Written March 1, 2013
Well well well. . .here we are in March.
I’m officially 9 months in-country as of yesterday, which
means I’m a 1/3rd of the way through my service. It was the last
single digit month I’ll have here in Moz. Kind of a mind-boggling concept.
There has been a lot of discussion within my friend circle
about the passage of time here, how days can feel like forever, weeks seem like
they are never ending, and yet here we are, already 9 months in. For me, the
weeks seem to go by quickly, I am always staying busy with work, going out into
the town, hanging with the neighbors etc. I may not always have the most
productive workweek, especially by western standards, but for me it’s an OK
pace of life.
In my time here, I’ve developed this funny little “inner
monologue” that plays constantly throughout my day. I don’t know if this is
because a different language, culture or what, surrounds me. Either way it
happens on a daily basis. I can have a full conversation with someone in
Portuguese about something like the weather or how my dog is doing, all the
while running this little inner monologue about something totally wild.
For example, Wednesday during my weekly meeting with ACOMUZA
– which lasted 5 hours, and was totally done in local language (talk about time
to think about things). I started comparing my puppy to babies. As many of you
know, I am not the biggest fan of babies, kids I like, I enjoy hanging out,
playing, teaching them etc, but when it comes time to go home, we can go our
separate ways and be fine. I’ve never had that internal desire to have
children, and probably never will. Sorry – a bit off topic. Anyway. . . .
So I was sitting there comparing my new puppy who was sound
asleep on my lap, to the baby sitting on my coworkers lap beside me. After my
organizations general excitement and bewilderment of my new pup (including
questions like, “does she pee/poop?” “where does she sleep?”) Lua snuggled down
on my lap for a nice long nap. She was the perfect calm little puppy, waking up
only once in the 5 hours to go to the bathroom, I took her out and we walked
around for about 20 minutes or so. Much unlike the human baby sitting next to
me. That little nugget managed to poop on his mothers lap (literally, she had
poop on her clothing) had to be breast fed twice, threw two temper tantrums,
and was constantly making noise/acting unruly. Yes I know they are two totally
separate concepts, a human baby and a puppy, but my inner monologue was going
crazy with questions like – “why are you concerned that my dog is going to poop
on me, when your baby poops on you? My dog already is better trained than your
child.” Or just the general question about what the heck is so appealing about
having a baby??
Ok – my little rant is done. Thank you for bearing with me.
Also during my downtime here I tend to compile lists, lists
of all kinds – to-do lists, bucket lists, shopping lists, wish lists etc. you
get the picture. During this
insanely long meeting I updated my Love/Could do without list about life here
in Moz. here it is.
LOVE:
-
sunrises
-
my house/neighborhood
-
drinking coffee on my porch
-
my neighbors/community friends
-
my organizations
-
the ability to pick my nose in public
-
looking like a total slob, and still being
called “beautiful”
-
my site, Quissico
-
hanging out in the market
-
cold coca-cola and conversation with Donna Julia
-
sitting under a mango tree
-
napping on my esteria
-
experimenting with cooking
-
when my projects finally come together
-
how peoples clothing here never matches
-
how my personal style has gone out the window
(when did a beater and cuffed jeans become a style? Oh that’s right, never)
-
speaking a second language
-
music and dancing
Could do Without:
-
5 hour meetings done entirely in the local
language, Chopi
-
constantly being the center of attention, just
because of my skin color
-
constant comments/questions about my
relationship status
-
the confusion and wonderment about why I take
such good care of my dog
-
children and babies (that goes for being
anywhere really)
-
“passing the buck” people not taking
responsibility for their actions
-
the hissing noise made at me when I walk through
town to get my attention, do I look like a cat??
-
kissy noises
-
“Estou a pedir”
-
how everything here is in a constant state of
disorganization
-
why it is ok for a baby to pee on the floor in
the middle of a meeting, while people are terribly concerned that my dog may do
the same
-
how, no matter how hard I try, my feet are
constantly filthy
-
rats and gigantic spiders (still not ok with
that part of PC service)
happy march everyone!
-tay
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