This is starting to get miserable. The sky was covered in grey again all day Sunday. There wasn’t even a sign of blue sky. This is what we have to look forward to until about April. Fun.
So once again, we were pretty much left useless for most of the day. We just sat around, laid around, lounged around. We just stayed around the house because going to the villa, trudging through the mud was not an option in the morning.
But we were able to escape the house for a little bit in the afternoon. We went over to Madinha’s store to see if we could get a turkey update. She had talked to someone across the river in Mambone, but it still wasn’t confirmed. We sat around at her bar for a while to see what she should come up with, but nothing turned up while we were there.
However, within minutes of getting home, Richie got a call from Madinha: the bird is ours for a cool 850 Mets. So what if we’re spending 6% of our monthly salary on one night’s dinner. It’s Thanksgiving, and damn it, I (along with many other happy Volunteers) am going to have turkey. We are, as another Volunteer told us, “conquering heroes” of the party.
Just before the energy came on, I went over to the director’s house to talk about the upcoming computer situation. Project eCycle has put together another five (!) laptops for the teachers here. We put together a plan to maximize their usage of them which satisfied everyone here. And I told him that I wanted to do tech classes with each of the forty-five teachers here, to which he agreed.
The night was nothing really to speak of, as usual. We ate our dinner, watched some “Office” and finished a season of “How I Met Your Mother”.
I was slightly concerned that I had not taken my Larium yesterday. I had left it on my plate yesterday but never recalled taking it. I think I just swallowed it with the food. My theory was confirmed Sunday night when I had some ridiculous lucid dreams.
My parents called early Monday morning, but the connection was a little rough. It was still clear enough for me to hear that Cal beat Stanford and that my dad, once again, spent the vast majority of the day sitting in front of the new fifty-two inch flat screen at home. The things I’m missing…
We had blue skies on Monday, which was most lovely. The sun helped dry out Machanga a little bit, making the walk easier than it had been last week. We handed over our 850 Meticais to Madinha, who had someone get our turkey from across the river. She told us to come back in the afternoon to check him out.
In the meantime, we had some waiting to do. Even with the sun out, most of the day was spent on the patio. It’s were damned if we do or damned if we don’t. If it rains, we want to stay dry, and if it’s sunny, we want to stay out of the sun. It kind of sucks. While in the shade, I spent some time reading some short stories by David Sedaris. Years ago, I tried to read a Sedaris book, and I made it fifty pages before I gave up on it. I’ve tried to like his writing, but I find most of it terrible.
After lunch and a short nap, Richie and I headed back to the villa to check out Mo. Yes, we named the turkey Maurice, but we think that Mo is much more appropriate. Mo is large, brown and looks absolutely delicious. It should be an interesting ride down to Vilanculos with a live turkey.
We have quickly come to the end of our new media, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect. We have a couple more episodes of “House” and “The Office”. We knocked out a couple tonight after dinner, but we vowed to save some for when we get back from our trip.
Richie and I no longer have to set an alarm to get an early start to our travel day. Richie is up by 5 and recently I’ve been up around 6. It’s great. On Tuesday, we were both up and moving around 5:45. We cleaned up our house, closed up shop, then headed to the villa. Maurice stayed the night at Madinha’s house with a bunch of other birds. By 6:30, he was in our hands and we were off and running.
Maurice was a pretty good traveler. He kept his head up the entire way in spite of being carried upside-down by the feet. In his final days, Maurice will see the best and worst that North Inhambane has to offer: the best being Vilanculos, the worst being Machanga.
After crossing the river – is there anything funnier than a live turkey in a canoe? – we jumped in a chapa to get to Maluvane. The driver said that we would be going directly to Maluvane. He should look up “directly” in a dictionary; the longest stretch we drove without stopping was maybe five kilometers.
The next leg of the trip went a little more smoothly. We didn’t have to wait too long to get a ride down toward Inhassoro. Instead of going all the way to Vilanculos, we thought that staying the night in Inhassoro would be a good move. After all, the Volunteer in Vilanculos has dogs and we don’t want them to kill Maurice. We want to kill Maurice!
Once we arrived in Inhassoro, we untied Maurice and let him stretch out his legs. Being in a chapa is torture enough: being tied up in a chapa is just inhumane. While Maurice walked around, we spent some quality time on the beach.
With everyone in Inhassoro together, we decided to do Mexican night. One of the Volunteers bought a grouper from a kid off the beach, which was cooked perfectly for fish tacos. Paired with mango daiquiris and cervejas, it was a very successful food night.
All of us reconvened for breakfast Wednesday morning. Richie and I cooked up some pretty delicious scrambled eggs for everyone. When you’ve cooked them every day for the last year, you become pretty good.b
After an otherwise relaxing morning, we retied Maurice and loaded him into a truck heading south. Things got interesting when we got to the crossroads. We got a ride in the back of a truck. The driver for the life of him could not keep the car rolling straight. A bought a third of the way down the road, the driver managed to drive on the complete opposite side of the road.
Now, Richie and I have been in some not so great rides, but we have never really been scared in a car…until today. We told the kid collecting money that we wanted out of the car. He said now. We demanded it. He said no. And then we threatened not to pay, and that did the trick. The argument that followed with the now-clearly drunk driver was ridiculous. He thought we were “ninjas”, but we made the right decision.
Three Mozambicans decided to get out of the car with us. Apparently, they thought we made the right decision also. The only problem was we were now in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, within fifteen minutes, two tank-like trucks came by and stopped for us. As a bonus, we didn’t have to pay. It may have taken a little longer than if we had stayed in the first truck, but our safety is more important than speed.
We arrived in Vil in the middle of the afternoon. We dropped off our things at the house and headed into town for a beer. By the time we got back, it started getting dark. We had to get to killing immediately.
From everything we’ve heard, we were supposed to get Maurice drunk before killing him. I know that if I’m about to have my throat slit, I would like a drink or two before. But we didn’t know the first thing about how to make Maurice drink. So after multiple failed efforts, we said “fuck it” and just decided to kill him.
Even without the booze, Maurice did not put up much of a fight. He made one big last-ditch flap, but he otherwise died calmly. From there, we drenched the deceased one in scalding-hot water and I started pulling out feathers. The plucking of this bird was nothing short of tedious, but by the time Maurice was plucked, he looked like something from a supermarket.
But our work was still not done. Once externally cleaned, we had to clean out the inside. We slit open the chest bone and started removing all sorts of cool stuff – intestines, kidneys, a heart and more. I think we did a pretty good job, especially since none of us had done this before.
Since we couldn’t get Maurice to throw down any beer, we thought that we would have a drink for him. After all, this is the last time that we are going to be enjoying each other’s company, so we might as well make the most of it.
Maurice made it through the night okay. Now that the bird is dead, we have no more turkey-related responsibilities other than eating it. One of the out-going Volunteers prepped the turkey while a couple of us ran some errands. Of course, among the errands was getting delicious cheeseburgers.
When afternoon hit, we got back to getting our drink on. The turkey, as it cooked, smelled absolutely delicious. The house smelled like America. And over the course of the day, more Thanksgiving food came out: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, dessert after dessert. All that was missing was football, and even that was possible.
But after three full plates of turkey, potatoes and desserts, I was pretty much done, and everyone else was mostly catatonic. Instead of going out, some people went to bed and a group of eight of us played some cards. Considering the circumstances, this was a pretty remarkable Thanksgiving.
Sleeping was an absolutely struggle Thursday night. Besides the heat and mosquitoes, I was so full from eating that it actually hurt to lie down. This was a good pain.
Nobody slept particularly well Thursday night and nobody decided to stay in town on Friday. We had planned on staying in town but with no one else staying, we decided to go home as well. For the first time, there were two chapas running from Vil to Mambone, one at 9:30 and one an hour later. We took the early chapa home, a ride that was not so bad.
When we got home, we were done. I ate something quickly, but Richie and I were both intent on going to bed. I was absolutely out for about ninety minutes and woke up groggy. After a couple minutes though, I was ready to deal with other people. I went out on the patio and set up shop. Some teachers came by to talk about our trip and I was happy to talk with them.
Even with the naps, we were both seriously exhausted. After dinner, we watched a pair of season finales, one of “House”, one of “The Office”. By the time the lights went, we were more than ready to go to bed.
Other than one strange wake-up at 11:30 at night, I slept like a baby until 7:15 in the morning. I haven’t had a night of sleep that good in a long time. It was one of those nights of sleeps from which you wake up drowsy.
For a little while in the morning, it looked like it was going to rain. There were no shortage of clouds, but soon enough, grey clouds turned to white clouds and white clouds turned to no clouds at all.
As soon as I was awake enough, I realized that we may have made a terrible mistake coming home a day early. Machanga was fucking hot and there’s not a beach anywhere close. Being alone in Vilanculos would not be the worst thing in the world. At least we weren’t the only people doing nothing – by 9:30, a good group of teachers were hanging around under the trees, drinking beer and wine. We decided not to join in.
Sure, drinking would have spruced up our day. It would have made the hour pass. It would have made us social. But the truth is that we wanted no part of drinking or being social. Finally, the morning passed by, and we were ready for lunch.
The afternoon went by in the same way that the morning did: me on the patio, Richie in the house, colleagues drinking underneath the trees. Around 4:00, we were ready to get out of the house. We wandered over to the villa to get a soda. We didn’t even get a chance to order; Madinha just brought us out a beer. Then another. With the second beer, she brought us some food. And when we tried to pay for everything, maybe 100 Mets in all, she wouldn’t let us pay. Nice.
We didn’t have to wait too long for the energy to come on. As we get ever closer to summer, the energy has been coming on later. (And yes, that means we still don’t have 24-hour energy.) We cooked up some sandwiches and mashed potatoes, and after eating we watched “The Big Lebowski”, a very strange but funny film, an odd end to a great Thanksgiving week.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Year 1 – Week 49: Meteorological Indecisiveness
The celebratory mood from Mozambique’s epic victory against Tunisia bled over into Sunday morning. As I sat on the patio, I could hear occasional joyous yells of “Moçambique ganhou!” – “Moçambique won!” The radio kept replaying the goal. Callers into the radio made indecipherable calls. It was exciting, even for a non-Mozambican like me.
We had told our school director that we would go out with him and some teachers early in the afternoon. But when early afternoon came around, we just weren’t up for it. Two consecutive day of not-so-light drinking really put us off to drinking a third day in a row.
Plus, going out would mean having to put a shirt on. Summer is here to stay until at least March and the heat has become absolutely brutal in the last couple weeks, to the point that wearing clothes has become a task. So I’m following the lead of the little children who know best: I’m going topless. It’s far more comfortable and as an added bonus, I will have less laundry to do.
There wasn’t much going on in the afternoon, which we were happy about. We blew off the trip to the villa to drink with the director in favor of naps. It was the right decision.
In between dinner and watching “The Office”, I got a pair of family phone calls. The first from my parents was extensive as usual. We finally figured out that the problem with out connection wasn’t on my end, but on America’s end. I feel vindicated. With this information in mind, my grandfather, with whom I haven’t spoken in a while, gave a ring and we caught up. The calls behind me, Richie and I posted up to watch some “How I Met Your Mother” before bed.
The days are hot enough, but at least during the day, we can get out of the house and into the breeze. There’s no escaping at night. Even with the fans, we were left with little choice but to sweat in bed. It’s agonizing.
To make it worse, once we finally do fall asleep, it’s already time to get up. Richie was up 3:00. I made it until 5:00. This is not fun. But what choice do we have? It’s one more hot season. As our colleague told us last year during the training, the only way we know we can make it through this year is because we made it last year.
We were spared from the heat a little bit in the morning. Clouds covered nearly the entire sky and it looked primed to rain. But the rain never came in the morning. But by mid-morning, the clouds were gone. It was back into the heat.
There wasn’t much going on in the morning. There was a lot patio sitting. Richie finished off a book and then went to bed. I think he made it until 9:00. I was happy just to be in a little bit of breeze. Certainly better than being in the sweatbox that is our house.
After lunch, Richie and I headed over to the villa for shopping and sodas. We were completely out of vegetables, so the market run was necessary. And the sodas were even more necessary. By the time we got back, the clouds had started rolling in again. It looked like it was going to rain but the dark clouds yielded by a few drops. Disappointing – we are kind of ready for some rain.
I got in a good workout just before the energy came on. I have been slacking on the workouts these days. The heat has killed my drive. But with the cloud cover, I was able to actually work up a sweat instead of having one forced on me. And the cold shower that came after it was an absolute joy. No joke.
We finally got a good burst of rain once night fell, but it was not nearly enough to fill a bucket. Our day will come. The night was calm. We ate stir fry for dinner, watched a couple episodes of “House” and “The Office” and barely made it till lights out.
The clouds that had threatened rained all day finally came through on their threat. A monstrous wind joined the rain, the first sustained rain we’ve had of the season. The wind, however, was far more important. Typically, the wind blows north-south, managing to avoid all of our windows. But over the entire night, the wind blew east-west, creating a beautiful breeze through the house that made sleeping without a fan possible.
Through the morning, the clouds stuck around. On and off rain made life just miserable enough that it kept us indoors for the most part. Late in the morning, after a reasonable dry period, I decided to go to the market to buy a squeegee. Of course, as soon as I got on the road, it started to rain. I nearly fell twice on the walk over and almost lost one of my shoes in the mud. Oh, rainy season.
At least the market run was successful. I found the squeegee in the first little shop and as a bonus, I found a new pair of travel sandals. Traveling with my lovely leather Rainbows during the rainy season is not a good option. Plastic sandals work much better.
Rain and wind continued to pester us all afternoon. It pretty much paralyzed all action here. Teachers bundled themselves and their children up in jackets and pants. It’s quite the noted change from, well, yesterday. The only interesting thing to happen all afternoon was Sozinho, our long lost friend and clothes-washer, returned to Machanga today. We are very excited to see him. And maybe he’ll do our laundry while he’s here.
Of course, once the energy came on, we were forced into the house for good. Since beans take more than an hour to cook, we decided to throw on an episode of “House” before dinner.
After a couple days of terrible heat and a couple days of cold and rain, the weather gods finally got it right on Wednesday – not to hot, not too cold, no rain, and a little cloud cover. It was truly perfect weather for Mozambique. But with so few people here, and so little to do here, we couldn’t really take advantage of it. It’s not like there’s some stellar beach in Machanga.
Following an otherwise boring morning, we set out for afternoon naps. I almost made it to the hour mark when there was a knock on the door. So close. Some colleagues had a bottle of whiskey and they wanted to know if we wanted to join them. Sure, we would. And for good measure, we brought a long a half-bottle of gin. It’s the least we could do.
The dry stuff went pretty quickly, so what are we to do? Two of our colleagues wanted to go out to the villa to drink. Okay. I brought along a deck of cards so I could introduce a little drinking game.
Now, our colleagues like to drink their beer very slow. Two beers between four people can easily last thirty minutes. This is clearly not the American way. With the drinking game going, four of us killed eight beers in fifteen minutes. This and it kept going. More people joined. Before we knew it, a group of us had put down eighteen beers in about ninety minutes. I would call the game a success. Of course, as soon as the bill came, everyone scurried off, and we were left footing a 550 Met bill. It’s the best twenty-two dollars we’ve spent here.
We were done drinking so early that we still had a good hour of energy before the lights went out. I had prepared salsa earlier in the day, and with some beans from last night, we made delicious Mexican rice bowls. We finished an episode of the “Office” just before the lights went out. Excellent timing.
I woke up Thursday a little dizzy and dehydrated, but it was nothing compared to what Richie was dealing with. His head and stomach were reeling. We know we shouldn’t mix darks and lights. And we know that we shouldn’t mix beer and liquor. Clearly, though, two negatives do not make a positive: beer plus darks plus lights makes for a miserable day.
Richie was out for most of the day. I was pretty useless as well, but I was at least well enough to clean up around the house. Even so, I still spent a good portion of the morning between the porch and my bed.
I was back to a hundred percent by lunch, but Richie was still not feeling great. We returned to our respective areas, me on the patio, Richie in bed. Around 4:00, we headed over to the market to get some groceries and a soda. Sozinho joined us for the walk and carried our groceries back for us. I have to say: having help around the house is really nice. We have little that we have to do, but the things we don’t want to do are happily done by him.
Nothing of interest happened in the evening. We ate a very sad stir fry, but even a sad stir fry is pretty delicious.
Sozinho came over early Friday morning with some good news. He talked to the director at the school that is just a couple hundred yards from us and the director said that Sozinho could attend there. Which means we’re in luck. We have someone to wash our clothes next year.
If there was any downside to the whole Sozinho situation, it’s that he may live with us. We are happy to have him life with us. Yea, our house is small, but we can make it work. During the school year, we’re out of the house most of the day anyway, so it doesn’t matter. He’s going to try to live with another teacher first, but he’ll use us as a last resort. The upside is that the chance of him living here motivated to clean out our house really well.
The rain came to a halt and with that, things got even better. After an otherwise boring morning, Richie and I headed out to the villa with a couple colleagues. One of our colleagues just became a new father, so we thought we’d take him out for a couple drinks. Once again, the drinking game performed well, and we only had to fork out 200 Mets today.
The night was pretty quiet. We pretty much gave up on dinner and opened a can of corn beef. I had my doubts about it the first time around, but it was pretty good. After our not-so-terrible sandwiches, we watched a couple episodes of “House”. Kutner killing himself was sad, but we knew it was going to happen – damn you, Newsweek. And with another cool night, we slept fairly soundly.
Machanga was left grey again. I didn’t know I signed up for Peace Corps – Seattle. No matter the location, we were pretty much left to do nothing. It rained just hard enough to keep us from heading to the market and just light enough that I was able to still sit on the patio. So I sat, and Richie, as is now usual for him, was in bed for a lot of the morning. I can’t blame him: an uncomfortable bed is still better than sitting upright.
One of the worst parts of the rain is that it makes cooking nearly impossible. Regardless, it’s wet, which makes using charcoal a pain in the ass. And either one of two things happens – there’s way too much wind, which burns off the charcoal quickly; or, there is no wind and the charcoal doesn’t burn at all. Today, we had no wind, so I had to provide it myself.
The rain came and went all afternoon, but for a brief window late in the afternoon, the rained stopped. We headed over to the villa for some groceries, but more importantly, we were on a mission. We’ve been trying to find a turkey for the last couple days, but today we brought in Madinha, queen of Machanga. Within an hour, she found us a turkey. We’ll be going to Mambone sometime in the next couple days to get him.
It should be a most excellent Thanksgiving next week.
We had told our school director that we would go out with him and some teachers early in the afternoon. But when early afternoon came around, we just weren’t up for it. Two consecutive day of not-so-light drinking really put us off to drinking a third day in a row.
Plus, going out would mean having to put a shirt on. Summer is here to stay until at least March and the heat has become absolutely brutal in the last couple weeks, to the point that wearing clothes has become a task. So I’m following the lead of the little children who know best: I’m going topless. It’s far more comfortable and as an added bonus, I will have less laundry to do.
There wasn’t much going on in the afternoon, which we were happy about. We blew off the trip to the villa to drink with the director in favor of naps. It was the right decision.
In between dinner and watching “The Office”, I got a pair of family phone calls. The first from my parents was extensive as usual. We finally figured out that the problem with out connection wasn’t on my end, but on America’s end. I feel vindicated. With this information in mind, my grandfather, with whom I haven’t spoken in a while, gave a ring and we caught up. The calls behind me, Richie and I posted up to watch some “How I Met Your Mother” before bed.
The days are hot enough, but at least during the day, we can get out of the house and into the breeze. There’s no escaping at night. Even with the fans, we were left with little choice but to sweat in bed. It’s agonizing.
To make it worse, once we finally do fall asleep, it’s already time to get up. Richie was up 3:00. I made it until 5:00. This is not fun. But what choice do we have? It’s one more hot season. As our colleague told us last year during the training, the only way we know we can make it through this year is because we made it last year.
We were spared from the heat a little bit in the morning. Clouds covered nearly the entire sky and it looked primed to rain. But the rain never came in the morning. But by mid-morning, the clouds were gone. It was back into the heat.
There wasn’t much going on in the morning. There was a lot patio sitting. Richie finished off a book and then went to bed. I think he made it until 9:00. I was happy just to be in a little bit of breeze. Certainly better than being in the sweatbox that is our house.
After lunch, Richie and I headed over to the villa for shopping and sodas. We were completely out of vegetables, so the market run was necessary. And the sodas were even more necessary. By the time we got back, the clouds had started rolling in again. It looked like it was going to rain but the dark clouds yielded by a few drops. Disappointing – we are kind of ready for some rain.
I got in a good workout just before the energy came on. I have been slacking on the workouts these days. The heat has killed my drive. But with the cloud cover, I was able to actually work up a sweat instead of having one forced on me. And the cold shower that came after it was an absolute joy. No joke.
We finally got a good burst of rain once night fell, but it was not nearly enough to fill a bucket. Our day will come. The night was calm. We ate stir fry for dinner, watched a couple episodes of “House” and “The Office” and barely made it till lights out.
The clouds that had threatened rained all day finally came through on their threat. A monstrous wind joined the rain, the first sustained rain we’ve had of the season. The wind, however, was far more important. Typically, the wind blows north-south, managing to avoid all of our windows. But over the entire night, the wind blew east-west, creating a beautiful breeze through the house that made sleeping without a fan possible.
Through the morning, the clouds stuck around. On and off rain made life just miserable enough that it kept us indoors for the most part. Late in the morning, after a reasonable dry period, I decided to go to the market to buy a squeegee. Of course, as soon as I got on the road, it started to rain. I nearly fell twice on the walk over and almost lost one of my shoes in the mud. Oh, rainy season.
At least the market run was successful. I found the squeegee in the first little shop and as a bonus, I found a new pair of travel sandals. Traveling with my lovely leather Rainbows during the rainy season is not a good option. Plastic sandals work much better.
Rain and wind continued to pester us all afternoon. It pretty much paralyzed all action here. Teachers bundled themselves and their children up in jackets and pants. It’s quite the noted change from, well, yesterday. The only interesting thing to happen all afternoon was Sozinho, our long lost friend and clothes-washer, returned to Machanga today. We are very excited to see him. And maybe he’ll do our laundry while he’s here.
Of course, once the energy came on, we were forced into the house for good. Since beans take more than an hour to cook, we decided to throw on an episode of “House” before dinner.
After a couple days of terrible heat and a couple days of cold and rain, the weather gods finally got it right on Wednesday – not to hot, not too cold, no rain, and a little cloud cover. It was truly perfect weather for Mozambique. But with so few people here, and so little to do here, we couldn’t really take advantage of it. It’s not like there’s some stellar beach in Machanga.
Following an otherwise boring morning, we set out for afternoon naps. I almost made it to the hour mark when there was a knock on the door. So close. Some colleagues had a bottle of whiskey and they wanted to know if we wanted to join them. Sure, we would. And for good measure, we brought a long a half-bottle of gin. It’s the least we could do.
The dry stuff went pretty quickly, so what are we to do? Two of our colleagues wanted to go out to the villa to drink. Okay. I brought along a deck of cards so I could introduce a little drinking game.
Now, our colleagues like to drink their beer very slow. Two beers between four people can easily last thirty minutes. This is clearly not the American way. With the drinking game going, four of us killed eight beers in fifteen minutes. This and it kept going. More people joined. Before we knew it, a group of us had put down eighteen beers in about ninety minutes. I would call the game a success. Of course, as soon as the bill came, everyone scurried off, and we were left footing a 550 Met bill. It’s the best twenty-two dollars we’ve spent here.
We were done drinking so early that we still had a good hour of energy before the lights went out. I had prepared salsa earlier in the day, and with some beans from last night, we made delicious Mexican rice bowls. We finished an episode of the “Office” just before the lights went out. Excellent timing.
I woke up Thursday a little dizzy and dehydrated, but it was nothing compared to what Richie was dealing with. His head and stomach were reeling. We know we shouldn’t mix darks and lights. And we know that we shouldn’t mix beer and liquor. Clearly, though, two negatives do not make a positive: beer plus darks plus lights makes for a miserable day.
Richie was out for most of the day. I was pretty useless as well, but I was at least well enough to clean up around the house. Even so, I still spent a good portion of the morning between the porch and my bed.
I was back to a hundred percent by lunch, but Richie was still not feeling great. We returned to our respective areas, me on the patio, Richie in bed. Around 4:00, we headed over to the market to get some groceries and a soda. Sozinho joined us for the walk and carried our groceries back for us. I have to say: having help around the house is really nice. We have little that we have to do, but the things we don’t want to do are happily done by him.
Nothing of interest happened in the evening. We ate a very sad stir fry, but even a sad stir fry is pretty delicious.
Sozinho came over early Friday morning with some good news. He talked to the director at the school that is just a couple hundred yards from us and the director said that Sozinho could attend there. Which means we’re in luck. We have someone to wash our clothes next year.
If there was any downside to the whole Sozinho situation, it’s that he may live with us. We are happy to have him life with us. Yea, our house is small, but we can make it work. During the school year, we’re out of the house most of the day anyway, so it doesn’t matter. He’s going to try to live with another teacher first, but he’ll use us as a last resort. The upside is that the chance of him living here motivated to clean out our house really well.
The rain came to a halt and with that, things got even better. After an otherwise boring morning, Richie and I headed out to the villa with a couple colleagues. One of our colleagues just became a new father, so we thought we’d take him out for a couple drinks. Once again, the drinking game performed well, and we only had to fork out 200 Mets today.
The night was pretty quiet. We pretty much gave up on dinner and opened a can of corn beef. I had my doubts about it the first time around, but it was pretty good. After our not-so-terrible sandwiches, we watched a couple episodes of “House”. Kutner killing himself was sad, but we knew it was going to happen – damn you, Newsweek. And with another cool night, we slept fairly soundly.
Machanga was left grey again. I didn’t know I signed up for Peace Corps – Seattle. No matter the location, we were pretty much left to do nothing. It rained just hard enough to keep us from heading to the market and just light enough that I was able to still sit on the patio. So I sat, and Richie, as is now usual for him, was in bed for a lot of the morning. I can’t blame him: an uncomfortable bed is still better than sitting upright.
One of the worst parts of the rain is that it makes cooking nearly impossible. Regardless, it’s wet, which makes using charcoal a pain in the ass. And either one of two things happens – there’s way too much wind, which burns off the charcoal quickly; or, there is no wind and the charcoal doesn’t burn at all. Today, we had no wind, so I had to provide it myself.
The rain came and went all afternoon, but for a brief window late in the afternoon, the rained stopped. We headed over to the villa for some groceries, but more importantly, we were on a mission. We’ve been trying to find a turkey for the last couple days, but today we brought in Madinha, queen of Machanga. Within an hour, she found us a turkey. We’ll be going to Mambone sometime in the next couple days to get him.
It should be a most excellent Thanksgiving next week.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Year 1 - Week 48: "Here's to the Improbable"
For the amount of libation that was consumed over the course of Saturday, I felt surprisingly good Sunday morning. Not only is Afro Bar good for dancing your concerns away: the resultant sweat is also the best preventative for a hangover.
So since we were feeling okay, and we had an entire flat of beer left from last night, we figured that we should get to work. Combined with delicious pancakes and cheesy scrambled eggs, it made for a delicious breakfast.
The rest of our morning was rather calm. We spent some serious time in the ocean, talking to the new Trainees. I mean, if we’re going to talk to them about the pleasures and problems of living in Mozambique, why not do it in the glorious Indian Ocean?
We had initially planned to stay in Vilanculos all day Sunday and return to Machanga on Monday. Instead, we opted to go to Inhassoro and try to get back to Machanga from there tomorrow.
About nine of us – Moz 12s, 13s, and 14s – headed up to Inhassoro. But we didn’t just pile into a chapa and go. We divided into three teams and raced our way up. My team came in last – very sad – but we still got a good ride up to Inhassoro. The guy who took us up went twenty kilometers out of his way to get us to the crossroads.
Inhassoro was (and still is) beautiful. It’s a shame that Inhassoro doesn’t have the amenities that Vilanculos has because I would be just as happy to go there. Inhassoro does have, however, a restaurant right on the beach. It was wonderful, made better by the company, and improved further by the poker game that we got going. It was quite a lovely night.
Almost everyone reconvened for breakfast on Monday. Two of the teachers stationed in Inhassoro had to go to work early in the morning. It’s a shame: they missed out some delicious basil-filled scrambled eggs. After breakfast, it was time for us to get on the road.
That’s when the fun began. We barely waited five minutes before a truck rolled up and we got in. As if that wasn’t good enough, before we got out of the first truck, we had a ride from the Inhassoro crossroads to Pambarra. The second ride was even more fun. Having sixteen other people in the back made it interesting. The real kicker was trying to figure out why the driver kept passing people, then throwing it in reverse to pick up more people. It took us three times to catch on, but we finally realized that the car had no functioning brakes.
We managed to survive that boleia and before we even got out of the truck, another truck was waiting for us. This truck, with an additional seventeen people, thankfully had brakes. We made good time to Mambone and did some shopping before crossing the river back to Machanga.
Between all the traveling and the unbearable heat, we were pretty exhausted by the time we got home. We didn’t really bother to unpack: both of us put our things down, ate something, flipped on a fan, an took a nap.
Rejuvenated enough to make it through the night, but not keep us awake past ten, we got cooking when the energy came on. We made delicious chicken sandwiches, watched some episodes of season five of “The Office” and called it a very successful long weekend.
We usually return from our trips on Sunday so we can get back to work on Monday. But, as Monday was the last day of national exams, we wanted to avoid work on Monday. But that didn’t mean that we would be free on Tuesday.
The work we had on Tuesday was just as mind-numbing as proctoring. Even though the kids used proper scantron exams, they still had to be corrected by hand – by two different people. At least I could listen to music while correcting. Richie and I were tapped to correct Geography exams. From my loose count, about two-thirds of the students failed. I expect worse for English.
After lunch and a nap, I went on a mission. Yesterday, I talked to the padre here about getting some material for a gutter and he happily provided it this morning. This afternoon provided us an opportunity to get to work. We have an idea, but it’s going to take some other materials and a ladder to execute.
The materials were no problem. We went over to the market to buy some screws and some sodas. With the sun nearly down, we decided to put off the work until later in the week. The energy came on a little early, allowing us to get startecd on dinner – and squeeze in some good TV before bed.
I struggled to fall asleep. The larium was messing with me, but it also managed to inspire me. It yielded this poem a lovely forty line poem.
With the “Ode to Larium” out of my head and onto paper, I slept beautifully until the phone rang. My parents called around 7:00 but the connection never really, uh, connected. It gave me enough time to wake up before the connection came through. It’s been ten days or two weeks since I talked with my family, so it was good to catch up. It’s less than fifty days until they visit, so things are getting exciting.
We had to head back to work Wednesday morning. Our colleague said that we had to go in and we kinda did. We spent an hour erasing pencil marks. And that was it. The rest of our day, we had to ourselves.
Our house has been in dire shape of recent – especially bad since we didn’t clean that well upon our return – so we decided that we would spend the morning cleaning up this house. This wasn’t just a sweep-up, mop-up, then give-up job. This was a full cleaning-under-the-bed, hand-in-the-“toilet” job. A clean house is a happy house.
I would have liked to put our gutter up today, but it was so fuckin’ hot today that it made the tin material into something scorching. So instead we gave up on the afternoon. I read some magazines and napped. Richie read a book and napped. Another rough afternoon in Machanga.
We walked over to the villa late in the afternoon to pick up some tomatoes and to grab a coke. Medinha, our market friend, has a new fridge that is pumping and the cokes are almost too cold to drink. We choose to suffer through it.
The energy came on as regularly scheduled; now that the sun is setting later, the energy is coming on closer to 6:00. I diced up some veggies while Richie put the beans on the stove. I did not do a good job on the chili last time, so I went out to avenge myself. I’d say I succeeded. We plowed through our food while we watched “The Office” and “House”.
I have a very simple rule that I have lived by pretty well for the last year: unless I am traveling, if the sun is not up, neither am I. It’s so easy to live by, that I have succeeded in living by it every single day. Until today. At 4:52 AM, I was awake and feeling good.
The sun wasn’t even close to out but it was still a little light outside. As a bonus, it wasn’t scalding hot outside. This is why Mozambicans wake up before dawn to do things: they hate the heat just as much as we do. Some people use this time for walking, some use it for throwing a hoe. Today, this time was used, sadly by me, to wash clothes.
Starting so early does have it’s disadvantages. I was done washing clothes by 6:30. What the hell am I supposed to do for another five hours in the morning? The answer is simple – go back to sleep. Except one of my best friends from home complicated things (thanks, Joe). Of course, I’m willing to trade half an hour of sleep to talk to a buddy.
But as soon as I was off the phone, I was back into bed for another ninety minutes. That got us to 10:30, a reasonable enough hour to greet the day. However, the sun wasn’t really out: it was covered in post-apocalyptic grey-brown clouds. On and off for the last week, we’ve had weather like this for the last week. Between the imminent rainy season and the burning of fields, it’s made for an ugly sky.
There wasn’t a whole lot to do in the afternoon. Even though the sun wasn’t out, it was still terribly hot. I spent the afternoon swapping time between bed, which has a fan, and the porch, which has a breeze. Late in the afternoon one of Richie’s students came over. This particular student loves the sound of his own voice, and that was my cue for throwing on the iPod and playing the ignoring game.
Much like yesterday’s massive cleaning session, I figured that if I might as well be productive if I had nothing in particular to do. With massive preparation needed for Mexican food night, I got to it.
The little bit of left over beans from last night, put together with some homemade salsa, chicken, rice, Velveeta and fresh tortillas made for a delicious meal. It made me want a burrito from Cotixan or Roberto’s (one more year…). We ended the night with some “Office” and “House”.
I was up early again on Friday. It’s not that I’m sleep deprived; it’s just so hot that staying in bed without a fan is not possible anymore. And just like yesterday, I was right back to doing laundry, but today was a task: sheets and pillowcases. I have no problem washing clothing, but sheets are a real pain in the ass. I’m quite sure that when I am done with them, they are not clean. They are just less dirty.
The only upside to washing sheets is that it takes time. And I have no shortage of that right now. Sheet-washing took up a good portion of the early morning, leaving me in good position to nap in the late morning before lunch.
While he was at the market, Richie bought a frozen chicken. He claims that he blacked out when he made the purchase, but I’m sure he was conscious at the time. Regardless, we borrowed a little grill from our neighbor and cooked a scrumptious barbecue chicken lunch.
Having accomplished something in the morning, I felt good about not doing much of substance for the entire afternoon. The patio provided good shade and I was happy to soak it in. Every time we think it can’t possibly get hotter, it does. And we think this knowing that the hot season has only just begun. Now we are left waiting for the rain, if for no other reason to provide us some shelter from the sun.
Friday was the last day of the first round of exams. Tenth and twelfth grades finished on Monday, while fifth and seventh grades had three days of exams to close out the week. The relief amongst the teachers was palpable and we decided that we would contrinute to the celebration with a couple small bottles of rum.
It was all a part of the master plan: drink in the late afternoon, eat dinner, watch TV, then go out to the villa for beers. I executed steps one, two and three perfectly. But by the time 9:00 rolled around, I was exhausted. Richie went out. I gave up.
Saturday was all about build-up. Mozambique had a big soccer game against Tunisia in the afternoon, which meant we had to wait nearly nine hours for the thing to start. So we did a lot of sitting in the morning.
After lunch and a nap, Richie and I headed over to the school director’s house. By the time we arrived, he already had his generator rolling, cooling down the beers in the fridge. The game was scheduled for a 3:00 start. Before the game started, one of the teachers raised his cup and said “Here’s to the improbable”.
Most of the teachers wrote off Mozambique from the start. In their collective memory, they could not remember a time that Mozambique had ever beaten Tunisia. But from the outset, Mozambique looked like the dominant. They outshot Tunisia in the first half and controlled the ball for sixty percent of time. But it was for naught: despite some great chances, it was still 0-0 at the half.
The Mambas continued their domination in the second half. They grazed a post midway through the half. Then it happened. In the 84th minute, a pass went through the middle. The initial shot was saved, but the rebound came right back to the shooter. And then the ball was in the back of the night. Every Mozambican in the room (I think there were seventeen) jumped out of their chairs.
The improbable happened. Mozambique 1 – Tunisia 0. After dinner, we went out to the villa to continue the celebration. You have to celebrate when the improbable happens.
So since we were feeling okay, and we had an entire flat of beer left from last night, we figured that we should get to work. Combined with delicious pancakes and cheesy scrambled eggs, it made for a delicious breakfast.
The rest of our morning was rather calm. We spent some serious time in the ocean, talking to the new Trainees. I mean, if we’re going to talk to them about the pleasures and problems of living in Mozambique, why not do it in the glorious Indian Ocean?
We had initially planned to stay in Vilanculos all day Sunday and return to Machanga on Monday. Instead, we opted to go to Inhassoro and try to get back to Machanga from there tomorrow.
About nine of us – Moz 12s, 13s, and 14s – headed up to Inhassoro. But we didn’t just pile into a chapa and go. We divided into three teams and raced our way up. My team came in last – very sad – but we still got a good ride up to Inhassoro. The guy who took us up went twenty kilometers out of his way to get us to the crossroads.
Inhassoro was (and still is) beautiful. It’s a shame that Inhassoro doesn’t have the amenities that Vilanculos has because I would be just as happy to go there. Inhassoro does have, however, a restaurant right on the beach. It was wonderful, made better by the company, and improved further by the poker game that we got going. It was quite a lovely night.
Almost everyone reconvened for breakfast on Monday. Two of the teachers stationed in Inhassoro had to go to work early in the morning. It’s a shame: they missed out some delicious basil-filled scrambled eggs. After breakfast, it was time for us to get on the road.
That’s when the fun began. We barely waited five minutes before a truck rolled up and we got in. As if that wasn’t good enough, before we got out of the first truck, we had a ride from the Inhassoro crossroads to Pambarra. The second ride was even more fun. Having sixteen other people in the back made it interesting. The real kicker was trying to figure out why the driver kept passing people, then throwing it in reverse to pick up more people. It took us three times to catch on, but we finally realized that the car had no functioning brakes.
We managed to survive that boleia and before we even got out of the truck, another truck was waiting for us. This truck, with an additional seventeen people, thankfully had brakes. We made good time to Mambone and did some shopping before crossing the river back to Machanga.
Between all the traveling and the unbearable heat, we were pretty exhausted by the time we got home. We didn’t really bother to unpack: both of us put our things down, ate something, flipped on a fan, an took a nap.
Rejuvenated enough to make it through the night, but not keep us awake past ten, we got cooking when the energy came on. We made delicious chicken sandwiches, watched some episodes of season five of “The Office” and called it a very successful long weekend.
We usually return from our trips on Sunday so we can get back to work on Monday. But, as Monday was the last day of national exams, we wanted to avoid work on Monday. But that didn’t mean that we would be free on Tuesday.
The work we had on Tuesday was just as mind-numbing as proctoring. Even though the kids used proper scantron exams, they still had to be corrected by hand – by two different people. At least I could listen to music while correcting. Richie and I were tapped to correct Geography exams. From my loose count, about two-thirds of the students failed. I expect worse for English.
After lunch and a nap, I went on a mission. Yesterday, I talked to the padre here about getting some material for a gutter and he happily provided it this morning. This afternoon provided us an opportunity to get to work. We have an idea, but it’s going to take some other materials and a ladder to execute.
The materials were no problem. We went over to the market to buy some screws and some sodas. With the sun nearly down, we decided to put off the work until later in the week. The energy came on a little early, allowing us to get startecd on dinner – and squeeze in some good TV before bed.
I struggled to fall asleep. The larium was messing with me, but it also managed to inspire me. It yielded this poem a lovely forty line poem.
With the “Ode to Larium” out of my head and onto paper, I slept beautifully until the phone rang. My parents called around 7:00 but the connection never really, uh, connected. It gave me enough time to wake up before the connection came through. It’s been ten days or two weeks since I talked with my family, so it was good to catch up. It’s less than fifty days until they visit, so things are getting exciting.
We had to head back to work Wednesday morning. Our colleague said that we had to go in and we kinda did. We spent an hour erasing pencil marks. And that was it. The rest of our day, we had to ourselves.
Our house has been in dire shape of recent – especially bad since we didn’t clean that well upon our return – so we decided that we would spend the morning cleaning up this house. This wasn’t just a sweep-up, mop-up, then give-up job. This was a full cleaning-under-the-bed, hand-in-the-“toilet” job. A clean house is a happy house.
I would have liked to put our gutter up today, but it was so fuckin’ hot today that it made the tin material into something scorching. So instead we gave up on the afternoon. I read some magazines and napped. Richie read a book and napped. Another rough afternoon in Machanga.
We walked over to the villa late in the afternoon to pick up some tomatoes and to grab a coke. Medinha, our market friend, has a new fridge that is pumping and the cokes are almost too cold to drink. We choose to suffer through it.
The energy came on as regularly scheduled; now that the sun is setting later, the energy is coming on closer to 6:00. I diced up some veggies while Richie put the beans on the stove. I did not do a good job on the chili last time, so I went out to avenge myself. I’d say I succeeded. We plowed through our food while we watched “The Office” and “House”.
I have a very simple rule that I have lived by pretty well for the last year: unless I am traveling, if the sun is not up, neither am I. It’s so easy to live by, that I have succeeded in living by it every single day. Until today. At 4:52 AM, I was awake and feeling good.
The sun wasn’t even close to out but it was still a little light outside. As a bonus, it wasn’t scalding hot outside. This is why Mozambicans wake up before dawn to do things: they hate the heat just as much as we do. Some people use this time for walking, some use it for throwing a hoe. Today, this time was used, sadly by me, to wash clothes.
Starting so early does have it’s disadvantages. I was done washing clothes by 6:30. What the hell am I supposed to do for another five hours in the morning? The answer is simple – go back to sleep. Except one of my best friends from home complicated things (thanks, Joe). Of course, I’m willing to trade half an hour of sleep to talk to a buddy.
But as soon as I was off the phone, I was back into bed for another ninety minutes. That got us to 10:30, a reasonable enough hour to greet the day. However, the sun wasn’t really out: it was covered in post-apocalyptic grey-brown clouds. On and off for the last week, we’ve had weather like this for the last week. Between the imminent rainy season and the burning of fields, it’s made for an ugly sky.
There wasn’t a whole lot to do in the afternoon. Even though the sun wasn’t out, it was still terribly hot. I spent the afternoon swapping time between bed, which has a fan, and the porch, which has a breeze. Late in the afternoon one of Richie’s students came over. This particular student loves the sound of his own voice, and that was my cue for throwing on the iPod and playing the ignoring game.
Much like yesterday’s massive cleaning session, I figured that if I might as well be productive if I had nothing in particular to do. With massive preparation needed for Mexican food night, I got to it.
The little bit of left over beans from last night, put together with some homemade salsa, chicken, rice, Velveeta and fresh tortillas made for a delicious meal. It made me want a burrito from Cotixan or Roberto’s (one more year…). We ended the night with some “Office” and “House”.
I was up early again on Friday. It’s not that I’m sleep deprived; it’s just so hot that staying in bed without a fan is not possible anymore. And just like yesterday, I was right back to doing laundry, but today was a task: sheets and pillowcases. I have no problem washing clothing, but sheets are a real pain in the ass. I’m quite sure that when I am done with them, they are not clean. They are just less dirty.
The only upside to washing sheets is that it takes time. And I have no shortage of that right now. Sheet-washing took up a good portion of the early morning, leaving me in good position to nap in the late morning before lunch.
While he was at the market, Richie bought a frozen chicken. He claims that he blacked out when he made the purchase, but I’m sure he was conscious at the time. Regardless, we borrowed a little grill from our neighbor and cooked a scrumptious barbecue chicken lunch.
Having accomplished something in the morning, I felt good about not doing much of substance for the entire afternoon. The patio provided good shade and I was happy to soak it in. Every time we think it can’t possibly get hotter, it does. And we think this knowing that the hot season has only just begun. Now we are left waiting for the rain, if for no other reason to provide us some shelter from the sun.
Friday was the last day of the first round of exams. Tenth and twelfth grades finished on Monday, while fifth and seventh grades had three days of exams to close out the week. The relief amongst the teachers was palpable and we decided that we would contrinute to the celebration with a couple small bottles of rum.
It was all a part of the master plan: drink in the late afternoon, eat dinner, watch TV, then go out to the villa for beers. I executed steps one, two and three perfectly. But by the time 9:00 rolled around, I was exhausted. Richie went out. I gave up.
Saturday was all about build-up. Mozambique had a big soccer game against Tunisia in the afternoon, which meant we had to wait nearly nine hours for the thing to start. So we did a lot of sitting in the morning.
After lunch and a nap, Richie and I headed over to the school director’s house. By the time we arrived, he already had his generator rolling, cooling down the beers in the fridge. The game was scheduled for a 3:00 start. Before the game started, one of the teachers raised his cup and said “Here’s to the improbable”.
Most of the teachers wrote off Mozambique from the start. In their collective memory, they could not remember a time that Mozambique had ever beaten Tunisia. But from the outset, Mozambique looked like the dominant. They outshot Tunisia in the first half and controlled the ball for sixty percent of time. But it was for naught: despite some great chances, it was still 0-0 at the half.
The Mambas continued their domination in the second half. They grazed a post midway through the half. Then it happened. In the 84th minute, a pass went through the middle. The initial shot was saved, but the rebound came right back to the shooter. And then the ball was in the back of the night. Every Mozambican in the room (I think there were seventeen) jumped out of their chairs.
The improbable happened. Mozambique 1 – Tunisia 0. After dinner, we went out to the villa to continue the celebration. You have to celebrate when the improbable happens.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Year 1 - Week 47: Setting New Records
This is the fifth week in a row that we’ve stayed in Machanga. Even a year after being here, our breaking point is usually four weeks. Needless to say, we’re going a little insane. And we can’t wait to get out of here this weekend.
Our day, like most of last week, was pretty quiet. At least we had some things to keep us entertained. We both buried ourselves in magazines. Over the course of the day, I powered through a pair of Newsweeks and a Time. On of my old hockey buddies is now writing for Newsweek, which I find awesome. But, really, I should learn to spread out my reading a bit more.
The only eventful thing in the afternoon was Richie and I – along with a couple of kids and another teacher – trying to repair our bike for good. I don’t know if it will ever be perfect. I think the roads and the kids do a fair amount of damage to it. Whatever we did to it today, it’s running a bit better now
All that really matter on Sunday was we had for dinner. With the arrival of Velveeta, we were really hoping to do pizzas last night, but the bread shortage put a dent in that plan. However, there was no shortage of bread today, and therefore, no shortage of pizza tonight. We thought it would be a good idea to have pasta beforehand and make it a full-blown Italian night. It seemed like a good idea, but we were full half way through the pizza.
We fought through the food – a tough fight, but we both came out victorious – and watched a bit of “How I Met Your Mother”. In the meantime, my mother tried to give me a ring, but there was no luck. My parents will just have to wait till the morning.
Other than the 2:20 AM run (make that sprint…), I slept through the night well. I was awakened by a sports report – another Yankees win, three in a row. And once I was truly awake, my parents were able to get through. It’s been a couple weeks, so it was lovely to catch up.
Monday looked a lot like Sunday. Instead of going to the “light reading” of Newsweek, I jumped into an Economist. That took up a fair portion of my morning. The rest of my morning was spent doing mind games.
After our regular lunch (albeit with freshly imported cheese and bacon bits!), we had a very brief, boring meeting about national exams. Testing begins tomorrow and we need to be ready to proctor exams. I’m really hoping the director will spare us.
I killed the last hour or so of the afternoon turning peanuts into peanut powder. Seriously. The ambitiousness snuck back up on me and I thought I could do a sorta Thai peanut sauce. Ambitiousness failed me. It was awful We bombed it out with teriyaki sauce and it turned out okay. We capped our night with some “House” and “How I Met Your Mother”.
Richie and I have been dreading Tuesday for the last couple days. National exams started Tuesday which meant that we had to get off our patio and go to school with the chance that we might have to work. No, really. Our school director told all the teachers that we had to be at the school at 7:15 because we may – may! – have to proctor exams during the day.
Richie got off lucky – no controlling for him. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. I was pegged by one of the assistant directors to proctor exams in the afternoon. This sucked for two reasons: not only would I have to stand bored for two-plus hours, but I would have to wait all day to be bored in the classroom.
As such, the morning was boring. It’s not even worth describing. Basically, it’s what I’ve done for the last couple weeks – sit on the patio, feet up. Today, however this earned me a compliment from my neighbor: “Your feet are so clean. I could put bread on your feet and eat it.” That might just be the greatest compliment a Mozambican can offer a muzungu, whose white feet show dirt so beautiful.
If the morning was boring, then the afternoon was terrible. I walked over to the school mid-afternoon and walked to my assigned room. Students filed in, sat down, and filled out their scantron forms. And then I stood there. For two amazingly boring hours. There is no knife sharp enough nor no gun big enough that could take the away the pain from today.
The only upside of proctoring exams late in the afternoon was that it brought us that much closer to energy. In fact, the energy was already on when I got back home. Most excellent.
Richie was on top of things tonight. He started dinner late, but nothing harmful to our regular nightly schedule. While the beans cooked, we watched an episode of “House” and after dinner, we watched “How I Met Your Mother”. Oh, TV, thank you for salvaging this day.
Once again, I dreaded waking up on Wednesday for fear of having to proctor exams. Richie and I stood in the room and listened as other teachers were called to serve. Phew! Spared today.
But what do we do now? We figured that we could be bored and do nothing or be bored and do something. We chose to be bored and do something; we volunteered our service to correct, or do whatever the director wanted us to do.
In this case, that meant we had to “tramcar” exams. “Trancar” means “to lock”. What could possibly be locked on exams? We found out: taking a red pen and putting lines through every unused space in exam books. Very exciting, huh? Either way, it took an hour out of our day.
I had some actual work to do in the afternoon. The students took their English exam today. I was left to read through the exam and make sure it was clean. Now, even with the exams that I write, I catch mistakes. This, however, was a bloodbath. Some words were missing, some answers misspelled, some questions didn’t have particularly good answers. After consulting with some other teachers, we found that of the sixty questions, five had problems and one was scientifically inaccurate.
So after my strenuous, forty-five minutes of work, I was back to the patio, “Economist in hand”. Usually – and this is going to sound sick – I love the obituaries in the “Economist”. But today I was disappointed. It’s hard for me to feel sympathetic toward a free-climber – as in no ropes – who dies by (wait for it…) falling.
Our night was pretty typical – sandwiches, “House” and “How I Met Your Mother”. And of course, another fascinating text conversation with my brother, this time on the topic of winter fruit.
One other note: today is one of my best friend’s, Ryan’s, birthday. He has the strange distinction of not only being the oldest of my closest friends, but he is also the only of my closest friends whose birthday I will miss three times while in country. So buddy, even though I can’t be there with you, I still raise my cup of scotch to you.
I thought that Thursday was going to be a light work day again. I could not have been more wrong. I got tapped to “tramcar” exams once again, followed by back to back exams period, with just a brief break for lunch. Making things worse, Richie – who had yet to work a single minute this week (other than the time we volunteered for) – only got hit with controlling one exam. This was supposed to be my day off.
Thursday was the breaking point. Five weeks of staying in Machanga will do that, but standing there for five hours to control exams definitely redefined “boring”.
By 3:00, following the second exam, I thought I was off the hook for the day. Once again, I thought wrong. “No, no, you have to go correct English exams”. Are you fuckin’ kidding me? I just worked eight straight hours and now I had to work another two, reading pathetic “essays”.
5:00 could not come soon enough and I’m pretty sure that if he wasn’t actually laughing, Richie was laughing on the inside. There was some silver lining, though, to this dark cloud of day: we wouldn’t have to do it tomorrow because we were going to Vilanculos. With this in mind, we happily ate dinner and watched some “House” before bed.
I feel like getting out of Machanga on Friday was a beautiful disappearing act. We left school at exactly 6:30, long after most teachers were awake but just before they were due to congregate for their proctoring assignments. We didn’t need to be so covert – I told our director that we would be gone – but it still felt sneaky.
Whatever bad luck I had yesterday was clearly not contagious. We waited exactly zero minutes to get a canoe across the river. And once across, we didn’t even make it to the villa to catch a car out to Maluvane; the car met us just before the town. The only downside of that leg of the trip was that the kid collecting money tried to overcharge us (by a measly five Mets), but Richie got it out of him.
Our luck continued all the way down. Within five minutes of getting to Maluvane, we had a car going down to Pambarra. But not just any car. First off, the car waited for us to walk over to him. Lourenço, the very nice driver, said in English, “I saw two white guys, I knew you were going south”. Secondly, this car was awesome: the guy had air conditioning, nice leather seats and a GPS. I enjoyed these benefits while Richie was stuck in the back of the car. But even that wasn’t too bad – he had a mattress in back laid out for his kids. This was a perfect ride.
Lourenço dropped us off at Pambarra for the cost of a coke. He didn’t even ask for it. I offered – I figured it was the least I could do if we weren’t going to pay for the ride. We barely made it out of the car before we had another free ride heading into Vilanculos. Today was just our day. All said, we set a new record for the Machanga-Vilanculos trip: Three hours and fifty-seven minutes. This accomplishment should be up there with being the first to climb Everest and breaking the four minute mile.
We almost didn’t know what to do with ourselves once we got to Vil. We got to town so early that the chapa that goes leaves from Vilanculos to Mambone was still in town. We could have gone back to Mambone and probably returned to Vilanculos. Instead, we decided that our better option was to drop off our stuff and do some shopping.
While we were in the villa, we made a pit stop at the little hamburger shack that has brought us so much joy. We were happy with our burgers, even though they didn’t have cheese. But for one man from South Africa, it was a less than pleasurable experience. He walked in to this little hole in the wall place, and just stood there, waiting to be waited on. But that’s not how things work: you place your order, then wait. And he only spoke English, which did not help his cause. In the end, he just stammered off in a furor.
Tourists, usually from neighboring South Africa, sometimes make life for us Volunteers a little difficult. For one, they generally don’t know the prices of things. So when muzungus try to buy anything in the market, the little market kids will mark up everything by 100 percent or more. Not knowing better, the tourists will pay it, which leaves us fighting tooth and claw for every Metical. They also put a dent into our reputation. We have a cultivated sense of patience that a lot of tourists lack. We know we’re going to wait and we deal with it. But impatient tourists often make us look bad.
The rest of our day was very relaxing. The ocean was a little cold but it felt wonderful under the scorching Mozambican sun. And each of us spent a fair amount of time in hammocks. Another rough day in Vilanculos.
We knew that this was going to be an expensive weekend, so instead of buying dinner tonight, we cooked our own dinner. A lot of money will be spent on beer so only spending sixty Mets between the two of us is a steal.
Needless to say, we were very happy to be in Vilanculos. And we were even happier on Saturday. The Trainees from Moz 14 are on site visit and there is a veritable crew heading up to the Vilanculos area. Another Volunteer arrived late morning and we met her in the villa to do some beer purchasing.
So what do we do with five cases of beer and at least four hours until the Trainees arrive? All of us thought the same thing: start. And so we did. A lot of beers later, everyone else arrived and the party really started.
I think the Trainees were really happy to escape Namaacha for a couple days. I remember last year that I was ready to get out for a while. It was such a good pick-me-up for me and I’m sure it will work wonders for them.
This was really exciting for us because we got to meet a lot of the new group. They are a really good group. Everyone seems to be getting through training okay. I think that they were really happy to express whatever concerns they had and were even happier to know that we went through the same shit last year.
And whatever concerns we couldn’t alleviate, we left to Afro Bar. When in doubt, go to Afro Bar and dance your worries away.
Our day, like most of last week, was pretty quiet. At least we had some things to keep us entertained. We both buried ourselves in magazines. Over the course of the day, I powered through a pair of Newsweeks and a Time. On of my old hockey buddies is now writing for Newsweek, which I find awesome. But, really, I should learn to spread out my reading a bit more.
The only eventful thing in the afternoon was Richie and I – along with a couple of kids and another teacher – trying to repair our bike for good. I don’t know if it will ever be perfect. I think the roads and the kids do a fair amount of damage to it. Whatever we did to it today, it’s running a bit better now
All that really matter on Sunday was we had for dinner. With the arrival of Velveeta, we were really hoping to do pizzas last night, but the bread shortage put a dent in that plan. However, there was no shortage of bread today, and therefore, no shortage of pizza tonight. We thought it would be a good idea to have pasta beforehand and make it a full-blown Italian night. It seemed like a good idea, but we were full half way through the pizza.
We fought through the food – a tough fight, but we both came out victorious – and watched a bit of “How I Met Your Mother”. In the meantime, my mother tried to give me a ring, but there was no luck. My parents will just have to wait till the morning.
Other than the 2:20 AM run (make that sprint…), I slept through the night well. I was awakened by a sports report – another Yankees win, three in a row. And once I was truly awake, my parents were able to get through. It’s been a couple weeks, so it was lovely to catch up.
Monday looked a lot like Sunday. Instead of going to the “light reading” of Newsweek, I jumped into an Economist. That took up a fair portion of my morning. The rest of my morning was spent doing mind games.
After our regular lunch (albeit with freshly imported cheese and bacon bits!), we had a very brief, boring meeting about national exams. Testing begins tomorrow and we need to be ready to proctor exams. I’m really hoping the director will spare us.
I killed the last hour or so of the afternoon turning peanuts into peanut powder. Seriously. The ambitiousness snuck back up on me and I thought I could do a sorta Thai peanut sauce. Ambitiousness failed me. It was awful We bombed it out with teriyaki sauce and it turned out okay. We capped our night with some “House” and “How I Met Your Mother”.
Richie and I have been dreading Tuesday for the last couple days. National exams started Tuesday which meant that we had to get off our patio and go to school with the chance that we might have to work. No, really. Our school director told all the teachers that we had to be at the school at 7:15 because we may – may! – have to proctor exams during the day.
Richie got off lucky – no controlling for him. I, on the other hand, was not so lucky. I was pegged by one of the assistant directors to proctor exams in the afternoon. This sucked for two reasons: not only would I have to stand bored for two-plus hours, but I would have to wait all day to be bored in the classroom.
As such, the morning was boring. It’s not even worth describing. Basically, it’s what I’ve done for the last couple weeks – sit on the patio, feet up. Today, however this earned me a compliment from my neighbor: “Your feet are so clean. I could put bread on your feet and eat it.” That might just be the greatest compliment a Mozambican can offer a muzungu, whose white feet show dirt so beautiful.
If the morning was boring, then the afternoon was terrible. I walked over to the school mid-afternoon and walked to my assigned room. Students filed in, sat down, and filled out their scantron forms. And then I stood there. For two amazingly boring hours. There is no knife sharp enough nor no gun big enough that could take the away the pain from today.
The only upside of proctoring exams late in the afternoon was that it brought us that much closer to energy. In fact, the energy was already on when I got back home. Most excellent.
Richie was on top of things tonight. He started dinner late, but nothing harmful to our regular nightly schedule. While the beans cooked, we watched an episode of “House” and after dinner, we watched “How I Met Your Mother”. Oh, TV, thank you for salvaging this day.
Once again, I dreaded waking up on Wednesday for fear of having to proctor exams. Richie and I stood in the room and listened as other teachers were called to serve. Phew! Spared today.
But what do we do now? We figured that we could be bored and do nothing or be bored and do something. We chose to be bored and do something; we volunteered our service to correct, or do whatever the director wanted us to do.
In this case, that meant we had to “tramcar” exams. “Trancar” means “to lock”. What could possibly be locked on exams? We found out: taking a red pen and putting lines through every unused space in exam books. Very exciting, huh? Either way, it took an hour out of our day.
I had some actual work to do in the afternoon. The students took their English exam today. I was left to read through the exam and make sure it was clean. Now, even with the exams that I write, I catch mistakes. This, however, was a bloodbath. Some words were missing, some answers misspelled, some questions didn’t have particularly good answers. After consulting with some other teachers, we found that of the sixty questions, five had problems and one was scientifically inaccurate.
So after my strenuous, forty-five minutes of work, I was back to the patio, “Economist in hand”. Usually – and this is going to sound sick – I love the obituaries in the “Economist”. But today I was disappointed. It’s hard for me to feel sympathetic toward a free-climber – as in no ropes – who dies by (wait for it…) falling.
Our night was pretty typical – sandwiches, “House” and “How I Met Your Mother”. And of course, another fascinating text conversation with my brother, this time on the topic of winter fruit.
One other note: today is one of my best friend’s, Ryan’s, birthday. He has the strange distinction of not only being the oldest of my closest friends, but he is also the only of my closest friends whose birthday I will miss three times while in country. So buddy, even though I can’t be there with you, I still raise my cup of scotch to you.
I thought that Thursday was going to be a light work day again. I could not have been more wrong. I got tapped to “tramcar” exams once again, followed by back to back exams period, with just a brief break for lunch. Making things worse, Richie – who had yet to work a single minute this week (other than the time we volunteered for) – only got hit with controlling one exam. This was supposed to be my day off.
Thursday was the breaking point. Five weeks of staying in Machanga will do that, but standing there for five hours to control exams definitely redefined “boring”.
By 3:00, following the second exam, I thought I was off the hook for the day. Once again, I thought wrong. “No, no, you have to go correct English exams”. Are you fuckin’ kidding me? I just worked eight straight hours and now I had to work another two, reading pathetic “essays”.
5:00 could not come soon enough and I’m pretty sure that if he wasn’t actually laughing, Richie was laughing on the inside. There was some silver lining, though, to this dark cloud of day: we wouldn’t have to do it tomorrow because we were going to Vilanculos. With this in mind, we happily ate dinner and watched some “House” before bed.
I feel like getting out of Machanga on Friday was a beautiful disappearing act. We left school at exactly 6:30, long after most teachers were awake but just before they were due to congregate for their proctoring assignments. We didn’t need to be so covert – I told our director that we would be gone – but it still felt sneaky.
Whatever bad luck I had yesterday was clearly not contagious. We waited exactly zero minutes to get a canoe across the river. And once across, we didn’t even make it to the villa to catch a car out to Maluvane; the car met us just before the town. The only downside of that leg of the trip was that the kid collecting money tried to overcharge us (by a measly five Mets), but Richie got it out of him.
Our luck continued all the way down. Within five minutes of getting to Maluvane, we had a car going down to Pambarra. But not just any car. First off, the car waited for us to walk over to him. Lourenço, the very nice driver, said in English, “I saw two white guys, I knew you were going south”. Secondly, this car was awesome: the guy had air conditioning, nice leather seats and a GPS. I enjoyed these benefits while Richie was stuck in the back of the car. But even that wasn’t too bad – he had a mattress in back laid out for his kids. This was a perfect ride.
Lourenço dropped us off at Pambarra for the cost of a coke. He didn’t even ask for it. I offered – I figured it was the least I could do if we weren’t going to pay for the ride. We barely made it out of the car before we had another free ride heading into Vilanculos. Today was just our day. All said, we set a new record for the Machanga-Vilanculos trip: Three hours and fifty-seven minutes. This accomplishment should be up there with being the first to climb Everest and breaking the four minute mile.
We almost didn’t know what to do with ourselves once we got to Vil. We got to town so early that the chapa that goes leaves from Vilanculos to Mambone was still in town. We could have gone back to Mambone and probably returned to Vilanculos. Instead, we decided that our better option was to drop off our stuff and do some shopping.
While we were in the villa, we made a pit stop at the little hamburger shack that has brought us so much joy. We were happy with our burgers, even though they didn’t have cheese. But for one man from South Africa, it was a less than pleasurable experience. He walked in to this little hole in the wall place, and just stood there, waiting to be waited on. But that’s not how things work: you place your order, then wait. And he only spoke English, which did not help his cause. In the end, he just stammered off in a furor.
Tourists, usually from neighboring South Africa, sometimes make life for us Volunteers a little difficult. For one, they generally don’t know the prices of things. So when muzungus try to buy anything in the market, the little market kids will mark up everything by 100 percent or more. Not knowing better, the tourists will pay it, which leaves us fighting tooth and claw for every Metical. They also put a dent into our reputation. We have a cultivated sense of patience that a lot of tourists lack. We know we’re going to wait and we deal with it. But impatient tourists often make us look bad.
The rest of our day was very relaxing. The ocean was a little cold but it felt wonderful under the scorching Mozambican sun. And each of us spent a fair amount of time in hammocks. Another rough day in Vilanculos.
We knew that this was going to be an expensive weekend, so instead of buying dinner tonight, we cooked our own dinner. A lot of money will be spent on beer so only spending sixty Mets between the two of us is a steal.
Needless to say, we were very happy to be in Vilanculos. And we were even happier on Saturday. The Trainees from Moz 14 are on site visit and there is a veritable crew heading up to the Vilanculos area. Another Volunteer arrived late morning and we met her in the villa to do some beer purchasing.
So what do we do with five cases of beer and at least four hours until the Trainees arrive? All of us thought the same thing: start. And so we did. A lot of beers later, everyone else arrived and the party really started.
I think the Trainees were really happy to escape Namaacha for a couple days. I remember last year that I was ready to get out for a while. It was such a good pick-me-up for me and I’m sure it will work wonders for them.
This was really exciting for us because we got to meet a lot of the new group. They are a really good group. Everyone seems to be getting through training okay. I think that they were really happy to express whatever concerns they had and were even happier to know that we went through the same shit last year.
And whatever concerns we couldn’t alleviate, we left to Afro Bar. When in doubt, go to Afro Bar and dance your worries away.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Year 1 - Week 46: Barbecued Deer-Rat
As I washed dishes Sunday morning, I got a couple of text messages from my brother, asking if it was a good time to call. 8:00 in the morning is fine by me, but it’s awfully late for California. The connection we had was beautiful – I actually heard most of what he said!
After washing dishes and sweeping the house, I spent a good portion of the morning preparing for classes. I know, I know. I actually have to teach some classes this week. It’s a good thing. I really need something to do. For a good hour, I wrote up some practice test questions on jumbo paper.
With my “work” done, what do I do now? I grabbed “Blessed Unrest”, a book about environmental and indigenous people protection. It started out a little slow, but it’s picked up well in the middle chapters. The author, Paul Hawken, has become more and more relentless in his defense and it’s become more enjoyable as he has picked it up.
I found the motivation to work out following lunch. As I’ve worked out more and more, the motivation to work out has been easier to find. I grabbed the semi-functional bike and went out for a warm-up spin. The patio, as always, provided safe haven from the sun. And as has become the norm, I finished my workout by pumping and carrying a couple buckets of water. Taking advantage of local resources: it’s a beautiful thing.
Working out has provided two benefits. The obvious benefit is that I’m definitely in the best shape I’ve been here. The secondary benefit is that it takes up a good portion of the afternoon. I’ll do anything to make the days pass quicker but if it benefits me in some way, it’s twice as good. The remainder of the afternoon was spent with “Blessed Unrest”.
We started cooking dinner as soon as the energy came on. Richie and I have really burnt ourselves out on potatoes. I guess eating potatoes every fuckin’ day will do that. So our meals these days have been very rice-heavy. I could probably eat rice every day, but then again, I felt the same way about potatoes and pasta, and look where I am now. After a couple of “Seinfeld” episodes, we shut the lights out and we went to bed.
Almost. My night truly ended with a brief text message exchange with my brother. The topic: which fruit juice is the best? Among other reasons, this is why I love my brother – because we have the capacity to speak about comical situations with a level of seriousness and serious situations with a level of comedy.
Just as my day ended with text messages, my Monday began with text messages as well. This time, the messages came from Anthony, a Volunteer here. “Big show, baby!” screamed the message. Anthony’s Yankees are in the World Series and needless to say, he is very excited. It’s been so nice the last week or so to be able to talk sports with someone.
I was summoned to work earlier than expected. The other teachers wanted our grades immediately. It would be nice if someone would tell us these things. Regardless, the director flipped on the energy so I could print out our grades. At least the real work – writing in the grades – was already done. The rest of the morning before was spent with “Blessed Unrest”.
The reading continued for a little after lunch until I had to head over to class. With eight pieces of monster paper to unravel and hang in an orderly manner, I went to class a little early. The benefit was not just for me: the students who arrived early got a good head start in writing everything down.
Class was slow. Very slow. These kids don’t exactly copy things very quickly, so I was left sitting there for about 40 minutes. Enough was enough. Time to get cracking on this material. The students, in spite of the difficult material, did really well.
The class ended in perfect time – filled the entire two hour period and early enough for us to run to the market for a soda. I also had to make a vital purchase – a light bulb. One night in the darkness was enough for me. I can’t believe I went for weeks without one at the beginning of my stay here.
I popped in the light bulb as soon as I got home and, once again, the timing worked out perfectly. The energy came on within moments of us arriving. While timing was on my side, luck wasn’t. The light bulb was no good. Armed with my bicycle, I booked it to the market and made it to the market just before the shops closed. And my new new light bulb worked just fine.
The night was calm. I grabbed a shower and made some sandwiches before watching “Seinfeld”. With the energy out, I lit up a candle and cracked into “The Natural”. I’m not really one for novels – I’m more of a history/biography kind of guy – but with nothing else to read, I figured what the hell?
The book was not so bad. The truth is, if I had another form of entertainment, I’d probably take it up, but for now, this will do.
Thankfully, Alexis came over to provide some interference. She wanted to go on a passear and wanted to know if Richie and I wanted to go. Passear or read: I think I’ll take the walk. We walked all the way to the river and chilled there in the sun.
We returned for a late lunch. Alexis was thrilled to have potatoes and eggs, our lunch for the last, ummm, ten months. She is fed by the place where she works. Unfortunately, her options are limited to say the least. Eggs and potatoes are a welcome change for her.
I tried to rest a little after lunch. I’ve had trouble sleeping for the last couple nights. Some of it, I think is from the heat. Some of it may be from over sleeping. But I think a lot of it is from napping in the afternoon. It’s a sick cycle: napping keeps me from sleeping, which leads me to nap more.
I managed to get in a little more reading before heading over to the market. You know, we need our sodas. And we needed some tomatoes for chili. We got home and lit up the charcoal to cook beans. We ate our dinner – not our best ever – watched “Seinfeld” and went to bed.
Wednesday was Mozambique’s big day. The presidential campaign that has been going on for forty-five days ended today with the elections. The school, quiet from the students’ departures, was noticeably quieter in the morning. Many of the teachers walked for miles to get to the polling the station. It’s cool to see that kind of commitment to democracy, especially when so many Americans are not willing to drive five minutes to a polling booth and take another ten or fifteen out of their day to vote. I would have loved to have taken some pictures, but it couldn’t be done. With everyone gone, Richie and I spent most of our morning on the porch.
After lunch, Richie was invited to the director’s house to do some drinking with the director and his sister. Strangely, I wasn’t invited, but I didn’t mind. I was close enough to finishing “The Natural” that I just wanted to get it done. Of course, as I got within thirty pages, I was invited to the house to drink. I temporarily declined the invite to finish the book.
When I arrived, Richie was feeling pretty delightful. I figured I should get in on the action, but when I arrived, there was just one beer left. Sad. All the more motivation to go to the villa for some cervejas.
And that’s when the mayhem began. After a couple starter beers, we decided that it was time for some Slamball. The Volunteers who were here before us played with some of the teachers and we thought we should continue the tradition. Before we knew it, we had a crowd around us, Richie and I were tanked, our friends were serving us shrimp, pork, and beef, I drank a plate of pepper sauce at some point, and we were happily left watching four Mozambicans playing Slamball. What a beautiful sight. We returned home, satisfied, and went to bed without dinner.
Richie and I were both up before 5 o’clock, both dehydrated. For some reason, Richie found the motivation to get moving. I, on the other hand, drank a glass of water, filled another water bottle, and crawled back into bed for a couple hours.
By the time I rolled out of bed, Alexis, unannounced, was already here. Of course, we’re happy to have company over whenever, especially in these quiet times. She and Richie went for a small walk while I took care of some school stuff.
The morning was slow. All of the teachers today seem to be gathered under a tree, listening to a radio, itching to hear election results. So as is normal, we were left on our patio, sitting, mostly in silence.
We didn’t have much to do in the afternoon. Richie, the insomniac, napped for a bit. I resisted a nap, instead choosing to do some puzzles. They held me over until around 4, when we headed over to the villa for a soda.
Richie and I sat on our patio for a little bit, waiting for the energy to come on. With the electricity on, we made our dinner, watched some “Seinfeld” and went to bed, still not knowing the results of the election.
Our Friday morning was shockingly busy. Okay, busy is clearly an overstatement, but it was busier than normal. After doing our regular sitting for a little bit, Alexis came over with her boss (whose name neither Richie nor I can remember) and her boss’s baby. Instead of sitting on our porch, we moved our sitting to the shade of a tree.
Now, having two muzungus in one place is shocking, I’m sure. Three may be overwhelming. But four – if I were I Mozambican, seeing four muzungus, when only two is the norm, I might be freaking out. Anyways, we sat under the tree and talked – in English – about nothing in particular until late morning.
I had only a little relaxing time after lunch. I actually had work to do this afternoon. One of my twelfth grade classes was due to have their prep class for their national exam. But when I showed up at 2:00, the classroom was locked and there were but a few students present. That’s not going to stop me though. What started with six turned into about fifteen, and what should have only lasted an hour turned into almost three.
The rest of the afternoon was marked by a pair of donations by one of our best friends here. The first was fairly typical: a television. Said teacher is moving into a new house with all of his new things, so he no longer needs his old little TV. We gladly took it off his hands.
The second donation was a little more, umm, unique. The teacher handed us a still bloody portion of deer-rat. I don’t know what deer-rat is. Maybe it’s half-deer, half-rat. Whatever it is, it is delicious, barbequed in a garlic-olive oil marinade.
After our delicacy meal, out of boredom, we popped in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. I believe this is the third time we’ve gone through this series. It doesn’t even matter anymore. We just need something to watch.
I don’t know if tonight was the official start of rainy season, but if it wasn’t, this was the call to make to a reservation. Whatever it was, the pitter-patter of rain on the tin roof was a much more pleasant sound than music pumping at 100 decibels.
Whatever rain came last night also passed last night. But the damage was done. It wasn’t full blown Mud City, like it will be come December, but there were no shortage of puddles.
Most of the day was pretty slow. No less than three of our friends or students came by to say “bye”. But notably, we did get to say “hello” to four packages. Cheese! Cheese has arrived, which means we can make pizza, quesadillas, bomb burritos, and cheese steaks.
With this in mind, we decided to run to the market to find some bread for pizza. But this is where things went wrong. There was no bread to be found – not in the market, not at the little bread stand close to school. Very, very sad.
Although we were breadless, the day was not lost. We had a fresh batch of magazines to read. While we sit here, the news doesn’t stop. So we may be reading the news two months late, but it’s still news to us.
Besides the magazines – and the cheese – we got a whole bunch of new media. After eating stir fry, we watched two episodes of “House” followed by an episode of “How I Met Your Mother”. I’d call that a great end to a not so bad week.
After washing dishes and sweeping the house, I spent a good portion of the morning preparing for classes. I know, I know. I actually have to teach some classes this week. It’s a good thing. I really need something to do. For a good hour, I wrote up some practice test questions on jumbo paper.
With my “work” done, what do I do now? I grabbed “Blessed Unrest”, a book about environmental and indigenous people protection. It started out a little slow, but it’s picked up well in the middle chapters. The author, Paul Hawken, has become more and more relentless in his defense and it’s become more enjoyable as he has picked it up.
I found the motivation to work out following lunch. As I’ve worked out more and more, the motivation to work out has been easier to find. I grabbed the semi-functional bike and went out for a warm-up spin. The patio, as always, provided safe haven from the sun. And as has become the norm, I finished my workout by pumping and carrying a couple buckets of water. Taking advantage of local resources: it’s a beautiful thing.
Working out has provided two benefits. The obvious benefit is that I’m definitely in the best shape I’ve been here. The secondary benefit is that it takes up a good portion of the afternoon. I’ll do anything to make the days pass quicker but if it benefits me in some way, it’s twice as good. The remainder of the afternoon was spent with “Blessed Unrest”.
We started cooking dinner as soon as the energy came on. Richie and I have really burnt ourselves out on potatoes. I guess eating potatoes every fuckin’ day will do that. So our meals these days have been very rice-heavy. I could probably eat rice every day, but then again, I felt the same way about potatoes and pasta, and look where I am now. After a couple of “Seinfeld” episodes, we shut the lights out and we went to bed.
Almost. My night truly ended with a brief text message exchange with my brother. The topic: which fruit juice is the best? Among other reasons, this is why I love my brother – because we have the capacity to speak about comical situations with a level of seriousness and serious situations with a level of comedy.
Just as my day ended with text messages, my Monday began with text messages as well. This time, the messages came from Anthony, a Volunteer here. “Big show, baby!” screamed the message. Anthony’s Yankees are in the World Series and needless to say, he is very excited. It’s been so nice the last week or so to be able to talk sports with someone.
I was summoned to work earlier than expected. The other teachers wanted our grades immediately. It would be nice if someone would tell us these things. Regardless, the director flipped on the energy so I could print out our grades. At least the real work – writing in the grades – was already done. The rest of the morning before was spent with “Blessed Unrest”.
The reading continued for a little after lunch until I had to head over to class. With eight pieces of monster paper to unravel and hang in an orderly manner, I went to class a little early. The benefit was not just for me: the students who arrived early got a good head start in writing everything down.
Class was slow. Very slow. These kids don’t exactly copy things very quickly, so I was left sitting there for about 40 minutes. Enough was enough. Time to get cracking on this material. The students, in spite of the difficult material, did really well.
The class ended in perfect time – filled the entire two hour period and early enough for us to run to the market for a soda. I also had to make a vital purchase – a light bulb. One night in the darkness was enough for me. I can’t believe I went for weeks without one at the beginning of my stay here.
I popped in the light bulb as soon as I got home and, once again, the timing worked out perfectly. The energy came on within moments of us arriving. While timing was on my side, luck wasn’t. The light bulb was no good. Armed with my bicycle, I booked it to the market and made it to the market just before the shops closed. And my new new light bulb worked just fine.
The night was calm. I grabbed a shower and made some sandwiches before watching “Seinfeld”. With the energy out, I lit up a candle and cracked into “The Natural”. I’m not really one for novels – I’m more of a history/biography kind of guy – but with nothing else to read, I figured what the hell?
The book was not so bad. The truth is, if I had another form of entertainment, I’d probably take it up, but for now, this will do.
Thankfully, Alexis came over to provide some interference. She wanted to go on a passear and wanted to know if Richie and I wanted to go. Passear or read: I think I’ll take the walk. We walked all the way to the river and chilled there in the sun.
We returned for a late lunch. Alexis was thrilled to have potatoes and eggs, our lunch for the last, ummm, ten months. She is fed by the place where she works. Unfortunately, her options are limited to say the least. Eggs and potatoes are a welcome change for her.
I tried to rest a little after lunch. I’ve had trouble sleeping for the last couple nights. Some of it, I think is from the heat. Some of it may be from over sleeping. But I think a lot of it is from napping in the afternoon. It’s a sick cycle: napping keeps me from sleeping, which leads me to nap more.
I managed to get in a little more reading before heading over to the market. You know, we need our sodas. And we needed some tomatoes for chili. We got home and lit up the charcoal to cook beans. We ate our dinner – not our best ever – watched “Seinfeld” and went to bed.
Wednesday was Mozambique’s big day. The presidential campaign that has been going on for forty-five days ended today with the elections. The school, quiet from the students’ departures, was noticeably quieter in the morning. Many of the teachers walked for miles to get to the polling the station. It’s cool to see that kind of commitment to democracy, especially when so many Americans are not willing to drive five minutes to a polling booth and take another ten or fifteen out of their day to vote. I would have loved to have taken some pictures, but it couldn’t be done. With everyone gone, Richie and I spent most of our morning on the porch.
After lunch, Richie was invited to the director’s house to do some drinking with the director and his sister. Strangely, I wasn’t invited, but I didn’t mind. I was close enough to finishing “The Natural” that I just wanted to get it done. Of course, as I got within thirty pages, I was invited to the house to drink. I temporarily declined the invite to finish the book.
When I arrived, Richie was feeling pretty delightful. I figured I should get in on the action, but when I arrived, there was just one beer left. Sad. All the more motivation to go to the villa for some cervejas.
And that’s when the mayhem began. After a couple starter beers, we decided that it was time for some Slamball. The Volunteers who were here before us played with some of the teachers and we thought we should continue the tradition. Before we knew it, we had a crowd around us, Richie and I were tanked, our friends were serving us shrimp, pork, and beef, I drank a plate of pepper sauce at some point, and we were happily left watching four Mozambicans playing Slamball. What a beautiful sight. We returned home, satisfied, and went to bed without dinner.
Richie and I were both up before 5 o’clock, both dehydrated. For some reason, Richie found the motivation to get moving. I, on the other hand, drank a glass of water, filled another water bottle, and crawled back into bed for a couple hours.
By the time I rolled out of bed, Alexis, unannounced, was already here. Of course, we’re happy to have company over whenever, especially in these quiet times. She and Richie went for a small walk while I took care of some school stuff.
The morning was slow. All of the teachers today seem to be gathered under a tree, listening to a radio, itching to hear election results. So as is normal, we were left on our patio, sitting, mostly in silence.
We didn’t have much to do in the afternoon. Richie, the insomniac, napped for a bit. I resisted a nap, instead choosing to do some puzzles. They held me over until around 4, when we headed over to the villa for a soda.
Richie and I sat on our patio for a little bit, waiting for the energy to come on. With the electricity on, we made our dinner, watched some “Seinfeld” and went to bed, still not knowing the results of the election.
Our Friday morning was shockingly busy. Okay, busy is clearly an overstatement, but it was busier than normal. After doing our regular sitting for a little bit, Alexis came over with her boss (whose name neither Richie nor I can remember) and her boss’s baby. Instead of sitting on our porch, we moved our sitting to the shade of a tree.
Now, having two muzungus in one place is shocking, I’m sure. Three may be overwhelming. But four – if I were I Mozambican, seeing four muzungus, when only two is the norm, I might be freaking out. Anyways, we sat under the tree and talked – in English – about nothing in particular until late morning.
I had only a little relaxing time after lunch. I actually had work to do this afternoon. One of my twelfth grade classes was due to have their prep class for their national exam. But when I showed up at 2:00, the classroom was locked and there were but a few students present. That’s not going to stop me though. What started with six turned into about fifteen, and what should have only lasted an hour turned into almost three.
The rest of the afternoon was marked by a pair of donations by one of our best friends here. The first was fairly typical: a television. Said teacher is moving into a new house with all of his new things, so he no longer needs his old little TV. We gladly took it off his hands.
The second donation was a little more, umm, unique. The teacher handed us a still bloody portion of deer-rat. I don’t know what deer-rat is. Maybe it’s half-deer, half-rat. Whatever it is, it is delicious, barbequed in a garlic-olive oil marinade.
After our delicacy meal, out of boredom, we popped in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. I believe this is the third time we’ve gone through this series. It doesn’t even matter anymore. We just need something to watch.
I don’t know if tonight was the official start of rainy season, but if it wasn’t, this was the call to make to a reservation. Whatever it was, the pitter-patter of rain on the tin roof was a much more pleasant sound than music pumping at 100 decibels.
Whatever rain came last night also passed last night. But the damage was done. It wasn’t full blown Mud City, like it will be come December, but there were no shortage of puddles.
Most of the day was pretty slow. No less than three of our friends or students came by to say “bye”. But notably, we did get to say “hello” to four packages. Cheese! Cheese has arrived, which means we can make pizza, quesadillas, bomb burritos, and cheese steaks.
With this in mind, we decided to run to the market to find some bread for pizza. But this is where things went wrong. There was no bread to be found – not in the market, not at the little bread stand close to school. Very, very sad.
Although we were breadless, the day was not lost. We had a fresh batch of magazines to read. While we sit here, the news doesn’t stop. So we may be reading the news two months late, but it’s still news to us.
Besides the magazines – and the cheese – we got a whole bunch of new media. After eating stir fry, we watched two episodes of “House” followed by an episode of “How I Met Your Mother”. I’d call that a great end to a not so bad week.
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