Indiana Jones, Indy 500, or India?

30 Oct. 2010

Indiana, the state I was born, the state I grew up in, the state most of my family lives, and the state that isn’t well known for much…

To people in the states, Indiana is known for cornfields (but so is Iowa), for Gary, Indiana, and for Kari here, the Indianapolis Colts. People in the states have mostly heard of Purude, but they don’t always realize it’s in Indiana.

To people in New Zealand and other western countries I have been to, Indiana is associated with first, Indiana Jones, and secondly, the Indy 500.

To people in Mozambique, when I say I am from Indiana, they first think India… but then they look at my bright white skin and golden blonde hair (well, they don’t always see the hair) and realize something here is lost in translation… And to make it extra confusing, I tell people I have lived and worked in India, so then they try to put all this together in their heads. (In Portuguese, the word for a person from India is Indiana…go figure).

Dreadful

27 Oct. 2010

As some of you may know, back in April/May I got dreadlocks (just to let you know, it’s a painful process, but easy to manage when hair is longer and working in the woods over the summer…) Anyways, here in Mozambique with dreads:

I was thinking dreads would be good for Africa. My guess is they would be common here and they kind of are, but braids are more common. But, just like in the states, having dreads can be associated with drugs. The name here for dreads is rosta. The name for drug users is rosta…I guess it can get a little mixed up…

Anyways, Peace Corps (or as known here Corpo de Paz) made me quite paranoid about showing my hair. And I have this feeling it’s because I am white and with dreads, but in the end, I’m not really sure. Ever since I’ve left our initial hotel in Maputo, Mozambique, I have had something on my head to cover my dreads. Even for the first week, I did not show my host family my dreads. They kept asking me about it, and I was honestly worried they would not like me or judge me in the wrong way… Really, too many wrong ideas put into my head about it. Yes, I should be aware of the judgements that can be made, but that happens in the states also. My family here actually loves my hair. . . But, yes, I will use my best judgement and feel the people around me before showing them…just an added experience to my PC experience overall! Perhaps after a while, I’ll cut them out and get different hair braided in…that’s popular here! J

The Land of Mines...

25 Oct. 2010

“You better watch out, you better not cry. You better be good, I’m telling you why. Landmines are in Mozambique.”

Okay, maybe this blog is going to make you worry about me more, but DON’T! Yes, there are still some landmines leftover from the civil war (that ended in 1987 I believe). These landmines are marked, and I mostly only travel on used paths…plus, Peace Corps has made it a point not to put us in a place that has landmines.

So, basically, this blog might be counterproductive about ensuring you all about my safety, but I wouldn’t be joking about it like this if I felt unsafe. I guess I’m figuring you might have heard or read about the civil war and landmines in Mozambique, so I needed to address the matter. I would say walkng in Gary, Indiana is probably more dangerous….

My family in Namaacha (cha cha)

This is my Mozambican family I lived with for 2 months. I love them!!! We are sitting out on the veranda. 2 of the boys are my brothers, 2 boys are neighbors that were over all the time. The other lady is my grandma, who is also a seamstress. And the thumbs up sign is a way to greet people you know well here. LOVE IT!

These are my two little brothers, Isly and Ada. Isly is 3, Ada 7
I've never had brothers, so this was fun to have 2 little brothers, and they love pictures!
They also love to dance like Micheal Jackson...and to dance in general.

And that is my mom. And those are the chickens we at that night....

Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay....

20 Oct. 2010

Okay or O que? I never realized how much I use the English word “okay” until now where when I say okay, they think I’m saying “o que?” Imagine walking around the US and responding with “what” for so many things!

“Here’s the broom.” “What.”

“You can eat the banana.” “What”

“Would you like some tea?” “What.”

“It’s time to take a bath.” “What.”

I can only imagine what my family is thinking: “Does she not understand anything?” “Her Portuguese sucks and it’s been 5 weeks here!” “Americans must not know anything!” “Where is her common sense?”

Onto my actual learning and using of Portuguese…it is coming along. As time goes by, I’m able to have more actual conversations with my family besides for the, “Good day. How are you? I’m good, thanks.” We’ve talked about some differences and similarities between Mozambique and America, about AIDS (some), theft (in Mozambique and in America), what we are scared of (me= big spiders, mama= frogs), about my family at home some, that I don’t want kids of my own (they have a difficult time understanding this concept…but we laugh every time they bring it up), and what I’m going to do after these 2 years. They are definitely patient and that helps a lot because they’ll repeat many times or explain something in a new way.

I have definitely made them laugh heartily because of something I have said or done in regards to language. I still don’t really know why on some, but I will laugh with them also. Sometimes I realize it right after I said it…For instance, I call my mom here mama, which is the endearing term to call your mom here. But, the word for boob is mama (accent on the first syllable). It’s hard to be sure to say mom versus boob…

Also, coco (accent on first syllable) is coconut and coco (accent on second syllable) is poop. But make sure you don’t say you like to eat poop!

The Wedding Dancer: A Mozambican Wedding

16 Oct. 2010

“Here comes the bride…all dressed in…” red

Weddings, obviously can differ from country to country, culture to culture, religions to religions. Differences in what is work, what the women do, what the men do, the dancing, the presents, the cake, etc. Within a country, weddings can differ. Just look at the USA. A wedding in the south differs from a wedding in the west. And even more differences occur from religion to religion. My idea of a good wedding: a mix of all the best things from all the different weddings. Of course, me plus a wedding means I have to get married. Remember, we are talking about me, Mandy Nurrenbern.

Anyways, the answer to your unspoken (or spoken for all I know) question is yes, I did go to a Mozambican traditional wedding, and yes, I am going to talk about it here.

I asked my mama here what I should wear and she told me just pants and a t-shirt, no big deal. And, of course, she was right. But at the wedding/ceremony (all really one thing) we (the women) received capulani’s (surangs) that we wore over our pants. They make an outfit bonita (pretty).

I’m not going to lie, it definitely started off slow. I sat in a lawn chair in the yard under the shade. As the sun moved throughout the day, we moved throughout the day to stay under the shade. The bride and groom at this point were in a room with their parents , eating and probably saying the “I do’s”. At one point, they walked out together and marched around the guests and got pictures taken. (Pictures are serious…no smiling). During this time there was a lot of chanting and dancing around the bride and groom Chanting was out of the question for me since my language skills are low, but I did pick up the dancing…

Dancing is definitely a big thing as the day/night went on. There was some dancing I knew and some Mozambican style, but it’s too hard to describe here. I did love that the women coule dance and did dance versus the traditional Indian wedding where the women didn’t dance. They were amazed I could get low with the rest of them!

The wedding gifts are individually given to the bride (and groom). We did small dance steps with a chant as we went up and presented a gift each to the bride. The gifts were all very practical to life here in Mozambique. Cups, a tray, fleece blankets, a couple of capulani’s, a pilao (giant mortar and pestel thing), etc. After presenting the gifts, we got in a circle and one person would go in the middle and dance to the chant and then go out and someone new would go in. Surprisingly, I did not go in the middle… Why? Maybe it was the intimidation of the Portuguese.

The wedding cake: It was a 10 tiered cake, huge, tons of sweet icing, 2 dolls on top representing bride and groom…NO! It was simple, nice, easy. It was a small cake with simple icing. Not everyone at the wedding received a piece of cake because of the size, but everyone did receive a bite of cake. They cut the cake into bite size pieces and put in a bowl. The bride and groom walk around with the bowl and we grab a bite of cake. Simple, nice, easy.

I did get my camera out and it was a hit. Why? Because it’s a digital and the picture is seen right after the picture is taken. They wanted a dancing picture; they wanted me to sit at the DJ chair, hold a CD case and get a picture (with the kids surrounding me). I think this will be a good reminder to me to take pictures! J

A little side not here: I saw 2 men chase down one of the goats around. Not too much after that, I saw that same goat hanging by it’s feet from a tree being skinned by the 2 men. Then for dinner, I had goat.

The End.

PS – My style of dancing fits in with Mozambique better than in the US. Another sign this my place to be…Africa…my motherland….:)

Tomar Banho

6 Oct 2010

“Rubber Ducky, you’re the one. You make bath time just so fun!”

How many baths do you take in one day? (Normally) How many baths do you think Mozambicans take? I go from living in the woods in Montana getting a shower once every 2 weeks to living in Mozambique where I take 2 baths every day. My family here would prefer I take 3…

No, it’s not just me and that I stink! (I would hope I’m not that bad) The culture here is to take a bath before each meal. And yes, it’s a bath… a bucket bath. No running water. You put water in a basin, use a can or pitcher and dump the water on yourself. Then you soap up and rinse off. I actually only took one bath this past Sunday, and I felt like something was wrong… J

So, when I say no running water, I mean no running water for the toilet, shower, sink, kitchen…for nothing. Every other day we go fetch water from nearby. We have 2 water drums in our house, one in the kitchen and on in the bathroom. It’s pretty easy to get used to. The toilet is a manual flush at my house. By manual, I mean you put a good amount of water in a bucket, you take that water and you dump the water in the toilet and it flushes. Might have to do it a couple times for the major ones…J

I guess it’s time to talk about my house and family and what I’m actually doing right now here in Mozambique besides for bathing. Until the first of December, I am in training staying with a host family in Namaacha (just outside of Maputo). It’s a really cute house and a great family. The house is made of stones and cement and reminds me of Bedrock. (No, I do not live with the Flintstones). Our kitchen is incredibly small; it has a propane stove and a couple basins to do the dishes. It barely fits my mama and I. In the backyard we have a garden, and we have a veranda in the front. I have 2 brothers here. Ada, who is 7, and Isly, who is 3. My papa is only home about once a month because he actually teaches English in another city. (I’ll explain how the education thing works on a later date.) My papa is actually 19 days younger than me… but I still call him papa… My mama is 29 and really pretty. Oh yeah, my papa is tall…taller than me. J I have an avo (grandma) that lives with us also. She is my papa’s mother. I feel bad because I get a room to myself and all of them share one room… a requirement made by Peace Corps to the families when the families were interviewed and chosen to host us.

During these 10 weeks, I am learning Portuguese… lots and lots of Portuguese. Here’s an awkward story of mine: So, Peace Corps brought us up to Namaacha on a Saturday morning, but our first class wasn’t until Monday. That means we all spent the whole weekend with a family we just met and they don’t speak English and I don’t speak Portuguese. Charades is a fun game… J

It’s been awesome to have kids at my house. And they love to dance! And they love to see me try to dance the Mozambican style. Every time I come home, Isly yells for me, “Mana Amanda. Mana Amanda!” (which means Big Sister Amanda). Ada one day was dancing in the house and kind of making the music noises for “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson. I got my Ipod out and my little speakers and played the song. His eyes lit up and for the next hour, Ada and Isly danced like Michael Jackson, with the whole crotch grab and everything (you’ll have to see the video… Isly’s crotch grab include grabbing the top of his pant and just pulling them up!) J

Life in Mozambique has definitely been fun. There are a lot of different norms, but I feel good here. Portuguese is coming along…slowly. I’ve actually had some deeper conversations with my family here. They don’t quite understand why I don’t want kids or my own and that being an aunt is great… J My mama continues to say “when you have kids…”blah blah blah

Overall, I’m loving it so far. I’m soaking everything in, the sun, the people, the experience.