Homestay Life in Moz

Well I've just finished week 2 of Pre-service training here in Mozambique. I've been staying with a Mozambican family in a small village near the Swaziland/Mozambique border. I am somewhat impressed with myself with how much Portuguese I've learned in just two weeks. My first night with my homestay family was interesting as I exhausted my conversation material (My name is ....., How are you?, Do you have kids? How old are you?) in a matter of minutes during the walk home with my homestay father. Now I can hold conversations with my host brothers, even though they are somewhat simple and sometimes I have to be creative in explaining things with my limited vocabulary but everyday I understand more of the conversations around me. I still find myself though being totally clueless as to what someone has said and knowing that I still have a lot to learn. But about my homestay family- they are amazing, laid back and incredible caring. My family consists of my Pai and Mãe, 5 irmãos (brothers) and 1 irmã (sister). My sister is 4 years old, and therefore feisty and full of energy. It took her a few days to warm up and speak to me although I sometimes do not understand her as it is a mix of Portugues and Xangana. My brothers are aged 23, 19, 17, 16, and 14. I have only seen my 19 year old brother on my first night at homestay and since it was my first night I was not able to communicate much with him other than to find out that the next morning he was leaving to go to the city to work. My 23 year old brother works as well but in the local area so he is here most of the nights but since he is older he comes and goes doing his own thing. When he is around though he's great to hang out with and we sometimes passear (meander around, or stroll) around town. My other three brothers are here at the house every night since they are all in secondary school and I don't know what I would do without them. All three of them usually hang out and listen to music on their CD player while I study and help me with my TPC (homework). If I had known they were so into music (Westlife, Bryan Adams, is that one song from the Three Musketeers soundtrack - "all for one and all for love" Bryan Adams?) I would have brought some of the many mix CD's I have made over the years as the music selection my brothers have is very random. My Pai is incredible, when we first arrived in town and were introduced to our families they were all singing to us and when I met my Pai I went at first to give the respectful Mozambican handshake but instead he gave me a hug and took my guitar to carry for me back to the house. Within minutes of arriving I was shown where the banho is and given soap and a towel to take a bucket bath (one of the things I found to be way easier than I thought it would be and afterwards I always feel so clean!). I was given some old flip-flops to use in the shower but on my way there my Pai stopped me and said that "I was his son and get new sandals" as he handed me a fresh new pair. My Mãe is a little soft spoken but also a very nice person. She has helped me hand wash my clothes and then iron them. She has also taught me how to fry an egg (strangely I was confused as to how to do it here with a coal stove) and how to make coulve ( kind of like collared greens in a white coconut milk sauce over top of rice or xima). Most of our training so far has been involving language but the technical training we have had so far is pretty exciting and making me look forward to finding out what area of HIV & AIDS health promotion I will be focusing on. Also each week we have had current Peace Corp Volunteers (PCV's) staying in our town as a resource for us to ask questions about what being at site is like and also for simple questions about everyday life in Mozambique. Also at the end of next week I will be getting a cell phone and the PCV's tell me that the plan here works that all incoming texts and phone calls are free for us so it will be very cheap (free) for me to be called, so I guess if you want to call or text it would probably be cheap for you to get a calling card or use skype.

Update-Maputo

This will just be a quick post to let everyone know that I made it safely to Maputo after a long flight. Today is a kind of exciting day as I will be going to a village outside of Maputo to stay with my host Mai and Pai for my ten week training. I am excited for this yet a little nervous as I will exhaust my possible conversation material in Portuguese in probably about 5 minutes.

Also, in about 3 weeks I will be able to purchase a cell phone and I am told I will be able to access the internet with said phone...soooo updates will come with more frequency!

Tchau!