Going away parties and hey, I'm not a trainee anymore!

The last few nights in Namaacha were great.  I did in fact climb that rusty old water tower, to the dismay of some of my friends.  But hey, here I am writing this blog with no broken bones so something worked out well! 

Last Sautrday (Dec 1) was World AIDS Day.  How many of you actually knew that one?  In Namaacha we celebrated it, a government official came and made a speech, there was a service and then a parade, which many of the volunteers walked in.  We walked to the local market and there they had free HIV and AIDS testing and food baskets to give to those people that are already infected.  Once infected, it is much harder to absorb and get enough nutrients to keep your body healthy. 

We got free handouts...to hand out

I figured some of you would be interested in the older Portuguese houses that were abandoned    
            after the war and then taken over by the locals.  

And the local market.  Namaacha is a big village, and my market will not nearly be this size or have this variety.  Because Namaacha borders the crossing into Swaziland, there's a lot of traffic in and out, which means we've been pampered with reasonable prices and variety. 

Okay, back to Dec. 1.  After the parade, the volunteers left to go to our going away party.  We met our family’s there and had a nice ceremony with many traditional dances and foods.  The food was great and it was fun dancing with our families.  They also provided four kegs, and let’s just say it wasn’t the best idea to give free alcohol to one of the world’s most alcoholic countries.  Mozambique is in the world’s top ten from people dying of liver failure from alcohol. 

           

The cake was AMAZING...this is why it deserves three pictures

          

Mozambicans don't enjoy smiling, but this is my mom and I with her award for completing 10 weeks of me in the house.  She should have deserved a check for $2,000 instead of a certificate for putting up with me, but hey. She was happy. 

                                                     We had friends.

My brother Miguel, who is awesome and really smart.  Also, that's my ukulele! 

Me with my family. Older sister, dad, mom, and Miguel.  I think you know which one I am.  

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            As a change of subject, I am officially a volunteer.  I have been in Mozambique for 2 months and 11 days.  This does not qualify me to be a teacher.  Every day I learn another way I’m insulting their culture whether it be pointing with my finger rather than my hand or sitting Indian style rather than with my legs (uncomfortably) straight out in front of me.  Apparently if your legs aren’t together at all times, you’re asking for “it”.   I can speak Portuguese and have people understand at least the jist of what I am saying but I still have a hard time understanding when locals talk.  They do not enunciate or speak slowly, both of which I need.  Back in Namaacha the locals knew who we were and coddled us, speaking to all of us at 3 mph.

Yesterday I flew to Nampula (a larger city in the northern end of Mozambique) to have a conference with all the other volunteers and a high official from our respective schools.  Here the locals definitely don’t coddle us.  Many directors came, but in my case a female teacher from my school represented my director.  Felizmina is the only female professor at my school (not including Hannah and me) out of 32 other professors.  This is going to be fun.  Each day I thank myself more and more that I have a female director; others are not so lucky as we all found out today when many of them met their directors. 

Here in Nampula city is our first taste of the ‘real Mozambique’.  Peace Corps is finally letting us walk through a big city without a babysitter, and it’s a learning experience.  We constantly have to ask directions, make sure we are in groups of at least five if one of us need to go to the bank, and we need to make sure that the products we are buying are actually the real brand names they say they are.  The knock offs here look great, but the moment you turn the product on or try using it, it falls apart. 

Even though this seems like I’m not enjoying myself from the last two paragraphs, I actually am.  I’m learning a ton and it’s really exciting.  I was learning slowly, in baby steps, you know, the Peace Corps protocol.  Now it’s sink or swim, and if I’m going to be honest, I’ve taken too many swimming lessons in my life not to try it out.  These are the times in your life where you learn quickly. 

Okay jumping trains back to being a volunteer.  Two days ago all 68 of us were bused to Maputo (the capital) and went to the American ambassadors house.  Let me tell you, wow.  The. Nicest. House. I. Have. Ever. Been. In. The ambassador, Douglas Griffiths, was incredibly welcoming, the house was beautiful and overlooked the Indian Ocean.  I was part of a small group to go up and sing both the national anthem of Mozambique and the United States to start off the ceremony.  The ceremony itself was short and sweet with speeches from the Country Director of Peace Corps, Carl Swartz, one of the volunteers being sworn in, the US Ambassador, and then finally a high ranking official from the Mozambican Ministry of Education.  After the speeches, another small group of us got up again and played our instruments and sang “Leaving on a Jet Place” for everyone present.   We changed the lyrics around to thank Mozambique for being so welcoming, being patient with us, and teaching us about their culture which we sang in Portuguese. 

I'll try to get some pictures of the ceremony and the house.  Someone, cough cough, forgot their camera.  As for Carl’s speech, once I get a hold of the final ‘modified’ quote, I’ll post that here too.  It was pretty witty.  Essentially he modified an old popular Irish (I believe) blessing to use Mozambican terms.  That was it.  After was about fifteen minutes of finger food and then ciao!  Off to the hotel for our last night together as a big group before we were split into the northern, central, and southern groups.  Out of 68 volunteers there are 32 in the north where I am.  It’s a great group of people that are around me, and I couldn’t be more excited to this next adventure.  Okay, the food here is great and it’s dinner time. 

Bracos e beijinhos!