11 Feb. 2011
It could be that this just a small community and everybody knows everything that happens, that each of us do. But I have this feeling that because I stick out SO much, that it's more so me. But then again, the world and life here does not center around me. I think it's just the natural feeling one gets when they stick out... Does that make sense? I hope so because if you interpret it wrongly, I might sound but arrogant or self-centered when thats the last thing I want to portray myself as. But I am quite sure a lot of this knowing everything has to do a lot with the small community and living in the bush, not really because I'm a mulungu.
I think I really got myself distracted with my random trains of thought when I write my blogs now! Muito desculpa (very sorry) for that.
Okay, so, to the point. Everybody seems to know everything about everybody or at least about me. A big example of this is last Friday... So, last weekend I went on a small vacation from school... As soon as I finished classes for the day, I grabbed my things and headed to the road to hopefully catch a boleia (a hitch) into the vila. To my luck, it started pouring down rain just at that time. Go figure. Remember how I told you it's a sand/dirt road? Well, it's hard to drive on in the rain... and there's already only a few cars that drive on the road. My hopes were still there .. . but the rain wasn't helping...
The rain did finally let up. The time was around 1 pm. If started walking, it would probably take me 3 hours to walk there. That should still hopefully get me to the vila in time to 'maybe' catch a boleia out of Mabote to the next town of Mapanhane. Fingers crossed. With my bag on my back, I started the trek. And yes, with every step I sank into the road. So, perhaps it would take me more than 3 hours. I took my flip flops off and carried them and let my feet feel the smooth, silkiness of the mud seep through my toes. It felt great actually.
There are only 2 directions you can go out of my school. To the right, which heads into the vila, into Mabote, the direction I was heading. Or to the left, where a majority of the community members live. I guess you could call it the Makwakwa town center. Well, there's only a few house shacks here and there on my way to the vila, so I only ran into a few ladies/people who live in that direction. I will have to say, they may have been a little surprised that I was heading into the vila by pe (by foot) and that I was barefoot. That's not normal for white people, right? But they do it often...
I actually didn't walk that far, maybe for 30-40 minutes, before a car came by and I got a ride. Good luck was coming my way! I got to the vila and took a right at the "intersection" (that's what I call the only intersection we have in Mabote for the most part). I right heads you out of Mabote and to Mapanhane and Vilanculos, places with vegetables and fruits, etc. I walk out to the hospital and wait. There aren't too many cars that head on that road either, but perhaps my luck would be good. And it was! I eventually got a ride with a guy who maybe could have passed for a dark white person, but he is Mozambican. (I almost just spoke English to him is why I pointed that out) The ride was good and fun. It was like mudding on the way out. His car was caked in mud! And we stopped and found a chamelean he put on the dashboard of the car, which ws fun to watch.
Anyways, somehow my plan ended up working and I made it to Mapanhane and stayed the night with some friends there. Alice admitted she didn't think she would see me that night...Who knows if I will be able to that again.
Now that you know that whole story I can relate it back to the "everybody know everything!" thing. After a long weekend away, I returned on Monday evening (that's a whole other story). I visited my friend, Sarah, in the community on Tuesday who lives to the left of the school and is a teacher at the primary school. She commented to me how I walked to the vila on Friday barefoot.
It's funny sometimes how things you think other people don't know what you have done or what you do of you or you think nobody is really paying attention to you, but really they all know, they all talk, and they are paying attention. And just like anything else, this can be good and this can be bad. I think it's to show them that foreigners can walk around barefoot and can try to balance things on their head and they can try to speak Shitzswa. But it is different and I'm definitely learning a lot from them, too.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
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
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
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
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
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)