The arms... awoku

31.Jan.2011

Another cultural difference I’m falling in love with… (BTW, awoku is arm in Shitzwa)

I guess I’ll start this off with a question to you… Am I naturally funny? Do you usually laugh with me or at me? Either way, really, I just hope you are at least laughing cause smiles and laughs are great and contagious. A smile or a laugh will spread faster than fire….

With that being said, I don’t want to sound arrogant because I don’t think it is just me. I think people here genuinely smile and laugh easier and I love it. It makes my job so much easier! But something I’ve noticed when they laugh at something I say or do (because, if it wasn’t already obvious, I do joke a lot and put myself in that position when trying new things), they swing their arm toward you and you are suppose to be ready to receive a low high five hand grab, but just a quick one. Sometimes you hold on for longer… The first time I really noticed it, I thought it was just that person. Nope, it seems like everybody does it…and it starts at a young age cause the criencas (kids) I play with in my community do it, too. I’m getting use to having my hand ready to receive the laughs…. J

I think a lot of the laughs come from me being a mulungu (white person) trying to learn Shitzwa for one (a mulungu speaking Shitzwa, I get amazed faces every time I say even just one word), and from me being a mulungu trying to balance things on my head, and from me being a mulungu…yep, just being a mulungu (cause everything I do is different…and if it was the same, that’s amazing!) I mean, how many mulungus do you see in Makwakwa? And then they put someone like me here. I laugh because they are probably basing a normal mulungu with me… and I’m the person who like the many compliments I get of being crazy…

I'm really in a boat?!?!

27.Jan.2011

Aww, shit, get your towels ready. It’s about to go down!

Everybody in the place hit the fucking deck!

But stay on your motherfucker toes

We running this, let’s go!

I’m on a boat (I’m on a boat) I’m on a boat (I’m on a boat)

Everybody look at me cause I’m sailing on a boat (On a boat)

I’m on a boat (I’m on a boat) I’m on a boat (I’m on a boat)

Take a good hard look at the motherfucker boat (boat, yeah)

I’m on a boat, motherfucker, take a look at me.

Straight sinking my boat, how could this be?

Returning home, perhaps my house can float?

You can’t stop me, motherfucker, cause I’m on a boat?

Okay, I think you get the idea with the few words I changed this time. I left for one night to spend time in the vila, in Mabote city with a couple of friends. I came back Saturday afternoon to my house filled with water. The one night I leave, something goes wrong, making me need a big boat to enter my house!

So there is this dream I had when I was real young that I have remembered all my life. And I wasn’t on Liriam at that time! I had wanted some orange juice, which was already strange because I didn’t really like orange juice at the time. But I asked my dad to pour some orange juice, so he did, but he spilled some. That little bit that he spilled flooded our ENTIRE house and we had to swim out of the house and we went over to my Aunt Carol and Uncle David’s place cause it was right next door. But I still had not had my glass of orange juice, so we did it again. And guess what? It spilled and flooded the whole house! If you could tell me what all that means, I would love to hear your theory! Oh, and I think Brooke was just a baby and she was in both houses when this happened and I think my dad had to swim in and save her…

No, my house here was not flooded quite that bad. But I did see where the water flowed and in what way my floor is slanted. Maybe I should do my permagarden in my house… I got lucky nothing got ruined! The lowest place is in my room, under the bed. It was up to my ankle in the back of my room. And how did I get it all cleaned up? Luckily Julie was with me and we soaked it up with towels and then squeezed it out in buckets… It gave us something to do!

Aww, shit, get your towels ready. It’s about to go down!

I'm In Mabote

24.Jan.2011

So, there is this song called I’m on a Boat with T-Pain. Look it up on youtube for the video and the beat. Yes, it’s another song redo. My site mate and I are going to do it for a talent show. I’ll get a video and maybe one day you can see the performance. Oh, and we want to make an actual music video around Mabote/Makwakwa doing this…Not sure exactly how the locals would take it….:) Here’s the lyrics we made:

Aww, shit, get your mosquito nets ready. It’s about to go down.

Everybody in the place hit the fucking sand!

But stay on your motherfucker toes.

We running this, let’s go!

I’m in Mabote (In Mabote). I’m in Mabote (In Mabote)

Everybody look at me cause I’m living in Mabote (No, you don’t [facial expression])

I live in Mabote (No, you don’t) I live in Mabote (No, you don’t)

Take a good hard look at the mulungus in Mabote (‘bote, yeah)

I’m in Mabote, motherfucker, take a look at me.

Swattin’ flies in Mabote under a shady tree.

Bustin’ open cashews, chasing my goat.

You can’t stop me, motherfucker, cause I’m in Mabote.

Take a picture, trick. I’m in Mabote, bitch.

We watchin’ orange sunsets, champ, cause they so crisp.

I got my water and my flippie floppies.

We flippin’ gazelles, you at the office straight flippin’ copies.

I’m riding in a chapa, hitting bumps and shit

Watchin’ the night sky with all the stars that keep it lit

But this ain’t no Imax, this is as real as it gets.

I’m in Mabote, motherfucker, don’t you ever forget.

I’m in Mabote, aaannnd, it has one road aaanndd

We’ve got onions and tomatoes and bread and saaannd

I watch out for landmines in Mabote like Alfredo

If your drinkin’ milk, then you sure ain’t me, oh!

Get the fuck up, Mabote is real!

Fuck water, I’m in Mabote, motherfucker.

Fuck mountains, I climb towers, motherfucker.

I’m mato with spiders that charge, motherfucker.

Mabote has anthills that are laarrgge, motherfucker.

Hey, ma, if you could see me now.

Portuguese words when they speak Shitzwa

Wanna help Mabote and learn from somehow.

It’s like the Discovery Channel Mabote, Makwakwa

Yeah, never thought I’d be in Mabote.

It’s a big, long, brown, sandy road.

Scoooorrrrppppiiioooonnnssss.

What about us, PCMO?

Never thought I’d be called Chinese

And actually have these allergies.

Believe me, we will not freeze

I sure do miss cheese!

I’m in Mabote (In Mabote) I’m in Mabote (In Mabote)

Everybody look at me cause I’m living in Mabote (No, you don’t)

I live in Mabote (No, you don’t) I live in Mabote (No, you don’t)

Take a good hard look at the mulungus in Mabote (Ma, ma mato, mato yeeeiah)

APPENDIX

Facial expression – one of complete doubt like “Why would you be in Mabote?”

Mulungus – Shitzwa word for white person; said around here quite often

Chapa – truck/van taxi that you stuff FULL with people

Alfredo – our safety and security guy with PC

Mato – bush

PCMO – our medical team

Chinese – Julie was actually asked if she was Chinese …her ancestry is German…

Allergies – Before here, I have had no known allergies whatsoever. Same goes for Julie. But for some reason, both of us suffer from allergies…They aren’t as bad as my face being blown up like before when I first got it, but I tend to always have itchy spots on my wrists…

SIDE NOTE: Now I have 3 reasons this song means so much to me (so, this is also a shout out to all those who were in Montana with me. If you are one of those people, you know!)

Gym Junkie.../Marathon Goal

21.Jan.2011

I look back at my life and think of all the things that have changed or are so different now, when it changed, why, etc. I’m not just talking about the obvious from childhood to adolescent to young adult to adult, etc. changes. . . I mean, the lifestyle changes, what I do on a regular basis, etc. etc.

What I’m trying to say is I look back at my time at Purdue and see how much of a gym junkie I was. I was lucky to have that gym at Purdue. And in the early mornings when the Greek party wasn’t there to check themselves out in the mirror…J And in New Zealand how I still always made it a point to have a regular schedule at the gym I had a membership to, even with my ankle cast on. And I know if I still the opportunity to have a gym membership, I would take it and fall back into it. I would like to actually…but I don’t think Makwakwa has a gym… So, instead of being a gym junkie, I’m a…a…use-what-you-got junkie? I don’t know what to call it. I still hate push-ups, though. I don’t know how to make myself actually like them…

One of the reasons I’m writing about this (besides for the fact that it is also a form of entertainment out here in the bush) is because I want to have it written. By writing it here, in my head, I’m being held more accountable to accomplish my use-what-you-got junkie goals… J

GOAL 1: In August, in my province of Inhambane, some other volunteers have put together a marathon race down the EN 1 (The Estrada Nacional that runs through all of Mozambique). I want to complete the Inhambane Marathon in August.

GOAL 2: Improve my muscle to fat ratio… and lose weight (I don’t have a triceps caliper, and I don’t approve of the BMI index, and I don’t have a way to really do the water submersion test…so I added lose weight…which in the end doesn’t make all that much sense due to the fact that muscle weighs more than fat. I would say if my pants start falling off me, but because our dryer is the sun, and because of the heat, they stretch, so that would be called cheating…cause they are already fitting pretty loosely…)

GOAL 3: GET READY FOR MOUNT KILIMANJARO!!!!!!!!!!! That is definitely on my bucket list!

I guess you can look at these as my physical fitness/health New Year’s Resolutions. Yes, I know, I am in essence, still a gym junkie…

You Know You Live in the Bush when…

18.Jan.2011

*You use anthills as landmarks

> I know when I am getting close to my school when I see a familiar anthill.

Yes, you who live in the city, etc. will use buildings, people’s houses, parks, bridges, you name it. But I don’t think you use anthills much.

*All your roads (like only 2, really just 1 in Makwakwa) are all sand…and they are the main road

*All you see are bushes

*You get a little overly excited for fruits and vegetables

*People ask you questions like “What ARE you doing HERE?”

*It’s difficult to communicate with the members of the community because you don’t know the local language

*Your exciting pare of the day is to passear

*You see more bicycles than cars on your one road

*You go to town, you have to buy enough food…for an unknown period of time

*A puddle in the road is the local swimming pool

*You have one tree you can stand under in the exact right spot in order to have cell phone signal

*The community members all know if you go on your morning run or not…

*Somebody slaughters an animal, everybody goes to buy a slab…

*To buy bread is your purpose to go to the vila/village

*Your life is like the Discovery Channel, and you name a spider Toby and watch it grow (that what my site mate has done) or you save huge snail poop to show your friends

*You see other people, you realize you have really lost your social skills (as some people I met in MCC said, you wave with your WHOLE body…it just starts with the arm, but you get so excited to see PEOPLE that your whole body gets into the wave)

A League of Our Own

15.Jan.2011

Remember the song the ladies sing in A League of Their Own: “Batter up, here that call! The time has come for one and all, to play ball…. W are the members of the All American team, we come from cities near and far. We’ve got Canadians, Irishmen and Swedes. We’re all for one, we’re one for all, we’re all-Americans!” Now that I have the tune in your head, sing it with these words:

Liriam. Take your meds.

Mosquito nets on all our beds.

Dreaming heads…..

We are the members of the southern part of Moz

Inhambane cities near and la

We’ve got Vilanculos, Homoine and Mabote

We’re all for one, we’re one for all

We’re all-Americans!

No mato, or on the beach we lie

The motto “Do or Die”

It’s hard not to be jealous but give it a try.

Our feet get full of mareekenyas

They’re not too tough

Sometimes we will call them meticai

We’ve got a beautiful province to call our home

We’re all for one, we’re one for all

We’re all-Americans!

APPENDIX/GLOSSARY/ANSWER TO YOUR CONFUSION OF THINGS:

Liriam – our malaria medicine that can have side effects of very vivid dreams; has also been known to make some people emotional (to cry randomly)

La – general farness away from anything

No mato – direct translation: In the bush

Mareekenyas – a footworm that lays eggs in your foot; usually get from walking barefoot in the sand; locals know exactly how to pop the egg sac right out

Meticais – the local currency in Mozambique

"What ARE you doing HERE?"

14.Jan.2011

One can only laugh at this statement. Let me tell you the story:

I was “passear”ing just the other day (there is no direct translation for passear. It’s basically leaving your house for no purpose, just to go out and walk or do whatever.) So, I was out passearing in my small community of Makwakwa. I was finally getting some kind of responses from the community. They would smile and be surprised when I would say good afternoon in Shitzwa (nshakanee). Of course, I’m sure my pronunciation is not so good…but that’s why I think they like it also. I mean, this strange white girl is trying to speak their language. Here’s what I know so far:

Gicheelee = good morning

Nshakanee = good afternoon

Gipileilee = good night

Kanimambu = thank you

Oovikeilee = How are you?

Zivookilei quats = I’m good/fine.

(The language is actually not written anywhere, so this is my way of spelling it)

So when they respond with more words after I say nshakanee or gicheelee….I look at them with a blank face. I mean, how can I tell them I don’t know any more when they don’t know Portuguese either?? J

Wow, I totally got sidetracked from the basis of this blog! Anyways, I was out passearing in my small community of Makwakwa and this guy on a motorcycle stops and asks me, in English and very matter-of-factly, “What ARE you doing HERE?” What can you really do but laugh at that? What is a white person doing in a place like Makwakwa? It’s not like any tourists would really take their time to come out to the bush like this. There really isn’t anything to do besides for everyday living things. And on that note, that’s exactly why I am here. I get to see inside of Africa. Believe it or not, this was my thought of a true Peace Corps experience for me. Everybody has their thoughts on it, and this is mine. Except for the house. I like my house; I had just originally thought of one made of kinisu (bamboo) with an outside latrine. No big deal. I get less spiders (and snakes) this way!

Do They Know It's Christmas?

10.Jan.2011

I’ve had that Christmas song since I went to New Zealand the first time… The Christmas song Do they know it’s Christmas time at all? And it was always one of my top since I heard it, but I never knew or listened close enough that it says Africa and that’s what it is actually talking about. Somebody pointed it out to me this past Christmas.... while here in AFRICA! And yes, they do know it’s Christmas. Okay, enough with the irrelevant story; I’ll now talk about my Christmas time on the Indian Ocean…for the second time. J

Being on a beach for Christmas definitely has it’s pluses. Of course, there is no snow to go sledding on or make snowmen or snow angels, but sand angels work, too. J Vilanculos, a beach city here, is very pretty. Also very touristy, so I really didn’t have to use my Portuguese much… My friend who is placed in Vilanculos for her Peace Corps time, lives right on the beach. I could literally throw a stone into the water from where her front yard is. And here’s a plus for me, too, Vilanculos is the closest place for me to go to a bank and get a better variety of vegetables and fruits…guess I do have to come here more often. SCORE!

Christmas was an amazing time with a really good group of people. It was 6 of us Moz15ers plus 2 Moz14ers. We relaxed on the beach, walked on the sand bar that goes out really far when the tide is down, we made cookies for Santa, and watched A Christmas Story (first time I actually saw it all the way through surprisingly enough). On Christmas morning we woke up at 4:30 to watch the sun rise over the ocean.

We did a White Elephant (or Yankee Christmas as some call it) where we did 2 rounds of it. Lucky me, I got a bungee cord! And a wooden alligator key chain. I actually have used that one bungee cord a couple times now. J And if you look at my Christmas pictures, it’s true, I did wear my Santa hat ALL day! J

Because New Year’s kind of goes with Christmas, I’ll mention it here, too. It’s hard to believe 2010 is over. It seems like yesterday I was getting ready to go work in Montana. So many good memories of 2010… I would list them out, but I think you can just go back and read my whole blog again if you want to bore yourself with all the stories. J

How did we say goodbye to the old year? We made a kickass breakfast to start with. French toast and yogurt with fruit and muesli. MMMM. Than Alice and I made a couple of hula hoops, with the intention of her teaching me some tricks and then playing Hula Hoop wars that night… but I think in order to play Hula Hoop Wars you have to actually be able to keep the hula hoop going for longer than 20 or 30 seconds… and that’s where I failed! Hula hoop is a good workout and I think with time and practice, I could maybe get it down. J

We went to a backpackers place to get on the dance floor and that’s where I was the rest of 2010. That’s definitely the best way to end one year and start another! After the ball dropped in Mozambique (okay, it was a pretend ‘ball’, next year I’ll drop a real one for New Year’s), we ended up going down to the beach for some time, of course after we had them play Toto Africa. I started chatting with these teenage girls. It’s always good to try to work on my Portuguese. . . and learn some dancing at the same time. I showed them the 2 Mozambican dances I have learned already, and I was trying to get them to teach me more. We never got around to that. Instead, I taught them a butchered up line dance. You know, it’s real hard to give commands to a dance while trying to remember the whole dance…and then to be doing it in Portuguese!

And that, my friends, was my celebration of the holidays. Nothing too big, but fun none-the-less!

The Gazelle's

12.Jan.2011

So, Gazelles. Apparently on the road from EN 1 to Mabote, EN 212 or 222 (the locals call it 212, the sign says 222, so I don’t know what it really is…), there are a lot of gazelles somewhere between. Gazelle’s are like tiny deer. Well, on my way back to Mabote from Vilanculos, I saw what people were talking about… and no, they weren’t in flocks, or groups, or whatever you would call that. No, the gazelles I saw were dead.

First, the chapa (bus/taxi/truck) stopped, and people came up to the back selling cooked meat on a stick. It wasn’t chicken. I was thinking, “That I believe is gazelle meat.” Next time I’ll have to buy some to try it, but my money was buried somewhere deep in my bags.

My belief was confirmed at another time we stopped with more meat on a stick being sold. Not just one, but two, possibly 3, people walked around our truck just holding a dead gazelle by the neck. One plus one equals two, right? In essence, though, what other kind of meat would it have been? It didn’t look like cow, pig, or chicken. The only other animal I know of around us is gazelle’s… besides for birds…and dogs of course.

More and More Like my Dad... sort of...

8.Jan.2011

So, for Christmas and New Year’s, I spent the time on a beach. Yes, it was just SO tough…being able to swim everyday, seeing the sun rise over the ocean, laying in a hammock to read, all really difficult things to do… And to top it off, I look tan! J

Okay, don’t steal my thunder here! (I know a tan for me isn’t necessarily all that dark when you look at my Nurrenbern side of the family!) My Granny tans so easily, my dad, my uncle…but not me. I may look like my dad, I may even have a lot of similar traits as my dad (at least I like to think I do), but I don’t have his skin. As my grandma in Namaacha said, I turn into a tomato when I’m in the sun. Not this time! This time I got tan! I haven’t seen my dad’s tan in a long time, but looking at the contrast on my own skin, I’m amazed! J I’m not going to give away my whole secret, but it has something to do with sunscreen and not tanning oil, and the African sun. Just sayin’…

I do find myself reminiscing about my father (as one would) and I don’t mean to compare my life to his because they are definitely different, but at the same time, similar. For instance, my dad was not much of a traveler and I, obviously, am. But at the same time, my dad had a mind of his own and spoke it and did pretty much anything he set his mind to. And in that, I’m trying to follow his footsteps. I would like to say that I am at least a little like that…Okay, this got a bit deep for a blog, let me get back on the right track I was meaning to go….

Life in the bush in Africa I find can be very similar to life on a farm in the US in the 50s/60s. Granted I did not grow up on a farm in the 50s/60s, but I’ve heard some stories here and there. J

USA: Outside latrine for bathroom

Africa: Outside latrine for bathroom (my house is exception to the norm…I just have to fetch the water myself to flush it)

USA: kill chickens yourself for the meal

Africa: kill chickens yourself for the meal

USA: Prepare every meal from scratch (for the most part)

Africa: Prepare every meal from scratch (for the most part)

USA: Wash clothes by hand

Africa: Wash clothes by hand

USA: No running water – pump it or manually get somehow

Africa: No running water – pump it or manually get somehow (may even be a mile away, and may be a well where you lower a bucket down to get the water)

There’s probably more, but that’s what I got right now. And definitely correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not going to lie, all my life I kind of wanted to experience that lifestyle…one that my dad grew up in. America’s become such a fast-paced society, we kind of forget some of the simple things in life and kind of lose that appreciation.

I was actually ready to dig a hole to make my “fridge” and use a charcoal stove to cook on. Go figure I’m a volunteer who was provided a fridge and gas stove… And, yeah, I know, in a year (more or less) I’m going to appreciate the gas stove and fridge…J And technically I could “ignore” that I have them… but… I’m not right now…

So, in essence, what I was getting to with this blog is: I look like my dad even more now because I have a good tan. That’s it. J