. My friend then bets me
a Fanta that I can’t eat my chicken platter after (mind you, I usually at home
eat about a yogurt and an apple and that’s it and I haven’t eaten much more
here) so I say “Challenge Accepted” well…I do. At the end, Sara still has a
plate of xima so Salome…”If you eat Sara’s xima, I’ll buy you a second Fanta” “Challenge
Accepted” so I do…well. My lingua group decides to go to Casa de Dois, a bar by
the Science Hub. While we’re sipping our drinks my friend Joe whips out a pack
of Maria Cookies (I guess they’re kind of like Trefoil Girl Scout Cookies only
not AS delicious. And they’re fairly large. And pack has about 30 in them I
think) “Jessie. If you can eat this WHOLE THING I’ll buy you 2 Hunter Ciders “Challenge
Accepted” So now I’m sitting on promises for 2 Fantas and 2 Hunter Ciders!!!
Although I paid the price big time. My stomach has been hurting ever since and
my host mom keeps trying to feed me MORE FOOD and I just can’t. At all.
Needless to say, the honeymoon is over. Today I managed to
wash my clothes in pouring rain while freezing and our power is pretty much hit
or miss because the rains of come and I STILL haven’t figured out how the heck Mozambicans
manage to stay so clean in the rainy season! But we have each other, and that’s
enough for Africa.
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| Maria cookies |
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| Greetings from Africa |
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