MOZ likely to sunburn

September 20, 2016

My house was robbed today. Now, before you freak out on me, let me list all the things I’m thankful for.

1. Everyone is okay! The robber came in through the window when no one was home.
2. The losses my host family incurred were minimal. As far as I know, only a little bit of money, some cookies, some bread, and a pair of headphones. Not saying this isn’t bad, but it could have been much worse.
3. I locked all of my belongings, except my iPhone, on the side of my trunk that the robber couldn’t get to. Meaning my computer, hard drive, and my printed out pictures are safe.
4. Unfortunately, I only locked one side of my cargo trunk, which meant that the robber could pry open my cargo trunk just enough to reach in and snag my iPhone.
   • In that moment, I realized I am a product of a consumer society that places much value in material objects. Admittedly, I was very frustrated when I found out that my iPhone was gone. My mind raced to the lack of quality pictures I could take to document my experience and the inability to send iMessages to my friends.
   • But, the longer I thought about it the more I realized that this was a REPLACEABLE object. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think anything SHOULD be stolen and I definitely didn’t enjoy losing the pictures and videos from my phone. But, I am thankful to have had this experience early in my trip to remind me that at the end of the day things are, just that, merely things. If I were to lose these objects, my life goes on and their loss doesn’t take away from the memories that were in the pictures or the meaning of the videos.
5. I’m thankful for my host family who fought to get my iPhone back from the thief before even being concerned about their own losses. They are the real MVP’s and I am so lucky to have them.
6. I’m thankful for my fellow PCT’s who listened to me while I was upset today.
7. While some of my pictures may be lost forever, I am thankful to refocus my attention towards people. Despite the losses, this experience really put things in perspective for me. It made me realize that I saw the phone as a means to an end. I didn’t value the phone; rather, I valued the connection to the people I held dear, and the connection to the memories of the past that the pictures held. I falsely equated this sentimental value to the phone itself.
8. With this in perspective, I’m thankful to still be on this Peace Corps Journey.

September 12, 2016

Today marks the end of week 1! (As you can see, I have already abandoned the numbering the days I’ve been in Mozambique system… I’m a pretty perseverant person.) This week definitely made me question the space time continuum because it felt both like a month, and two seconds.

This week has been a week of accomplishment. I can sweep, mop, iron, and wash clothes (by hand) the Mozambiquan way. (Honestly, sweeping and mopping are exactly the same as the American way. It just makes me feel nicer to have a longer list. J) I’m much more comfortable with basic sentences in Portuguese, but I am nowhere close to where I want to be before I step foot in the classroom as a teacher. This week has marked the longest time since before Facebook was invented that I have been disconnected from the western hemisphere. That feels pretty liberating. I’ve made some great friends in my language-learning group. (KAJDAJ 4 LYFE!) My homestay family had an older aunt pass away, and we were introduced to our one-week-old new niece. In other words, this was a very busy week.

To honor the completion of what has been one of the most transitional weeks of my life, a couple of my Moz27 cohort and I (*cough* minus Dylan *cough*) hiked almost 4 miles to the top of a mountain to see Tres Puntes (three points). This is the intersection of the borders of Swaziland, South Africa, and, home sweet home, Mozambique. The view up the mountain was nothing short of amazing: the ability to look at all three countries at the same time. I felt adventurous. I felt small.

(On a side note, it really made me feel like I was in the international, Peace Corps version of A Walk to Remember. All I needed was someone to fall in love with me and to whisk me around trying to fulfill all the other things on my list of things to do before I die. I’m still waiting on that part… Anyways, back to the feelings part that inspired this blog post.)

This is a mirror image of the feeling that I used to get when I would drive up to the lookout atop a hill in Birmingham, Alabama. I could go up there to escape whenever I felt to preoccupied by the obligations of college life. I could look down on the hustle and bustle of the city and take a minute to breath and think about whatever thought wandered into my mind. I could be reminded that I am but one small, sentient being in the grand scheme of existence. I could remember that these problems that seemed so big to me at the time were much smaller when put into perspective of the bigger picture of this city.

I loved this feeling. It reminds me to be humble. It reminds me that it is okay to take life slowly sometimes. But, most importantly it reminds me to look around and be thankful just to be alive.

And, one week into this journey, atop a mountain mere inches away from three countries borders, I saturated myself in this same feeling.

Day 6 – September 3, 2016

Last night, I had a long phone call home. As I thought of the people I love and the moments and memories that would be sacrificed with them during my time here, I felt the weight of the Peace Corps commitment manifest itself in tears for the first time since my Alabama good-byes. Realistically, I know that graduating from college and choosing any path would bring about these same feelings, but, to me at least, these feelings seem amplified when you’re an ocean away.

Despite a more emotional night, this morning, I woke up ready to meet my host family. I know engaging in community will be the remedy for this heartache so I planned to channel my efforts into this outlet.

We boarded the bus pretty early in the morning, and my fellow trainee and I were cramming all of the Portuguese that would fit into our brains. Honestly, my friend and I were studying like we were in the hallway outside of the classroom 10 minutes before the exam and a different classmate informed us that the test was on both chapter 6 and 7 though we had only prepared for chapter 6. However, it was a bit difficult to concentrate when we had another trainee informing us of certain scallion techniques J. Overall, I think the bus ride was a fun bonding moment.

We arrived in the village and were greeted by a harmonious song from the overlaid voices of our host families. (Sorry that I didn’t have my recorder out Viny and Venu.) I really wished that I could understand the words, but I accepted that the unknowing probably allowed me to appreciate the feeling behind the song a bit more. At the end of the song, they unrolled a piece of paper in their hands with the name of their trainee on it. I found an 18 year old boy holding my name. He introduced himself as Helder (but all of our family called him Mandito) and he was my host brother.

He walked me back to our house where I met the rest of my family: My mom, dad, 2 sisters, niece and 2 cousins. We chatted on the veranda in the best Portuguese I could speak for a little while before lunch. I’m not going to lie it was a pretty awkward first encounter. I was forced to pantomime some things that I thought I would be able to put into words. I felt embarrassed by my lack of ability to communicate, but, I sincerely hoped that my host family would understand that I was just a bit nervous and confused. I hope they saw that I wanted to get to know them more and ask many more questions; I was just unsteady with this new language. Most importantly, I hoped they understood how grateful I was that they were being so generous, hospitable, and inclusive of me even though I couldn’t effectively express myself. By the end of three months, hopefully, I’ll be able to translate my initial feelings from today and read them to them so they understand how happy I am to be a member of their (our) new family.

 

P.S. I took my first bucket shower today. It was an experience. I hope I get more efficient at it.