Life With Mama Maria

After living in African lala land for a couple of days (i.e. a lavish hotel in the capital city of Maputo), we have quickly learned what life is really like in Mozambique. We took another one of those overcrowded buses called chapas (say “shop-ah”) from Maputo to the town of Namaacha, where we are now officially Peace Corps trainees for the next 10 weeks.  As soon as we stepped off the Chapa, our Maes and Pais (Moms and Dads) were waiting in a line to greet us. We had about 2 minutes to sit down, let it sink in and allow ourselves to feel like we were about to pass out, and then it was time to find our names on a paper held by an unfamiliar Mozambican person. Our Mae, or Mama as she likes to be called, was the very first person in the lineup. We found out later this was because this women knows her shit! We are the 4^th volunteer she’s had, so she knows how to keep her American “babies” healthy and happy.  She quickly took our hands and led us to our new home.  That was only 6 days ago but it feels like we’ve been here forever. Mama has a way of making you feel comfortable, even if we often can’t communicate with words, so this has quickly become our casa as well.  We live with Mama, whose name is Maria, and her granddaughter, Lura and son, Julho. She has 5 children all together, but the rest are out of the house. With the language barrier, we don’t have all the details on this yet but we’re hoping to figure it out later!  Her daughter, Gillhermina, lives down the street and stops by often. Our living situation in the house is not too bad except that privacy can be an issue, which we are getting used to. We stay in a bedroom in the front of the house and use the bathroom that is across the hall. We are happy to say the bathroom is INSIDE! We are lucky, as many people have a latrine outside. We still have to take our bath and flush our toilet with a bucket, but it’s better than having to stand outside to bathe during the cold Namaacha mornings. The only issue is that the kitchen, which is where the main action of the house takes place, is between out bedroom and the bathroom (hence, the privacy issue). But we are getting used to the set up and how to live like a Mozambican in general. It’s amazing how quickly you can change your mind set when you are put in a totally different environment.  Things that would bother me in the US just don’t bother me here. Trash in the street is normal, getting your clothes and shoes dirty all the time is normal.  I don’t care as much about having my daily outfits in a rotation. You wear what is practical and that’s what matters. Vanity quickly goes out the window.  And, the lifestyle is slow, you need to take your time with everything. You aren’t able to just turn on the faucet and take a shower. It requires boiling water, then adding cool water and lifting up the bucket into the tub. If I did this in my normal quick, clumsy way, I would be sure to fall on my face and/or burn myself!  Taking things slower is a definitely something I will be able to take back to the US.  I have also found that here in Africa, I like tomatoes, beets and to drink tea every day, foods I was not into in the US. Mama is teaching us all about the food here and I have to say, it’s been great! Fish, potatoes, bread, rice, veggies and fruits.  Mama is teaching us everything about living like a Mozambican. As a married couple, we get to learn about the traditional gender roles for a couple including the fact that I should be helping my husband take a bath each day! We haven’t gotten there yet, but I do pour the hot water for him to show we are respecting the traditions. Each day, Chris and I go to our small language classes (we are in different classes) or our entire training group meets to talk about subjects pertaining to how to live in this new environment, what our jobs as teachers will entail, or Mozambican history.  In the evenings, we help our Mama around the house, eat dinner and study. We try to squeeze in a bit of social time with the other volunteers as well. The days are verrrry long. We get up around 5:30 and go to bed around 8:30-9:00 as is normal for this lifestyle. We will have classes on Saturdays and will only get Sundays off, but it really is necessary. We only have 10 weeks to learn how to live in a whole new world. Things are fantastic, we are both happy campers but I do have a dark cloud named “The Portuguese Language” over my head. The amount of things we learn in our language class in one day is insane and I am having trouble figuring out how to study since there is just soooo much to learn and not much time (and BTW, our language lesson is ENTIRELY in Portuguese!).  We get tested on our language proficiency in week 5 and I am not feeling very confident at this point, but, as they say, I will learn pouco a pouco (little by little)! 

Love to all!

PS- More information on sending packages: It’s been confirmed that if you write religious terminology on the package, it is much more likely to get to us without being opened. So I would just go ahead and pretend we are brethren of the church! It’s best to address us as Sister Laurie Williams and Brother Christopher Williams as well as drawing crosses and writing things like “Jesus is Lord”. I know, this sounds ridiculous. But we will be really happy when we actually receive the goodies you send!  Oh and if the post office makes you claim a dollar amount on the package, do not claim over $5.00 (even if it’s more) or there will be customs fees that we’ll have to pay out of our very small PC salary. Ok, thanks for listeningJ. We would LOVE letters or packages!!!

PPS-My apologies for the absolutely horrific grammar on my last post. I will blame that on jet lag and adrenaline! I am making a commitment to you, dear blogger, that I will review my postings before looking like I should not be an English teacher.

We Made It!

We are here in Mozambique and the amount of things we have done in the past 48 hours is astounding (I think it’s been that many hours anyway! Considering the strange sleeping and eating patterns these past couple of days, I’m not really sure. ) So we are sitting here in our beautiful hotel room in Maputo where we can take advantage of the internet for the next day until we head off to Namaacha (say “nah-mah-sha”) for training. Ok, let me give you a quick rundown of what’s occurred…We made it to the airport in great timing for our 9:30 flight to Philly for orientation. That would have been awesome except it didn’t make a difference because we ended up being FOUR hours delayed due to weather. Normally,  I would have been a nervous  wreck but I had one little pout and decided it was time to roll with PCs whole philosophy of practicing patience and flexibility and it actually worked! I was at peace with the fact that we sat on the tarmac for hours before taking off however, it still meant we were an hour late to our orientation session.  We were the very last people to walk into a room of fresh-faced, wide-eyed trainees who were intently listening to information about the PCs mission and goals. As we quietly took our seats to not interrupt, I felt kind of bummed that I didn’t get to be a part of the initial chatter and excitement of the group meeting in person for the first time. But my feelings have completely gone away as spending the last couple of days with everyone has actually felt like weeks. We already feel such great connections with everyone, really, the group is awesome and we are enjoying getting to know these people who will become our family over the next 27 months. Just a little statistics on the peeps- there are 51 of us total in the 17^th training class in Mozambique. Aside from Chris and I, there is only one other younger married couple. We are all in our 20s except for one person who is 32, and no retirees which is surprising! Everyone has a unique and impressive background and it’s so exciting that we get to be a part of this group! So back to the logistics...after the training session in Philly, we all went out to our last American meal and slept for an hour or two (or some decided staying out would be better! :)) before boarding the bus to NYC at 2:30 am.  We made it to NYC oh, I don’t know, like 6 hours before our flight, but it was great. It gave us another chance to chat with everyone. We got on our 15 hour flight to Johannesburg which surprisingly, was not nearly as bad as we thought it would be. It was basically a pattern of eat, watch movie, chat, and repeat. And PS- they served big, hot meals and they were quite delicious! Thanks South African Airlines for still providing free meals on planes! Once we landed in South Africa, we took a very short flight to Maputo and were all gitty with excitement when we landed in our new home.  However we did quickly get a taste of the hazards of being in a developing country.  Our larger carry-ons had to be put under the plane from Johannesburg to Maputo and many of us did not have those bags locked assuming we would be able to hold on to them the entire trip. Sure enough, many people found things to be missing once the bags reached Maputo, myself included. Two of my necklaces were taken, but I was lucky they did not take all my jewelry so I can still accessorize! Really though, I packed everything with the understanding that something may happen to it when I came here, so it is what it is and I know I can find similar looking jewelry here for a replacement. This was another situation where I realize I really am shifting my energies on what to focus on and get upset over.  I feel really bad for someone who got his entire wallet, including all of his cash, stolen and someone else whose sentimental jewelry was taken. And, it showed a great display in our group’s camaraderie as we all chipped in to add a few bucks to a cash pile for our friend whose wallet got taken thanks to a great idea from a fellow volunteer.  We finished today at the hotel with vaccinations and medical interviews and will convene tomorrow to meet more of the PC staff, the American Ambassador and discuss basic safety info and how to live with a host family.  It’s hard to believe we will be living here yet since we’ve been so sheltered in a beautiful ocean front hotel and provided with pretty good meals and surrounded by Americans.  We did get a dose of reality on our packed van ride from the airport to the hotel. 60 people in a van for 30 with few seatbelts and no apparent regard for traffic laws? No problem, welcome to Africa! But more than that, we saw so many different stories in action on the streets of Maputo. Children playing barefoot in the dirt outside of their homes, a boy walking his goat, pickup trucks weighed down with people, colorful skirts and fruits in the market. We were all in awe at what is now our reality.

Alright, so we are off to go see who is still out and about! Hopefully we will be able to get on here again sometime in the near future while training in Namaacha for the next 10 weeks. Can’t wait to fill you in when the true adventure begins!

So this is it

These are our last hours in the US. So many thoughts and feelings are running fast that are hard to contain. And to think that this started 13 months ago…. so much has been done to organize our lives and prepare for service. I can see in small ways that the process has already begun to change us, we are not the same people we were back then, we are much less entangled in material things, much more free.

I know that the next several weeks are to be intense as we experience a loss of innocence coming from a reality far different from here. Where life and death hang in the air, where sickness and disease are familiar, where community and fellowship are essential, and where culture is rich and undeveloped natural beauty is prolific. These are memories from my childhood that Laurie will soon understand.

We will miss many comforts from here; we talk about this often. But hardest of all... we will miss our family and friends. Growing nieces and nephews, weddings, holidays, Sunday afternoon phone calls and so much more. Our hope is that we will bring back a unique perspective and experience that will positively impact those we care about. Love you all, you’re the greatest!

We head out to Philly tomorrow for orientation and will be in Mozambique by Thursday… see you on the other side!

P.S. Oh yeah and we conquered the 2 bag, 80 lbs limit… OK, well maybe its more like 85 lbs ☺