My last few posts have been upbeat and positive and although the majority of the time I am very happy here I think I've failed to share with you some of the most serious problems that restrict mozambique from developing to be on par with other leaders on the African continent. So after having someone I knew pass away from malaria I thought it was a good time to address the topic here.
Malaria is arguably the most important health issue confronting Mozambicans today. UN reports estimate that malaria accounts for 29% of hospital reported deaths (HIV/AIDS accounts for 27%) but this percentage is likely even higher because of unaccounted deaths occurring outside of the hospital in more rural communities. Shockingly malaria accounts for 43% of children's deaths under age 5.
Malaria is a year round problem with cases reported every month, but the peak season for incidents is during the rainy season (December-April). Mozambique is also prone to natural disasters such as droughts, floods and cyclones, which occur in low-lying coasts and along rivers. These incidents make the country more susceptible to malaria because disaster-affected areas are breeding grounds for Mosquitos.
In peace corps training we learn about malaria prevention (and are urged to take our malaria medicine religiously). Malaria is also included in the national curriculum for every grade in Mozambican secondary schools. Students are taught the causes and means to prevent malaria. The Mozambican government (in collaboration with many NGOs, INGOs and other governments) has created extensive programs to distribute insecticide treated nets, indoor residual spraying, intermittent preventative treatment for pregnant women and diagnosis with rapid tests. Yet with all of these efforts malaria continues to be a leading cause of death in mozambique.
At school, when I ask my students how to prevent malaria, most of them are proud to respond 'with a mosquito net!' Yet when I ask how many students actually sleep under a net the number is almost none (if any) who do. Although nets are sometimes distributed in the community, for sale in the market and readily available at the hospital for pregnant women, they are rarely used. It is more common to see someone in Vanduzi using a mosquito net as fencing around their garden to keep out goats and chickens. When I traveled to ihla I saw local fish man using mosquito mets to reel in their daily catch. So although nets are here and available, they are used for all different reasons, many Of which do nothing to prevent malaria. Medicine is also available at local hospitals but many people are slow to see a doctor and acquire medicine so when thy do go it is usually too late. In more rural communities (where hosptals are under stocked or do not have access to medicine) people will instead visit a curandero (traditional healer). But malaria can't be treated with homegrown remedies and chants, someone who is sick has to take antibiotics or the disease is fatal.
About a week and a half ago my Dona da Casa (landlord) got sick. After 5 or 6 days, and some pretty alarming symptoms (aside from a high fever an hallucinations he was also going in and out of a coma) his family took him to the hospital. He was diagnosed with cerebral malaria (the most serious type) and given medicine to take. He returned home on rest and waited for the medicine to kick in but the symptoms only got worse. On Thursday night his family called a traditional healer and I could hear chanting and yelling (in toungues) well into the night. Friday Torres went back into a coma and his family took him back to the hospital. At around 10:30 PM Friday night, while trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep in the heat I heard yelling and sobbing...In a culture where people rarely show sadness or shed a tear, this type of emotion is very uncommon...i saw a group of people enter our compound. After walking outside I discovered Torres had passed away and his family was now returning from the hospital.
Note: i live in a dependencia, which means my landlords house and my house are on the same compound and in this case seperated from our neighbors by a stone wall. Our houses are about ten feet apart and we share an outdoor toilet and water well. His children play in frot of my house everyday (Taunting amendoim and building forts or playin with empty bottle-constructed cars.) I see my landlord everyday and we always greet each other and make some small talk about the weather or work or just ask about the other persons health. We were by no means close but we were neighbors.
The next day was spent paying respects to the family and many people filed through our house compound to visit the family and sit in mourning outside. By 10 AM there was easily over a hundred people there. Feeling a little awkward, I paid my respects and then took my school directors advice to pass the day in chimoio, so the family could have their privacy and our compound could be used for families visiting to pay respects and mourn.
This morning I returned home for the funeral and boy was it an event! I've been to a few funerals here in Vanduzi but none like this one. Torres was well-respected In the community. He worked in the fish market, supported a large extensive family and although he clearly was well-off, he didn't give off the chefe auro that many male leaders seem to posses. He was always friendly and polite and was overall very popular in town.
A typical funeral in moz starts at the family's house, where people gather to sing and dance and pepare for the day. After a few hours everyone goes to the hospital to retrieve the body, more dances and songs are performed and from there the funeral party piles in trucks to parade through town (singing church hymns) and finally proceeds to the cemetery, where the body is laid to rest. After all of this, everyone returns to the family's house to eat lunch. After eating people slowly trickle on home, so that now, at 9 PM, the only people still gathered outside are close friends and family.
I always understood that malaria was a huge problem here in moz and I also knew people weren't exactly serious about taking real measures to prevent it. Whenever someone gets sick (or worse, dies) people say it is because they had malaria. Seeing someone like torres, who was well-off, educated, and even took the initiative to go to the hospital and take medicine, get sick and die, really brings the seriousness of this problem to light. The resources and funding is (arguably) present here but people are slow to use them. Today 10 pick-up trucks full of people attended the funeral. Easily 400+ people were here yet even though most people know that Torres died from malaria, I doubt that any of those individuals will go home and decide its time to buy a mosquito net. I don't have suggestions about how to change attitudes here in my community. If there's one thing I've learned so far it's that culture can sometimes be the biggest obstacle in grassroots development because people are so reluctant to change their habits and culture. I hope that ican find a better way to at least educate my students at school and in our student groups about how to prevent malaria because Torres death, like so many others here in mozambique,happened too early on in his life and was definitely preventable.
NOTE: I am sorry for typos and grammar errors I typed this post from my phone and it was a bit difficult!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
End of the school year!
Because I'm posting two blogs posts at once I thought I'd make this one nice and light (with lots of pictures) and save the writing for the next one...
The school year is coming to an end and with that comes end of the year celebrations. My school director (who is fantastic!) took all of us to Millpark, this chicy hotel on the outskirts of Chimoio, for one final staff get together before everyone starts to leave for the holidays. Aside from the fact that the chalets and hotel grounds overlook beautiful fields and mountains out in the distance, there is also a really nice, fancy pool, and MINI GOLF! (NOTE: I did not play mini golf but will return in the future to do so!). My director let me bring a friend along, Ana, who is a PCV in Messica, a town close by to me, and it was great to have her with me. An entire day of Portuguese can still be pretty draining but with another friend at your sides its easier to shake off the jokes when teachers encourage you to dance, and negar bottles of beer when colleagues are trying to get you tipsy. Needless to say we spent the entire day at Millpark yesterday, eating delicous food and talking to my collagues, many of whom I've come to know much better in the past few months. Ana also helped me describe different types of secondary projects that I can do (which are PC projects) with my colleagues at school. It was great having her there!
The teachers and staff at Vanduzi Secondary School
Sophia (easily one of my closest friends in Vanduzi!) , her daughter Shanazia Clarina, and I.
Simao and Siguake, two of my colleagues at school who also teach English.
And this is Bea, my other closest friend at school, she was sick yesterday and couldn't come to our end of the year lunch but it didn't feel right to write about school and not include her!
Ana---I'm not sure how we missed taking a picture together :( but here's proof of the mini golf course! Note--Manica/Central crew, we will go back here!
And here are some pictures of some of my better students at school...I don't feel too guilty labeling them that way because they were also the only ones who showed up for the last 2 weeks of classes!
Students from turma 8J: at the end of the semester I asked my students to prepare a short dialogue to present instead of taking a final exam. Only two of the students from this class showed up prepared and it although I was dissapointed in the rest of the crew, these two students literally made my day. They spoke clearly and loudly and it was very obvious that they actually practiced! They were of course rewarded with some starbursts (thanks mom!) One of them, Castro, is the student all the way on the right
Students from turma 8A:
So I know I'm not supposed to pick favorites but in this turma, up until the end of the school year students were still coming to class EVERY DAY, and taking notes and asking me what we could do to practice more english. They were also my class with the highest pass rate and they were pretty awesome.
And that's it for now :)
The school year is coming to an end and with that comes end of the year celebrations. My school director (who is fantastic!) took all of us to Millpark, this chicy hotel on the outskirts of Chimoio, for one final staff get together before everyone starts to leave for the holidays. Aside from the fact that the chalets and hotel grounds overlook beautiful fields and mountains out in the distance, there is also a really nice, fancy pool, and MINI GOLF! (NOTE: I did not play mini golf but will return in the future to do so!). My director let me bring a friend along, Ana, who is a PCV in Messica, a town close by to me, and it was great to have her with me. An entire day of Portuguese can still be pretty draining but with another friend at your sides its easier to shake off the jokes when teachers encourage you to dance, and negar bottles of beer when colleagues are trying to get you tipsy. Needless to say we spent the entire day at Millpark yesterday, eating delicous food and talking to my collagues, many of whom I've come to know much better in the past few months. Ana also helped me describe different types of secondary projects that I can do (which are PC projects) with my colleagues at school. It was great having her there!
The teachers and staff at Vanduzi Secondary School
Sophia (easily one of my closest friends in Vanduzi!) , her daughter Shanazia Clarina, and I.
Simao and Siguake, two of my colleagues at school who also teach English.
And this is Bea, my other closest friend at school, she was sick yesterday and couldn't come to our end of the year lunch but it didn't feel right to write about school and not include her!
Ana---I'm not sure how we missed taking a picture together :( but here's proof of the mini golf course! Note--Manica/Central crew, we will go back here!
And here are some pictures of some of my better students at school...I don't feel too guilty labeling them that way because they were also the only ones who showed up for the last 2 weeks of classes!
Students from turma 8J: at the end of the semester I asked my students to prepare a short dialogue to present instead of taking a final exam. Only two of the students from this class showed up prepared and it although I was dissapointed in the rest of the crew, these two students literally made my day. They spoke clearly and loudly and it was very obvious that they actually practiced! They were of course rewarded with some starbursts (thanks mom!) One of them, Castro, is the student all the way on the right
Students from turma 8A:
So I know I'm not supposed to pick favorites but in this turma, up until the end of the school year students were still coming to class EVERY DAY, and taking notes and asking me what we could do to practice more english. They were also my class with the highest pass rate and they were pretty awesome.
And that's it for now :)
Thursday, October 24, 2013
When elephants fight it’s the grass that suffers
A Kenyan proverb that I think summarizes well the political conflict occurring in Mozambique.
On Tuesday, FREELIMO, the political group controlling the government in Mozambique surrounded a RENAMO (another political party) base in the Gorongosa Mountains (Satinjura) in Sofala Province. This siege resulted in RENAMO fleeing to another town, Maringue, where the RENAMO soldiers successfully took control of the local police station. RENAMO claims FREELIMO was attempting to not just take their base, but also assassinate their leader, Afonso Dhlakama. RENAMO then announced later that day, that they were officially ending the Peace Accord signed 21 years ago that ended the Mozambican Civil War (1975-1992).
Renamo spokesman, Fernando Mazanga, told Reuters news agency, "Peace is over in the country... The responsibility lies with the Frelimo government because they didn't want to listen to Renamo's grievances,”
Unfortunately this was not the first instance of political violence to occur this year. Tensions between the two groups have increased significantly since last year when Dhlakama left Maputo, and moved to Gorongosa to live with the supposed, couple hundred, RENAMO soldiers who were living at the base camp, in the mountains there in the. In April and July small skirmishes led to at least 11 civilian deaths. And since the raid on Tuesday there has been reports of violence in other towns in Sofala province (including a rumor that 3 civilians were killed in a random car attack by rebels). So although peace remains in most areas of the country the overall situation is tense and people are scared, and there is talk of the war.
Mozambique’s 17-year civil war resulted in over a million deaths, and although it ended two decades ago the results of the war are still clear in many communities. My students for example, are too young to have lived during their war, but many of the parents survived the years of conflict, and as a result were not educated. Entire communities exist today in areas that were ravaged by years of fighting; a friend of mine living in a small town in the north claims that his village did not exist until after the peace accord, and that today, people are still incredibly suspicious of outsiders because of their horrible experiences from frequent raids during the war.
I am not sure what will happen in Mozambique, most sources (international reporters, the US embassy and our PC staff) believe RENAMO is too weak to start another war; they lack foot soldiers and overall support throughout the country, but if they continue to provoke small-scale acts of violence, it is innocent civilians that continue to suffer. The fear they have evoked in communities in Sofala, such as Muxungue (where shootings took place a few months ago) or Maringue, (where soldiers took the police station) is real and people are suffering. This outlash from RENAMO is the result of months of failed/stalled peace talks, and years of feelings of exclusion from political power and benefits in Mozambique’s growing economy.
Like the Kenyan proverb summarizes so well; this conflict is the result of poltical tension between two groups in Mozambique, but the individuals who bear the brunt of suffering are innocent civilians. Mozambique is an incredibly poor country, it ranks 185 out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index, and although issues of corruption, HIV/AIDS and inequality are rampant here, the culture is incredibly welcoming and friendly, and in these past twelve months I have felt completely safe. I really hope that situation does not change. I also do not think that this violence will lead to a war, but violence is violence no matter how large or small the casualty pool is and I really hope that the country that I have come to call home, is able to find a way to peace.
Estamos juntos Mocambique!
On Tuesday, FREELIMO, the political group controlling the government in Mozambique surrounded a RENAMO (another political party) base in the Gorongosa Mountains (Satinjura) in Sofala Province. This siege resulted in RENAMO fleeing to another town, Maringue, where the RENAMO soldiers successfully took control of the local police station. RENAMO claims FREELIMO was attempting to not just take their base, but also assassinate their leader, Afonso Dhlakama. RENAMO then announced later that day, that they were officially ending the Peace Accord signed 21 years ago that ended the Mozambican Civil War (1975-1992).
Renamo spokesman, Fernando Mazanga, told Reuters news agency, "Peace is over in the country... The responsibility lies with the Frelimo government because they didn't want to listen to Renamo's grievances,”
Unfortunately this was not the first instance of political violence to occur this year. Tensions between the two groups have increased significantly since last year when Dhlakama left Maputo, and moved to Gorongosa to live with the supposed, couple hundred, RENAMO soldiers who were living at the base camp, in the mountains there in the. In April and July small skirmishes led to at least 11 civilian deaths. And since the raid on Tuesday there has been reports of violence in other towns in Sofala province (including a rumor that 3 civilians were killed in a random car attack by rebels). So although peace remains in most areas of the country the overall situation is tense and people are scared, and there is talk of the war.
Mozambique’s 17-year civil war resulted in over a million deaths, and although it ended two decades ago the results of the war are still clear in many communities. My students for example, are too young to have lived during their war, but many of the parents survived the years of conflict, and as a result were not educated. Entire communities exist today in areas that were ravaged by years of fighting; a friend of mine living in a small town in the north claims that his village did not exist until after the peace accord, and that today, people are still incredibly suspicious of outsiders because of their horrible experiences from frequent raids during the war.
I am not sure what will happen in Mozambique, most sources (international reporters, the US embassy and our PC staff) believe RENAMO is too weak to start another war; they lack foot soldiers and overall support throughout the country, but if they continue to provoke small-scale acts of violence, it is innocent civilians that continue to suffer. The fear they have evoked in communities in Sofala, such as Muxungue (where shootings took place a few months ago) or Maringue, (where soldiers took the police station) is real and people are suffering. This outlash from RENAMO is the result of months of failed/stalled peace talks, and years of feelings of exclusion from political power and benefits in Mozambique’s growing economy.
Like the Kenyan proverb summarizes so well; this conflict is the result of poltical tension between two groups in Mozambique, but the individuals who bear the brunt of suffering are innocent civilians. Mozambique is an incredibly poor country, it ranks 185 out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index, and although issues of corruption, HIV/AIDS and inequality are rampant here, the culture is incredibly welcoming and friendly, and in these past twelve months I have felt completely safe. I really hope that situation does not change. I also do not think that this violence will lead to a war, but violence is violence no matter how large or small the casualty pool is and I really hope that the country that I have come to call home, is able to find a way to peace.
Estamos juntos Mocambique!
Saturday, October 12, 2013
English Club!
Here is a story.
On Monday afternoon one of the students from my English theatre group showed up at my house and asked for help with a class presentation. Usually when a student comes to ask for help and I get out a text book we just read through the answers and they leave, happy with what they’ve “learned.” Well this day was different. This student, Bon-Bons, not only wanted to read about his topic (types of agriculture in Mozambique) he wanted help understanding it, and then wanted to create a speech for his presentation. Using most of the information from my book we talked about this topic, came up with relevant, local examples and Bon-Bons practiced his speech. After all this was done I expected him to say thanks and rush on home, but no, that didn’t happen. Instead Bon-Bons decided to flip through my textbook and proceeded to read out loud random sections of text; reading first in English, then translating into Portuguese to make sure he understood everything. After this, we’d go through the reading comprehension questions together. As a side note, before Bon-Bons showed up (randomly) at my house I was tutoring another student for 2 hours. Well Bon-Bons stayed for 3 hours and then finally decided it was time to go home, but he said he’d be back the next day.
The next day, Bon-Bons did come back, and he brought a few friends. This group of 3 or 4 students returned each afternoon this week and together we practiced English for 3-4 hours. What amazed me the most was not just that these students wanted to practice, but that even by 7 PM (when its dark out and most people are eating dinner) these guys wanted to keep practicing. It was me asking them if they wanted water, a snack or to take a break. They never got tired or wanted to give up, they were just so excited to be speaking English.
A typical afternoon with these students consists of some general grammar practice (I asked their teachers what grammar I should review with them for their finals) followed by a session where each student reads a passage out loud (first in English, then self-translated into Portuguese) and finally, my favorite part of the lesson, when one student acts as the teacher and asks the others random questions. On Friday, I was supposed to have a late night meeting at school so we met at school to practice (and I assumed when my meeting started I could leave them with my books at school to continue their lessons). Well, when I returned from my meeting I found one of them writing notes on the board and the others anxiously participating in the lesson…and words cannot begin to describe how happy it made me.
Yes these are all great students, they are the ones who usually participate in lessons and at least one of them is the class chefe de turma, but being labeled as a leader doesn’t do justice to their overall personality and ability. They are quick and anxious learners. It’s amazing how much they remember from day to day and how excited they are to continue to learn. One of the students, Joe, stuttered with just about every word he said on Monday, and by Friday he was speaking in sentences—yes I know not every student progresses this quickly but its amazing to see how much they progress when they practice and are pushed a little. And they have so many questions! These vary from ‘madaam, what is the difference between love and beloved, or how would I say make in the past tense (made), to what is this (points to his elbow)” they are just so curious! Yesterday, at 7:30 PM I literally had to kick them out of the classroom because I, after 4 1/2 hours of English was beat and wanted to go home and cook dinner…and even though today is a Saturday they asked if we could meet to practice.
I have no idea where this new enthusiasm for learning English came from but I’m going to do everything I can to keep it going. The students keep telling me how next year, we will meet like a real English club and today I told them that they already were an English club. I should also explain that finding students who are this excited about learning is kind of rare. It’s not that students here don’t care about school, because they do, but school is not the first priority. I remember growing up in America and it seemed since first or second grade (when I got my first college regalia, a Muhlenberg College sweatshirt) I knew that I would continue my education…and then I was continually encourage or pushed to do my best in school so I could go to university and eventually find a good job. Well, here in Mozambique things are a bit different; students come to school everyday in their uniforms, take notes and sometimes participate but they have many other responsibilities (working on their family farms or in the market, supporting younger siblings, or paying rent for their school housing). Put simply, school is not the first priority, and it’s impossible for it to be the first priority. So for me to find a group of students; wait, I should correct myself-for a group of students to seek me out to practice their English for an extra 15 to 20 hours a week (3 to 4 hours every afternoon) is kind of amazing, and I am going to do everything I can to keep them interested!
So, that’s my story, sorry it is kind of long but I’m just so excited. If you had talked to me a month ago I would have told you that (for the first time since arriving in Mozambique) I wanted to go home. I was so frustrated with trying to start projects, I was so bored with my lack of work, and the cultural norms were driving me insane. I missed my friends and family, and I wanted nothing more than to go back to America and find a job with real hours, a real job description and a salary. Well, fast-forward to now, and I am happy. Don’t worry mom and dad I’m still coming home next year but I can finally say confidently that I am happy to be here, I understand my job and what I need to do and, I finally feel like I belong here in my community.
And it’s a pretty wonderful feeling.
Bon-Bons acting as the teacher and writing sentences on the board with words the students found "confusing" or that sounds the same.
On Monday afternoon one of the students from my English theatre group showed up at my house and asked for help with a class presentation. Usually when a student comes to ask for help and I get out a text book we just read through the answers and they leave, happy with what they’ve “learned.” Well this day was different. This student, Bon-Bons, not only wanted to read about his topic (types of agriculture in Mozambique) he wanted help understanding it, and then wanted to create a speech for his presentation. Using most of the information from my book we talked about this topic, came up with relevant, local examples and Bon-Bons practiced his speech. After all this was done I expected him to say thanks and rush on home, but no, that didn’t happen. Instead Bon-Bons decided to flip through my textbook and proceeded to read out loud random sections of text; reading first in English, then translating into Portuguese to make sure he understood everything. After this, we’d go through the reading comprehension questions together. As a side note, before Bon-Bons showed up (randomly) at my house I was tutoring another student for 2 hours. Well Bon-Bons stayed for 3 hours and then finally decided it was time to go home, but he said he’d be back the next day.
The next day, Bon-Bons did come back, and he brought a few friends. This group of 3 or 4 students returned each afternoon this week and together we practiced English for 3-4 hours. What amazed me the most was not just that these students wanted to practice, but that even by 7 PM (when its dark out and most people are eating dinner) these guys wanted to keep practicing. It was me asking them if they wanted water, a snack or to take a break. They never got tired or wanted to give up, they were just so excited to be speaking English.
A typical afternoon with these students consists of some general grammar practice (I asked their teachers what grammar I should review with them for their finals) followed by a session where each student reads a passage out loud (first in English, then self-translated into Portuguese) and finally, my favorite part of the lesson, when one student acts as the teacher and asks the others random questions. On Friday, I was supposed to have a late night meeting at school so we met at school to practice (and I assumed when my meeting started I could leave them with my books at school to continue their lessons). Well, when I returned from my meeting I found one of them writing notes on the board and the others anxiously participating in the lesson…and words cannot begin to describe how happy it made me.
Yes these are all great students, they are the ones who usually participate in lessons and at least one of them is the class chefe de turma, but being labeled as a leader doesn’t do justice to their overall personality and ability. They are quick and anxious learners. It’s amazing how much they remember from day to day and how excited they are to continue to learn. One of the students, Joe, stuttered with just about every word he said on Monday, and by Friday he was speaking in sentences—yes I know not every student progresses this quickly but its amazing to see how much they progress when they practice and are pushed a little. And they have so many questions! These vary from ‘madaam, what is the difference between love and beloved, or how would I say make in the past tense (made), to what is this (points to his elbow)” they are just so curious! Yesterday, at 7:30 PM I literally had to kick them out of the classroom because I, after 4 1/2 hours of English was beat and wanted to go home and cook dinner…and even though today is a Saturday they asked if we could meet to practice.
I have no idea where this new enthusiasm for learning English came from but I’m going to do everything I can to keep it going. The students keep telling me how next year, we will meet like a real English club and today I told them that they already were an English club. I should also explain that finding students who are this excited about learning is kind of rare. It’s not that students here don’t care about school, because they do, but school is not the first priority. I remember growing up in America and it seemed since first or second grade (when I got my first college regalia, a Muhlenberg College sweatshirt) I knew that I would continue my education…and then I was continually encourage or pushed to do my best in school so I could go to university and eventually find a good job. Well, here in Mozambique things are a bit different; students come to school everyday in their uniforms, take notes and sometimes participate but they have many other responsibilities (working on their family farms or in the market, supporting younger siblings, or paying rent for their school housing). Put simply, school is not the first priority, and it’s impossible for it to be the first priority. So for me to find a group of students; wait, I should correct myself-for a group of students to seek me out to practice their English for an extra 15 to 20 hours a week (3 to 4 hours every afternoon) is kind of amazing, and I am going to do everything I can to keep them interested!
So, that’s my story, sorry it is kind of long but I’m just so excited. If you had talked to me a month ago I would have told you that (for the first time since arriving in Mozambique) I wanted to go home. I was so frustrated with trying to start projects, I was so bored with my lack of work, and the cultural norms were driving me insane. I missed my friends and family, and I wanted nothing more than to go back to America and find a job with real hours, a real job description and a salary. Well, fast-forward to now, and I am happy. Don’t worry mom and dad I’m still coming home next year but I can finally say confidently that I am happy to be here, I understand my job and what I need to do and, I finally feel like I belong here in my community.
And it’s a pretty wonderful feeling.
Bon-Bons acting as the teacher and writing sentences on the board with words the students found "confusing" or that sounds the same.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Holidays & English Theatre
Holidays and English Theatre
There are so many national holidays here I honestly can’t keep track of them anymore. Whenever there is a holiday though many students travel back to their villages (usually just a couple kilometers/days travel away) and skip school for the entire week. This of course is really frustrating but I’ve come to learn that I just cannot teach any new material on weeks when there is a holiday.
Aside from students skipping school, a holiday means an entire day (or couple of days) of people day drinking and hanging out. Usually when there’s a holiday I would escape and go to Chimoio to hangout with the other volunteers or I’d spend the entire day cooped up in my house reading a book and hiding from all the drunk people. Well last week, for FADM day I spent my day a little differently. I met my English theatre group at school and they practiced their skit a couple of times, then we walked to the town praza and they performed their piece for the community. Because their play was in English, one of the students also gave an introduction and summary in Portuguese before and after their piece, and it went so well! Even though people couldn’t understand what they were saying, they were very interested. When one person speaks English, people are curious, but when a whole bunch of high school students start acting and speaking in clear English, everyone runs to see what is going on. It was really neat, while my students performed there was a big huddle of people around them trying to listen in and see what was going on. After my students performed, and the little celebration was over everyone left the praza to go visit friends, eat food and likely day drink.
On my walk home I stopped to visit a neighbor, Joanna, who is an incredibly friendly woman who saw me walking one time, and just wanted to be my friend. Now I visit her about once a week just to catch up and sometimes we go to the market together. Well this specific visit turned into a pretty long visit in which I was fed breakfast and coffee and met her husband who was in town for the holiday. After eating and chatting we all watched the Mozambican women’s basketball team play on TV, that was kind of strange, I never watch TV here! After having breakfast with Joanna and her family I wandered home and picked up Amendoim so we could walk around town some more. I spent the rest of my morning visiting neighbors and talking to people. Then I went to a friend’s house and helped her cook this huge feast, which we shared with some of her friends from Zimbabwe. Overall it was a pretty awesome day, it helped me realize that I do have friends in my community. I don’t gossip with them, talk about sports or politics and I certainly don’t drink a beer with them but they’re my friends and they’re pretty wonderful. Oh I also ate some chicken and I didn’t get sick so that was pretty exciting. Talk about integration.
Three days after FADM day I took my students to Chimoio for the provincial English theatre competition. My students didn’t win any big awards; their piece was twice as long as it was supposed to be and they got a little carried away in their partying scenes but they had a really great time. (Some of the other volunteers told me they were really impressed with my groups English speaking skills too!) Initially my students were disappointed not to place in the competition but I reminded them that this was their first year competing and that many of the schools they competed against had been doing this for years. This seemed to lighten their mood a bit, and they are already talking about how much better their skit will be next year! So overall, even with the stress of having students show up hours late everyday for meetings, and completely ignore some of the advice I gave them, and feeling like my colleagues completely abandoned me with this project I think English theatre was a great success. Aside from actually practicing their English, my students got to spend a day in the city, meeting other students and teachers. I also met a teacher who works at the primary school in my village who wants to collaborate on projects next year and is actually reliable and excited about teaching! Oh and they are adamant about finally starting and English club. Cool, I can’t wait for next year!
My english theatre group...the guy on the right (in the tan jacket) is the awesome English teacher, Derrick, who helped me with the group.
Just some acting...
And of course they all wanted a picture with their certificates :)
There are so many national holidays here I honestly can’t keep track of them anymore. Whenever there is a holiday though many students travel back to their villages (usually just a couple kilometers/days travel away) and skip school for the entire week. This of course is really frustrating but I’ve come to learn that I just cannot teach any new material on weeks when there is a holiday.
Aside from students skipping school, a holiday means an entire day (or couple of days) of people day drinking and hanging out. Usually when there’s a holiday I would escape and go to Chimoio to hangout with the other volunteers or I’d spend the entire day cooped up in my house reading a book and hiding from all the drunk people. Well last week, for FADM day I spent my day a little differently. I met my English theatre group at school and they practiced their skit a couple of times, then we walked to the town praza and they performed their piece for the community. Because their play was in English, one of the students also gave an introduction and summary in Portuguese before and after their piece, and it went so well! Even though people couldn’t understand what they were saying, they were very interested. When one person speaks English, people are curious, but when a whole bunch of high school students start acting and speaking in clear English, everyone runs to see what is going on. It was really neat, while my students performed there was a big huddle of people around them trying to listen in and see what was going on. After my students performed, and the little celebration was over everyone left the praza to go visit friends, eat food and likely day drink.
On my walk home I stopped to visit a neighbor, Joanna, who is an incredibly friendly woman who saw me walking one time, and just wanted to be my friend. Now I visit her about once a week just to catch up and sometimes we go to the market together. Well this specific visit turned into a pretty long visit in which I was fed breakfast and coffee and met her husband who was in town for the holiday. After eating and chatting we all watched the Mozambican women’s basketball team play on TV, that was kind of strange, I never watch TV here! After having breakfast with Joanna and her family I wandered home and picked up Amendoim so we could walk around town some more. I spent the rest of my morning visiting neighbors and talking to people. Then I went to a friend’s house and helped her cook this huge feast, which we shared with some of her friends from Zimbabwe. Overall it was a pretty awesome day, it helped me realize that I do have friends in my community. I don’t gossip with them, talk about sports or politics and I certainly don’t drink a beer with them but they’re my friends and they’re pretty wonderful. Oh I also ate some chicken and I didn’t get sick so that was pretty exciting. Talk about integration.
Three days after FADM day I took my students to Chimoio for the provincial English theatre competition. My students didn’t win any big awards; their piece was twice as long as it was supposed to be and they got a little carried away in their partying scenes but they had a really great time. (Some of the other volunteers told me they were really impressed with my groups English speaking skills too!) Initially my students were disappointed not to place in the competition but I reminded them that this was their first year competing and that many of the schools they competed against had been doing this for years. This seemed to lighten their mood a bit, and they are already talking about how much better their skit will be next year! So overall, even with the stress of having students show up hours late everyday for meetings, and completely ignore some of the advice I gave them, and feeling like my colleagues completely abandoned me with this project I think English theatre was a great success. Aside from actually practicing their English, my students got to spend a day in the city, meeting other students and teachers. I also met a teacher who works at the primary school in my village who wants to collaborate on projects next year and is actually reliable and excited about teaching! Oh and they are adamant about finally starting and English club. Cool, I can’t wait for next year!
My english theatre group...the guy on the right (in the tan jacket) is the awesome English teacher, Derrick, who helped me with the group.
Just some acting...
And of course they all wanted a picture with their certificates :)
Sunday, September 15, 2013
good friends, cave art and english theatre.
I’m finally kind of busy at site and it’s awesome!
Although nothing is set in stone or very established yet it’s pretty exciting. Since returning to site I’ve been trying, really trying, to be more involved in my community. I have a few more weeks left for this school semester and then it will be summer vacation. Most teachers and students travel during this break (and just about every PCV I know is returning to the states for the holidays) but aside from a week or two of traveling I am planning to stay at site. I know most of my students and colleagues will be gone but the community members will still be around so I’ve been trying to find things to do to keep me busy when I don’t have school next month. This has resulted in:
-Forming an English theatre group. (finally!) Although it was like pulling teeth to get all of the interested members to actually show up for a meeting at the same time, last week they finally did and we got to work and it was awesome! I now meet with these students twice a week to practice a theatre piece (they wrote in English!) which they will perform in two weeks at a provincial competition that’s being sponsored by the U.S. embassy. I think that this group will morph into my English club/juntos group because the students seem to enjoy theatre and want to continue with it even after the competition AND since working with them, many of the students have started asking me for extra homework help/tutoring or just stopping by my house to practice their English. Its been so great.
-Tutoring random people in Vanduzi (who aren’t students). This group includes my alfaiate (tailor), who wants to write his own English-Portuguese dictionary, along with a 10-year old boy from Zimbabwe, whose father is adamant about teaching his son English.
-Working with one of the primary school teachers to lesson plan/better prepare her students for secondary school AND just helping her practice her English and hang out. Yay for making more friends that are around the same age as me!
-Finally, although this project has not started yet I am just so excited I need to write about it. I recently met a Somali man in my town who owns a small halal restaurant (its also the only restaurant in Vanduzi that has beans and rice (popular market food) without meat in it!) anyway, I am hoping that I can meet this man for lunch one or day days a week and that he can tutor me in Swahili! As a side note, when I got my post in Mozambique way back in January of 2012 I was so excited because I thought I’d be able to live in the north of the country where I could learn Swahili and then after Peace Corps I could move to Kenya and get a job dealing with Somalia/current events in the horn. Well, I didn’t get sent to the north and my dreams of learning Swahili were temporarily put on hold BUT now I might have a tutor and I am so excited! I haven’t actually met with this man yet for lessons but I am sure if he isn’t too busy he’d be happy to teach me.
Aside from getting excited about projects one of my good friends from training was visiting last week. I got to show off my site a bit (and he helped me brainstorm some of the above projects) and we also hung out with some other volunteers that were in Chimoio for the week for a conference.
(here's to hoping its not another 6 months until I see you again!)
A few of us went to the town of Manica one day to see this old cave art drawings, which are apparently really really old and date back from a tribal war that caused villagers to flee into the caves up in the mountains for safety. Although some of the drawings looked pretty neat there was also a row of drawings that looked almost stenciled in. regardless of whether the drawings are actually real, the hike to the top was fun and the view was fantastic. We spent the rest of the day in manica, which was a nice little town about an hour away from my town, Vanduzi. Here’s some pictures:
The mountain we hiked to get to the caves....
The cave drawings...
Our guide? For lack of a better title, this woman is the daughter of the either the village elder or the old tribal queen...I actually don't quite know her exact title but she is the only one that could take us up the mountain to see the drawings.
What better way to cool off after hiking up a mountain in the middle of the day than to enjoy a MANICA beer in the town of MANICA in MANICA province. Cool eh?
I'm trying to be better with this blog so hopefully I'll write again next week, until then have a great week everyone!
Although nothing is set in stone or very established yet it’s pretty exciting. Since returning to site I’ve been trying, really trying, to be more involved in my community. I have a few more weeks left for this school semester and then it will be summer vacation. Most teachers and students travel during this break (and just about every PCV I know is returning to the states for the holidays) but aside from a week or two of traveling I am planning to stay at site. I know most of my students and colleagues will be gone but the community members will still be around so I’ve been trying to find things to do to keep me busy when I don’t have school next month. This has resulted in:
-Forming an English theatre group. (finally!) Although it was like pulling teeth to get all of the interested members to actually show up for a meeting at the same time, last week they finally did and we got to work and it was awesome! I now meet with these students twice a week to practice a theatre piece (they wrote in English!) which they will perform in two weeks at a provincial competition that’s being sponsored by the U.S. embassy. I think that this group will morph into my English club/juntos group because the students seem to enjoy theatre and want to continue with it even after the competition AND since working with them, many of the students have started asking me for extra homework help/tutoring or just stopping by my house to practice their English. Its been so great.
-Tutoring random people in Vanduzi (who aren’t students). This group includes my alfaiate (tailor), who wants to write his own English-Portuguese dictionary, along with a 10-year old boy from Zimbabwe, whose father is adamant about teaching his son English.
-Working with one of the primary school teachers to lesson plan/better prepare her students for secondary school AND just helping her practice her English and hang out. Yay for making more friends that are around the same age as me!
-Finally, although this project has not started yet I am just so excited I need to write about it. I recently met a Somali man in my town who owns a small halal restaurant (its also the only restaurant in Vanduzi that has beans and rice (popular market food) without meat in it!) anyway, I am hoping that I can meet this man for lunch one or day days a week and that he can tutor me in Swahili! As a side note, when I got my post in Mozambique way back in January of 2012 I was so excited because I thought I’d be able to live in the north of the country where I could learn Swahili and then after Peace Corps I could move to Kenya and get a job dealing with Somalia/current events in the horn. Well, I didn’t get sent to the north and my dreams of learning Swahili were temporarily put on hold BUT now I might have a tutor and I am so excited! I haven’t actually met with this man yet for lessons but I am sure if he isn’t too busy he’d be happy to teach me.
Aside from getting excited about projects one of my good friends from training was visiting last week. I got to show off my site a bit (and he helped me brainstorm some of the above projects) and we also hung out with some other volunteers that were in Chimoio for the week for a conference.
(here's to hoping its not another 6 months until I see you again!)
A few of us went to the town of Manica one day to see this old cave art drawings, which are apparently really really old and date back from a tribal war that caused villagers to flee into the caves up in the mountains for safety. Although some of the drawings looked pretty neat there was also a row of drawings that looked almost stenciled in. regardless of whether the drawings are actually real, the hike to the top was fun and the view was fantastic. We spent the rest of the day in manica, which was a nice little town about an hour away from my town, Vanduzi. Here’s some pictures:
The mountain we hiked to get to the caves....
The cave drawings...
Our guide? For lack of a better title, this woman is the daughter of the either the village elder or the old tribal queen...I actually don't quite know her exact title but she is the only one that could take us up the mountain to see the drawings.
What better way to cool off after hiking up a mountain in the middle of the day than to enjoy a MANICA beer in the town of MANICA in MANICA province. Cool eh?
I'm trying to be better with this blog so hopefully I'll write again next week, until then have a great week everyone!
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Eurotrip.
A PCV’s trip back to the “developed” world = CULTURE SHOCK.
I’m sitting in my bed writing this blog post and playing music and I can hear giggling…lots of giggling. My bed is pushed up against my window and as I peer out around my capulana sheet/curtain I see 4 little criancas laughing and trying to listen to the wonderful sounds of Wagon Wheel (yes Shane, I know you’d be so proud). So I am back in Vanduzi and it is nice to be home but let me tell you all about my trip!
I left site on a Saturday morning, met up with old sitemate from Guija in Maputo and the two of us spent the weekend at a friend, Mindy’s house before I headed out to Europe. Just a side-note, this was my first time back in Maputo after 7 months and boy was it weird! Driving from the airport into the city was more than overwhelming, I forgot how weird a city skyline looks like…and there were so many cars! Luckily, Mindy lives on the outskirts of the city, near the fish market (a quieter area) so aside from a walk in town to the craft market for some souvenir shopping I was able to avoid the chaos of the city. Although I forgot how crazy it can be just to physically be in a city again it was cool to be in Maputo right before my trip because I could compare European cities to it, and it also helped lessen the initial culture shock of seeing buildings that were more than two or three stories tall.
After a weekend in Maputo I set out on my journey to Europe. I flew to Johannesburg and from there got a direct flight to Paris. In Paris I spent one day alone wandering the city, shopping, going into beautiful churches, sitting in random parks/squares people-watching and of course eating some delicious food (yes I did in fact go to the chipotle in Paris for my first real meal!) I ended my first day in Paris with a “picnic dinner” of a mozzarella, tomato and basil on a baguette, a delicious peach and a glass (or two!) of cheap, good, red wine on the balcony of my hotel room where I sat watching the busy train station and reading the most recent issue of the economist. After the sunset (around 9:30 PM) I collapsed in my bed, which felt like sleeping in the clouds, and slept so wonderfully!
The next morning I met up with my family (and the Muhlenberg basketball team players and family members) and we embarked on an 8-day trip through France, Germany, Belgium and the Nethlerlands. In the course of 8 days I got to see so many historically important/famous tourist spots I stopped keeping count of them. In Paris I marveled at the size of the Notre Dame, in the louvre I admired works by Luise Jaques David, I watched the sunset from the Eiffel tower, stood under the triumval arch and was essentially star struck by the amount of detail/beauty and gold that went into constructing the Palace of Versailles. I also did some shopping, drank red wine with my mom and got lost in the endlessly changing, winding alleyways of Paris. It was wonderful.
(jacques louis david aka one of my favorite artists!)
After 3 days in Paris, we traveled to Valkenburg where we would stay for the next 5 days. From this small border town in the Netherlands we did day trips into Germany and Brussels, as well as towns in the Netherlands. Although I loved Paris this part of the trip was much more enjoyable to me. Aside from Amsterdam and Brussels (both of which I loved!) the towns we visited were smaller, and there was a significantly less amount of tourists which is always a relief when you’re used to living alone in a small African village :) Instead of detailing all the places I traveled to (you’ll just have to check my pictures on facebook) I will write about my favorites. In Cologne, my family and I sat in a beautiful, open square and ate lunch while people-watching and enjoying the local craft beer (which was likely my favorite brew of the trip!). I also found a tiny hole-in-the-wall Lebanaese restaurant and bought falafel. After lunch we wandered to the more touristy area and I found a DUNKIN DONUTS. So excited, I got real iced coffee.
(hanging out at a bar in Vaalkenburg with my dad and Morgan)
Also in Germany, we went to a small vineyard, which was adorable. The vineyards are so neat in Germany because the grapes are grown on these huge hills that are so steep they almost resemble a cliff. I wondered how it was possible to actually pick and harvest the grapes, but the wine was good and the view was magnificent.
We also went to a small town called Aachen, which had the most beautiful church (in my opinion) out of the whole trip. Outside the church resembled any other large, medieval cathedral, but inside it was covered in mosaics reminiscant of Byzantine culture/similar to the style in Istanbul. It was so pretty!
(family picture in front of Charlemange's castle in Aachen)
In the Netherlands, we traveled to another town, Maastricht, where although it was rainy and cold it was also probably one of my favorite days. it was the one day, where we were not with our tour group for the entire day. We had no schedule and could do whatever. This of course resulted in shopping and some really great food. Also in the Netherlands, we went to Amsterdam and that city was just so cool! I wish I had more time there because it seemed like such a neat, fun, free-spirited place but even a few hours in the afternoon were better than nothing. We ended our day there at the Heinekin brewery where I teased my dad for not finishing his beer fast enough (which resulted in me getting his second beer) and us both agreeing that the Heinekin actually tastes good when you drink it at the brewery.
In Belgium, we just spent a few hours in Brussels, which I’m really glad we got to do. The city has a beatuful square, with buildings trimmed in gold and decorated with intricate designs and statues. We ate delicious Belgian waffles and also drank some good beer at the delirium café. Yum.
So overall, I know it sounds like all I did was shop and eat and look at pretty historical things…and maybe that is true but because we were with a large tour group it was difficult to do things outside of the allotted schedule. This was frustrating at first, being myself, I wanted to wander aimlessly in every city and go into every possible museum/historical building but that of course wasn’t possible, there simply wasn’t enough time. A few days into the trip I decided that instead of being frustrated with the lack of time to see all these things/places, I should view the tour part of my trip as a preview of Europe; a quick taste of each city so I could decide if I wanted to return one day…and instead of focusing on the lack of time to do everything and see everything I just enjoyed the time I had with my family and it was wonderful! It was so nice to tell stories, hear about home, drink beer with my dad, giggle and shop with my mom and gossip with Morgan. I still can’t believe it will be 16 or 17 more months until I see them again—sure you guys don’t want to visit me here? And Nikki, believe when I say you were definitely missed.
After 8 days with the family I said my goodbyes and traveled to Bologna in Italy to meet up with a good friend from college, Joanna, who was starting her first year of graduate school (at SAIS) abroad. Traveling to Bologna was exactly what I needed in-between the eurotrip and return to moz because it was so much more relaxed. I got to enjoy all the amenities of the developed world without feeling guilty for sleeping in, or going for a run because it would mean I was missing out on doing something else. Joanna and I explored her city (which is awesome! Bologna is an old medieval town that somehow missed out on the architectural revolution of the renaissance, resulting in lots of small, narrow winding alleyways, plenty of arched, built up buildings that you can’t see over into the next street, and lots of old churches) maybe I didn’t do justice to how cool the town is but there are plenty of pictures to prove it. So Joanna and I explored town, went hiking in the hills outside of town, and traveled to Venice (which was so cool!!!) we also ate really good pizza, plenty of gelato and drank wine that was made right there in Bologna. We also got to catch up and swap stories from our past year in Africa (Joanna was in Benin so it was neat comparing West Africa culture to Moz). It was really fun.
VENICE.
(the old streets of bologna!)
After two whole weeks in Europe, I packed my bags (full of new clothes, non-perishable food, and some cool gifts from my family) and boarded the plane back to Africa. I spent another two days in Maputo and then traveled back to Vanduzi. At the Chimoio airport I was reminded of the culture here when my Mozambican friend who agreed to give me a ride back to site arrived 2 ½ hours late (even though when I called him to tell him my flight landed he said he was just arriving at the airport) and while waiting for my friend to come I couldn’t buy water because the guy at the airport had no change….I was definitely sad to leave Europe so soon and was not feeling too excited to return to site but as my driver pulled up to my house there were 5 kids jumping up and down yelling “OLA AMIGA!!!!” and shortly after I was greeting with a warm welcome from some colleagues at school and a student who ran up to my house to shake my hand and welcome me back. Teaching my first lessons in 3 weeks yesterday also reminded me how much I enjoy living here. I won’t stay here forever but I am happy that I have another year left in Vanduzi. After a very much-needed break in Europe I am ready to jump back into school and try to do some good work in my wonderful little village in Mozambique.
The most surprising things from my trip back into the west (as culture shock)
-how beautiful every single building is. In Europe people construct things that are aesthetically pleasing…in Africa they just build them
-how nice it is to walk around at night and feel safe (note-its safe in my village but walking around at night is a huge no-no)
-that people can drink in public in a casual way…and not be wasted by 2pm
-how pretty, no wait, beautiful and well-fed the dogs are
-how peculiar Americans are about drinking bottled water
-how “skimpy” some people really dress
-how frustrating it is NOT to know how to greet people in their native language; in Paris this wasn’t much of a problem because most people didn’t stop and acknowledge you when you were walking down the street but in smaller towns it was so frustrating! I resorted to just greeting people in Portuguese while I was in italy---hey it’s a romance language I think they got it?
-similar to that previous post, how wonderful it was to finally BLEND IN AGAIN and not be stared at (and yelled at and noticed) by every single person everywhere…it was fantastic!
and just how wonderful it is to have delicious food (and real coffee) available at any hour of the day in pretty much any town I traveled too regardless of how large or small it was!
And there are probably more but those are the most memorable aside from the fact that I thought every single person’s outfit was fashionable and cute and I wanted to buy everything in ever store, so much for not caring about fashion?
Sorry this post was so long…but it has been 4 weeks?!
I’m sitting in my bed writing this blog post and playing music and I can hear giggling…lots of giggling. My bed is pushed up against my window and as I peer out around my capulana sheet/curtain I see 4 little criancas laughing and trying to listen to the wonderful sounds of Wagon Wheel (yes Shane, I know you’d be so proud). So I am back in Vanduzi and it is nice to be home but let me tell you all about my trip!
I left site on a Saturday morning, met up with old sitemate from Guija in Maputo and the two of us spent the weekend at a friend, Mindy’s house before I headed out to Europe. Just a side-note, this was my first time back in Maputo after 7 months and boy was it weird! Driving from the airport into the city was more than overwhelming, I forgot how weird a city skyline looks like…and there were so many cars! Luckily, Mindy lives on the outskirts of the city, near the fish market (a quieter area) so aside from a walk in town to the craft market for some souvenir shopping I was able to avoid the chaos of the city. Although I forgot how crazy it can be just to physically be in a city again it was cool to be in Maputo right before my trip because I could compare European cities to it, and it also helped lessen the initial culture shock of seeing buildings that were more than two or three stories tall.
After a weekend in Maputo I set out on my journey to Europe. I flew to Johannesburg and from there got a direct flight to Paris. In Paris I spent one day alone wandering the city, shopping, going into beautiful churches, sitting in random parks/squares people-watching and of course eating some delicious food (yes I did in fact go to the chipotle in Paris for my first real meal!) I ended my first day in Paris with a “picnic dinner” of a mozzarella, tomato and basil on a baguette, a delicious peach and a glass (or two!) of cheap, good, red wine on the balcony of my hotel room where I sat watching the busy train station and reading the most recent issue of the economist. After the sunset (around 9:30 PM) I collapsed in my bed, which felt like sleeping in the clouds, and slept so wonderfully!
The next morning I met up with my family (and the Muhlenberg basketball team players and family members) and we embarked on an 8-day trip through France, Germany, Belgium and the Nethlerlands. In the course of 8 days I got to see so many historically important/famous tourist spots I stopped keeping count of them. In Paris I marveled at the size of the Notre Dame, in the louvre I admired works by Luise Jaques David, I watched the sunset from the Eiffel tower, stood under the triumval arch and was essentially star struck by the amount of detail/beauty and gold that went into constructing the Palace of Versailles. I also did some shopping, drank red wine with my mom and got lost in the endlessly changing, winding alleyways of Paris. It was wonderful.
(jacques louis david aka one of my favorite artists!)
After 3 days in Paris, we traveled to Valkenburg where we would stay for the next 5 days. From this small border town in the Netherlands we did day trips into Germany and Brussels, as well as towns in the Netherlands. Although I loved Paris this part of the trip was much more enjoyable to me. Aside from Amsterdam and Brussels (both of which I loved!) the towns we visited were smaller, and there was a significantly less amount of tourists which is always a relief when you’re used to living alone in a small African village :) Instead of detailing all the places I traveled to (you’ll just have to check my pictures on facebook) I will write about my favorites. In Cologne, my family and I sat in a beautiful, open square and ate lunch while people-watching and enjoying the local craft beer (which was likely my favorite brew of the trip!). I also found a tiny hole-in-the-wall Lebanaese restaurant and bought falafel. After lunch we wandered to the more touristy area and I found a DUNKIN DONUTS. So excited, I got real iced coffee.
(hanging out at a bar in Vaalkenburg with my dad and Morgan)
Also in Germany, we went to a small vineyard, which was adorable. The vineyards are so neat in Germany because the grapes are grown on these huge hills that are so steep they almost resemble a cliff. I wondered how it was possible to actually pick and harvest the grapes, but the wine was good and the view was magnificent.
We also went to a small town called Aachen, which had the most beautiful church (in my opinion) out of the whole trip. Outside the church resembled any other large, medieval cathedral, but inside it was covered in mosaics reminiscant of Byzantine culture/similar to the style in Istanbul. It was so pretty!
In the Netherlands, we traveled to another town, Maastricht, where although it was rainy and cold it was also probably one of my favorite days. it was the one day, where we were not with our tour group for the entire day. We had no schedule and could do whatever. This of course resulted in shopping and some really great food. Also in the Netherlands, we went to Amsterdam and that city was just so cool! I wish I had more time there because it seemed like such a neat, fun, free-spirited place but even a few hours in the afternoon were better than nothing. We ended our day there at the Heinekin brewery where I teased my dad for not finishing his beer fast enough (which resulted in me getting his second beer) and us both agreeing that the Heinekin actually tastes good when you drink it at the brewery.
In Belgium, we just spent a few hours in Brussels, which I’m really glad we got to do. The city has a beatuful square, with buildings trimmed in gold and decorated with intricate designs and statues. We ate delicious Belgian waffles and also drank some good beer at the delirium café. Yum.
So overall, I know it sounds like all I did was shop and eat and look at pretty historical things…and maybe that is true but because we were with a large tour group it was difficult to do things outside of the allotted schedule. This was frustrating at first, being myself, I wanted to wander aimlessly in every city and go into every possible museum/historical building but that of course wasn’t possible, there simply wasn’t enough time. A few days into the trip I decided that instead of being frustrated with the lack of time to see all these things/places, I should view the tour part of my trip as a preview of Europe; a quick taste of each city so I could decide if I wanted to return one day…and instead of focusing on the lack of time to do everything and see everything I just enjoyed the time I had with my family and it was wonderful! It was so nice to tell stories, hear about home, drink beer with my dad, giggle and shop with my mom and gossip with Morgan. I still can’t believe it will be 16 or 17 more months until I see them again—sure you guys don’t want to visit me here? And Nikki, believe when I say you were definitely missed.
After 8 days with the family I said my goodbyes and traveled to Bologna in Italy to meet up with a good friend from college, Joanna, who was starting her first year of graduate school (at SAIS) abroad. Traveling to Bologna was exactly what I needed in-between the eurotrip and return to moz because it was so much more relaxed. I got to enjoy all the amenities of the developed world without feeling guilty for sleeping in, or going for a run because it would mean I was missing out on doing something else. Joanna and I explored her city (which is awesome! Bologna is an old medieval town that somehow missed out on the architectural revolution of the renaissance, resulting in lots of small, narrow winding alleyways, plenty of arched, built up buildings that you can’t see over into the next street, and lots of old churches) maybe I didn’t do justice to how cool the town is but there are plenty of pictures to prove it. So Joanna and I explored town, went hiking in the hills outside of town, and traveled to Venice (which was so cool!!!) we also ate really good pizza, plenty of gelato and drank wine that was made right there in Bologna. We also got to catch up and swap stories from our past year in Africa (Joanna was in Benin so it was neat comparing West Africa culture to Moz). It was really fun.
VENICE.
(the old streets of bologna!)
After two whole weeks in Europe, I packed my bags (full of new clothes, non-perishable food, and some cool gifts from my family) and boarded the plane back to Africa. I spent another two days in Maputo and then traveled back to Vanduzi. At the Chimoio airport I was reminded of the culture here when my Mozambican friend who agreed to give me a ride back to site arrived 2 ½ hours late (even though when I called him to tell him my flight landed he said he was just arriving at the airport) and while waiting for my friend to come I couldn’t buy water because the guy at the airport had no change….I was definitely sad to leave Europe so soon and was not feeling too excited to return to site but as my driver pulled up to my house there were 5 kids jumping up and down yelling “OLA AMIGA!!!!” and shortly after I was greeting with a warm welcome from some colleagues at school and a student who ran up to my house to shake my hand and welcome me back. Teaching my first lessons in 3 weeks yesterday also reminded me how much I enjoy living here. I won’t stay here forever but I am happy that I have another year left in Vanduzi. After a very much-needed break in Europe I am ready to jump back into school and try to do some good work in my wonderful little village in Mozambique.
The most surprising things from my trip back into the west (as culture shock)
-how beautiful every single building is. In Europe people construct things that are aesthetically pleasing…in Africa they just build them
-how nice it is to walk around at night and feel safe (note-its safe in my village but walking around at night is a huge no-no)
-that people can drink in public in a casual way…and not be wasted by 2pm
-how pretty, no wait, beautiful and well-fed the dogs are
-how peculiar Americans are about drinking bottled water
-how “skimpy” some people really dress
-how frustrating it is NOT to know how to greet people in their native language; in Paris this wasn’t much of a problem because most people didn’t stop and acknowledge you when you were walking down the street but in smaller towns it was so frustrating! I resorted to just greeting people in Portuguese while I was in italy---hey it’s a romance language I think they got it?
-similar to that previous post, how wonderful it was to finally BLEND IN AGAIN and not be stared at (and yelled at and noticed) by every single person everywhere…it was fantastic!
and just how wonderful it is to have delicious food (and real coffee) available at any hour of the day in pretty much any town I traveled too regardless of how large or small it was!
And there are probably more but those are the most memorable aside from the fact that I thought every single person’s outfit was fashionable and cute and I wanted to buy everything in ever store, so much for not caring about fashion?
Sorry this post was so long…but it has been 4 weeks?!
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