thoughts from my front porch

Written December 5, 2012

Sweat. A word that may be strange to think about in December of all months, but nevertheless its become a big part of my life here. I now sweat in places I didn’t even know I had. When I go walking through the market I am stopped by friends, they ask if I’ve put some sort of cream on my face to make it so beautiful –pink and shiny. Ahh to be considered beautiful when I have lines of sweat pouring down my back. I love Mozambique.

Nothing too crazy to report here in Quissico, just going to work at the hospital on Monday’s out into the field on Tuesday’s, meetings on Wednesday and Thursday and then kind of a free day on Friday to do housework. I’ve sort of established a routine, but at the same time, my days are never quite the same.

I think it would be good of me to start verbally introducing you all to some of my friends here in Quissico, so bear with me here and try to use your imagination.

Friend of the day: Donna Julia. She is a shop owner here in Quissico, a heavyset woman who can be found daily behind the counter in her shop. She is intelligent in many areas, mainly in the kitchen, how to cook, how to improve dishes, and helpful hints and suggestions that only a seasoned chef knows. I am working on arranging a cooking lesson or two with her. Julia is a woman of great wit and humor, conversing only in Portuguese to those who enter her shop. Unlike many people here, her first language is Portuguese, not the local language of Chopi, therefore I can always count on her to correct me when I speak, or when I am searching for a word.  Almost daily I can be found sitting in her shop eating an ice cream or drinking some cold water letting the beautiful language of Portuguese wash over me. I never mean to stay in the shop for long, and yet hours pass by. She is incredibly warm-hearted, yet a boss lady at the same time. You don’t piss her off. Simple as that.

This past Sunday I had some visitors from the Moz 17 group pass through. They spent the night and left earlier on Monday morning on their way to Maputo. The original plan was to get down to the lagoon, unfortunately we didn’t really meet up until later in the afternoon, so we chose to just watch the sun set over the lagoons from a great vista spot.  I would just like to point out, that I had never actually met any of these people – they were total strangers when they stepped out of the chapa, and yet I invited them into my home, we cooked, listened to music and shared lots of laughs. . . in what other situation or life setting would that be possible?

I often think about that, if we (all the peace corps volunteers) were at home, with our respective friends, going to our usual bars/areas of entertainment, how many of us would be friends? Not that it’s a bad thing, people have different interests. But being here, we are all different – yes, but we are all connected by something much bigger than a genre of music, clothing type, or sports team.

Just some food for thought.

Speaking of food- mango season is in full swing now. And let me tell you, I am enjoying it to the maximum. I’m probably averaging about 3 or 4 mango’s a day. Jealous? You should be.

Although along with this incredible amount of good fruit, and fresh veggies, I still find myself indulging in small things. I have recently discovered this cereal here called Choco Max. as the name suggests its totally and completely unhealthy. And yet some nights I find myself eating that for dinner. From the box, while laying in bed, watching a movie on my computer.  Something about that, some nights just feels oh so right.

Today, after a meeting at my one organization I walked through town, bought some mango’s, peanuts, and some fresh veggies. I made a gigantic salad, using a lemon, some oil and salt for dressing, and had two mangoes afterwards, still warm from the sun. happiness inhabited my every molecule. Afterwards I took a nap on my grass mat.

I’m now sitting on my porch, watching storm clouds roll in, and looking forward to an evening of much needed rain.  The thought crossed my mind about people at home asking “So this is what you gave up everything for? This is why you said goodbye to everything you knew? For a few sticky mangoes and a reed house in the middle of Africa?”

I found myself replying - Firstly, I understand that not everyone will ever understand why I chose to do this, and secondly to answer your questions “yes”.